The relevance of the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives has been questioned after its 2018 budgetary allocation was found to be at least five times bigger than other key ministries like Works and Housing and Sanitation.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SmELo1DFSTF8ryuODmUxSajOK7Ltghce”]The Ministry also came under fire over its allocation of GHc800,000 for the creation of a website.

It has since clarified that the website amount was a typographical error, but not before the Minority in Parliament raised concerns that it was an attempt to fleece the state of funds.

Government in a statement acknowledged that though public scrutiny on the said budget is necessary, it is equally relevant  for the media and other stakeholders to focus on “official final appropriations, as well as what the actual processes” are, instead of “sweeping statements and categorizations which are not informed by the actual official processes and amounts.”

Government in the statement also clarified what it described as misconceptions surrounding the development.

The statement from government is below:

STATEMENT ON THE 2018 BUDGET OF THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Government has taken note of the public discussions generated over the 2018 budget estimates of the Ministry for Special Development Initiatives. Whilst commending the interest shown by Members of Parliament, sections of the media, and citizens, in ensuring that the State is efficient in its expenditure, it is important, however, to reject the false claims by some that the Ministry’s budget intention is to misappropriate or misapply state funds in this case.

1. The matter of the Actual appropriated amounts

The process of budget preparation requires initial estimates, setting of expenditure ceilings by the Ministry of Finance, and the passing of appropriated ceilings by Parliament. It is important to note that, in this case, the final Appropriations Bill, as passed by Parliament, has set forth the true picture, which is significantly different from the document in circulation. The Appropriated Bill is available on the Ministry of Finance’s website. For example, regarding the Community Water Systems, ambulances and school facilities (including classroom blocks with ICT centres and other amenities), government notes that the projected costs as submitted by the Minister and approved by Parliament are within the market competitive range for such projects. For example, per the specification given the Ministry by the Ghana Ambulance Service, it costs between one hundred thousand and one hundred and fifty thousand United States Dollars to purchase one ambulance. The United States Dollar equivalent of what the Minister stated in the budget is 80,000 Dollars. The kind of water system that is envisaged under this programme has cost other institutions as much as GH¢167,000 to build. In any event, when the Development Authorities are in place, they will be responsible for the execution of these projects based on competitive pricing. The public will be better served if discussions on this matter are based on the official final appropriated amounts, which are those which bind the public purse.

2. The matter of How much has been appropriated to the Ministry vrs How much is appropriated to the Development Authorities

The Development Authorities’ Bill (to be signed into law this week) empowers the development authorities to “co-ordinate the planning and implementation of integrated development activities at the constituency level for the realisation of the strategic goal of each development zone.” Each of the Development Authorities will have a  Governing Board that will be responsible for the approval of annual operatives plans and budget of the Authority and review the quarterly performance of the Authority, including statement of accounts of money’s disbursed from the funds of the Authority. The Minister for Special Development Initiatives therefore plays only a supervisory role over the Development Authorities and, thus, does not execute their projects and programmes directly. Accordingly, out of the over GH¢1 billion that is at issue, only GH¢1.5 million is available to the Ministry directly; the rest of the amount is only an appropriated ceiling made available in the 2018 Budget for the three Development Authorities to validate, properly budget with, plan and execute their on-ground projects, once established. The Development Authorities would be required by the Public Management and Financial Act (PFMA) to adhere to strict procedure as outlined by the law, and which aims to prevent wastage and dissipation of public funds.

3. The matter of whether or not the Development Authorities Concept will amount to wasteful administrative expenditure

The establishment of the three Development Authorities is to ensure a bottom-up approach to development, which takes control of local development away from a central authority. With the establishment of the three development authorities, part of the yearly national allocation for capital expenditure, will be taken and directly allocated to all 275 constituencies across the country to be administered by the Development Authorities to ensure that the traditional inefficiencies of centralized capital expenditure is cured. The balance of GH¢1.198 billion has now been approved for the Authorities to develop projects with and expend accordingly commencing with the 2018 budget. The establishment of the Development Authorities to administer expenditure of the equivalent of $1 million per constituency was a specific manifesto commitment of the ruling New Patriotic Party, as amplified by several pronouncements of its presidential ticket in the 2016 election campaign, and government is determined to implement to the letter this vision which will ensure equitable distribution of amenities and opportunities to every community up and down the country.

4. Protecting the Public Purse

Now that appropriation is complete, there are enough safeguards to ensure that value for money audits are conducted at each procurement stage when the Development Authorities are established and commence their work. The Public Financial Management Act requires processing such as issuance of commencement certificates (which require benchmarking of projected expenditures). The Procurement processes additionally require value for money assessments. The processes for releasing funds at the Finance Ministry since 2017, in strict accordance with the PFMA have been extremely diligent leading to huge savings to the public purse this year, a reason for which government has been accused for not spending enough. The processes will continue to remain extremely disciplined in 2018 and beyond, and are the ones that really determine how safe the public purse is.

5. Conclusion

Whilst we acknowledge that such public scrutiny, especially of budgets, helps to ensure the protection of the public purse, we would urge, especially media practitioners, to focus on the official final appropriations, as well as what the actual processes are, including the inherent checks and safeguards therein. Sweeping statements and categorizations which are not informed by the actual official processes and amounts, will lead to flawed analysis, which is unhelpful to Ghanaian democracy.
……signed……

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid

(Minister for Information)

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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“The Ministry for Special Development Initiatives should not have existed in the first place. We could have saved GhC300 million of that budget if we had allowed the other ministries to do the things in the budget,” he argued.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WiQ2yysCma2esvdIRKvG54GI8MtLBSe4″]The Ministry requested for about GHc1 billion to undertake a number of projects including warehouses, boreholes, procurement of ambulances and vehicles, among other things.

The revelation of a GHc800, 000 budget request for the creation of a website has caused public uproar, with the Minority calling on the sector Minister to resign.

Although government has since attempted to clarify that the GHc800,000 for website was a typographical error, many believe it was an attempt to fleece the national coffers.

Speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Franklin Cudjoe said most of the projects the embattled ministry is requesting funds for are the work of other ministries and hence, it should not have been created in the first place.

“If you look at the expenditure of this ministry, it seems to be the amalgamation of other ministries,” said.

The December 22 edition of The Big Issue saw members of the panel review President Akufo-Addo’s first year in office.

The first year of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has been rocked by a number of corruption allegations including the BOST contaminated fuel scandal, allegations of corruption by A-Plus against the two deputy chiefs of staff, allegations of conflict of interest against the Finance Minister over the issuance of a Bond, and recently the allocation of GHc800,000 for the creation of a website for the Special Development Ministry.

Franklin Cudjoe used the opportunity to advice President Akufo-Addo to be wary of the corruption allegations that have rocked his administration saying they are likely to sink him.

“There is a perception of people that may eventually sink the administration if they don’t take care. That has been the trajectory in the past. One year of Akufo-Addo’s administration, the macroeconomic indicators look good…but I think if they don’t take care, these allegations of corruption, most of which are emanating from their own camp will be the ones that will sink them,” he added.

Embattled Special Dev’t Ministry engages Zoomlion to distribute recycling machines

In another development, it has emerged that the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives has entered into a contract with the Zoomlion Ghana Limited to distribute plastic recycling machines to some districts in the country.

A letter signed by the sector minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson and sighted by citifmonline.com indicated that District Chief Executives (DCEs) in areas selected to benefit from the program were to allocate land areas for the project.

“The Ministry of Special Development Initiatives, in order to realize the Government’s vision to transform rural and urban communities, identified sanitation as one of its priority areas. This aims at instituting proper sanitation and waste management system, which will improve health and the general living standards of the people,” it said.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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