We won’t tolerate corruption – Ken Ofori Atta

The Finance minister-designate, Ken Ofori Atta, is encouraging investors seeking to do business in Ghana to report any act of corruption they may encounter in the process of getting their businesses started.

Addressing a cross section of business operators at the Ghana-Morocco Economic Meeting, the yet- to- be- approved minister for finance, gave a strong warning to investors against engaging in any corrupt act as, “this is a country in which that (corruption) would not be tolerated”.

He said corruption is a major issue that the Akufo-Addo government is bent on tackling, since “it is sometimes 3-5 percent of GDP, in terms of cost”.

He went on to say that: “We’re going to run a government that is clean, and please report anything you find. It takes two people to do it; both the person coming in and the person here to receive it”.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT

Mr. Ofori Atta also announced that government would by the end of this year, introduce the fiscal Stability and Fiscal Responsibility Acts “just to ensure we stay within the ambit of sustainability and avoid excessive deficit”.

One of the issues that the NPP campaigned on ahead of the election last year, was the mismanagement of national resources by public officials.

Describing the fiscal regime under the previous government as weak, President Akufo-Addo promised to strengthen fiscal and financial stability through the establishment of institutional guidelines.

The government, said Mr. Ofori Atta, is committed to increasing revenues whilst ensuring that “our expenditures are value for money driven”. He expressed optimism that these acts when enforced after the approval of the 2017 budget which is to be presented to parliament in March, would safeguard the public purse”.

“To be able to have macro stability and to hold the currency, we as a government are going to subject ourselves to such an act and this act will then enjoin us to function within certain parameters which will not derail the economy”, he emphasised.

The Ghana- Morocco Economic Meeting was jointly organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and the Ghana Investment Promotion Center. It sought to boost the volume of trade between the two countries, which currently stands at USD 67 million.

Leader of the Moroccan Business Delegation to Ghana, Mrs. Miriem Bensalah-Chaqroun expressed confidence in the ability of the business communities in the two countries working together to improve the partnership between the two to mutually increase the growth of the private sector.