Government spends GH¢1billion on Obama’s visit
By Mashudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot

Accra, July 28, Ghanadot - The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a pressure group, has disclosed that the Mills-led government spent a total of GH¢1billion on the recent US President Barack Obama visit to Ghana.

According to AFAG, “This opulent misuse of scarce state resources clearly has some excesses which could have provided three square meals for some poor Ghanaian families; pay the school fees of some students or health insurance of some poor families.

This is a defeat of Government’s commitment to its austerity measures and an enormous rip-off of the tax payers’ money”,

The group made these shocking revelations at press conference, in Accra to announce its 4th August 2009 massive demonstration scheduled to be held in Accra.

Addressing the media, a leading Member of AFAG, Mr. Kwabena Bomfeh Jr flanked by Mr. Haruna Henry Asante, an activist of the People’s National Convention (PNC) stated that the core issue for upcoming demonstration was related to the welfare of Ghanaians.

He said the welfare of the Ghanaian was rapidly fading, with its attendant reduction in the quality of life and the citizens are worst off than before (pricing irregularities of petroleum by the NPA and further increases in the already bedeviling high prices of goods and services)

Mr. Bomfeh Jr added the inability of Government to increase salaries realistically as the 17.5% increase in wages is not realistic to currently macroeconomic conditions with inflation of near 21%.

Furthermore, he indicated that “Profligate expenditures i.e. transition team of spending 2.8 billion old Ghana cedis, financial Mess at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Ministry (2 billion old Ghana cedis), worse so after a civil servant had raised issues of financial impropriety against the Minister for Youth and Sports, investigations purported to have been done by the National Security sadly left the Minister off the hook and sacrificed the civil servant in the satisfaction and admiration of the Mills administration”.

The group stressed that the inability of the state to provide adequate protection to citizens, increase in the spate of arm robbery and death on the roads were excessively alarming.

Touching on the current International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to the country, Mr. Bomfeh Jr noted that the acceptance of IMF’s loan facility with such killer conditionalities. Such as, a free on public sector employment for two years and full cost recovery at the tertiary level of education, has led to increase in academic user facility fee, removal of subsidy on electricity and water for students, among others are clear demonstration of Government’s insensitivity to the suffering of parents and a betrayal of the President’s Promise to create jobs for the people.

. Indeed, the welfare of students is no more a priority to Government, saying that starting next academic year- August 2009 tertiary students would face another high increase in their Residential facility User Fees (RFUF) by 18% which is contrary to an earlier agreement with the NPP Government to stay same the RFUF for three academic years from 2007, he added.

The group revealed that Graduate students newly admitted to The university of Ghana who earlier were sent admission letters to pay admission fees of Gh cedis 300 on the day of reporting last week are been told to ignore the first letter and pay Gh cedis 3000 since Government henceforth will not pay for the supervision fees among others.

AFAG bemoaned the tendency of mass unemployment in the private sector as a result of the eminent threat of collapse of businesses for reasons best political and socioeconomic(high interest rates 33% previously ;base rate of 27%,high import duties and cost of inputs) or low wages for threat of layoffs.

The pressure group reiterated “its position that the IMF and the World Bank have no panacea for our ailing economy. We are of the view that Ghana can depend on partnerships with other rising powers such as India and China in the short term to stabilise the economy, along side building the conditions for self reliance both in production capacity and market within the context of south-south co-operation. We should begin to analyse thing within the context of the existing world economic order and the western economic crunch”.

According to the group the situations above need no political coloration as we are not prepared to satisfy the whims and caprices of any one person(s) who for the sake of his/her future or note of survival would fight against the wish of the majority Ghanaians in despair. The time is now that citizens would have to re-energize themselves and take action for Governments inaction, the time is now that the youth will have to speak out for posterity sake, the time is now that Government would have speak out its policies and take the steps of hope, the time is now that Government have to demonstrate control of the economy and re-prioritize their preferences.

Apart from this deception, the lack of commitment on the part of President Mills and the NDC in the matter of the non- fulfilment and deliberate departure from their campaign promises have created wide spread perception among the citizenry that, public morality is no longer an issue in Ghanaian politics, the group added.

AFAG therefore called on all citizens who think their welfare is worst off to join the clarion call on Government to seek the interest of all and not a privilege of the few.

However, all efforts made by the paper to contact the Minister of Information, Mrs. Zita Okai Koi to get her side on these issues raised by AFAG prove futile.

Ghanadot


 

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