The Minority caucus held a press conference today after the 2022 mid-year budget review t, this was done to address and critically assess key areas of the review and point areas of their concern to the press and Ghana as a whole. The Minority Group in Parliament declared that the 2022 mid-year budget review given in Parliament today by Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta failed to provide real sort of relief to Ghanaians and there is no hope for the business sector.
They claimed that the minister fell short of offering hope and a clear route for how the government intends to safeguard the public from rising living costs, increase operational costs of doing business in Ghana , and abject poverty affecting the citizenry.
The spokesperson for the NDC caucus was the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu; during the press he stated “With the mid-year review statement by the Minister of Finance, I cannot see any respite, see my way clear and cannot see any hope clear for the suffering Ghanaian people who expected that today’s statement at least will offer them some respite because of the rising living and the rising cost of doing, persons affected by extreme,” the Minority Leader said.
Haruna Iddrisu, remarked on the floor of Parliament Monday [July 25, 2022] in response to the mid-year budget review by Minister of Finance. He drew the Speaker attention to government position on E levy he said, “Mr Speaker, conspicuously missing in this statement is the failure of the minister to tell us returns of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) and what is its disappointing performance,”
The Minority Leader informed the House that, according to page 21 of the minister's review statement, Mr Ofori-Atta was seeking to change the interest payment from GH37.4 billion (7.5 percent of GDP) to GH41.3 billion (7.0 percent of GDP), a development for which the Minority intended to raise procedural issues to guide the House.
"Mr Speaker, is this a case in which a simple remark from the Minister of Finance authorizes him to change appropriation?" he said, pointing out that the current Appropriation Act only granted the minister a mandate for GH37 billion.
He also called the House's attention to Article 179 (8) of the Constitution, which states that "Where it is found in respect of a fiscal year that the amount of money allotted by the Appropriation Act for any purpose is inadequate."
"So, when we authorized the appropriation, this objective was GH37 billion, not GH41 billion," he explained.
He stated that if a need arose for spending for which no funds had been allotted, such as the cost of living allowance (COLA) of 15%, the Finance Minister should bring before Parliament additional estimates indicating the amount necessary for approval.
Mr Iddrisu accused the Minister of Finance of cultivating the desire to reintroduce road tolls through the backdoor in order to collect the cost of the lifespan of new roads on page 31 of the mid-year budget review statement.
“To Ghanaians, do not be disappointed as this is what you opted for and this is what you have, “he concluded
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