The Minority
Caucus in Parliament has stated that the 2022 mid-year budget review presented
by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in Parliament Monday failed to
offer respite to Ghanaians and the business community.
They said
the minister stopped short of providing hope and clear path of how the
government intended to cushion the people against rising cost of living, doing
business and extreme poverty.
“With
the mid-year review statement by the Minister of Finance, I cannot see any
respite, see my way clear and cannot see any hope clear for the suffering
Ghanaian people who expected that today’s statement at least will offer them
some respite because of the rising living and the rising cost of doing, persons
affected by extreme,” the Minority
Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said.
E-levy
Reacting
to the mid-year budget statement on the floor of Parliament Monday [July 25,
2022], the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said “Mr Speaker, conspicuously
missing in this statement is the failure of the minister to tell us returns of
the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) and what is its disappointing
performance,” he said.
Varying interest payment
The Minority
Leader told the House that per page 21 of the review statement as presented by
the minister, Mr Ofori-Atta was seeking to vary interest payment from GH₵37.4
billion (7.5 per cent of GDP) to GH₵41.3 billion (7.0 per cent of GDP), a
development he expressed the Minority’s intention to raise procedural issues to
guide the House.
“Mr
Speaker, is this a matter that a mere statement from the Minister of Finance
allows him to adjust appropriation,” he said, citing how the existing
Appropriation Act only gave the minister the mandate for GH₵37 billion.
He
also drew the House’s attention to Article 179 (8) of the Constitution which
provides that “Where in respect of a financial year, it is found that the
amount of money appropriated by the Appropriation Act for any purpose if
insufficient.
“So,
this purpose, as we approved appropriation, was GH₵37 billion and not GH₵41
billion,” he said.
He
noted that if a need had arisen for expenditure for a purpose for which no sum
of money had been appropriated such as the cost of living allowance (COLA) of
15 per cent, the Finance Minister should lay before Parliament a supplementary
estimates showing the sum of money required for approval.
Road tolls
Making
reference to page 31 of the mid-year budget review statement, Mr Iddrisu
accused the Minister of Finance of nurturing the intention to re-introduce road
tolls through the backdoor to recover the coast of the lifespan of new roads.
“To
Ghanaians, do not be disappointed as this is what you opted for and this is
what you have, “he said.
Source: Graphic.com.gh