Flagbearer hopeful of the NPP, Alan Kyeremanten
The flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alan Kyeremanten, has shared his vision of running a downsized government, with a shifted focus towards private sector participation in the development of the country when given the nod.
He said this in a video posted by Accra-based Metro TV.
According to the former Minister for Trade and Industry, the current government spends more than half of its revenue paying public sector wages and servicing debt which leaves it with nothing to take care of other infrastructural development projects it has promised.
“The elephant in the room, downsizing government, I don’t need to preach to you about this, you be preaching to me. The architecture of the government has been overhauled. You know how much money we are spending even on public sector wages; over half of our revenue goes into that and an additional 30% goes into the servicing of our debt, so effectively you are left with less than 10% of your revenue to finance capital expenditure, how are you going to run the country?,” he asked.
Among other things, the former Trade Minister advised that governments must move away from thinking that it can fund infrastructural development in the country, rather it should create a conducive environment for the private sector to assist.
“Governments must move away from thinking that they can finance infrastructure in this country, with which budget. You don’t have money and you want to build roads, As I keep on telling them, that can’t happen.
“So, give the incentives to the private sector, they know where to go and bring the money and when they do, you have to support them with the regulation with the toll roads to do a,b,c and you will find the level of infrastructure development that can go on in the next two to three years,” he stated.
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