Author: Enestina GhanaMPs

Former Minister for Finance has taken a swipe at President John Dramani Mahama and Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson for lamenting and describing the Ghanaian economy as ‘economy in crises.

He noted that not only had the President stated it during the Message of the State of the Nation Address but same was repeated by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ato Forson at the presentation of this year’s budget statement.

He affirmed, however, that the budget presented on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 by Dr. Ato Forson showed that the economy is strong and not in crises as the new government would want Ghanaians to believe.

Addressing the media on the budget, the former Finance Minister noted that the current Finance Minister was hesitant in announcing the growth figures, same with debt to Gross Domestic Product level.

“The reality is that as at the end of last year 2024 real GDP growth rate was 5.7 percent and this was released by the Ghana Statistical Service confirmed by the Minister of Finance on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, when he presented the budget”.

Again, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took over from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) with a growth of 3.4 percent in 2016 against 5.7 percent, and if you come to the projected growth for 2025 that is disturbing and disappointing.

Dr. Amin Adam further pointed out that, a resting economy as we are being told is projecting to grow by 4 percent, “how can we say this reset economy would be better than an economy which President Mahama says it was criminally mismanaged, and which grew at 5.7 percent by the immediate past NPP government”.

In terms of Gross International Reserves, again, by the end of 2024 we left 8.9 billion dollars equivalent to four months of import cover while in 2016 they handed over to us 3.5 months of import cover, he added.

In the 2025 budget they are projecting three months of import cover which is worse than what they recorded in 2016. “Are we moving forward or backwards? If a broken economy could leave 4 months of import cover how come a reset economy is contemplating on going back to three month of import cover?”

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Government has allocated an amount of GHs 7.51 billion to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) administration for onward distribution to all 261 Metropolitan Municipal and district Assemblies across the country.

This was disclosed by Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson in the 2025 Budget Statement on the floor of Parliament, Tuesday.

According to the Minister, the government in accordance with our decentralization policy objective has suggested to Parliament to ensure that a minimum of 80% of the funds are transferred directly to the District Assemblies to spur economic growth at the district level in order to deepen decentralization.

“Mr. Speaker, we have allocated an amount of GH¢7.51 billion to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF). In accordance with our decentralization policy objective, we propose to Parliament that a minimum of 80% of the funds should be sent directly to the District Assemblies to spur economic growth at the district level and deepen decentralization”, he added.

He added that this is a sharp contrast of what has happened to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in recent years where less than 50 percent of the released amount to DACF goes to the District Assemblies

“Mr. Speaker, it is worth noting that, this is in stark contrast to what has happened to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in recent years where less than 50 percent of the released amount to DACF goes to the District Assemblies, with a significant portion spent at the center”, he added.

Emmanuel Frimpong/Ghanamps.com

An amount of GHs 100 million has been allocated for the payment of monthly allowance to all Assembly Members, Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has disclosed.

The Minister disclosed this when he presented the 2025 Budget statement on the floor of Parliament, Tuesday.

“Mr. Speaker, an amount of GHs 100 million has been allocated for the payment of monthly allowance to all Assembly Members”, the Minister noted.

According to the government, payment of allowances to various Assembly members (both elected and appointed) was necessitated at inspiring them to deliver on their mandate.

President John Mahama, in his first state of the nation address on the floor of Parliament in February this year, bemoaned the neglect and inadequate compensation Assembly members face even though they play a key role in Ghana’s decentralization system.
He therefore promised to provide them with adequate resources in order to enable carry out their mandates efficiently and effectively.

Meanwhile, the government has also released an amount of GHs 7.51 billion to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

According to the Minister for Finance, the government in accordance with our decentralization policy objective has suggested to Parliament to ensure that a minimum of 80% of the funds are transferred directly to the District Assemblies to spur economic growth at the district level in order to deepen decentralization.

He added that this is a sharp contrast to what has happened to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in recent years where less than 50 percent of the released amount to DACF goes to the District Assemblies.

Emmanuel Frimpong/Ghanamps.com

Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Member of Parliament for Damango, Samuel Abu Jinapor says Ghanaians should do a critical analysis of the size of government and they will notice that the John Dramani Mahama government has a larger size of government than Ghanaians are being told despite the sixty (60) Ministers and deputy Ministers he promised.

According to him, to understand the size of government machinery as it is related to the national purse or exchequer, one should look at it in a more holistic manner, because, one president can come and appoint 20 Ministers and deputies and appoint one hundred and fifty senior presidential advisors, staffs and aids. “You would be misled into thinking that the size of the government is smaller, when it comes to cost when indeed the size of that government is much bigger than a government that has appointed one hundred Ministers and deputy Minister”.

“I have raised these issues for us to have objective discussions on this when it comes to the size of government. When Ghanaians say the government is too large, what they are concerned about is that the government is large to the extent that it affects the tax payer and the nation exchequer and purse”, he said at a media briefing with members of the Parliamentary Press Corps.

“If you want to do a proper analysis of which government is bigger, take the number of presidential advisors, staffs and aid and add it to the number of ministers and deputy ministers; that is when you can tell if the government is big or not. When you do the counting this government is turning to be a big government”.

Again, you have Senior Presidential Advisor, Presidential Advisor on the economy, that of twenty four hour economy, Special aid to the president, Presidential Advisor on National Anticorruption Programme, Advisor on Diaspora Affairs, Advisor on Black Star experience, Presidential staff and aid to the Vice President, Presidential staff without portfolio, and five policy advisors to the Vice President.

Director at the presidency in charge of agriculture and agribusiness the lists goes on and on, one presidential advisor on media four deputy communications officers and 16 presidential staffers for the 16 regions.

“I would not be surprised, if we have presidential advisors on nkokor nkitikity and okada business; you never know”.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, contributing to the debate on the Message of the State of the Nation Address, he noted that, the Chief of Staff at the office of the president is put above a Cabinet Minister who doubles as a Member of Parliament but one step below the Speaker of Parliament, and that is the ranking of the Chief of staff if you want to understand the burden the appointment of the Chief of Staff has on the national exchequer.

“The Chief of Staff’s salary, per diem, everything to do with that office is one notch above a Cabinet Minister who double as an MP, but one notch below the Speaker of parliament, so if a Speaker has three vehicles Chief of Staff is two.

When you come to a senior presidential adviser, it is put at the level of a Cabinet Minister who doubles as an MP; presidential advisor is put at the level of a cabinet minister who is not an MP.

The presidential staffer is at the rank of a none cabinet Minister who is not a member of parliament, while a presidential aid is put at the level of deputy minister”, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Benard Ahiafor on Wednesday afternoon briefly suspended proceeding in Parliament following a disagreement between the Majority and Minority Leaders over the Governor of Bank of Ghana’s briefing of the House.

The Governor, Johnson Asiamah was in the chamber with his colleagues from the Bank of Ghana to brief the House.
However, the Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin called for engagement at the leadership level on how to proceed with the briefing of the House.

“Things may get out of hand if this engagement does not come on; and I am for any form of accountability, I am never against it”.

But the Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga indicated that the issue was already discussed during the business presentation for the ensuing week so there was no need for litigation.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority in its ‘True State of the Nation Address’ at a press conference on Monday has debunked President John Dramani Mahama’s claim that he solved the power crisis (Dumsor) before leaving power in January 2017.

“Mr. President, you did not fix “dumsor” as you claimed in your address. Your record on “dumsor” is abysmal, unlike your predecessor Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who kept the lights on.”

According to the Minority, the government’s handling of the power situation has increased uncertainty about economic growth prospects this year, stating that the promises by the President in his address to the nation to fix the current “dumsor” cannot be different from those he made during the four years of “dumsor” endured by Ghanaians between the end of 2011 and 2016.

They said the current erratic power supply attest to the return of ‘dumsor’ and Ghanaians are anxious and full of fear about the potential devastation this could cause for them and their businesses, especially small businesses. Many people and businesses have already felt the pinch and the pain of living with the current ‘dumsor’. “We have also seen the return of electric generating sets in shops, clinics and at social events.”

The Minority has thus called on the government to release a timetable for easy planning by businesses.

“To ameliorate the impact of these erratic power supplies, we the Mighty Minority call on the government to publish a load shedding timetable to help people and businesses plan effectively to offset some of the losses the economy is currently suffering from.”

Ghanamps.com

Mr Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, the Minister of State in charge of Special Initiatives is walking the talk of government achieving the agenda of transition energy with the introducing of electronic bicycles in parliament which he said would eventually trickle to Ghana’s universities.

According to him a visit to Ghana’s parliament one would see Ghanaians driving their vehicles without looking at focusing on the transition energy that is catching up with the world.

“As I said during my vetting, our Parliament should be one of the ‘greenest’ Parliament in the world. What we want to do is to let most of the MPs if not all MPs to drive electronic vehicles to parliament. We have to make sure we are not using combustible engine vehicles in Parliament”.

In an interview with Ghanamps.com, he noted that it is the main reason why he brought in the electronic bicycles to Parliament House, “where we would not have people driving all over in Parliament with their big cars”.

He further added that this initiative is not only for Parliament, as the presidency also has some of the electronic bicycles and doing same in all the universities in Ghana. “I want the University students to move around their campuses with the electronic bicycle that would let them have easy access to wherever they want to go; they do not need to wait for trotro or taxi. They just have to get on their electronic bicycles to move to class and move around easily on campus”.

As to whether the electronic bicycle and vehicle idea is getting down well with his colleague lawmakers, he noted that it has not been launched yet, as he is awaits approval from the Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Bagbin.

Mr Agyekum disclosed that he is in talks with university of Ghana, Cape Coast University and in the next week or two he should be able to deploy some of the electronic bicycles to Valley View University; and assured that there is no problem with safety issues.

“I believe our university students are as smart as any university students in the world; you cannot tell me that a university student in the UK can use the electronic bicycle and that Ghanaian students cannot use it. It is very simple to use, like our normal bicycles you just need your balancing”.

“As we speak, we have more than twenty to thirty people who have downloaded the app and they have been using the electronic bicycle in Parliament before the speaker’s approval. If you ask the security personnel in Parliament they would tell you they use it.

He said we would be able to decongest the capital city with this initiative, assuring that “it is doable”.
“We can geo-fence Accra, so that if you want to move it beyond Accra, it would not move. Why should we be moving all these cars in Accra? There is so much traffic and it is high time someone changed the dynamics in our country”, he emphasized.

The Minister also stated that the government is seriously working on labour export as he had indicated that to parliament when he came before the Appointment Committee. “We would work out labour exports trying to get our bilateral labour agreements in place. We are going to train people to get the international certification”.

“Why should we see our nurses moving around without jobs when there is international demand for them? There are demands for social workers in the UK and everywhere in the World. So, why can’t we do it? He queried.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Parliament would start debating President John Dramani Maham’s first Message of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, Tuesday, 4th March 2025.

The Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin admonished the Majority Members of Parliament (MPs) to show up on the floor in their numbers as they did over the weekend in their first orientation in Ho in the Volta Region.

According to him this is a call on all of us to be present not only that but to showcase what they learnt at the orientation for MPs and to effectively debate as one of the things that was noted in the presentation was for the MPs to win their debates.

And revealed that there is likely to be a second motion; half hour motion and in discussion with leadership it came out that it should come as a motion.

There is an objection for it to come as a full motion and that is likely to come, “I am saying this because I want to see these number on the floor and I would personally be there to preside”, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Minister of State in charge of Special Initiatives, Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum said he would balance his work as a Minister and also attend to parliamentary duties regularly to avoid the Minority raising issues of quorum on the floor of the House.

Mr Agyekum who was speaking in an interview at the end of the three days orientation in Ho in the Volta Regional admonished his colleagues in the Minority to do their best to come together and be punctual in the chamber to ensure government business goes on.

“I do not think we would have problems; with this orientation it has been good for us and I think our colleagues who came to this orientation know that it is for us to come to the chamber and work for mother Ghana”.

On the issue of cost cutting being the reason why the Minority did not come to Ho for the orientation, he allayed the fears of his colleagues in the Minority stating that President John Mahama has shown the way including cutting down on the number of Minister to sixty (60) and directing the Finance Minister to do same.

He added that the new National Democratic Congress (NDC) government would do a lot in the interest of Ghanaians to ensure they get the needed economic relieve; and in terms of food security there would be interventions to ensure availability of enough food at affordable prices, stating that the government is committed to reducing dependence on imported food items by increasing local production.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com