Mahama Is Talk & Do President–Ayariga

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, says the 2025 budget has clearly established President John Dramani Mahama as a Talk-and-Do President.

“He promised to abolish the e-Levy and it has been abolished. He promised to remove the Betting tax and it is gone. He vowed to scrap Emission levies and that is in the budget. This is a President who delivers on his promises,”he declared.

Key Reforms and Fiscal Policies

Contributing to the last debate on the 2025 budget in Parliament on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 Mr. Ayariga highlighted several key policy measures contained in the budget, including the decision to reduce government expenditure, streamline governance structures and ensure fiscal prudence.

“Talk-and-Do President Mahama pledged to reduce the size of government and he is delivering. Ministries are being cut down from 30 to 23 and the number of ministers has been slashed from 88 to 60. This is a government that is serious about cutting down on waste and inefficiency,” he said.

He further noted that the realignment of government structures included the elimination of development authorities, which he argued had contributed to unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication of roles.

“This is a budget that prioritises efficiency over waste. The capping of the GETFund, which stifled funding for education, is being removed. Schools that were struggling due to lack of resources will now receive the funding they deserve,” he emphasized.

Energy Crisis and Infrastructure Development

Touching on the energy sector, Mr. Ayariga described it as being in “major crisis due to years of neglect and lack of investment” under the NPP government. He assured that the Mahama-led administration was committed to restoring stability.

“John Dramani Mahama promised to fix the energy crisis and we are already addressing the issues. The Ghana Gold Board is being established to stabilise the cedi. The unfreezing of key funds such as the National Health Insurance Levy and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) fund will channel resources into critical infrastructure projects,” he explained.

He questioned the opposition’s claims that the budget lacked innovation, arguing that the budget was the most creative and well-thought-out financial plan in the country’s recent history.

“The wisdom, the creativity, the ingenuity, and the intellect that went into crafting this budget is unparalleled. It is designed to reset our economy and correct the damage caused by years of poor governance,” he asserted.

Mismanagement under NPP

The Majority Leader did not hold back his criticisms of the previous NPP administration, accusing it of financial recklessness and corruption that led to the collapse of state-owned enterprises and indigenous banks.

“It is on record that the 2022 audit report of the Bank of Ghana showed losses of over GHC 60 million.

“Today, that figure has ballooned to over GHC 70 billion due to reckless financial decisions made over the past eight years,” he stated.

He cited the downfall of Ghana Water Company, MetroMass Limited and Tema Oil Refinery as examples of state entities that were once profitable, but were run into insolvency under the NPP.

“In 2016, Ghana Water Company was solvent with a profit of GHC 2.4 billion. MetroMass was making profit, Tema Oil Refinery was functional.

“By 2023, these companies were recording massive losses. This is the mess that President Mahama has to clean up,” he added.

Prosecution of Former Officials

Mr. Ayariga went a step further by calling for legal action against officials of the previous government who he claimed engaged in fraudulent financial transactions.

“We lost GHC 720 million due to the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) deal. The KPMG audit report showed that out of GHC 2.45 billion generated from the e-Levy, a whopping GHC 720 million was misused. This is clear criminal mismanagement of the economy and there must be prosecutions,” he insisted.

He further accused former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of benefiting from the Eurobond transactions between 2018 and 2021, claiming that he personally pocketed millions of dollars in fees through his private bank.

“In 2018, he secured a $2 billion Eurobond. In 2019, $3 billion. In 2020, another $3 billion. By 2021, the figure had risen to $3.3 billion. As he did this, his private bank walked away with $9.2 million in fees. If this is not criminal, what is?” he questioned.

He also pointed to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) contract with Huptel, alleging that the company paid $12 million to upgrade obsolete systems, only for an additional GHC 403 million to be funnelled through the platform, worsening ECG’s financial woes.

“Meanwhile, ECG is drowning in debt. The GHC 589 million that was paid could have been used to clear its debts instead of being wasted on unnecessary expenditures,” he added.

Restoring Control over the Economy

The Majority Leader warned that Ghana had lost control of its financial sector due to the collapse of indigenous banks, which he blamed on poor decision-making by the NPP government.

“When you lose control over the financial sector, you lose control over the economy. The reckless banking sector clean-up exercise which could have been resolved with just GHC 6 billion ended up costing Ghana GHC 30 billion. And yet, we are being told we still need an additional GHC 10 billion to fix the sector,” he lamented.

He emphasised that the 2025 budget was the first step towards restoring economic sovereignty and ensuring that Ghanaian institutions regain control over the country’s financial future.

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson

The Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, who also addressed the house, described the budget as a “people-centered” financial plan aimed at addressing Ghana’s deep-seated socio-economic challenges.

“This is a budget that provides hope for all Ghanaians. It ensures that whatever we need as a country to bring back our past glory and even beyond is provided,” he said.

Dr. Ato Forson concluded his statement by urging Parliament to support the 21 different bills that accompany the 2025 Budget, stressing that their passage were crucial for the budget’s implementation.

 

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