By
Rashid Mbugri, GNA
Tamale, Sept 14, GNA – The Ghana
Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) has presented a one and half year review
document on the assessment of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s
commitments and policy propositions on fiscal transparency and accountability.
The review sought to create public awareness
on commitments made by the NPP government and mobilising citizens to demand
greater accountability in the management of public resources.
The document was presented during a workshop
on Thursday in Tamale alongside the launch of the Citizens Budget 2018, a
pamphlet that sought to summarize how government plans to get money and how to
spend that money for the benefit of Ghanaians.
The workshop was organized by the GACC and
attended by members of the various political parties, traditional and religious
groups, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
The brief forms part of an Oxford funded
project undertaken by GACC dubbed, “Citizens Action for Public
Accountability and Pro-Poor Spending”.
Mr Vitus Azeem, a consultant and a former
Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), during a presentation
on the key findings of the brief said, ” a number of promises have been
delivered whiles others have either been delivered or not touched at all”.
He said the reduction of the corporate tax
rate from 25 per cent to 20 per cent has been put on hold by the NPP government
whiles the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Law, which was supposed to
pave a way for the establishment of the Fiscal Council and Financial Stability
Council has not yet been brought before Parliament.
Mr Azeem said the elections of the
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) has also been
put on hold while the fight against corruption by the government was not
satisfactory.
He said it is clear that some of the promises
have been executed, the most prominent ones been the establishment of the
Office of the Special Prosecutor and the reduction of taxes.
Mr Salifu Saeed, the Northern Regional Minister,
who launched the Citizens Budget 2018, said the GACC’s report was necessary for
Ghana as a democratic country since it would ensure government efficient
allocation of resources across the country to intervene in poverty reduction.
He said the Citizens Budget 2018 would enable
the citizens to understand the budget so that they could play their civic roles
with regards to taxpaying and monitoring public expenditure.
Mr Saeed said government would ensure that the
policies, which it have not been implemented and fulfilled would be
accomplished in due time.
During an interaction session, some of the
participants made suggestions on the need for government to deepen grassroots
participation in the election of the MMDCEs for effective governance in the
country.
They suggested that government should consider
a decision in limiting the trials of accused corrupt cases so as to let people
know about the fate of the accused cases.
Some of the participants called for the
formation of boards at the various public institutions like the universities
and colleges of education be taken seriously by government so as to ensure
accountability and efficient monitoring of administrative work.
Mr Paul Osei-Kufuor, the Team Leader of Centre
for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, Northern Sector Office, commended GACC
for their effort in monitoring and tracking government activities to ensure
that it fulfils it’s policies and promises.
GNA