Government under severe pressure - Rickets Hagan

One of the major challenges of every government in the country in an election year is about ensuring that expenditure of government does not exceed the approved budget.

Speaking to Peace Fm's Emmanuel Akorli on the issue, the MP for Cape Coast South, Hon Kweku Ricketts-Hagan said: "reducing budget overrun in an election year is a critical issue".

He said one way by which the government can keep expenditure within the budget in an election year is to prioritize projects which are carried out.

Hon Ricketts- Hagan, however, said one major challenge the NPP government will face in this situation is how to handle its numerous unfulfilled campaign promises.

"....the NPP is under severe pressure with regard to the campaign promises," he stated.

Year of Roads

While expressing disagreement with the NPP government over the declaration of 2020 as a year of roads, he urged the Electoral Commission to ensure violent-free elections in December.

"Why should the government wait till after three years of its tenure before deciding to take action on the bad state of roads in the country?....but above all, Ghana must have a peaceful, free, fair and credible election this year and the Electoral Commission has a major role to play," he added.

Akufo-Addo Pledges To Avoid Overspending

President Nana Akufo-Addo expects Ghanaians to appreciate the measures his administration hopes to put in place during the 2020 election year to avoid overspending.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Akufo-Addo said the government will be guided by the Fiscal Responsibility Law in a bid to overcome recent election year trends.

“We take the view that assuming that we win and the economy is in disarray, that means that all the work that we did will have to be redone,” President Nana Akufo-Addo said.

He added that “it is better for us to maintain the discipline and accept that the Ghanaian people have a very clear understanding of what is required to be done for us to make the progress that we need to make.”

Ghana has been known to exceed its budget deficit targets by significant amounts in election years.

For the last election year in 2016, Ghana’s budget deficit target was 5.3 percent but the deficit widened to 7.8 percent.