This is due to the budgetary allocation for the Ministry in the 2018 budget, which was noted to be less than half of the funds the Ministry actually requires.

While the Ministry owes contractors to the tune of GHc 1 billion, the entire allocation for the ministry, which is largely concerned with infrastructure, is GHc 91 million.

The Chairman of the Works and Housing Committee of Parliament, Nana Amoako, captured the sentiments of his committee’s members and other MPs in the report of the committee on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday.

“The Ministry has been allocated a total sum GHc 91, 481,044, whilst the actual requirement for the effective implementation of its programme is estimated to be at about GHc 225 million.”

“Though the ministry was able to honour part of its indebtedness to contractors, it still has GHc 1, 174,220,650.59 outstanding as at 31^st October, 2017. This means the ministry’s 2018 total allocation of GHc 91 million will not be able to settle this huge indebtedness,” the MP noted.

The ministry, headed by Samuel Atta-Akyea, had its budget slashed from Ghc 109 million to the current Ghc 91 million.

The Ministry has as its main functions the formulation and coordination of policies and programmes for the development of the country’s infrastructure requirements in respect of works and housing.

It previously had to concern itself with water supply and sanitation, before a separate Ministry for Water Resources and Sanitation was created by the Akufo-Addo administration.

The Ministry coordinates and supervises, by way of monitoring and evaluation of the performance of both public and private agencies responding to and participating in the realization of the policy objectives established for the sector.

But one of the major headaches of the Ministry will be to ease the drainage problems in urban areas which is greatly affecting housing.

Well aware of the financial constraints, the sector minister, Mr. Atta-Akyea, noted to Parliament in November that government has put together a road-map to provide permanent infrastructure solution to the perennial flooding in Accra, which would be involved in seeking external help.

He said the capital expenditure for the provision of the drainage and sewage to fix the recurring floods were beyond the national budget.

But beyond this, the World Bank in a recent report estimated that, to address Ghana’s huge infrastructure deficit, a sustained spending of at least $1.5bn per annum over the next decade would be needed to plug the infrastructure gap.

In general, the allocation to public infrastructure declined in the 2018 budget to GHc 1.804 million in 2018, from GHc 2.624 million in 2017.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Minority, who had expressed opposition to the budget statement since it was laid in Parliament, abstained from the vote.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ZWqVJCy27yil5V4m5bKHetXRnG0TUorV”]The various Committees in Parliament will now be tasked with assessing the estimates and allocations made to the various sectors in the budget.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, praised his colleagues from both sides of the House of subjecting the statement to intense scrutiny before it was passed.

“I want to show appreciation to my colleagues in the House, Majority and Minority for the scrutiny that they applied to the budget before us. We are going to deal with the estimates and I want to implore all my colleagues to be in attendance at all the Committee meetings in order for us to be able to deal with the estimates that have been given to the various Committees,” he said.

The Minority had earlier called for the budget statement to be withdrawn arguing that the government had reviewed some key economic targets without recourse to the House.

A former deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, had said that “the Minister responsible for Finance cannot revise the expenditures and revenue without parliamentary resolution.”

He also said the government’s budgetary allocation for the Nation Builders’ Corps was “nothing to write home about.”

He also noted that the Minority’s calculations indicated that, each of the 100,000 youth to be recruited under the program, would receive a little over GH¢400, which is woefully inadequate.

“Mr. Speaker, the said graduates will not take home more than GHC400, this is dangerous. Mr. Speaker, that GHC600,000 they intend to fund the programme with is not coming from the government of Ghana. It is going to be taken from the district assembly common fund. You’re going to constrain the district assemblies just for the purpose of funding it. This, in my opinion, is an extension of the national service scheme,” he said.

‘Go to court’

However, the Majority, unperturbed by the concerns that had been raised by their colleagues, dared the Minority to go to court if they remain convinced that the 2018 Budget breaches the laws of the country.

“When we pass an appropriation, we say that ‘spending not exceeding’, meaning the Minister of Finance can spend up to the appropriation, so if it is that he does not spend up to appropriation does he have to come back to Parliament? No! If it were the case that he exceeds the appropriation, then he has to come back to Parliament, but he has not exceeded the appropriation. In the mid-year review on 31st July, we decided that it is a statement and should not come by way of motion, but if he [Ato Forson] is saying that it was unconstitutional and he has stayed all this while waiting for a budget before, then you are doing a disservice to the nation, and the proper forum to test that one is the Supreme Court,” the Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah said at the time.

Deputy Finance Minister,  Kwaku Kwarteng also dismissed the issues raised by the Minority, arguing that the government cannot premise its budget on the previous one passed by Parliament, while ignoring the realities on the ground.

“The point that we should have rather premised the 2018 budget on the 2017 budget passed by Parliament and we should have ignored the realities and we should not have built future plans on the basis of today’s actuals is a very strange proposition.

“ You do your budget on the basis of ‘actuals’ because going forward, you want to plan on the basis of reality so for anyone to suggest that because you did midyear review and Parliament did not approve of it, then you are unable to do 2018 budget statement because you would have premised it on the mid year review projections is flawed,” Mr. Kwarteng argued.

About the 2018 budget

Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, November 15, 2017, presented the Akufo-Addo government’s 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament.

The budget highlighted results from the government’s policy programmes over the past few months,  and announced the government’s planned developmental programmes for the next fiscal year.

Among the major programs to be rolled out by the government in 2018, are tax reliefs for private universities, tax holidays for young entrepreneurs, proposed 13% to 21% reduction in electricity tariff for residential consumers, the establishment of nation-building corps and operationalization of the Special Prosecutors’ office.

The budget, christened the ‘Adwuma Budget’  focuses mainly on revenue mobilization through strict tax collection modules and job creation.

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According to him, the budget is only stuffed with unrealistic promises meant to tickle Ghanaians.

Likening the budget to Azonto, which is a Ghanaian dance, Mr. Ayariga said the budget is akin to an uninitiated beat of music that has no message.

[contextly_sidebar id=”8zmjIGkOtzYuu6xC5E5jxTdxRAfNMda0″]Addressing a press conference on Wednesday to provide his party’s assessment of the budget, Hassan Ayariga said the untold hardship Ghanaians continue to face under the current government will persist since the government is not ready to tackle them.

“The 2018 budget is an Azonto budget for Ghanaians to dance to… The somersault from ‘asempa’ to ‘adwuma budget’ is an uninitiated beat of the music that has no message… Teachers are suffering and crying, Nurses, patients, students, pensioners, drivers, contractors, civil servants, farmers, media men and fishermen are all suffering and crying,” he said.

He said the health sector under the current government was going to be seriously stressed due to the marginal cut in the ministry’s budgetary allocation.

While predicting that trainee nurses who enjoy monthly allowances from the government will soon face difficulty in accessing the fund which has been restored, Ayariga said the government had no plans of improving and expanding existing health infrastructure in the country.

Hassan Ayariga also accused President Akufo-Addo of presiding over insecurity and chaos in the country.

He said vigilante groups affiliated to the NPP have been allowed to act with impunity in the country without control.

He noted that the President, as leader of the NPP, must declare the disbandment of all vigilante groups affiliated to the party to guarantee peace and security of all Ghanaians.

“The 2018 budget does not care about you and I. It cares about reckless and unrealistic promises… This is not the change the NPP promised Ghanaians. We want to live in the peace and unity that we once enjoyed in Ghana,” he said.

Free SHS an embarrassment to parents, students – Ayariga

Mr.Hassan Ayariga also described government’s flagship free SHS policy as an embarrassment to students and parents.

He said the governing NPP is desperate for credibility, and is, therefore, implementing policies such as the free SHS in a haphazard manner.

“Who says implementing the free SHS means all is well? Has the Finance Minister heard what people say about the ill-implemented policy? The free SHS is an embarrassment and a disappointment to students and parents.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, has thus urged parliamentarians to gear up for a dispassionate debate of the budget.

According to the Speaker, a high level debate on the budget would send a strong signal to the Executive that Parliament would keenly monitor the implementation of the budget for the well-being of Ghanaians.

Prof Mike Oquaye made these remarks at the Post Budget Workshop for MPs in Koforidua.

“In the budget matter, some people get the impression that the economists and the statisticians are going to talk, it is not so.  So I will ask every member to roll his or her sleeves during the budget time. I feel uncomfortable when honourable members begin to stop other members to stop all those theories [and go straight to making their arguments].”

“A budget must have a conceptual and philosophical underpinning so that we will not allow a Minister for Finance to get away with not reconciling the good aims announced with actual provisions that will ensure their realization. This is very important, and moments you begin to think in this conceptual manner, there is no aspect of the budget that you cannot seriously analyze and make contributions  to,” he added.

Stop post budget workshop for selected MPs, leaders

Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrissu, had earlier called on Parliament to stop the practice of organizing a post budget workshop for only selected Members and leaders of Parliament.

According to him, this practice, which has existed over the years in the House, does not allow for quality and in-depth debate on issues raised in the budget.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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According to them, the move will be a duplication since government already controls majority shares in some banks that have a focus on the intended reason for setting up the national development bank.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SbUN7C5QZYKS9hulTaWAiUMFuKR6YqlF”]The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta during the 2018 budget presentation in parliament announced that government will launch a national development bank with a seed capital of 500 million dollars.

But reacting to the plan, Financial Analyst and CEO of Sam Bed Consult, Sam Bediako Asante was of the view that government must rather focus on equipping the already existing developments banks with mandates in the issues the national development bank will be addressing.

“Within the banking system, we have National Investment Bank (NIB) and adb bank as the only development banks. I think if government has anything as far development banks are concerned, then these two banks should be resourced in such a way that they can do exactly the purpose for what they were created,” he argued.

He observed that NIB and adb have the ability to deliver on their targets if their activities are strengthened enforced.

“adb is for agric and agribusiness purposes, and NIB for industrial purposes. We need to make sure they invest in those areas. We need to make sure they fulfill the purpose for which they were set up. We don’t need another development bank to do that”

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According to him, government would need at least two billion cedis to support Free SHS in 2018, 800 million cedis more than the amount that was allocated to it in the budget.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wyNSSYNiYum3Eo5MHbswsZjwx1kcPnXB”]“It is clear that there are real challenges, and sadly, we didn’t hear of a Marshall Plan. I thought there was going to be a huge plan based on the assurances the President had given the nation that he was aware of the challenges with free SHS and that the nation should expect that it will be addressed soon. Unfortunately, the 2018 budget did not present a Marshall Plan to address these challenges. What we are seeing is an inadequate allocation in the budget; 1.2 billion is woefully inadequate for four terms for the 2018 fiscal year,” the former deputy education minister said on the Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s flagship free Senior High School programme was launched in September as part of measures to ensure all Ghanaian children are educated,  at least, up to the SHS level.

However, since its introduction, the programme has encountered a number of issues, mostly in relation to the capacity of the schools and the availability of desks for and other infrastructure for students.

The President and Education Minister have assured Ghanaians that the challenges would be addressed to ensure that the students receive the full benefits of the programme.

However, according to Mr. Ablakwa, the government failed to present a clear strategy in the 2018 budget statement to fix the issues despite their assurances.

‘You can’t run education with voluntary funds’

The government announced that it would set up a fund to receive voluntary contributions from individuals to support the implementation of the free SHS programme and the educational sector as a whole.

However, this plan has come under fire from the Minority who believe this is an indication that government does not have the funds to properly implement its much-touted programme.

And according to Okudzeto Ablakwa, the government cannot afford to rely on the voluntary funds as a source of funding for free SHS, as projections for those funds may not materialize.

“No country runs public education on just voluntary funds. What if the Fund is not considered attractive and you don’t really get as much as you are expecting. We can’t leave the destiny of our children’s quality education to just a voluntary fund where we don’t really know the projections. Meanwhile there’s an 800 million-cedi gap as we speak. You’ve only allocated 1.2 billion but you need two billion cedis, at least to sustain free SHS for the 2018 fiscal year,” he argued.

“You cannot just depend on voluntary funds, you can’t run education that way. You need a concrete plan and you need a well-defined funding source. It’s clear that government is struggling to fund it and struggling to identify a clear funding source.”
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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Roads and Highways ministry had its budget slashed by at least 80% from GHS444 million to GHS77 million.

The Youth and Sports Ministries also had its budget cut by about 20% from GHS47 million to GHS33 million.

Ministries such as the Gender, Children and Social Protection, Food and Agriculture, as well as Communications, also saw a cut in their allocation for 2018.

Other Ministries, however experienced an increase in their allocation.

They include the Education, Aviation, Defence and the Employment and Labour Relations Ministries.

The infographic below highlights the changes between the 2017 and 2018 budgetary allocations.

NB: The ministries are grouped into sectors; Social, Infrastructure, Economic and Public safety.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post How 2018 budgetary allocation to ministries were slashed [Infographic] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In 2017, the Ministry was given a budget of GHS 46, 910, 275 for its activities.

The money was to be spent on the Compensation of Employees of the Ministry and its related departments and agencies, goods and services and capital expenditure.

The other line items on the budget were retained internally generated funds and funds from development partners.

For 2018, the Youth and Sports Ministry will have GHS 32, 799, 500 to work with for all activities and programmes.

On the sporting side, the budget stated that Ghana would be taking part in a number of international competitions such as Youth Olympics Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina from the 6th to the 18th of October, 2018.

Other activities the budget captured were the African Youth Games in Algeria and the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

The Black Stars, the Black Princesses, the Black Starlets and Black Satellites will be involved in various qualifiers for various competitions.

The devil in the details

Even though the overall budget saw a huge reduction, certain line items received more funds for 2018 as compared to 2017.

For instance, compensation of employees shot up by  14.7% taking the 2017 expenditure up from GHS 14, 377, 052 to 16, 857, 786.

Capital expenditure went upwards by 63.9% to 2, 774, 420 from the 2017 figure of GHS 1, 000, 000.

Two line items- Goods and Services and Retained Internally Generated Funds- saw massive drops in their respective allocations.

For Goods and Services, there was a whopping 145 % drop, as the 2017 allocation of GHS 30, 457, 092 went down to GHS 12, 411, 380.

The Retained Internally Generated Funds item also went down from GHS 1,076, 131 in 2017 to GHS 755, 914 representing a 42.3% percent drop.

Interestingly, the line item in relation to Development Partners’ Funds stood at zero and it was the same in 2017 raising eyebrows over whether sports is part of discussions when the government speaks to its development partners who are mostly foreign governments and agencies.

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This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, when he presented the 2018 budget statement to Parliament on Wednesday.

Ghana’s education sector has been saddled with inadequate infrastructure and teaching materials, low pay for teachers particularly at the basic and SHS level.

[contextly_sidebar id=”6sqmGlY18kbP6aHoVKOitVi3Na46ZzZJ”]The implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy recently suffered some setbacks as some schools are faced with the challenge of inadequate infrastructure.

The headteachers of some Senior High Schools were interdicted, while one of them at the La Presbyterian Senior High School in Accra was transferred for asking parents of new students under the Free SHS policy to pay for the purchase of plastic chairs to enable their wards to sit on them in class.

There are a number of schools in the country that are either having classes under trees or are in dilapidated structures.

Presenting the 2018 budget statement, the Finance Minister said the setting up of the Fund has become necessary following proposals made to government.

“Mr. Speaker, with the successful launch of the free SHS programme, government received proposals from the public, several of which encourage the establishment of a fund to receive voluntary contributions to support education. Thankfully, the GETFund Law allows for the setting up of other education-related funds. In 2018, the Ministry will work with GET FUND to set up this education fund to enable Ghanaians make voluntary contributions to support education,” he added.

Government is expected to spend close to GHc1 billion on the beneficiaries of the free SHS programme for this academic year.

The figure is expected to shoot up in subsequent years.

Government had prior to reopening of the 2017/2018 academic year of second cycle institutions in the country, released half of the GHc 486 million earmarked for the programme for the first term.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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AAPET will envelope two already-existing special initiatives being implemented by the Akufo-Addo administration; the Planting for Food and Jobs and One-District-One Factory.

[contextly_sidebar id=”pzHwekwARIgF32ycJUtzaHEnrtdpbCKL”]The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, delivering the budget statement in Parliament, explained that AAPET is envisioned “to modernize agriculture, improve production efficiency, achieve food security and increase profitability for our farmers.”

It is a three-pronged economic development programme that will accelerate investments in agriculture, strategic infrastructure and industrialization.

The government intends to “invest in the entire agriculture and agribusiness value chain to create new business and job opportunities in the sector,” Mr. Ofori Atta said.

“Government will also invest in infrastructure that supports the opening up of the major agricultural zones of the country, in energy and related infrastructure to accelerate the industrialization agenda of Government. Significant investments will be made in the road and rail sectors of the economy to facilitate trade and the movement of goods and people, he added.

AAPET has also made provision for a grant funding facility for agribusiness startups, with support from the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan.

Infrastructure-wise, some 35 bridges and roads, will also be constructed over the next three years under this initiative. The government will also construct 99 steel bridges under this policy.

An already announced “major pension scheme for cocoa farmers” will also be launched under AAPET.

Boosting Planting for Food and Jobs

Planting for Food and Jobs, which is expected to to be rolled out in all 216 districts across the country, involves the supply of farm resources such seedlings to participating farmers, and its first phase targeted the creation of more than 750,000 jobs.

Mr. Ofori Atta noted that, investments under the Planting for Food and Jobs will be scaled up.

But the government wants AAPET to take numerous steps further, as duties on agriculture processing equipment are expected to be abolished along with support granted to agribusiness start-ups.

Minimizing the risk of agriculture financing will also be a target of the government, through agriculture financing and crop insurance schemes.

Funds from the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), could possibly be diverted to “increase the pace of agriculture mechanization,” according to the Finance Minister.

Support from One-District-One Factory

Given government’s anticipation of success, it also intends to develop modern storage facilities through the One-District-One Factory policy.

This is possibly in line with President Akufo-Addo’s April 2017 announcement that government will construct a warehouse in every district of the country to ensure the proper storage of surplus food produce from the flagship ‘Planting for Food and Job’ program, and prevent post-harvest losses.

Improving transport will not be left out, as the AAPET is expected to “open up key food basket zones through road construction and irrigation projects.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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