budget statement to be withdrawn<\/a>\u00a0arguing that\u00a0<\/span>the government had reviewed some key economic targets without recourse to the House.<\/p>\nA former deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, had said that “the Minister responsible for Finance cannot revise the expenditures and revenue without parliamentary resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said the government\u2019s budgetary allocation for the Nation Builders’ Corps was \u201cnothing to write home about.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted that the Minority\u2019s calculations indicated that, each of the 100,000 youth to be recruited under the program, would receive a little over GH\u00a2400, which is woefully inadequate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. 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\u2019re 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n2018 budget<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n‘Go to court’<\/strong><\/p>\nHowever, the Majority, unperturbed by the concerns that had been raised by their colleagues, dared the Minority to go to court\u00a0if they remain convinced that the 2018 Budget breaches the laws of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we pass an appropriation, we say that \u2018spending not exceeding\u2019, 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\u2019s Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah said at the time.<\/p>\n
Deputy Finance Minister,\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019s actuals is a very strange proposition.<\/p>\n
\u201c You do your budget on the basis of \u2018actuals\u2019 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,\u201d Mr. Kwarteng argued.<\/p>\n
About the 2018 budget<\/strong><\/p>\nKen Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, November 15, 2017, presented the Akufo-Addo government\u2019s 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament.<\/p>\n
The budget highlighted results from the government\u2019s policy programmes over the past few\u00a0months,\u00a0 and announced the government\u2019s planned developmental programmes for the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Among the major programs to be rolled out by the government in 2018, are tax reliefs for private universities,\u00a0tax holidays for young entrepreneurs, proposed\u00a013% to 21% reduction in electricity tariff<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for residential consumers, the establishment of\u00a0nation-building corps and operationalization of the Special Prosecutors\u2019 office.<\/p>\nThe budget, christened the \u2018Adwuma Budget\u2019\u00a0 focuses mainly on revenue mobilization through strict tax collection modules and job creation.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Edwin Kwakofi & Duke Mensah Opoku\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parliament has approved the 2018 budget and financial policy statement of government, presented by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to the House in November. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":374129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,11],"tags":[11511,3448,3],"yoast_head":"\n
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