Govt understates expenditure- Adongo alleges

NDC MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, says government cannot account for GHc12 million in its mid-term fiscal policy it presented today.

In reaction to a mid-year supplementary budget statement, the opposition MP claimed government understated its expenditure as GH¢44billion.

It should be actually, GH¢56 billion, he said and alleged manipulative accounting and cooking of economic figures.

Referencing the Finance Minister, he said the government plans to raise loans externally and domestically to finance its 2020 amended budget of GH¢109 billion.

This budget size has gone up from the GH¢98bn approved for 2020 in November 2019. With the coronavirus pandemic throwing the approved budget out of gear, the government has asked for GH¢11.8bn more in fresh spending.

Adongo said the loans to finance the proposed amended budget of GH¢109bn contains GH¢24billion from external sources in addition to GH¢32billion from domestic streams.

A total of this should bring it to GH¢56 billion in loans but the government he said stated GH¢44bn.

Mr Adongo, who serves on the Finance Committee of Parliament was concerned that, “In total, about GH¢12billion of the money that they want to spend have been suppressed…so you don’t see the expenditure.”

He called the Akufo-Addo government “clever thieves.”

He accused the government of seeking to borrow more than its revenue without a clear indication of how the monies would be used.

“How can someone raise a revenue of GH¢53 billion and borrow GH¢56billion? I have never seen it before in my life,” he bemoaned.

Reacting to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, Mr Adongo said he feels “sad as a Ghanaian sitting there and listening to the minister and with my trained professional eyes seeing the attempt to plunder away and steal out national resources and finding a way to cover for it”.

Ofori-Atta seeks additional GH¢ 11.8bn in Mid-Year Budget

In reacting to the presentation, Mr Adongo questioned why the Finance Minister could not outline all the expenditure for which the GH¢11.8bn will be used.

With the items stated in the budget, he said the minister has accounted for only GH¢5.3billion “which is not even half of the money you want”.

“He is now going to sleep over it, think about the lies he is coming to tell the Finance Committee and get GH¢11.8bn, but as at the time he was coming here today he only had expenditure to the tune of GH¢5.3billion…Ghana is in very dangerous times,” he added.