Accra, Jan. 26, GNA - A pressure group, which says its membership comprises people with diverse political backgrounds, civil society members and individuals without political affiliation on Monday advised the government to ignore the suggestions of the World Bank on the Ghanaian economy and go ahead to fulfil its campaign promises.
The group calling itself the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), said it seemed President John Evans Atta Mills' government intended to be "an obedient tool" in the hands of the World Bank and its sister institution and cautioned that this would be bad for the country. Mr. Godfred Odamey, a private legal practitioner, who spoke on behalf on the group at the press conference, pointed out that the ordinary Ghanaian would be hurt by the measures being proposed by the World Bank.
"The World Bank would have sounded sincere if they had advised that in view of the drop in crude oil prices, the government should reduce fuel prices.the Bank has rather advised the NDC government to reduce pro-poor expenditure," he said.
Mr. Odamey said the Bank, prior to its report to President Atta Mills on January 3, which said the economic situation was worrisome, had on September 5, 2007 praised former President John Agyekum Kufuor's administration saying: "With a clear momentum and good policy fundamentals, it is now clear that Ghana is in the middle of a major acceleration in economic growth."
AFAG, which said it existed to seek greater accountability in public life, said the World Bank was proposing to the NDC government that real wages of the public sector should remain where they were for the next three years, there should be complete removal of all electricity subsidies in Ghana within three years and a complete restoration of petroleum tax reduction offered by the past government in May 2008.
The group therefore cautioned the NDC administration that they had no excuse not to deliver on their responsibilities to the people saying a budget deficit of 13.4 per cent equivalent to GHc 1.34 billion cannot be an excuse for the government to do any of the things the World Bank was asking them to do.
Mr Odamey said: "No government starts with a fresh slate as the NDC administration is asking for.the NDC government is inheriting a net international reserve of 1.5 billion dollars from the former NPP government."
He said the NDC had a duty to add to existing social interventions and development projects like the National Health Insurance Scheme, National Youth Employment Programme, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, National Identification Scheme, Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme, Metro Mass Transit, subsidies on electricity and water and significant increases in wages for Ghanaian workers. Mr Odamey called on all Ghanaians to join in ensuring that government did not withdraw any of the social programmes or infrastructural projects the last government began. Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, former government spokesman on Finance, who is also a member of the group, said AFAG was not asking to NDC or government to disengage completely from the World Bank since Ghana was a shareholder of the Bank. However, the government should manage the relationship with the Bank such that the ordinary Ghanaian benefited in the long run.
