General News of Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Source: Joy Online

Tarzan: Mahama is practising smart governance; doing nothing

Outspoken political commentator, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby says while the John Mahama-led administration is borrowing too much but using the funds for unproductive things.

According to him, the government is simply using the country's oil resources as collateral to contract more loans and piling up more debt.

The Chief Policy Analyst at the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO) said on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Wednesday, the administration was trying to govern in a "smart" way, by paying workers' salaries while nothing is being done.

"We cannot pay school fees, we cannot pay school feeding, we cannot pay tuition fees; all we are able to do right now is to pay civil service [workers'] salaries which is smart governance because, for the workers, if you tell them to do nothing and you pay their salaries they are happy".

Tarzan as he is popularly called, also accused Parliamentarians of colluding with the executive instead of playing its role of putting checks on it. He said the "MP's are compromised and cannot put government in check."

Vice President of policy think tank, IMANI-Ghana, Kofi Bentil, said government must cut down on expenditure drastically.

He said the large size of government was having a huge impact on government revenue and something drastic must be done, and quickly.

Mr. Bentil suggested the introduction of drastic cost cutting measures and maximising efficiency by outsourcing government business to private firms. Economist, Dr Joe Abbey, said the level at which the country was borrowing unsustainable and the government must recognise that fact.

He said the debt to GDP ratio of almost 50 per cent was simply too high. According to him, Ghana had reached a stage where it was borrowing to service its debts, a situation he said was worring.

Dr Abbey expressed regret that the seriousness of situation appeared not to have been appreciated by the managers of the economy.