Some Members of Parliament (MPs) from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have raised concerns over the repeated changes in the date for the mid-year budget review presentation, alleging that it is due to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s inability to manipulate figures to suit a particular narrative.
As part of the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a resident supervisor has been assigned to the Bank of Ghana.
Initially scheduled for Thursday, July 20, the mid-year budget review was first shifted to Tuesday, July 25, and has now been moved again to Monday, July 31. The continuous rescheduling has been criticized by some NDC MPs, who view it as untenable.
Abdnego Bandim, the NDC MP for Bunkprugu, believes that the government is attempting to use the delay to deceive Ghanaians, stating, “They are giving us reasons that are not tenable… because their figures are not right.”
“They are giving us reasons that are not tenable. They are giving us different dates because their figures are not right. We believe that the economy is in a bad state and the economy is sick.”
“Things are not right so they have to massage figures and come. So, that is why they keep rescheduling the dates for the mid-year budget review presentation.”
Richard Kwame Sefe, the NDC MP for Anlo, accused the Finance Minister of not taking Ghanaians seriously, which, according to him, is the reason for the constant rescheduling.
In the midst of this, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, announced that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will meet with MPs on Friday, ahead of his presentation on Monday, but did not provide further details on the purpose of the meeting.
“They are confused. When they chose the first date which is today, July 27, the Speaker advised that because of other pending equally important engagements he would like that they take today [Tuesday], and we all agreed and we were later told it is going to be done on Thursday, and they brought it back to today [Tuesday], and now they have shifted it to July 31.”