Mid-year budget empty to the NDC because they were looking for negatives – Okyem Aboagye

Member of Parliament for Bantama , Daniel Okyem Aboagye, has expressed shock that some minority members in parliament have described the mid-year budget statement presented to parliament by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, on Thursday July 23 , as empty.

He said the budget is full of hopes for the ordinary Ghanaian and businesses in general and that it is empty only in the minds of the minority who, he said, were just looking for negatives in the financial statement. It is recalled that soon after the budget statement was read by the Finance Minister, Member of Parliament of Ejumako Enyan Essiam, Casiel Ato Forson said the budget was depositing because in his view it was empty.

He told journalists that : “I am disappointed as a Ghanaian and I am disappointed in the Akufo-Addo government. I say this because the mid-year review that was presented to us was very empty.

“There was nothing in it for the ordinary Ghanaian for us to be happy about. Rather, we are receiving some major shocks to the extent that we are hearing for the first time that government has spent or intends to spend GH¢11.1 billion on coronavirus expenditure alone without giving us breakdown of what the money has been used for,”

“This is sad and unacceptable. We thought the Minister would use this golden opportunity to provide us with some breakdown of what the money has been used for. Unfortunately, it is all Bible quotations and nothing in the budget,” Mr Ato Forson said.

But Speaking in an interview with TV3’S Johnnie Hughes, Mr Okyem Aboagye said : “It is unfortunate to hear our friends from the other side , the alternative government or the opposition party to say that this mid-year budget review is empty.

“It is only empty in the eyes of those who are looking for the negatives, not the ordinary Ghanaian that is going to get water for free for three months , not business that are going to be supported with about 2.2 billion Ghana cedis support in terms of guarantees, not people whose businesses are going to be kept because government is intervening , not those people that are going to, in the future, benefit because government is going to set up a unemployment insurances scheme to help support those who may end up losing their jobs, not for the business that ultimately will benefit from the 100million proposal that is being put forward .

“So I wonder what they (minority) are looking at.

“I am not surprised because for many of our friends from the other side everything is impossible, free SHS was impossible for them until 20 yrs. There are too many doubting Thomas’s among them.”