The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is pressing the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to release as much information as possible on government efforts to save the economy.
In the circumstances Ghana is in, embellishing the truth is not the best way to go, thus the minister and government must share facts with the people to get their buy-in on all the measures it plans to push out.
Bagbin told the media this on November 27, 2022, during a post-budget workshop.
“The absence of openness and transparency can lead to suspicion and a profound sense of despair and hopelessness.
“It is in this regard that I call on the Minister of Finance to muster the courage to be candid, open and to speak truth to power.
“Don’t come and repeat what we have been told already, We know it. Give us policy alternatives,” myjoyonline.com quoted the former Nadowli-Kaleo lawmaker to have said.
Ghana is looking for a $3 billion IMF rescue as surging fuel costs, a growing cost of living, and a devaluing cedi intensify the existing misery.
Ghanaians anticipated relief measures in the 2023 budget declaration. It put a moratorium on all public sector jobs, raised the VAT rate by 2.5%, and abolished the GHC 100 threshold for the contentious e-levy, all of which observers argue would deepen residents’ misery.
