‘Family and friends’ will pocket $1.61bn of Ghana’s eurobond – Adongo

A member of the National Democratic Congress economic and finance team, Isaac Adongo, has criticised the level of borrowing by the government, indicating a chunk of the current 3 billion dollar-eurobond secured will end up in people’s pocket.

He stated the era where government borrowed to undertake infrastructural development for the benefit of the people was over as the Akufo-Addo government has moved shifted the gear into borrowing to consume.

Delivery a public lecture on what they NDC deemed to be the true picture of the economy, Mr Adongo posited “”We cannot go on the path of building up debt and not having anything to show for it”

“If you take 2019; the 3 billion [dollar] they borrowed 2 billion [dollars] is for the budget, only 390 million [dollars] will be spent on capital expenditure. 1.61 billion dollars will go into family and friends,” he claimed.

Already, he said they have started consuming the money on kenkey and fish party under the guise of celebrating economic hat-trick.

He expressed regrets that the today’s children who will be the ones to pay for this bond in the next 29 years, will have nothing to show for it.

“Ghana has moved from an era where we were borrowing to build into our future,” he observed.

Mr Adongo who is a member a member of the Finance Committee of Parliament indicated that of the 750 million dollars borrowed by the Akufo-Addo government in 2018, only 119 million dollars was spent on capital expenditure while a whopping 631 million dollars went into consumption.

“When we were borrowing to create prosperity for children yet unborn, when we were borrowing to build the ridge hospital they said we were incompetent, when we borrowed to build terminal three they said we were incompetent when we borrowed to build regional hospitals in the country they said we were incompetent. Now that they are borrowing to pay for kenkey and fish, what will it be?,” he asked.

Describing the borrowing to consume approach of the current government as “disturbing,” the financial consultant asked Ghanaians to “wake up” because that approach cannot be sustained.