Citizens Coalition  Reiterates Calls  For Resizing  Government

Despite measures taken by  government to mitigate the harsh economic hardships on Ghanaians, pressure group, Citizens Coalition, has decried the measures adding, "It lacked the ability to cushion Ghanaians from the harsh economic hardship".

According to the group, the call for government to actively resize the government will be a pragmatic way to cut down the ever growing cost implications on the country's wage bill.

The group was rather disappointed that despite the numerous calls, the government had paid deaf ears to the call to address the current crises in the budget.

This situation, the group noted, was posing the question of whether government is really committed to navigating the current difficult period towards economic recovery.

The concerns of the Citizens Coalition were contained a press statement copied to Myoagegh.com, expressing utter dismay at what they described as "disappointing approval of the 2023 budget, paving the way for the estimates for ministries, departments, and agencies to be referred to the various committees.

In view of that, Citizens Coalition urged Parliament to engage technocrats at the MDAs for proper national-level stakeholder consultation to scrutinise the appropriation bill to avoid fiscal recklessness.

Citizens Coalition maintained that the ban on the use of V8s or its equivalent except for cross-country travel, government vehicles' use of GV number plates, and permission of only essential foreign travel by government officials just to mention a few, were measures still ineffective to amount to any significant cut on government's expenditure.

"It is imperative that a critical weight is placed on assessing the efficacy and sustainability of the government's flagship programmes which are still not quantifiable and productive".

"Without any meaningful prior consultations, the government has requested that holders of domestic debt voluntarily swap around 137 billion cedis of the domestic notes and bonds of the Republic under its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme for new instruments on different terms stating that the proposed debt exchange programme if accepted may allow government to sace a portion of the budgeted interest cost for 2023, " we join calls for such funds to be redirected to productive programmes".

"It is evident now that the country is headed for a narrow path and all citizens will have to diligently prepare themselves for the battle ahead but we still encouraged the government to deliver on their promises to effectively restructure the operations of the country towards sustainability", it admonished.