It's your mismanagement, not coronavirus that has affected our economy - Ato Forson to govt

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, has stated that coronavirus was not the cause of the country's economic hardships but the mismanagement of resources by the the government is to blame.

According to him, the inability of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to properly manage the country’s resources, has led it to the stage of hardship it is experiencing today, reports myjoyonline.com.

He added that with statistics on the country’s public debt, the public debt increased from 56% to 76% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during President Akufo-Addo’s first term in office.

Also, he hinted that in the year 2020, an amount of 55.34% of the country’s tax revenue was used for the purposes of paying interest on borrowed money, which he said, was 46.22% in 2019, before the coronavirus.

“Mr. Speaker, how can anybody just turn around and come and blame Covid? The problem is not Covid, the problem is mismanagement that is what the problem is. It is your mismanagement that has created the mess and you cannot blame Covid,” he said.

The Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam made these comments on the floor of Parliament during the debate of the budget that was presented before it by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the caretaker Finance Minister, on Thursday, March 11, 2021.

As part of his presentation of the budget, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu announced government’s decision to introduce new levies to help restore the economy following the impact of the coronavirus on the economy.

He also indicated that the new levies proposed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a way to lure the general public into paying for the overwhelming debt of the country.

“Mr. Speaker, today we are confronted with a situation of government saddling us with public debt - public debt to the extent that we have to pay with the option that Ghanaians must pay in the form of taxes,” he explained.

He further stated that the proposed taxes by the government are too harsh and is likely to impose hardship on Ghanaians.

“Today they have introduced taxes all of us are worried about, the ordinary Ghanaian is complaining because the taxes are so harsh,” he said.