The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta,  in announcing the proposal while presenting the 2018 budget and policy statement to Parliament on Wednesday, November 15, mentioned that for industry, government is looking at a 21 percent reduction.

[contextly_sidebar id=”spxiyMx9v7PudNFBDywO0HihscMc05b2″]The Minister said recommendations are going to be made to the PURC in this regard, which will bring a little more relief to businesses and domestic users of electricity.

Speaking on Eyewitness News however, Mr. Iddrisu questioned the possibility of this move, saying that the reduction will not be any significant, even if the PURC eventually approves the proposal.

Citing examples to support his claim, Mr. Iddrisu recalled that the previous administration [NDC] faced stiff opposition from Organised Labour when it introduced a similar proposal through the Energy Sector Levy.

“We have been there before. When we increased the Energy Sector Levy which affected increases in electricity tariffs , I presided over the resolution where Organised Labour protested vehemently over the matter and I do know the advice we got from experts from the PURC and what can be done. ..I am saying let not people smile at a reduction which probably will be negligible or insignificant.”

Incomplete budget

Mr. Iddrisu also raised issues with the budget, describing it as incomplete document awash with unreliable promises.

According to him, the budget did not have estimates of a “real budget”, considering the fact that it failed to mention specific amounts allocated to various Ministries.

“I don’t think the document I had is a complete document. It is incomplete. He is laying a document which did not have estimates which is the real budget. I asked for instance how much allocation he is giving to the Ministry of Health and it was not provided in the copy that I had.”

“As leaders, we were given copies and I can say that what is conspicuously lost is the real budget of the estimates and sector by sector allocation.”

He also wondered how feasible government’s promise to provide 100,000 jobs for graduates was, given that the public sector is “over bloated.”

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

The post Don’t smile yet over ‘insignificant’ electricity tariff reduction – Haruna appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking at a round-table discussion to assess the economy ahead of the 2017 budget statement to be delivered on Wednesday, Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, said figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), points to this fact, and might come to pass if nothing is done to forestall it.

[contextly_sidebar id=”a9v98J0vcKCFdLBUT46tmZ5c8x7yf15V”]“How can you create jobs under severe austerity under fiscal consolidation? The budget deficit in IMF article 4 is projected to be 3.8, so ladies and gentlemen, next year, let us be assured that there will be severe austerity equivalent to 1983. How can you create jobs when you have mandated the central bank to pursue tight monetary policy? How can you create jobs when the real sector, the non-oil GDP, is projected to grow in 2018 almost at the same level as 2016?”

“We believe that unfortunately, government’s economic policy for 2018 will bring about severe hardship and Ghanaians must be well informed,” he added.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is expected to present to Parliament the 2018 budget on Wednesday.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had revealed that the 2018 budget statement and fiscal policy will focus largely on job creation and also announce a downward review of electricity tariffs.

But even before the budget is read, the Minority has warned against any “419” budget, and further chastised government’s management of the economy citing the country’s rising public debt stock as a situation that can take Ghana back to HIPC [heavily indebted poor countries] by the end of 2019.

Cassiel Ato Forson, also said contrary to what the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised Ghanaians while in opposition, they have done virtually nothing to keep to their promise of holding the country’s debt stock in check.

“When the Energy Bond and the UT/Capital Bank bond is added, the Debt-to-GDP will rise to 76.8 percent from 72.5 [inherited from the previous government]. Ghana is heading towards HIPC. Ladies and gentlemen don’t be surprised if, by the end of 2019, we are declared HIPC,” Ato Forson who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam constituency added.

Ato Forson further warned the government to desist from its intention to tax mobile money transactions as it would hit the country’s many poor folks the hardest.

“Ghanaians expect a reduction in the corporate income tax rate from 25 percent to 20% to be included in the 2018 budget statement. It is our expectation that government will follow through with the firm promise that they made and we hope that we are not going to see another 419 budget,” the Minority spokesperson on Finance added.

About ‘83 famine in Ghana

Ghana experienced severe famine especially in 1983 resulting from a combination of events – natural, human and political—which occurred over a two-year period.

The famine which began in 1982 continued until the end of 1983.

In its 1983 Budget, the PNDC moved Ghana away from Kwame Nkrumah’s socialist economic philosophy towards Busia and Danquah’s capitalist free market philosophy that the government railed so much against at its inception.

The PNDC proceeded to implement an IMF supported Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). A major plank of the SAP was the rehabilitation and provision of physical infrastructure to help improve productivity.

The economy responded positively and output increased. GDP growth, which was negative and declining in the three years before the SAP, recorded a remarkable recovery to register an average of some 5.0 percent per annum between 1984 and 1991.

Macroeconomic stability was also restored between 1984 and 1991 and the stability was not attained at the expense of growth. Inflation declined from some 122 percent in 1983 to 10.0 percent by 1991 reflecting fiscal discipline.

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

The post Ghanaians may witness 1983 hardship in 2018 – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“We are demanding that he should, immediately, on his own volition resign as a minister and quit from Parliament, failing which the President must sack him to show his revulsion against such ethnocentric tribal bigotry,” the Sagnarigu Member of Parliament, A. B. A Fuseini stated in a Citi News interview.

Mr. Quaitoo has since apologized after suggesting farmers in the northern part of the country could not be trusted on claims about the destruction wreaked by the Fall Armyworm on their farms.

He intimated that the complaints and calls for compensation were simply a ploy to fleece the government of some money.

But in his apology, the Deputy Minister said he meant to say “some farmers can be difficult as it is with all regions” and that the losses by farmers will be needed to be verified before the government could act on their complaints.

A livid Mr. Fuseini said he would not accept the apology as he feels the damage from the minister’s “repulsive” comments has already been done to millions of people.

“The people of the three northern regions have been grossly insulted… he has painted us a bunch of unreasonable people who cannot even understand and appreciate normal discourse then he goes on on the basis of that to say that we are untrustworthy people for perpetrating fraudulent activities, making false claims and stealing monies from state coffers.”

He said this was especially painful because the farmers only complaint “is that their farms have been devastated by fall armyworms and that government, which has a duty to help them must look at their face.”

But their pleas culminated in “a collective insult of the entire region,” Mr. Fuseini lamented.

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By: Umaru Sanda Amadu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Minority to Deputy Agric Minister: ‘Resign for insulting Northerners’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The governing New Patriotic Party in its 2016 manifesto promised to set up such controversial office to fight corruption in the country.

Although the document for the creation of the office was laid before Parliament it was later withdrawn after the Minority challenged the procedure in which the Bill was laid, claiming it was unconstitutional.

[contextly_sidebar id=”GsU773xJlB4vJ6HrOGibwv8YtHujLHJ0″]The Bill is however yet to re-laid before the House.

Meanwhile, addressing members of the NPP at the party’s National Delegates Conference at Cape Coast, President Akufo-Addo said he won’t abandon such office in his quest to triumph over corruption.

“The institute for dealing with corruption in a non-partisan, objective and impartial manner; the office of the Special Prosecutor, there will be a lot of parliamentary moves to try and delay its coming into being. But I want to tell those who are interested in dealing it is that it will come.”

“It will be manned by those who are capable of doing justice to the office and those who are committed to fight against corruption in the country,” he added.

Every corruption allegations will be investigated – Akufo-Addo

The President also promised to prosecute officials of his government accused of corruption.

According to him, the move is part of promise he made that he will not preside over a corrupt government.

President Akufo-Addo also stated that persons who make allegations of corruption against his officials should also be prepared give evidence when called upon.

“We are told that there is corruption in the Akufo-Addo government. Let me reassure you of one thing. Any allegation about corruption against any official member of my government will be investigated by the law enforcement agencies. And those who made that allegation better be prepared to support it when they are making these allegations of corruption because nobody is going to get away with it.”

“I am not going to preside over a government that will support corruption in our country. Every allegation of corruption that is made against any of my officials, I have given instructions to the law enforcement agencies that they should investigate each and every one of them,” he added.

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

The post Special Prosecutor office will surely be created – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Alhaji Muntaka said their exemption was indicative of the fact that these portfolios were not considered priority areas by the President.

[contextly_sidebar id=”R06hYUhwKvgJmmSmDUbClI7JHDx0djEd”]“If they were, I don’t see why they would not be on the cabinet list,” the Asawase MP noted in a Citi News interview.

The President also excluded the Works and Housing, Communications, and Parliamentary Affairs Ministers from his Cabinet, while the Tourism, Special Development Initiatives and Regional Re-organisation, featured in the list of nineteen persons announced on the Floor of Parliament on Monday.

Alhaji Muntaka expressed particular concern about the absence of the Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, given the Akufo-Addo administration’s pledge to oversee the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

“You look at the issue of local development and the way it cuts across, and they don’t find representation in the Cabinet. They [Senior and Local Government Ministers] may be attending as participants, but it is surprising that for the first time, you don’t have the Local Government minister and the Senior Minister.”

“I know others who are not on it,but you could gloss over it; but to have two ministers of state on it yet you don’t have the senior minister and the local government ministers were a bit surprising,” the MP added.

On another level, Alhaji Muntaka also noted that, being a member of Cabinet, or not, was the difference between some key perks.

“It comes with salary, it comes with other conditions of service, it comes with participating at cabinet sub-meetings. It comes with a lot of influence. If you know the emolument structure and a number of things, you will know that for Cabinet ministers and non-Cabinet ministers, the weight allotted to them is different.”

The Cabinet is constituted in conformity with Article 76 (1) of the 1992 constitution. The Constitution enjoins the President to have a Cabinet of not less than 10 and not more than 19 ministers.

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

The post Exclusion of Local Gov’t minister from Cabinet worrying – Muntaka appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Minority, the first 100 days of the Akufo-Addo administration has seen several parties after the Presidential inauguration, and others associated with the Ghana@60 anniversary celebrations which are a drain on the state coffers.

Addressing the press, the Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, said the Akufo-Addo administration must honour its promise to protect the public purse by coming clean on the cost of the parties.

“We have seen evidence of how millions of taxpayer’s money was spent on these parties at which expensive drinks served included some that were customized with the President’s name on them. We call on the Akufo-Addo government to, in the name of transparency, make public the amount spent on these parties,” Mr. Avedzi asserted.

He further said the early indications from the government, given its actions within its first 100 days, point to the fact it cannot be trusted.

“Our resources will not be safe with such a large government that has voracious and elephantine appetite. We wonder how the NPP could so soon abandon the plight of the people and the platform on which they campaigned to climb to power,” Mr. Avedzi stated.

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

The post Declare cost of Nana Addo’s ‘lavish’ parties – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to them, the cuts in the sources of revenue for the government and the failure to appreciate fully the challenges that may confront the economic management style of the new government will affect the Akufo-Addo government’s choice of production over taxation.

Government announced its intentions to cut the budget deficit and improve revenue performance in 2017, aside the review and scraping of taxes and levies during its first budget statement.

But speaking to the media, the Deputy Minority Leader, James Avedzi, said the Finance Minister will be running back to Parliament with a downward review of its ambitious and unachievable targets during the mid-year budget review.

“They have the opportunity to come and review the targets in the mid-year. They indicated that in four months time they will come for a mid-year review. I was even teasing them on the floor saying, how can you present a budget in March and in July, and you are coming for a review. We know they cannot attain those targets in terms of revenue that they want to collect,” Mr. Avedzi opined.

The Deputy Minority Leader also downplayed the significance of abolishing import duty taxes on spare parts, as he explained that government had relinquished the stake it had it their trade.

“What they have done is to give money to the traders at Abbosey Okai market because who among us will know the components of the percentage price of spare parts we buy? We do not know. They will import these parts. They will not pay tax and they will sell at the price they want. We don’t have any mechanism to check them,” Mr. Avedzi stated.

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

The post Gov’t will miss 2017 revenue targets – Minority predicts appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In a statement signed by a number of Political Party Women Organizers, including the National Democratic Congress’ Haija Zenabu Mahama, the women said they were disgusted by the Minority’s conduct.

They expressed outrage over the lawsuit by two minority MPs against the minister, praying the court to nullify her nomination and swearing-in due to her failure to undertake the mandatory national service.

The group said Madam Djaba was subjected to a hostile vetting with “useless questions” adding that “we find as shocking, that after failing in their diabolical agenda of trying to prevent her from becoming a minister in Parliament, they have now proceeded to court wit a vexatious suit against her ministerial status.”

The Women further said that, the Minority MP’s case against Madam Djaba, held no substance as they were attacking her because she was principled, and a woman, after she refused to apologize for words directed at former President John Mahama, which were considered insults by some members of the Minority in Parliament.

“It is our firm conviction that these Minority MPs do not really have a genuine case against Hon Otiko. They have only ganged up to fight her because she has been principled and uncompromising in her position on issues. We also regret to say that they are fighting her because she is a woman, else, why are they not having issues with the other male ministers who probably gave them more difficult times that Hon. Otiko.”

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

The post Political party women Organizers slam Minority for ‘anti-Otiko agenda’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

There was a suggestion from the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo that government would consider reviewing the Petroleum Revenue Management Act to allow for the use of the Heritage Fund to finance the free SHS policy.

But the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta refuted the suggestion, saying government would be financing the free SHS policy without touching the Heritage Fund which is said to have under $300 million in it.

The minority in a statement signed by its Deputy Leader, James Afedzi, said the contradictions were an indication of confusion within the government hence its call to President Akufo-Addo to expatiate further.

“The statements of these two ministers clearly show there is total confusion in the new administration as to how their campaign promises will be funded. It is therefore not clear which of these two top minster of the NPP government is speaking the truth.”

“The Minority is, therefore, calling on his Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to come out and clarify the true position of his government. The minority wants him to tell Ghanaians whether his government will use or not use the Heritage fund for the SHS education.”

What Nana Addo said about Heritage Fund in 2011 as opposition leader

The then presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party-NPP and now President, Nana Akufo-Addo, on Thursday 3rd February, 2011, made the following statement in reaction to suggestions by the then ruling NDC to collateralize the oil revenue (Specifically Heritage Fund).

“He said; “The party supports the establishment of a Heritage Fund as proposed in the bill and encourages Parliament to provide the necessary precautions to ensure that its value is not eroded over time. It is important to remind ourselves that the principle underpinning the creation of a Heritage Fund is to provide for future generations whereas the principle of collateralize is to “make hay while the sun shines” or “to have your lunch and dinner at breakfast”.

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

The post Nana Addo must come clean on funding for free SHS – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.