Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, has described the 2014 budget as the “worse” budget ever in the history of the country.
According to him, the time and presentation of the 2014 budget itself was a strategic approach by government since many Ghanaians had their attention on the Black Stars qualification to the FIFA World Cup.
“2014 budget is probably the worse budget Ghana has ever had. Their (government) acrobatics and timing of the budget presentation really tells they don’t want people to talk about the budget because the timing of the budget statement was scheduled on the day Ghana was playing Egypt (World Cup qualifier).
“…They (government) knew the match was schedule on that day (same day Ghana played Egypt) and they could have rescheduled the presentation of the budget to another day but they chose that particular day,” he said.
The Finance Minister on Tuesday presented the 2014 Budget and Financial Statement to Parliament and disclosed that President John Mahama, Vice President Amissah-Arthur and government appointees had agreed a voluntary 10 percent pay cut.
He also announced the removal of taxes, which were imposed on condoms and other agricultural inputs in January this year, adding that the National Stabilization Levy will also be removed by June 2014. According to the Finance Minister, inflation rose from 10.1 in January to 13.1 in October 2013 due to fuel and utility tariff adjustment.
Hon. Seth Terkper added that government preferred the more efficient and reliable Value Added Tax system of raising money to fund its programmes and projects hence the decision to increase the VAT threshold by 2.5 percent.
But speaking on Asempa FM, outspoken Kofi Jumah also known in political circles as “Kofi Ghana” believes the whole 2014 budget is bogus. He also described the 10% pay cut of the President, Vice and his appointees as a “Joke” and ‘fraudulent”.
“10% pay cut is a joke and an attempt to deceive Ghanaians. In fact, it’s a 419 the government is playing on Ghanaians,” he said.
