Chief of Staff's office expended GH¢240 million in 2020 - Report
Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Chief of Staff
The Chief of Staff's office spent over GH¢240 million on goods and services for the year 2020 alone, according to a report submitted to Parliament.
Read full articleThe said amount was captured in the Office of the President’s expenditure returns document submitted to the Finance Committee of Parliament.
Member of the Committee and National Democratic Congress, MP, for Ejumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, in an interview on Joy News lamented the fact that the figure was over a 1000% increment since 2016.
He claimed that 90% of the amount had gone into the purchase of vehicles for the office.
According to him, such expenditure figures pointed to how the economy of the country continued to be mismanaged under the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government.
“I can tell you that this amount is not useful, it is just way too much because I am comparing it to the amount we’ve spent in previous years. No government has spent this much before,” he said on August 26.
An economy battling headwinds
Galloping inflation and a depreciating currency are two major issues that underline the current economic downturn. The Ghana cedi recently maintained its spot as the worst performing currency in Africa, according to a Bloomberg report.
The portal said the cedi recorded a -28.82 percent depreciation to the dollar as of August 20, 2022, to sell at over GH¢10 to a dollar.
This means the currency could be heading for a record-worst performance in the last 25 years. The low performance of the cedi has however driven inflation to a record of 31.7 percent in July.
The government has repeatedly pointed at the twin global challenges of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war for the economic downturn.
Meanwhile, an International Monetary Fund, IMF, programme is also expected to bring some relief with a projected US$3 billion assistance envelope.
SARA/PEN
