He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has an obligation to attach seriousness to the Auditor-General’s Report, which revealed recently that millions of cedis are being lost to the state annually through corruption.
Auditor General
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, delivering his second State of the Nation Address in parliament yesterday, said, “The Auditor-General’s Report on MDA liabilities as at 31st December, 2016, makes truly alarming reading. I make reference to the fact that a staggering amount of GH¢5.4 billion has been identified as constituting fictitious claims.
“In the course of this address, Mr Speaker, the House has heard me struggle to identify a source of funding to build our roads.”
He continued, “Every day, we hear reports on our radios and televisions of dilapidated classrooms, and children who sit on floors at school. Just think of the difference that GH¢5.4 billion would make to the nation’s finances.”
The president said that would certainly be enough to build and furnish hundreds of classrooms and construct the Eastern Corridor road.
“Every citizen is affected by acts of corruption, and we should all work to tackle them,” he charged.
OccupyGhana’s role
President Akufo-Addo commended the role being played by pressure group OccupyGhana in the fight against corruption and increasing awareness of the importance of the work of the Auditor-General.
The president said he does not condone corruption and added that all allegations against any of his appointees had been investigated, calling on the public to volunteer information on acts of corruption of any of his appointees.
“So far, every single alleged act of corruption levelled against any of my appointees has been investigated by independent bodies, and in some cases, by parliament itself, and the findings made public,” the head of state indicated.
No evidence
He said all the allegations against his appointees – then Minister-designate for Energy, Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko; the one against the CEO of BOST, Alfred Obeng; those against the two Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Asenso Boakye and Samuel Abu Jinapor; the conflict of interest allegations against the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and most recently, the ‘Cash-for-Seat’ claims against the Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen – have all been thoroughly investigated and that no evidence had been adduced to suggest any act of corruption, conflict of interest or wrongdoing.
“It appears, however, that some are determined to stick to their politically-motivated view that there has been corruption. This surely, is not helpful.
“It is important to note that in my first year of office, despite having a clear parliamentary majority, two separate bi-partisan probes in parliament have been established to inquire into allegations of corruption, as against zero in recent years, notwithstanding the persistent calls by the minority over several allegations.”
Ghana on course
President Akufo-Addo also declared that Ghana is on course towards the attainment of economic development.
He said although he inherited a damaged economy from the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, his one-year-and-a-month-old government is putting Ghana back on sound economic footing and that all indicators had been positive.
“We have reduced taxes; we are bringing down inflation and interest rates; economic growth is increasing, from the alarming 3.6% at December 2016, to 7.9% in our first year, and the indications are that it will be even better this year,” he touted and commended Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia-led Economic Management Team for making all that possible.
The president said, “We have increased our international reserves, maintained relative exchange rate stability, reduced the debt to GDP ratio and the rate of debt accumulation. We have paid almost half of arrears inherited, and crucially, we are current on obligations to statutory funds.”
IMF’ ECFP
The 3-year IMF-supported Extended Credit Facility Programme, which begun in 2015, comes to an end this year, and President Akufo-Addo was confident “the relatively good macroeconomic performance in 2017 will strongly support our successful completion of the IMF programme.”
That, he said, was because “we are determined to put in place measures to ensure irreversibility, and sustain macroeconomic stability, so that we will have no reason to seek again the assistance of that powerful global body.”
The president indicated that his government had been able to meet the promise made last year in parliament and reduced the fiscal deficit from 9.3%, to an estimated 5.6% of GDP
Debt stock
“As I promised, our economists have found imaginative ways to deal with the oppressive debt situation. This has brought some relief, and the annual average rate of debt accumulation, which, in recent years, has been as high as 36%, has declined to 13.6%, as at September 2017,” he noted.
As a result, he emphasised that “the public debt stock as a ratio of GDP is 68.3%, against the annual target of 71% for 2017, and end 2016 actual figure of 73.1%. As a result of appropriate policy, and the normalisation of the power situation in the country, they have also engineered a spectacular revival of Ghanaian industry, from a growth rate of -0.5% in 2016 to 17.7% in 2017.
World Bank
Earlier, in January, the World Bank predicted that Ghana’s economy would probably grow by 8.3% this year, which would make it the fastest growing economy in the world; and President Akufo-Addo said he and his team were determined to make it happen.
“Sometime last week, Bloomberg described the Ghana Stock Exchange as the best-performing Stock Exchange in the world for January 2018.
The report illustrated how the Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index has gained 19% since the start of the year, in dollar terms, ahead of the Nigerian, Chinese and Brazilian Stock Markets.
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