Gov't misuses $1.6bil between 2012 to 2016- IMANI

Imani Ghana has accused government institutions of misusing close to $1.6billion   between 2012 and 2014.

This was captured in the Imani Centre for Policy& Education report, which was produced to raise key issues confronting governance in the country in the lead to the General election in December, 2016. In this report, Imani urged government to check financial malfeasance in the  public sector.

“Voters expect any upcoming government, be it the incumbent or an incoming one, to take the issue of corruption very seriously and with a very swift and firm hand,” said the report.

“Obvious discrepancies in spending by ministries, departments and agencies that get ignored mean that there is very little motivation to rein in on profligate and unnecessary spending.”

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“A radical shift in the philosophy of government expenditure will be the only saviour to our fiscal malfeasances,” said the report. “The Ghanaian government can only make progress if it decides to slash spending on many unproductive areas and reduces the size of its government.”

“Between 2012 and 2016, the president of Ghana has made not less than 25 public statements promising to end Ghana’s electrical energy woes. The truth is that, while the energy generation capacity has increased, it has not increased commensurate to demand,” said IMANI.

The report said more than 25m Ghanaian cedi was wasted on an agricultural assistance programme for farmers. “While the loss has been written off due to drought, it is interesting that California, with its worst drought in 1,200 years, still is able to produce almost at the same levels,” said IMANI.

“Very little has been done to energise and assist small-scale farmers and boost food sufficiency in Ghana.”