Bawumia is lying; GH¢7bn not missing - Minority

Europa 17:56 - 01 February 2017

The Minority said Dr Bawumia does not understand government systems.

The Minority in Parliament has denied claims by the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia that the immediate past government failed to account for GHC 7 billion they spent while in office.

In a statement, the Minority said it is “displeased by the tendency of the Vice President to rush with information to the public and the media particularly the structural measures and reforms without taking time to understand the rational for the reforms and initiatives.”

According to the Minority, the Ghc7 billion that the Vice President Dr. Bawumia is talking about “is as a result of a major initiative or reform on government contracts and expenditure, which is part of the GIFMIS project that the new administration is expected to continue implementing. The framework is also covered in the new Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, under the Budget Responsibility provisions.”

The statement from the Minority also indicated that the fund was used for “part of the contract database and outstanding commitment, and does not constitute conventional definition of arrears. The government is obliged to incorporate the commitments, as a first charge on the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA’s) budget 2017.”

Background

The Vice president at the launch of the Ghana Corporate Governance Initiative in Accra on Tuesday said the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government did not account for a GHC7 billion expenditure drawn from state coffers between 2014 and 2016.

Dr Bawumia said the current government realised this while interrogating data on the previous government’s expenditure.

“In preparing for this year’s Budget, for example, we have been very surprised by the fiscal data, the data on our expenditure and our revenue. As we interrogated the data, we realized to our shock that, expenditure amounting to 7 billion cedis was made by the previous government, but never disclosed. These come from 2014, 2015 and 2016, so where have they been hiding all these years? How are you supposed to manage an economy with faulty data?

And so we have to emphasize that, getting the data right is really very key because it throws the entire budget into disarray because you are going into 2017 and suddenly you are told by the way that there is 7 billion you have to pay next year that you did not anticipate. This is the reality,” he said.