News:
March 16, 2025
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not a Father Christmas, they are not there to make business but definitely they are there to survive and falling back on IMF comes with cost; the Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin noted at the start of the 2025 post budget workshop in Parliament.
According to him the Country must do everything not to get back to the IMF; and as the nation engages with them, we should be cautious of some of the things they approve.
He further pointed out that it is important that Members of Parliament (MPs) focus on the workshop and emphasis the need for opportunities for the lawmakers to ask critical questions, hence the reason why there are technical experts around at the workshop.
Again, the management of Ghana’s debt is central to the sustainability of its fiscal policy, and questions may relate to, for instance, balance borrowing and investment in growth as well as how to ensure sustainable debt levels.
Governance, he stated is about the welfare of the people and does not make profit; making profit thus belongs to the private sector, hence MPs should do all that it takes to understand the policy goal of the budget and how to align it with the broader development agenda.
The Speaker also urged the MPs to hold government accountable for its promises, thus there is the need for deep understanding of what those promises entail.
Speaker Bagbin advised the lawmakers to focus on the 24-hour Economy policy to explain to their constituents like the previous government did with the Free Senior High school, which had implementation challenges; “and I did say that such an important policy is good to be brought to the House for it to be debated”.
He asserts that Parliament’s role in such policies is not to know about such big policy, but to make inputs, and for MPs to be able to explain to their constituents.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com