The Majority in Parliament says the failure of the previous Mahama-led National Democratic Congress government to account for GH7 billion expenditure could result in punitive action against the country by the International Monetary Fund.
This was made known yesterday by Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Mark Assibey Yeboah, at a press conference organized by Majority who have warned that if figures were not reconciled with the right data from the previous government, the country could be sanctioned by the IMF.
It can be recalled that the International Monetary Fund in 2001 slapped a $39million fine on Ghana for misrepresenting the state of the economy. The penalty was over misinformation made by the previous government of Jerry John Rawlings for the period August 21 to December 31, 2000.
The press conference by the majority was in response to earlier attempts by the NDC minority to downplay claims by the Vice President that the previous government failed to account for GHC7 billion it spent while in office.
The Minority, Wednesday, rebutted the vice president’s claims, saying the GHC7 billion was used for part of the contract database and outstanding commitment, and did not constitute the conventional definition of arrears.
According to them, the GHC 7 billion expenditure was occasioned by a major initiative or reform on government contracts and expenditure, which is part of the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System project that the new administration is expected to continue implementing.
But, according to Dr Assibey Yeboah, who is also the MP for Juaben South, the Mahama-led NDC government had not been truthful in its dealings with the IMF.
“On the face of the reality that the arrears date back to 2014, then it will suggest that when the previous administration entered into negotiations with the IMF, full disclosure of data was not made available to the fund,” the MP insisted.
He added, “Again, on account that arrears for 2015 and 2016 were not fully disclosed, that raises further questions on the integrity of data that we have been churning out over the past eight years.”
The Chairman of the Finance Committee pointed out that the majority had information with regards to a budget deficit on cash basis of 8.5 to 9.5 per cent of the GDP. He added that the new uncovered arrears could put the overall budget deficit at 10 to 11 per cent of GDP.
He stated that with an economy with a size of $41.5 billion, the current deficit numbers showed that in 2016 alone the expenditures far exceeded revenues by as much as $4.0 billion.
Dr Assibey Yeboah was of the view that the IMF stood in a better position to make some of these issues clear.
“As to whether this represents a breach of the ECF programme conditionality, we will know by next week when the mission chief is expected to brief donors on his findings. Under the programme, the government is not allowed to accumulate arrears. This may yet represent another serious breach of the programme and if care is not taken, punitive actions could be taken against Ghana,” he warned.
Source: The New Statesman
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Simple solution, bill all members of the economic management team for any penalty that imf might charge us. The ex deputy Minister of economics was all over the place coining phrases and abbreviations for this mess. It's good to let Ghanaians know the mess left behind by Ndc. Why should npp treat this quietly? 7 billion cedis is not a joke.
Granting that this is true, should it be our own government to tell IMF what to do (i.e. self-reporting and clamoring for sanctions)? Is there any sense that PNP did not resolve this quietly but make all that noise merely to shame NDC? As the age goes, 'obi insi nentomago nhata abonten. We should have better sense than this.
So the chicken are coming home to roast for Ghanaians because remember before and during the elections; we were told by Jon Mahama that they have done exceptionally well in infrascture developments which surpasses even Kwame Nkrumah ; Jon Mahama told Ghanaians how these projects around the country were all unprecedented in the annals of Ghana ; what Ghanaians did not know was that it was ALL BLATANT LIES And ALTERNATIVE TRUTHS and propaganda by the NDC and by Jon Mahama all they did was build on a government based on falsehood and fraud ; sharing contracts with his wife and cronies and constructing irrelevant infrascture ; how could you construct an overhead costing $30 million at circle whilst the real cost of the project cost $15 million besides what was the benefit of such project to a farmer living far away at B/A or the North; upon all these over estimated projects the NDC in their ***barred word*** and falsehood fail to tell the IMF the very people who were suppose to be of assistance to them; it is just like going to your doctor and telling your doctor or lawyer a pack of lies ; what do think if your doctor or lawyer discovers the UNTRUTHS; mine take is simple ; the IMF were aware of the gross under estimation of the figures because DR Bawumis raised the alarm but the IMF pretended and looked the other way because I am quite sure 'NKOFIO' changed hands ;what these unpatriotic NDC maggots did not realise was that officials of the IMF do not give a DAMM !!!!!!!about Ghana ; you give them 'Nokofio' but they know you shall be found out and you shall pay them again !!!!!!!; you see HOW STOOOOOOPID THE AFRICAN MIND WORKS !!!!!!; the IMF is not a charity and like any Bank will seek to lend you money if they think you will have to pay not if you can pay ; this is really EMBARASSING FOR JON MAHAMA !!!!!!!how could you plunge Ghana into such debts under a sole sourcing regime !!!!!!!THIFFS AND MAGGOTS !!!!!
In my opinion people should be punish for negligence of duty. The deputy finance minister was defending the corrupt practice and in this case he should be made to face the law since he knew this and did not disclose to the IMF. We need money to pay for the Nursing and teacher training allowance. We should be serious as a nation for once. Kuffour shield these evil people and we all know what they did to him with the help of some Ga youth.