Ghana Beyond Aid: 'Walk the talk' - Minority

The Minority in Parliament has urged President Nana Akufo-Addo to take action on his ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ mantra and desist from rhetoric.

This comes on the heels of the approval of a €13 million loan agreement in parliament on Wednesday, 21 March 2018.

The loan is meant to ensure adequate funds for the establishment of the Deposit Protection Fund with the view to protecting depositors from losses in the case of a bank collapse and also to support the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in protecting customers.

The agreement, which is between the Government of Ghana and Kreditanstalt Fur Wiedefraubau (KFW) Frankfurt, will be used to set up the Ghana Deposit Protection Corporation while the rest will be applied towards strengthening the BoG.

Presenting the committee’s report, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, said the loan will protect customers of financial institutions.

But Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said government should stop borrowing as it intensifies the Ghana Beyond Aid campaign.

“Ghana Beyond Aid means a Ghana which relies independently on its own resources including revenue to finance its development and not dance to grants … We must get serious as a country; what time frame are we talking about in relation to Ghana Beyond Aid? Is it 2030, 2040, 2045? We must have a time period to measure you. So you don’t go looking for grants, you cannot do that when you have declared Ghana Beyond Aid … When the Finance Minister comes to this House, I can mention 12 ministries, your budget is funded by donors between 25 to 70 per cent, that is not Ghana Beyond Aid ,” he said.

In a rebuttal, Deputy Majority Leader, Sarah Adwoa Safo, said the Ghana Beyond Aid campaign is to change the dependent mindset of the entire nation. She indicated that Ghana Beyond Aid “is a process and the earlier we start to believe that Ghana can live beyond aid the better”.

For her, government is creating the awareness, and “it does not mean it is an event which can happen in a day or two”.

She added that the loan agreement will go a long way to support the nation in ensuring that the Depositors Bill is implemented.