Legal practitioner and governance expert, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare
Legal practitioner and governance expert, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, has dismissed proposals for the establishment of an Independent Fiscal Council in Ghana, describing it as an unnecessary duplication of existing oversight functions.
In a Facebook post on June 1,2025, Prof Asare argued that the proposed council’s responsibilities could be effectively handled by the Auditor-General with only modest investment in analytical and forecasting capabilities.
“With modest investment in analytical and forecasting capacity, the Auditor-General could fully absorb the functions of the Fiscal Council, legally, operationally, and independently,” he said.
The call for an Independent Fiscal Council has gained traction amid Ghana’s ongoing efforts to implement fiscal reforms under economic recovery programmes.
The council is intended to help promote long-term fiscal discipline, transparency, and credibility in public financial management.
However, Prof Asare contends that the creation of new institutions to address governance challenges is a recurring and flawed approach in Ghana’s policymaking.
He noted that such moves often result in overlapping mandates, blurred accountability, and increased public expenditure on salaries, logistics, and office infrastructure.
“We have a penchant for creating new institutions for old problems. This approach duplicates existing mandates, muddies responsibility and accountability, and risks becoming tools of patronage masked as technocratic solutions”, he indicated.
Prof Asare further argued that the proposed council’s roles are already covered by existing entities, including the Auditor-General (compliance and transparency), the Ministry of Finance (forecasting and policy design), and parliamentary committees (oversight and scrutiny).
Rather than introduce a new body, he proposed enhancing the capacity of current institutions such as the Auditor-General’s Office and the Budget Office to improve fiscal governance.
“We must resist the impulse to solve every reform challenge by creating a new committee. Creating new structures while neglecting existing ones reflects a misplaced confidence in form over function”, he stated.
However, he said that while the idea of a Fiscal Council may be well-intentioned, it is ultimately redundant and should be shelved in favour of strengthening existing oversight institutions.
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