THE Minority in Parliament has described the 2026 Mid-year Fiscal Policy Review as the true character of a Finance Minister who is not ready to spend or release money for various sector ministers to implement government policies and programmes.
The caucus said the statement must cause palpitations among ministers of state.
“Basically, what he is telling all ministers is that he is not going to spend, and he is not going to release funds to you,” the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said as he reacted to the Finance Minister’s presentation to Parliament.
The tone of his reaction was a sharp shift from the sober demeanour of the Minority who sat through the two-hour presentation almost with indifference.
Clad in black in protest against the incarceration of the New Patriotic Party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, and the trial of some members of the party in court, the Minority looked disinterested in the constitutional duty of the Minister of Finance and the legislature.
But once the presentation was over, they rose in unison, sang in loud voices demanding “Free Wontumi now”, a reference to Mr Boasiako.
The Majority retorted with their own “Bring Ken back”, referencing former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who is being pursued by the local system over allegations of impropriety during his days in office as a minister of state.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said ministers of state were already suffering due to the non-release of budgetary allocation to their ministries.
Refusing counsel
Mr Afenyo-Markin said throughout his presentation to Parliament, Dr Forson never made any policy announcement for the cocoa sector, a sector that had four million cocoa farmers.
He said since Dr Forson took over as a supervising minister responsible for cocoa, “we have seen suffering and wailing, and he comes here to lament”.
“When GoldBod (Ghana Gold Board) and the Bank of Ghana charges on the gold for reserve policy was at 15 per cent, we cautioned him, but he did not listen.
“Later, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) told them to reduce it to nine per cent, and three days ago, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana announced that he was no longer going to participate in this gold for reserve. But it is too late in the day, as you have already incurred losses of GH₵9.6 billion. That is what the IMF told you,” he said.
Challenging the assertion by the Finance Minister that the amount was a result of prudent management of the economy, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the presentation was “full of English with empty payment”.
He also questioned why the government would expend a whopping sum of GH¢42 million as part of the 24-Hour Economy Policy and abandon the construction of Agenda 111 hospitals.
“When there are no hospitals, how do you say you are constructing markets?” he questioned.
Stop political persecution
The Member of Parliament for Effutu, who spoke more on issues unrelated to the economy and the presentation to Parliament, said what Ghanaians were experiencing currently was persecution of political opponents, referring to Mr Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, as “a political prisoner”.
“Camilla Al-Hassan, a young mother of three, is also a political prisoner. This tells you how intolerant you are, and you are there telling us you are running an economy.
“You want this to be a one-sided Parliament. When people criticise you, you threaten them, and a lot of Minority MPs are being threatened with prosecution,” he said.
He urged Dr Forson to push the government to free all political prisoners, saying Wontumi and the others deserved justice.
“We will hold your feet to account, and we will make sure you account for every cedi you spend,” he said.
The Minority Leader said the government, on assuming power, cancelled the One-District-One-Factory policy initiative of the previous administration, which was creating opportunity for the private sector.
In its place, he said, the government had not put in place any policy alternatives.
“Electricity tariffs have gone up over almost 30 per cent, but when you get up you say you are promoting 24-hour economy,” he said.
Good account
The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, offered a sharp rebuttal as he commended Dr Forson for giving a good account of himself in the presentation.
“The good thing about this report is that it was presented live on national television and everybody was watching and they saw the figures projected,” he said.
Mr Ayariga recalled that Ghanaians witnessed how the former Finance Minister, Mr Ofori Atta, told Parliament he could not run the economy without taxing electronic cash transfers and then pushing the country into debts.
“Today, we have a Finance Minister who has abolished all those taxes and yet he is successfully managing our economy and is not borrowing recklessly but is successfully managing our economy.
“That is why I said that this Finance Minister has clearly given a good account of himself,” he said.
Criticising the former administration for its management of the economy and the impact of the domestic debt exchange programme, Mr Ayariga requested from the NPP to bring back Mr Ofori-Atta to account to Ghanaians why he “so grossly mismanaged our finances”.
