Addressing students of the Accra Polytechnic last week, the running mate to NPP’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Dr Mahmud Bawumia accused government of diverting the money for political campaign purposes.
The Finance Minister claims he acted within the law, and that the US$250 million was seed money allocated to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF). The amount, he said, was lodged by the Board of the Fund, with a commercial bank, and that it is safe. He also indicated that the investment has already started bearing interest.
It is clear from views and comments making the rounds in the Ghanaian media that the public does not seem to trust the explanations being provided by the Minister, reason being that, the explanation is seen as an after-thought response to justify government’s attempt at illegitimately raising funds for the NDC’s campaign.
While the public interpretation of what has happened and the motive for it may not be accurate, the major lesson that the Minister could learn from the development is that, information disclosure ahead of the implementation of the decision to invest the GIIF share of the US$1 billion would have elicited public confidence in the explanations he is now providing. By announcing the policy decision ahead of its implementation, citizens would have been afforded the opportunity to comment, and to point out the irregularities without necessarily imputing criminal intent. This is where transparency begets public confidence.
The Public Agenda wishes to draw the attention of the Minister of Finance, that questions are already being asked about how much has accrued to the special energy sector levy announced in the 2016 budget. It will help a great deal if the Minister on his own volition will periodically disclose the amounts collected and how much of the energy sector debt have been recovered.
This is how to invoke public confidence. Keeping people in the dark only leads to speculations, with their attendant reputation risks for government.
Source: PA STORY
