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Cut down GH¢3,130,633 billion allocations to the office of gov't machinery — Ablakwa

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, has urged the government to cut down the allocation of GH¢3,130,633 billion to the Office of Government Machinery (OGM).

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

He believes when the government reduces the public expenditure, there will be no need to introduce the electronic levy on Ghanaians.

The government, he said is expecting to raise some GH¢6.9billion from the controversial E-levy but there are outrageous expenditure items that far exceed the revenue target of the government which he said can be shelved so there will be absolutely no need for the government to "recycle the obnoxious E-levy and re-present it in 2022" when Parliament returns.

"The OGM has been an unbridled tax guzzler under this regime. Adding over GH¢450 million to last year's allocation in a period of pandemic recovery and austerity is extremely inconsiderate. If the allocation to the Health Ministry during a pandemic could be slashed by some GH¢2 billion compared with 2021 figures, there can be no justification for the self-serving lion share allocation to the OGM.

"All the suffering Ghanaian people ask, is for President Akufo-Addo to remember he once promised to protect the public purse and so needs to be faithful to Ghana’s Presidential Jet as his predecessors did, and desist from profligate and sybaritic charters of ultra-luxury US14,000.00 an hour executive jets. And if the President will lead by example as he calls on us all to burden share, the OGM certainly does not need this colossal GH¢3.1 billion allocations which consumes about half of all E-Levy expected revenues," Ablakwa said in a statement.

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In 2019 alone, the Office of the Government Machinery spent a total of GH¢3.5 billion for the implementation of its various programmes and activities.

Employee Compensation took GH¢140.8 million; Goods and Services – GH¢3.3 billion, while GH¢55.49 million was spent on assets.

Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, former Chairman of the Finance Committee, made the disclosure when he presented the Committee's Report for the adoption of the Budget Performance Report of the Office of Government Machinery for the 2019 January to December Financial Year.

The Office of Government Machinery comprises the Office of the President, Scholarship Secretariat, Ghana AIDS Commission, Commissions and Councils, State Protocol Department, National Population Council, and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.

The rest are Internal Audit Agency, Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Office of the Administrator-General, Millennium Development Authority, State Interests, and Governance Authority, and the Office of the Senior Minister.

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