Economist and Financial Analyst, Sydney Casely Hayford, has described the presidency as the biggest corruption unit among all state institutions as far as giving tax exemptions to cronies and companies is concerned.

Speaking on Sunday Tarzan’s Take on Joy News Channel on MultiTV, he said, often this privilege goes to any ministry and procurement agency, bearing the letter head of the presidency.

This came up in his analysis of the 700 million Ghana cedis over expenditure in government’s allocated 2012 budget and the rot exposed at GYEEDA. Casely explicitly indicated that ‘it was plain corruption’ for the presidency to use GYEEDA as ‘a vehicle for siphoning money’.

He was of the view that some of the monies that resulted in the 700 million over expenditure at the presidency were spent on these things (GYEEDA Projects) that went waste.

He pointed out that after six months of training, government gives sewing machines to beneficiaries under the dress making module of GYEEDA. Regrettably, since these beneficiaries are unable to make a dress they go on to sell these machines for other purposes, thereby defeating the concept of the programme.

He concluded that this practice and a majority of the overrun come through tax exemptions as far as the office of the president is concerned.

He expressed regret that eventually all of these are recorded as expenditure even though they were not budgeted for. Mr Casely Hayford was blunt in pointing out that to have 80% of all ministries, departments and agencies all spending beyond their budget, raises the suspicion of a deliberate attempt or collision by these institutions to ensure that they are able to get what they want from the over expenditure.

He said “…the financial regulatory system is such that it can gird against these over expenditures; so to have 80% of all state institutions over spending their budget, then it is more of a deliberate action than accidental”.

He lamented the failure of already existing structures that have been put in place to do the very things GYEEDA is doing. He cited the National Institute for Vocational Training that needs to be resourced and retooled to perform and eliminate all the unnecessary malfeasance arising from ‘the ill-conceived GYEEDA’.