Member of parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, has revealed that he expects government to tighten its belt in the 2024 budget presentation scheduled for November 15, 2023.
According to him, one of the ways the government can show sensitivity to the plight of Ghanaians is to “bite the bullet” and cut down on some of its unnecessary expenditure. He indicated that by doing so, the state will be making savings which can be applied to more critical areas.
Mr Suhuyini noted that government must necessarily ensure that the right things are done to revamp the economy moving forward.
“Generally, I’m expecting government to tighten its belt. I’m expecting to see a budget that shows a government that is sensitive to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian… We all know that the economy is on its knees if not in coma.
“So, it is important that the little revenue that still comes to government, even as we suspend our debt payment, are applied judiciously in especially the productive sectors, so that we do not waste this holiday period that we have of not paying our debt, only for us to be confronted with the payment at a time that we are not ready.”
Alhassan Suhuyini
Elaborating further on his expectations for the 2024 budget, Mr Suhuyini emphasized that he does not expect to see more taxes and an increment in the existing taxes. He explained that under the current economic crisis, Ghanaians have endured enough.
“Apart from the skyrocketing prices of goods as a result of the unprecedented level of inflation that many Ghanaians are enduring, they have also had to endure losses as a result of the DDEP. Elsewhere, people would have been on the street every day. We saw it in 2008 in US when the economy crushed.
“But people are quietly counting their losses in the rooms and in their offices because they understand that this is a difficult moment and they live in hope that our government will also make the right decisions, conduct themselves in a way that will revive the economy in the shortest possible time… “
Alhassan Suhuyini
Government’s failure in implementation of policies and programmes
Touching on the reasons why government has not been able to wholly implement most of its projects and policies, the Tamale North legislator stated that Ghana seems to have all the right laws, legislations and policies but the problem is always with implementation.
With this, Mr Suhuyini underscored that the problem boils down to the poor character and attitude most people take into leadership positions. He revealed that because such persons are unable to manage their attitudes well, they tend not to get the full benefits from the correct policies and laws that are passed.
“That is why it is said that the fish starts rotting from its head. So, if as a people generally, we lack character, it shows in the people who emerge as leaders because those people will also be part of us… On the hard issues, you can talk about some of the unrealistic projections we make in our budgets. For example, you know what happened to the government’s budget when they overestimated how much they were going to get from the e-levy.”
Alhassan Suhuyini
Justifying his stance, Mr Suhuyini expressed that some of the failures of government can only be explained by political expedience. Currently, he highlighted that tax payment is not a pleasant thing and when the country has people overwhelmingly disagree with the tax policy, it is only foolhardy to persist.
“We saw it during VAT, that is how Kumi preko was organised. The issues that rallied people around to oppose the VAT at the time that they did were as relevant as the issues that rallied people to oppose the e-levy. If we have a listening government like we had during the days of VAT, they will not have willy-nilly pushed it through with the same assurance that they will still get their projected revenue even in the midst of the opposition…”
Alhassan Suhuyini
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