$23bn of loans unaccounted for - NPP charges at gov't

The Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says a whopping amount of $23 billion cannot be accounted for by the NDC government from 2009 till date. The amount forms a large chunk of a $27 billion loan contracted by the Mills and Mahama government for purposes of infrastructural development.

The Suame MP made the revelation on the floor of Parliament Wednesday, to wind up the debate on the 2015 Budget Statement.

According to him, the NDC administration has since 2009 borrowed over $27 billion, an amount which did not include oil proceeds and government revenues. Unfortunately, he added, 90 percent of the money had gone into recurrent expenditure.

"In the 2015 budget the Minister of finance has enumerated a number of signature projects that have been financed by these borrowings since 2009…the total expenditure of which come to $3.5 billion out of the $27 billion borrowed. So where is the rest of the money?" he demanded.

"How do you account for the $23.5 billion, Mr. Minister?" he demanded further. He hinted the minority will haul the Minister of finance before the House to answer to Ghanaians what the unaccounted amount was used for.

Painting a gloomy picture of Ghana's economic situation, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said "Mr. Speaker, the nature, character, form and shape of the 2015 budget is anything but transformational. The short term prospects of the economy are gloomy, the Medium Term prospects have no proper foundation hence the medium term cannot be bright.

The Transformational Agenda can only be a forlorn hope without any basis. But fellow Ghanaians let us all come together to rescue this sinking ship, as clearly a sinking fund cannot do it."

The Majority Leader Alban Bagbin retorted saying the country was on the right path to recovery.

He also took a swipe at the erstwhile Kufuor administration, accusing it of mismanaging the economy and running down the currency.

He said to ensure an artificial stability of the currency, the Kufuor government deliberately knocked off four zeros on the currency under the guise of re-denomination.

Source: myjoyonline.