General News of Thursday, 16 November 2017

Source: peacefmonline.com

Akufo-Addo government throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians - NDC MP

Edward Bawa, Member of Parliament for Bongo Edward Bawa, Member of Parliament for Bongo

Member of Parliament for Bongo, Edward Bawa has warned the government to stop deceiving Ghanaians.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, November 15 to deliver the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.

During his presentation, he touched on various sectors of the economy and the interventions by the government to salvage the economy and ease the economic pressures on Ghanaians.

Paramount among the things he said was the government's "1 District, 1 Factory" programme which he disclosed that funds have been allocated to various districts to commence the project. The government will allocate a minimum of GHC 2 million to each district for the implementation of the project, come next year.

He further disclosed that 191 proposals have been appraised and selected to commence the project. Out of the 191 projects, the sector Minister indicated that 104 of the companies will operate in the Agribusiness sector, 20 in the Meat and Poultry sector, 40 in the Construction and Building Materials sub-sector while the remaining 27 will be operating in the Cosmetics and Pharmaceutical sector.

Giving a regional breakdown of the companies under the 1D1F project, the Minister stated that 35 companies will be sited in the Ashanti Region with 19 companies at the Brong Ahafo Region. 21 companies in the Central Region, 34 in the Eastern Region, 28 in the Greater Region and 17 in the Northern Region while 4 factories will be sited at the Upper East Region, 5, 10 and 18 in the Upper West, Western and Volta Regions respectively.

The Finance Sector also highlighted other initiatives as providing 100000 jobs to graduates next year.

But speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Member of Parliament for Bongo Edward Bawa believes the government is only titillating itself.

According to him, the Finance Minister appeared before Parliament to "rattle" while Ghanaians continue to face serious hardships.

He told sit-in host Nana Yaw Kesseh that the government is throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians because they haven't done much to revive the economy.

To him, if the government doesn't come clean on the real state of the economy, their "shadows will definitely get back to them".