Governance is not about blame game – Mona Quartey to govt

A former Deputy Minister of Finance under the Mahama administration, Mona Quartey has told the Akufo-Addo administration to desist from blaming the woes of the Ghanaian economy on the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and also on previous administrations.

She said in a tweet that this administration promised Ghanaians that they were going to deliver on the economy therefore, they must focus on that.

In a tweet reacting to the budget statement for the 2021 fiscal year, she said “2021 Budget should have addressed Resilience, Collaboration and Accountability…Governance is a continuum, not a blame game. Suck it up guys and work clean, You said you could do better.”

A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Otchere Asare-Darko has called on all Ghanaians to accept the burden share concept in 2021.

He said this will ensure that the people reap together the benefits of defeating covid-19 and boosting growth.

“Akufo-Addo & his economic management team have steered Ghana’s economy thru the extraordinary difficulties of 2020."

“Let’s embrace the burden sharing concept of 2021 to reap together the benefits of defeating COVID-19 & boosting growth."

“Investor confidence is back. Ride with it,” the former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute said in a tweet.

This comes after the government introduced new taxes in the 2021 budget statement at a time Ghanaians are saddled with pandemic induced economic hardships.

The government introduced a COVID-19 Health Levy of a one percentage point increase in the National Health Insurance Levy and a one percentage point increase in the VAT Flat Rate to support expenditures related to Covid-19.

“To provide the requisite resources to address these challenges and fund these activities, government is proposing the introduction of a Covid-19 Health Levy of a one percentage point increase in the National Health Insurance Levy and a one percentage point increase in the VAT Flat Rate to support expenditures related to COVID-19,” the budget said.

The government received flak for these new taxes at a time scores of Ghanaians cost of living has gone up following the impact of the COVDI-19.

For instance, a financial analyst with Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, said the 2021 budget statement is not bold enough.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, March 13, Mr Jackson said “Nothing has changed. We are as broke as we were before Covid.”

He added “It is not bold enough. it is the easy way out because it only introduced taxes.”

But the Finance Minister Mr Ken Ofori Atta justified the introduction of the new taxes during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

Mr Ofori-Atta said “Not everything is gone up. We need to burden share, we need to move forward.”