Minority in Parliament has described as political the claim by Vice President that the Mahama-led administration tried to hide GH¢7 billion expenditure from the nation’s financial books.
According to them, impression being created by the Vice President that the past administration depleted Ghana’s public purse is just a calculated attempt to incite Ghanaians against the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Dr. Bawumia at a forum in Accra organized by Krif Ghana Limited in collaboration with Action Chapel International and the US Embassy Tuesday, said the expenses range from 2014 to 2016.
According to him, the amount was detected as the new government prepares the 2017 budget which is expected to be presented in March.
“As we interrogated the data to see exactly why our public finances are in the state they are, we found that there is GH¢7 billion of expenditure that has not been disclosed,” Dr. Bawumia said, asking: “Where have they [GHC7 billion] been hiding all these years?”
But former deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson said the conduct of the Vice President smacks of hypocrisy and double standards.
He explained that, GH¢7 billion expenditure is captured in a special government data system at the Finance Ministry which Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia should be aware of.
“Where have they [GH¢7 billion] been hiding all these years?” he quizzed the audience.
Ato Forson added that, the expenditures were captured under a new financial management system called the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (GIFMIX) which the current government does not understand.
He noted that the Vice President ingjust playing ‘cheap politics’ with the issue to win the support of Ghanaians.