What’s the essence of a budget if it has no positive effect on people’s livelihoods? – Franklin Cudjoe

The Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has stressed the importance of a national budget that directly impacts people’s lives, rather than focusing solely on macroeconomic indicators.

Speaking on The Keypoints with Alfred Ocansey, he stated: “Where we are right now, the challenges we’ve been through, the difficulties we’ve been through, I’ll be more interested in seeing the budget that addresses the larger problems of people. I mean, the needs of people. I don’t know, probably even their wants.”

Cudjoe further emphasized that while technical budgetary discussions are necessary, their real value lies in tangible improvements to essential sectors.

“What is the essence of the budget if it is not going to affect positively people’s livelihoods—from healthcare to education to hardcore poverty?” he asked on March 15.

His remarks highlight his belief that national budgets should be designed to directly improve the lives of the most vulnerable citizens.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has strongly criticized the past administration’s handling of Ghana’s economy, calling it the worst in the Fourth Republic.

Speaking on The Keypoints with Alfred Ocansey, he argued that all economic indicators point to severe mismanagement.

“This economy is not in good shape. It is verifiable on the face of the facts. Even in our lives, we all have noticed it,” he stated, rejecting any attempts to justify the current economic struggles.

Kwakye Ofosu dismissed claims that Ghana’s financial difficulties were due to COVID-19, insisting that other African nations managed their economies better.

“Please, that is an argument that nobody accepts anymore. Is Ghana the only country that COVID-19 hit? Indeed, just after COVID-19, or in the heat of COVID-19, an analysis was made of the economies in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ghana’s economy was the worst. All our neighbors did far better than we did,” he asserted.

He also blamed excessive election-related spending for worsening the country’s financial woes.

“The difference between [Côte d’Ivoire] and us is that we had an election, they didn’t. If we had stuck to just protecting people through expenditure in healthcare so that the disease does not spread, we wouldn’t incur the deficit. They went beyond that in their bid to win the election.”

According to him, the impact of such reckless spending is reflected in investor confidence.

“Why do you think that investors were shying away from our economy? Indeed, investors have ways of finding out the state of the economy, sometimes even before you make it public. When you see investors running away from an economy, you know that they know that things are not right,” he emphasized

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