A former Deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Obuasi West in the Ashanti Region, Kwaku Kwarteng says that Ghana consistently overspends its revenue by about 40.1%, based on data from 2020.
He explained that, this practice predates 2020 but has continued, with Ghana regularly spending more than it earns each year.
Mr. Kwarteng said that as a result, the country borrows to cover the deficit, and each subsequent year, it borrows not only to address the new year’s overspending but also to cover the previous year’s deficit.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr. Kwarteng stated, “As you move on, you keep borrowing more and more to pay previous debts and also to finance the current year’s overspending. Now, we have been doing this for such a long period. Unfortunately, it is under the tenure of the Nana Addo administration, that the lenders are beginning to say, ‘This country we would not lend to you’. That is why I say it is a cumulative effect.”
Mr. Kwarteng noted that, as a member of the governing New Patriotic Party and as per his nature, he has been raising concerns about overspending even whenever the need arose.
The former chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament said it is more effective to work internally to achieve savings and improve the situation.
He also noted that even if he did not initially hold these views, recognising a mistake and making necessary changes is crucial.
“I don’t speak self-righteously. I am not saying that I am a good person and that it is others who have done anything wrong. I have been in this with my colleague politicians. I have been part of many of the wrong things I am now complaining about. I am sometimes guilty of seeing things that are not right, but in the spirit of the collective, be it Parliament, NDC or NPP together, be it my political party, I am guilty of being part of this.
“All I am saying is that whatever we have been doing as a people is leading our country into a mess, so let us draw the line now and change behaviour.”