Today in History: ‘Government is not sleeping’ – Dr. Stephen Amoah on rising cost of living

Member of Parliament for the Nhyiaeso Constituency, Dr. Stephen Amoah, in June 20, 2022 noted that government was working assiduously to address the rising cost of living in the country.

He called on stakeholders to help government deal with the issue.

Read the full story originally published on June 20, 2022 by www.ghanaweb.com.

Member of Parliament for the Nhyiaeso Constituency, Dr. Stephen Amoah, has stated that in his opinion, government is working to address the current rising cost of living in the country.

According to him, government is doing its best but all stakeholders need to come on board to deal with the issue.

He also added that these issues should not be tackled politically.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, the legislator intimated that Ghana’s problems have compounded for almost 40 years thus government alone cannot solve them.

“The problem we’re having today, any honest person will tell you, it’s not today’s issue. It’s been with us [for] years. So, I’m preaching to every stakeholder who has what it takes to come on board and let us all make sure [to help]. Sometimes we get it wrong and right, [but]we’re all helping."

"At present, it’s on the government, and I don’t think the government is sleeping. The fact is, [we] have 40-year-old problems”, he said.

Dr Amoah added, “If we sat there and our population size has grown from Nkrumah’s time from about 5 million to about 31 million; if you have a situation where just close to 7% [of people] directly in the formal sector pay taxes, and we’re having negative effective tax wage, and these problems have been compounded for years, the government alone [cannot solve them]”.

On the side of government's spending, the MP believes more could be done.

“There are basic issues we need to check such as our discretionary spending and as government; we should be able to now go down. Even though the government said we’ve cut down by 20%, well accepted. But we can do more”, he added.

The latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service showed that Ghana's inflation hit 27.6% in May 2022. This resulted in a hike in the prices of goods and services.

Ghanaians are lamenting the high cost of living in the country since their incomes have remained unchanged.