Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, has proposed ten spending reductions, including a postponement of the National Cathedral's construction in the face of an IMF bailout and labour unrest.
A prohibition on all presidential chartered jet travel, an immediate assessment of Ghana's end-of-service perks system, and the elimination of all ex-gratia payments for political and non-political recipients are all included in the cutbacks proposed by the opposition MP.
The CEO of the ridiculous non-existent Keta Port should be fired, and the outrageous 337 political appointees at the Office of the President should be cut by more than half, according to the president's request to "dramatically reduce the number of Ministers, abolish Deputy CEO positions, and terminate the CEO for the ridiculous non-existent Keta Port."
In response to an IMF bailout and debilitating labour agitations, these are the urgent spending reductions and practical steps I recommend:
1) Stop the government's illegal diversion of more than GHS200 million without parliamentary authorization for the $400 million National Cathedral project;
2) Save an estimated $100 million by renegotiating a deferred compensation with owners of destroyed houses near the National Cathedral;
3) prohibit all oligarchic presidential chartered jet travel, which over the past 13 months has cost struggling taxpayers more than GHS34 million;
4) Declare that all ex-gratia payments to political and non-political recipients would be discontinued and that the Ghanaian system for end-of-service benefits will be reviewed immediately;
5) Significantly cut the number of Ministers, eliminate the post of Deputy CEO, fire the CEO of the absurd Keta Port, which does not exist, and more than halve the obscene 337 political appointments at the Office of the President;
6) Discontinue vanity projects including the €116 million Accra International Conference Centre project, the Marine Drive Project, the Boankra Green Technology City, the Stadia for Abuakwa and Sunyani, Agenda 111, and the construction of new embassies in Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico;
7) Transfer monies from the government's extravagant GHS993 million contingency vote—an increase of 431.5 percent from 186 million in 2021—to other crucial areas, such addressing the COLA requests of afflicted Ghanaian employees;
8) Plans for the construction of new MPs' constituency offices should be abandoned by Parliament;
9) Put an end to all continuing shady and corrupt procurement procedures, especially in the Communications and Digitalization sector, where a cabal lead by Nigeria has essentially taken over all government contracts (further explanation of this will be provided shortly);
10) As shown in several Auditor-General Reports over the past ten years, the Executive, Legislature, and Civil Society Organizations should work together to launch an unique "Operation Retrieve and Recover" to recover billions of public dollars that have fallen into the wrong hands.