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Public expenditure control should not be pretext to deny entitlements

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 Source: GNA

Ho, Feb. 26, GNA - Mr Kofi Osei-Afoakwa, a Chartered Accountant has said that the government's desire to control public expenditure though laudable, should not be a pretext to deny the payment for legitimate entitlements and social services.

Mr Osei-Afoakwa was speaking at a forum on the 2004 budget organised by the Volta Region branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), at Ho on Tuesday.


He said the expenditure discipline envisaged in the budget was good "but if it is at the expense of social services then it leaves a question mark."


Mr Osei-Afoakwa, who is the Finance Officer of Ho-Polytechnic, asserted that the budget tended to perpetuate the disparity in funding the Universities vis-a-vis the Polytechnics, a situation which could further deepen the exodus of lecturers and other essential staff from the Polytechnics.


He said care should be taken in assessing revenue performance in the budget, especially the role of inflation and the depreciation of the cedi, which might give a misleading impression that revenues were appreciating.


Mr Osei-Afoakwa said while criticisms of the 5.2 percent growth envisaged might not be tenable, government should not lose sight of the fact that much of the growth would be influenced by the performance of the cocoa sector, which accounts for 16 percent of the projected growth and dependent on a favourable world price.

He said assertions that the country's increased cocoa output was due to cocoa smuggled from the Ivory Coast should not be dismissed, but rather be investigated with a view to isolating any increases from the smuggling of the produce in the determination of real domestic output.


Mr Osei-Afoakwa suggested that government should set up a fund from which sitting tenants of government low cost houses could purchase such houses over a period of time in order not to "perpetuate the tenancy of the poor."


He said the pursuit of the objective of using proceeds from the sale to build more houses should not be used to deny sitting tenants the opportunity to buy them.


Mr Osei-Afoakwa appealed to organised labour to tone down its demands on the government. Drivers and traders should likewise avoid arbitrary fare and price increases, while politicians should also be circumspect in their promises.


Mr D.K. Awunyo-Akaba, a Development Planner, said the acid test of the budget would be the extent to which it would be able to benefit the poor and the disadvantaged in the country.

He called on the District Assemblies to take advantage of provisions in the budget that were directed at rural enterprise development because over the years the assemblies had failed to make efficient use of such packages.


Dr Steve Manteaw, Director of ISODEC, said other segments of the Ghanaian public ought to lobby the government to ensure that their interests were reflected in future budgets. He said it was no surprise that the Association Of Ghana Industries (AGI) lauded the budget and stated categorically that it got what it lobbied for.


Dr Manteaw said the aim of ISODEC had been to help the citizenry to overcome their apathy to national budgets. Nana Oware Owusu V, An Assistant Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said it was important that discussions of the budget were geared towards achieving a national goal.

Source: GNA