Politics

The decision by President Akufo-Addo to make Mr Ken Ofori-Atta the Finance Minister would go a very long way to prolong his stay in office, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party has said.

According to Mr Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, the presence of Mr Ofori-Atta in this current administration has shown clearly that President Akufo-Addo has surrounded himself with competent people, unlike the “non-performing” ministers who made up former President Mahama’s government.

Mr Bernard Antwi-Boasiako popularly known as Chairman Wontumi explained that the 2020 budget statement presented by Mr Ken Ofori-Atta proved clearly that President Akufo-Addo’s government has put the plight of Ghanaians first and is a caring one.

Chairman Wontumi stated that “If Mahama had a competent minister like Ken Ofori-Atta to serve under him, he would have dropped on his knees and given thanks to God. You can’t even compare his non-performing ministers to the current ones serving under President Akufo-Addo.”

He continued that “President Akufo-Addo is fortunate to have a competent cousin by his side; if John Mahama had a competent cousin like Ken, he would have ruled Ghana for long but he has none”.

Finance minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta yesterday presented the 2020 budget statement to Parliament.

During the presentation, he praised the macroeconomic achievements of the current government stating that “our discipline and determination to stay focused has been recognized by our global partners namely the UN, World Bank and IMF to mention a few.”

In the year 2020, Mr Ofori-Atta stated that government will make a strong push on the under-listed priorities in order to consolidate the gains achieved within the last three years and to drive Ghana’s economic transformation forward in line with the

He touched on some of the vision of President Akufo-Addo to move Ghana beyond aid noting that “We will take a radical policy and institutional reforms towards raising our tax-to-GDP ratio over the medium term from under 13% currently to around 20 %.

The focus will be on efficiency and base broadening rather than imposing new taxes on Ghanaians and businesses,” he said.

“This way, we can raise our domestic contribution to our ambitious transformation agenda, in line with the Ghana Beyond Aid vision,” he said

On Business Regulatory Reforms he explained that a 3-year reform initiative, coordinated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), will be implemented to make Ghana one of the most transparently and efficiently regulated business environments in Africa.

“This will empower our local businesses and also help us realise our ambition of making Ghana the Gateway to Business in West Africa,” he said.

According to him, work is progressing steadily on preparations to realise government’s vision of establishing Ghana as a regional financial services centre in West Africa.

The Concept Note has been approved by the Government and work is ongoing to draft an International Financial Services (IFS) Bill for broader stakeholder consultations.

He also noted that government is aiming to use digitization to transform Ghana’s development path in line with the global realities of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

“We will continue the impressive achievements made over the last three years in using digitization to improve government services and make it more accessible to Ghanaians. We will also intensify efforts to support the development of Fintech and the knowledge economy in Ghana”, he said.

On the issue of Science and Technology, the Finance minister mentioned that it is the foundation for industrialization.

He added that government has therefore resolved to complement our advances in human capital in the education sector with a focused push to develop our national technological capability.

Source: Peacefmonline

The National House of Chiefs has rejected a proposal to amend Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution in order to make district assembly elections partisan.

In a statement signed by its President, Togbe Afede XIV, the House called on all Ghanaians to reject the proposal because it will destroy the local government system.

“The efficacy and utility of introducing partisan politics into the local government is questionable. The development implications of such reforms are by no means self-evident”, the National House of Chiefs said in a statement, adding: “The framers of the 1992 Constitution had good reasons for protecting our local government system from partisan politics, and the rationale for the new reforms has not sufficiently addressed the grounds for the exclusion”.

The chiefs said: “All the partisanship that resulted from the presidential appointment of the chief executives would be worsened with the amendment of Article 55(3) because the amendment itself is designed to introduce partisan politics into the election after the removal of the President’s power of appointment of the chief executives of the assemblies”.

“The House, based on the recommendation of its Legal Committee, strongly object to the proposal that membership of local assemblies should exclusively comprise representatives of political parties as in the case of Parliament. We are, therefore, advocating the outright rejection of the proposal to amend Article 55(3) of the Constitution”.

A few days ago, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) stated that the 17 December 2019 National Referendum is to enable citizens to vote on whether or not political parties should be allowed to sponsor candidates for district assembly or lower local government unit elections and not the election of Metropolitan Municipal District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

The referendum is to enable citizens to vote on the proposed amendment of Article 55 (3) of the 1992 Constitution that currently bars political parties from participating in District Level Elections (DLEs).

Article 55 (3) states that: “…Subject to the provisions of this Article, a political party is free to participate in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminate information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of a national character, and sponsor candidates for elections to any public office other than to District Assemblies or lower local government units”. This is an entrenched provision which can only be amended through a Referendum which per Article 290(4) can be approved when at least 40% of persons entitled to vote, vote at the referendum and at least 75% of the persons who vote cast their votes in favour of passing the bill.

As issued by Electoral Commission (EC), the Referendum question will appear on the ballot paper as: “Are you in favour of the Bill to amend Clause 3 of Article 55 of the 1992 Constitution to allow political parties to sponsor candidates for election to district assemblies or lower local government units?”

The electorate may vote YES (colour-coded Yellow) or NO (colour-coded Dark Brown). The amendment of Article 243 (1), a non-entrenched provision does not require a referendum. It states that: “…There shall be a District Chief Executive for every district who shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly present and voting at the meeting…” Parliament is currently in the process of amending this article to enable eligible citizens to elect their MMDCEs.

The outcome of the National Referendum will have either of the following outcomes: If the electorate votes YES, the election of MMDCEs, assembly and unit committee members in the near future will be on partisan basis. If they vote NO, then the election of these candidates for the local level elections will be on a non-partisan basis as being practised now.

The NCCE reiterated that the referendum for the proposed amendment of Article 55(3) is to either vote YES, to allow political party participation in local governance or NO, not to allow political party participation in local governance.

Source: Classfmonline

Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has brought clarity on the alleged exclusion of roads in the Volta Region in the 2020 budget.

He explained that the roads are listed on PAGE 158 of the budget document and described the concerns raised by the Member of Parliament (MP) from North Tongu, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, as a “little mischievous.”

Page 158 of the 2020 budget as available to Myjoyonline.com

Mr Ablakwa posted on Facebook and asked how the government could justify such an “aberration.”

“Why is provision not made in the 2020 Budget for critical road projects in the case of only the Volta Region…How does the Akufo-Addo Administration expect, particularly, MPs from the Volta Region to explain this to our constituents?” Mr Ablakwa wrote.

But, the Finance Minister in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, Thursday said he was unhappy about the concerns being raised by the North Tongu MP.

“I was quite sad because the roads were captured in the budget document. I was quite sad for him to take little things and create misinformation,” he bemoaned.

Mr Ofori-Atta stressed that the government will never ignore roads in the Volta Region when it has dedicated the whole of 2020 for infrastructural projects.

He added that he was a call away and Mr Ablakwa could have easily reached him for any clarification.

“For me, the sanctity of creating trust in the political infrastructure is good for both parties. One has to be very cautious about eating away the faith and trust in the system,” he added.

Source: Adomonline

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) can come for tutorials on what the incumbent government is using loans for in Ghana.

The comment of Mr Ofori-Atta follows an accusation by the Minority in Parliament that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has borrowed huge sums of money but has no tangible infrastructural project to show for.

To Mr Ofori-Atta, everything the Akufo-Addo-led government is doing is very transparent, therefore, he does not understand why people still ask questions.

“NDC can come for tutorials on what the loans have been used for because I do not get the NDC in their style of politicking and governance in Ghana,” he said.

Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show after the 2020 budget presentation, Mr Ofori-Atta said the incumbent government is investing in the future of Ghana.

“We won’t borrow if we don’t need it. Many of the loans go into interest payment on debts, energy sector among others,” he explained.

Source: Adomonline

The Concerned Voters Movement (CVM) has urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and government to discontinue the campaign for ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming referendum on December 17, 2019.

The referendum seeks to amend article 55 (3) to enable political parties to take part in the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

“All members of the New Patriotic Party should campaign and vote against the partisan election of MMDCEs since NDC has failed to support such a laudable policy,” the group in a statement.

The group added: “Yes it was a campaign promise to the good people of Ghana but we have to admit that such a policy requires Constitutional amendments, unlike other campaign promises. We need a two-third majority in Parliament to amend Article 243(1) of the Constitution and about 74% of the total valid votes cast during the referendum to pave way for the amendment to the Article 55(3) of the Constitution.”

The statement signed by CVM Founder and President Razak Kojo Opoku, said the Majority in Parliament would need the support of Minority before the two-thirds majority needed to amend Article 243(1) of the constitution to pave the way for the election of MMDCEs.

“Again whether the election of MMDCEs should be partisan or non-partisan, the policy would require the support of Ghanaians through a referendum.

“However, the betrayal of the NDC and its Minority in Parliament would be a very clear sabotage to this referendum exercise.  There is no way we can achieve YES VOTE since the NDC are advocating for NO VOTE, and this exercise demands full Inter-Party Consensus especially from the two leading Political Parties, NPP and NDC,” the statement said.

“If NO VOTE wins on the 17th December Referendum, it will create suicidal tendencies for the New Patriotic Party ahead of the 2020 General Elections. It would give some political audacity to the 2020 campaign of the incompetent NDC. Let’s avoid the political risk factors associated with the election of MMDCEs,” the CVM statement urged.

The group said the NPP and government need to officially boycott the December 17, 2019 referendum and also shoot down the amendment process for Article 243(1) in Parliament.

“We are not going to allow NCCE,  IDEG, CDD and NDC to cause political misfortunes for the New Patriotic Party,” the group stressed.

Source: Myjoyonline

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has attacked his predecessor and National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) 2020 flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama asking Ghanaian electorates never to give the latter any chance to rule the country for simple reason.

“We have a leader [John Mahama] who has no record…who has no prescription for the future, no policies for the future”, President Akufo-Addo described to Chiefs and people in the Volta Region during his two-day tour of the region.

According to Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer of the NDC has failed to outline his policies to Ghanaians but always focused on the negatives in the country

“We have never heard any policy coming from this leader about what is going to happen in the future…always negativity that is all we hear, Ghanaians have moved on. God is not so wicked to punish Ghanaians again with the rule of John Mahama and the NDC that is not what God is going to do, the President said.

The Roads and Highway Minister, Mr Amoako Atta also assured the people of Volta region that all their roads will be fixed soon.

According to him, the Ho- Aflao road which is about 90 kilometres serving the regional capital to the republic of Togo and stretches through five developing districts will soon be upgraded to asphalt including urban roads in the Ketu South area and Dzodze.

“The massive road infrastructure that is going on throughout the country, we need all the roads being well for the development for our country and particularly to promote the flagship policies of his Excellency the president, and I can assure you Togbe and your people that, both Ketu South and Ketu North areas are not left out in this massive improvement in our road infrastructure in our country at the moment, two major roads are going through the procurement process and it will affect the roads in Denu and Dzodze.”

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that the Akufo-Addo administration will embark on massive road construction projects in 2020.

Of late, there have been widespread agitations over poor road networks across the country, notwithstanding the fact that the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) told the public that it had embarked on unprecedented roads construction when it was in government.

Members of the NDC captured beautiful roads and other projects in their propaganda booklet — Green Book — but almost three years down the lane, those ‘massive’ and ‘unprecedented’ projects are nowhere to be found.

Mr. Ofori-Atta made ‘The Year of Roads’ announcement in Parliament in Accra yesterday when he presented the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Akufo-Addo government.

Public Outcry

“Today, the cry everywhere in Ghana is about the poor state of our roads. It is an unprecedented cry and it makes you wonder where all the roads in the NDC’s Green Book are,” the Finance Minister said.

“Mr. Speaker, this is why we are going to focus more on fixing our roads across the country in 2020 and beyond. To get the road sector moving and contractors back to work, government will pay 80 per cent of all contractors,” he disclosed.

Action on Roads

He said, “Mr. Speaker, Ghanaians want action on our roads, not words or plans or Green Book claims about what has been done. We intend to swing into action and let our work do the talking for us.”

The minister said the government had identified critical roads across all the 16 regions and works would begin on all these critical roads very soon, adding “Cocobod has also secured funds to continue with ongoing and new cocoa roads.”

“As part of our new initiative to complement the traditional execution of road projects, we have launched the Accelerated Community Road Improvement Initiative. Just this month, the Ministry of Finance released funds to the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, who are busy working on some roads in communities in Greater Accra,” he said.

“The first phase of the Sinohydro arrangement is finally taking off. We have also been able to mobilize the financing for over 150 roads nationwide,” he added.

Revenues and Grants

He stated that the government was projecting to rake in GH¢67.1 billion (16. 9 per cent of GDP) as total revenue and grants for next year and the amount represents an upward projected outturn for 2019 of GH¢54.6 billion (15.8 per cent of GDP).

The minister said, “Domestic revenue is estimated at GH¢65.8 billion, representing an annual growth of 22.5 per cent over the projected outturn for 2019. Grants disbursement from Development Partners is estimated at GH¢1.2 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP) and a nominal growth of 48.8 per cent over the projected outturn of GH¢833.2 million in 2019.”

Positive Outlook

“The following macroeconomic targets are set for the medium term (2020-2023): Overall Real GDP growth to average 5.7 per cent for the period; Non-Oil Real GDP to grow at an average of 5.9 per cent for the period; Inflation to be within the target band of 8±2 per cent; Overall fiscal deficit to remain within the Fiscal Responsibility Act Threshold of not more than 5 per cent of GDP; The primary balance to be in a surplus; and Gross International Reserves to cover at least 3.5 months of imports of goods and services,” he stated.

Set Targets

He added that based on the overall macroeconomic objective of ‘Consolidating the Gains for Growth, Jobs, and Security,’ specific macroeconomic targets had been set for the 2020 fiscal year.

“Overall Real GDP growth of 6.8 per cent; Non-Oil Real GDP growth of 6.7 per cent; End-period inflation of 8.0 per cent; Fiscal deficit of 4.7 per cent of GDP; Primary surplus of 0.8 per cent of GDP; and Gross International Reserves to cover not less than 3.5 months of imports of goods and services,” he said.

Clear Assurance

“Following our significant progress in restoring macroeconomic stability over the past 32 months, we will continue to implement policies and programmes to ensure the fulfilment of our promises to our people,” he pointed out.

Total Expenditure

Total Expenditure (including clearance of Arrears), the minister said, is projected at GH¢85.9 billion (21.6 per cent of GDP) in 2020.

The expenditure estimate for 2020 represents a growth of 21.2 per cent above the projected outturn for 2019, according to him, adding that wages and salaries, are projected at GH¢22.9 billion and constitute 26.7 per cent of the Total Expenditure.

“Use of Goods and Services is also projected at GH¢8.3 billion (2.1 per cent of GDP) and 9.7 per cent of the Total Expenditure (including Arrears clearance). Interest Payments on public debt is projected at GH¢21.7 billion (5.4 per cent of GDP),” he added.

Government would continue with the implementation of the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act to reduce budget rigidities and create fiscal space to fund growth-enhancing expenditures, he stated.

“Consequently, transfers to Statutory Funds, as well as all other earmarked funds, are estimated at GH¢15.6 billion (3.9 per cent of GDP) in 2020, representing 19.6 per cent growth over the projected outturn for 2019,” he added.

Source: DGN

Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has said he has given up on members of the Minority in Parliament and he would not take what they say seriously because their very trademarks are lies and propaganda, MyNewGh.com reports.

He questions why the NDC MPs are hell bent on spewing lies about the current government and attempts to throw dust in the eyes of Ghanaians at the least opportunity.

The Suame legislator points fingers at the MPs for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency and Bolga Central, Hon Ato Forson and Isaac Adongo respectively for leading the charge in crusading lies against the government.

“When the Finance Minister was going to present last year’s budget, the same Ato and Adongo hurriedly organized a press conference to say the budget would be laden with increment of taxes; did you see that in the budget; so they should go back and listen to themselves, they should take a step back and listen to what they said”, he said in an interview on Kumasi-based Angel FM monitored by MyNewsGh.com on Tuesday.

“Everybody has now realized that lies and propaganda has become their trademark of the NDC, so as far as I’m concerned, I do not take whatever they take serious because they are always engaged in propaganda”, he added.

His comments follows a pre-budget press conference on Monday by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament that, the Finance Minister will “massage the numbers” in his 2020 budget to be read on Thursday.

“There are many happenings in the country including numbers that are being hidden — from dollars, from the IMF, from the Ghanaian public — which will allow him (Finance Minister) to have cooked numbers in order to justify what deficit he wants to sell to the Ghanaian people,” Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu said at the presser.

But Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has questioned whether the members of the Minority really think before they come out to speak.

“If you listened to Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader yesterday, he was saying that oil prices were lower under their watch but it has increased under this government so Ghanaians should ask us what we do with the oil money’ I mean if you listen to them, you wonder whether they actually think before they speak”, he said.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta is expected to read the 2020 budget in parliament on Wednesday, November 13, 2019.

Government has however assured that, it would not allow the 2020 election pressure to throw away the fiscal discipline at the state treasury.

Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has told the press earlier that the president has given firm directives to his minister to maintain the fiscal stability that has been restored.

Source: mynewsgh

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has indicated that it will only consider a YES vote to amend the constitution to allow political parties to participate in the district level elections if the government makes available, guidelines for the referendum.

Already, the NDC has kicked against the amendment of Article 55 (3) which will allow political parties to sponsor candidates for election to district assemblies or lower local government units.

Some Ghanaians are worried that the country may get stuck on how to proceed after the referendum in the absence of a clear blueprint on the participation of political parties at the local level.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, a member of the NDC’s analysis committee on the referendum and former Attorney General, Marietta Brew-Appiah Oppong, maintained that the party only wants the best for the country’s democracy and that government should be candid on all the consequential issues.

“We need a clear blueprint to discuss all the consequential matters. Have we thought through that for instance, a member of the opposition party is elected as DCE when there is a different government in power? We need to think through it. If we think there is nothing wrong with it so be it. But I think there is something fundamentally wrong with that.”

“The point is that have we thought through all these things and agreed that this is the way we want to go? We in the NDC do not think so, that is why we are voting NO at the referendum unless the Bill is withdrawn, we look at it, we have a national dialogue on it, and there is a blueprint that sets out all the consequential matters. It is not just about the parties but about what people are going to do on the referendum day”, she added.

Two bills are seeking amendments to Articles 243(1) and 55(3) for the election of MMDCEs and introduction of political party participation in the local elections.

At the moment, the law, in Article 243 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, says District Chief Executives for every district are to be appointed by the President with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of members of the assembly present and voting at the meeting.

The NDC had argued that there will be party-motivated projects and programmes such as ‘NDC Communal Labour Day’ and ‘NPP Communal Labour Day’ particularly in rural areas if District Assembly elections are made partisan.

National Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo at a press conference on Tuesday said a YES vote, will open district assemblies and unit committees to “the needless NDC-NPP polarization”.

He, therefore, asked Ghanaians to vote against the proposal.

“At the meeting held last Thursday, the NEC of the NDC affirmed our long-held position that MMDCEs should be elected. We, however, took the view that the local government system should remain non-partisan and that individuals contest the District Assembly and Unit Committee elections on their own merit.

“We, therefore, decided to campaign for a NO vote at the referendum and to urge all Ghanaians to vote NO at the referendum. It is our well-considered view, and indeed that of well-meaning Ghanaians, that the needless NDC-NPP polarization at the national level should not be extended into the District Assemblies and Unit Committees, which is what will happen if we vote to make the local government system partisan.”

NDC’s campaign against December referendum a ‘set back’ – Kwesi Jonah

But Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Kwesi Jonah had said the NDC’s latest stance is a “big loss”.

He was surprised the NDC was suddenly campaigning against the referendum when it had earlier expressed its willingness to engage with various stakeholders on the referendum.

“We have been working very hard so this is a kind of set back for us. We have always believed that the two main parties in Parliament need to work closely together and this is one of them. The decision taken by NDC to campaign for a NO vote is not going to be helpful. There certainly was inadequate consultation and that is how IDEG and CDD came in. We realised that on the 27th of July, when Parliament was trying to amend Article 243 (1), we thought there was no understanding or a prior agreement and attempt to build consensus and that is why we came in, but even though we tried, the two parties met and it seemed to me we had almost sealed an agreement so this statement coming from the NDC is certainly a big loss,” he said.

More than half of Ghanaians not aware of upcoming referendum – Afrobarometer report

Close to 60 percent of Ghanaians say they are not aware of the upcoming referendum slated for December 17, 2019, according to a new Afrobarometer survey.

The survey indicated that there is a risk of low voter turnout for this referendum because it will be conducted together with local government elections, which have historically attracted less than 40 percent of registered voters.

Of the less than 42 percent of Ghanaians who are aware of the referendum, indications are that men, the highly educated, and elderly citizens are more aware of the referendum than women, citizens with less schooling, and young adults.

Awareness of the referendum increased with respondents’ level of education.

It reached 62 percent among those with post-secondary education, compared to 35 percent to 42 percent among those with less schooling.

Men, comprising 52 percent, are more likely to be aware of the referendum than women; 32 percent.

Source: citinewsroom