The Dean of the School of Business UCC, Prof John Garchie Gatsi has said that calls for the finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta to provide a detailed account of the country’s expenses on COVID 19 is lawful.
According to him, the Finance minister is required by law “and so it is not as if anybody is imposing any duty on him beyond what is required by the Public Financial Management Act”.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta will today present a mid-year budget review to parliament in accordance with Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
The Minister is expected to touch on key economic indicators such as growth rate, primary balance, budget deficit, revenue, and expenditure targets among others.
Related : Finance Minister presents mid-year budget review to parliament
Like every budget review, expectations from the public are high. Already, ahead of the presentation, former Finance Minister, Seth Tepker together with some members of the Minority in parliament has said he expects Mr. Ofori Atta to furnish the house with detailed accounts of over 16 billion cedis granted to the government due to the COVID 19.
But Chairman for the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah has rejected such demands from the Finance Minister. He said such accountability rests with the auditor general and not midyear budget review.
Sharing his expectations with ATLFMNEWS, Prof Gatsi stated that he expects Mr. Ofori Atta to separate expenditure and borrowings on COVID 19 and account to the people of Ghana how they have been able to implement those programs that have been approved by parliament.
He explained that “a review means that you have been empowered to spend money, to collect revenue in a particular manner. You need to come and account whether you’ve been able to raise such an amount or you will need to explain the reason why you were unable to raise such revenue. You will need to explain the shortfalls and how you are going to raise money to fill the gap.”
Prof Gatsi added that he, however, does not believe that the Finance Minister will have any extraordinary polices end the year with the kind of happiness that the people expect.
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Before the review, the finance minister has hinted that the government will soon roll out unemployment benefits for Ghanaians. Details of this initiative, he mentioned, will be outlined later today in the budget review.
However, Prof Gatsi believes this could be one of the political gimmicks the minister wouldn’t miss hammering to draw the attention of the electorates to his government in a particular direction because 2020 is an election year.
“The minister knows that before COVID 19 million of Ghanaians were searching for jobs but the minister will portray that they are setting up unemployment benefits program”, he said.
“Is it unemployment benefits for Ghanaians or unemployment benefits for a certain group of Ghanaians who were working and they lost their jobs during COVID? he quizzed.
Meanwhile, unlike previous budget reviews welcomed with much euphoria and participation, this year may be different due to the roll-out of COVID 19 protocols and other measures by parliament.
Speaker of Parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Quaye has stressed that the house will consolidate the COVID 19 protocols. This includes the reduction of MPs who would be allowed access to the chamber to witness the proceedings.
Also, members of the general public will not be allowed access to the chamber.
