The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority Caucus in Parliament has launched a scathing attack on Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson following the presentation of the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review, accusing him of failing to release funds for several high-profile programs announced by the government.
Addressing the media in Parliament, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga and a former Finance Minister under the Akufo-Addo administration, described the budget execution under Dr. Forson as deceptive and deeply disappointing.
He alleged that the government had failed to back its ambitious programs with the needed funding, revealing a troubling gap between policy announcements and real financial commitment.
“As for the Adwumawura Program, they allocated GHS 300 million, but they’ve released only GHS 30.45 million for the first half of the year.”
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga
He questioned how such a small disbursement could make any real impact when the government had already touted the initiative as a cornerstone of its job creation efforts.
The Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda, under which fall programs such as Feed Ghana, the Ghana Grains Development Project, the Vegetable Development Project, and the widely promoted Nkoko Nketinkiti initiative, also came under scrutiny.
According to him, while the government allocated GHS 1.5 billion for these programs, halfway into the year, not even one cedi has been released for their implementation. “Yet, they have gone ahead and launched the Feed Ghana program,” he criticised.
The Minority also took issue with the Women’s Development Bank, which sparked controversy earlier over what the caucus insisted was an inadequate capital base.
Dr. Amin Adam said the initial allocation of GHS 51 million fell below the Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital requirement for specialised banks and noted that even this small amount had not been released.
“You are putting GHS 51,000,000 to set up a Women’s Development Bank, which is even lower than the minimum capital requirement. We complain about this. But the sad news is that it is not only small, but as I speak to you, half into the year, not one Cedi has been released for the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank. It’s very sad, isn’t it?”
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga
On the National Coders Program, which aims to train young people in digital technology and software development, the former minister said the story was the same.
“They allocated GHS 100 million for it, but they have released zero cedis. My friend, Minister Sam George, is upbeat about this program. But how is he able to implement a program if the Finance Minister has not released the funds?”
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga
Dr. Amin Adam also ridiculed the “Big Push” infrastructure program, a flagship development promise by the government, revealing that despite the allocation of GHS 13.8 billion, not a single cedi had been disbursed so far. “We hear ‘Big Push’ all the time. It’s been pushed around in Parliament, in the media, but where is the funding?” he asked.
Adding to the list of grievances, he pointed out the lack of budgetary allocation for the 24-hour economy initiative, which was officially launched on July 2, 2025.
“The Minister has now conceded in the mid-year review that funding for the program will only appear in the 2026 budget. The question is: why do you launch a program when you have no money to fund it?”
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga
Struggle with Treasury Auctions
The Minority believes these funding failures are linked to the government’s struggles with treasury auctions. Dr. Amin Adam explained that between March 1 and July 11, 2025, 13 out of 28 treasury auctions failed to meet their targets, with bid cover ratios falling below 1.
Dr Aamin alleged that despite high participation in the early part of the year, the Minister had to divert funds meant for these critical programs to cover auction shortfalls.
He accused the Minister of manipulating interest rates to attract investors, resulting in billions of cedis being used to patch up auction failures.
“That is why he’s not able to fund these priority programs, and that is also why they are introducing new taxes and increasing the rates of existing ones.”
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga
Perhaps most alarming for the Minority was what they described as the lack of coordination between the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Ghana. “It’s puzzling,” Dr. Amin Adam said.
“The Finance Minister borrows at an average rate of 15%, but the Bank of Ghana borrows at 28% from the same market. How is that possible? It only shows there’s no proper alignment between the two institutions.”
Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga
The Minority insisted that these inconsistencies and the failure to fund key programs reflect a government that is not serious about its promises to the people.
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