Stop wanton dissipation of public funds — NPP
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on all Ghanaians to speak out against what is described as the gross and wanton dissipation of public funds by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, while the most basic needs of Ghanaians are not met.
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A statement signed by the Communication Director of the party, Nana Akomea, and issued in Accra yesterday said the list of neglected basic needs was shocking:
For example, the statement said, “national health funds are not transferred until hospitals withdraw healthcare; basic allowances for teachers are not paid until they deny our children their education; other public sector staff including doctors, pharmacists, lecturers, civil servants all threatening to withdraw their services due to unpaid expectations.
Others issues which have been neglected, according to the NPP are, “workers pensions, District Assemblies Common Fund, GETFund, which are all meant to impact on the welfare of Ghanaians, are all unpaid or in huge arrears”.
The statement said the government was also indebted to state enterprises including Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), thus limiting their ability to deliver essential service to Ghanaians.
In the light of those deprivations,the statement said, the government in 2012 alone, overspent the national budget to the tune of GH¢8.7 billion.
“The overspending included GH¢60 million by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology; GH¢200 million at the NYEP/GYEEDA; GH¢350 million by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and GH¢650 million by the Office of Government Machinery/Office of the President, and many more.
“Spending on so-called capacity building alone jumped from GH¢750,000 in 2011 to GH¢112 million (¢7.55 billion to ¢1.1 trillion).
“These unaccounted for overspending becomes even more mindboggling when considered against the alternatives that are asking for attention, the statement said.
Interchanges on N1 Highway
The party said there were supposed to be seven interchanges on the N1, which would go a long way to prevent the loss of Ghanaian lives due to accidents and knockdowns on that very important road.
“Each interchange costs $15 million. Only two were built. Government could not find the $75 million for the remaining five. Yet GYEEDA alone overspent by $100 million in the last three months of 2012.
“The N1 highway (probably the most spectacular road construction project in the last 10 years) cost about $180 million. The overspending at the Office of the President, alone, GH¢650 million (about $340 million), could have built two more N1 highways,” the statement said.
Secondary Schools and Training Colleges
Making reference to the 2013 budget, the statement said an amount of GH¢173 million was provided to build 50 community SHS (i.e. GH¢3.46 million each) and GH¢62 million provided to build 10 colleges of education (i.e. GH¢6.2 million each) and submitted that the overspending at GYEEDA alone could have provided over 100 community SHS, or 56 teacher training colleges.
Single Spine burden
The statement said the NDC government had claimed that the Single Spine had become a significant burden, accounting for GH¢1.9 billion of the overspending but questioned why the government also proceeded to overspend GH¢650 million at the Office of Government Machinery, GH¢350 million at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, GH¢350 million at NADMO, GH¢700 millionfor Social Protection Programmes, all totalling more GH¢1.9 billion. So what is the noise about the Single Spine about?
Chinese loan
On the Chinese loan, the statement said the government was quick to refer to the $3 billion Chinese loan as a major panacea for many of its developmental challenges but submitted that between 2009 and 2012, the public debt increased from GH¢9.5 billion to GH¢333.5 billion, an increase of GH¢6 billion every year.
It said the GH¢6 billion addition per year amounted to $3 billion per year; same as the Chinese loan which was supposed to solve many of our developmental challenges!
NHIL
The statement questioned why the government would not pay GH¢50 million to the 180 mission hospitals, until the hospitals withdrew services to the poor, innocent and sick Ghanaians, compared to overspend of GH¢350 million of NADMO alone.
Capitation Grant
The party also raised issues about the Capitation Grant saying that in 2012, the government could only spend GH¢40 million to pay Capitation Grant for the 5.4 million Ghanaian children in public basic schools but it spent GH¢112 million in 2012 on so-called “capacity building.”
“It is clear now that the current problems we are facing now are not due to the lack of money, but rather the lack of judicious use of available resources.
“ It is trite knowledge that most of this overspending (in the last three months of 2012) went into the gargantuan, unbridled and lavish spending that attended the NDC 2012 campaign.
“After this wanton and reckless dissipation of taxpayers’ money by the NDC government, to fund their election campaign, the poor tax payer is now being asked to pay for the recklessness through increased prices of petrol, gas, taxes, and (very soon) utility tariffs”, the statement added.