Fiscal Council Proposal: Don’t multiply institutions, multiply effectiveness – Prof. Kwaku Asare
Legal practitioner and governance commentator, Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare, has dismissed proposals for the establishment of an Independent Fiscal Council, arguing that its mandate can be effectively absorbed by the Auditor-General with minimal investment in capacity.
His comments come at a time when Ghana is under pressure to implement fiscal reforms as part of ongoing economic recovery efforts, with the proposed council featuring prominently in discussions around ensuring long-term fiscal discipline.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, June 1, the US-based professor of accounting — popularly known as Kwaku Azar — described the idea as a duplication of roles and a costly, bureaucratic distraction from meaningful reform.
“With modest investment in analytical and forecasting capacity, the Auditor-General could fully absorb the functions of the Fiscal Council, legally, operationally, and independently,” he wrote.
According to him, the push for new oversight bodies like the Fiscal Council reflects a persistent governance flaw in Ghana’s policymaking — the tendency to multiply institutions rather than strengthen existing ones.
‘We Don’t Need More Bureaucracy’
Prof. Asare argued that creating new bodies often duplicates existing mandates, blurs accountability lines, and adds unnecessary costs in the form of salaries, logistics, and office infrastructure.
“We have a penchant for creating new institutions for old problems,” he noted. “This approach duplicates existing mandates, muddies responsibility and accountability, and risks becoming tools of patronage masked as technocratic solutions.”
He pointed out that the proposed council’s duties already overlap with the roles of the Auditor-General (compliance and transparency), the Ministry of Finance (forecasting and policy design), and parliamentary committees (oversight and scrutiny).
Rather than enhance coordination and fiscal discipline, he warned, the establishment of a new council could delay decision-making and inflate governance costs without delivering meaningful results.
‘Empower What Already Exists’
Kwaku Azar proposed a more efficient alternative: building the analytical and forecasting capacity of current institutions, especially the Auditor-General and the Budget Office.
“We must resist the impulse to solve every reform challenge by creating a new committee,” he cautioned. “Creating new structures while neglecting existing ones reflects a misplaced confidence in form over function.”
He maintained that while the idea of an Independent Fiscal Council may be well-intentioned, it is ultimately redundant and should be shelved in favour of strengthening existing fiscal oversight bodies.