The Ningo-Prampram Member of Parliament, Sam Nartey George, has stated that the economic repercussions of Ghana approving the Anti-LGBT bill would be negligible.
According to him, the government has done well with relatively little funding from foreign organizations; so, if they are withdrawn, the country would be well-positioned to weather the storm.
His remarks were in response to a CDD-Ghana research, which said that if the Anti-LGBT bill is passed, Ghana might lose up to 6% of its yearly budget assistance.
In presenting the results of the Centre’s research on Tuesday in Accra, ISODEC Executive Director Bernard Anaba warned that if the Bill is enacted, Ghana would suffer economic and diplomatic pressure.
“By this Bill, we have added economic conditionality on ourselves [as a country] when we go out to seek support. Ghana’s budget regularly relies on grants of about 4 to 6 per cent each year from donor partners who are mostly against this Bill as we know.”
“This could result in the delays and reduction in this budgetary support. I remember there was a year when the Finance Minister complained that the budget did not work well because these funds [from donors] were delayed. So now, there is a more reason why it even delays more; you can imagine the economic impact because four to six per cent of your budget is huge.”
Mr. Anaba went on to say that “Ghana’s relatively weaker economic situation makes it more vulnerable to any rebuke of the EU and other western governments that do not support this bill.”
However, Sam George pointed out that such a thing may be insignificant in terms of Ghana’s economic situation.
He said, “listening to Mr. Anaba on this, he comes across as a doomsday prophet on this, with the greatest of respect. He makes it sound as though once we pass this, this is the end of Ghana.
“But look and Theo made a point that you’re looking at the cost of us having to absorb things that hitherto were funded by these international organizations, and that is even with the proviso that they’ll withdraw all aid. That in itself is not a certainty.”
He went on to say that Civil Society Organizations like the CDD-Ghana and the ISODEC, which conducted the study, should be more focused on advising the government on how to reduce waste and wasteful spending.
“But even for the purposes of this conversation, let’s even assume that they withdraw all aid. I think that civil society players like Mr. Anaba and co. and CDD should be focusing more on how the government will be more prudent in the use of revenue from our natural resources, the wastage in our system.
“If we genuinely put the trash in our system, if we eliminate 50% not even completely, but 50% of the waste in our system, we won’t need the less than $1 billion in help and grants that we received in 2019.” In fact, the Auditor-General estimates that we will lose $12 billion, or $2 billion, in 2020.
“That is why I claimed that even if we saved half of that 12 billion, or $6 billion, Ghana could have operated its budget with no help from foreign organizations,” he said.
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SOURCE: myjoyonline
