The Minority group in Parliament has strongly criticized the 2024 budget allocations for the Office of the President and the Chief of Staff Secretariat, highlighting a substantial 100% surge in the President’s office budget to over 1 billion cedis and a 277 million cedis allocation for the Chief of Staff’s office.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, has vociferously called for justification for these “exponential increases,” questioning the purpose behind such a significant rise and expressing concern about fiscal responsibility in a time of national crisis.
Dr. Ato Forson emphasized that the Office of the President’s budget alone has seen a remarkable increase, reaching 1 billion and 93 million Ghana cedis for 2024, with goods and services accounting for 450 million cedis. In the face of a national crisis, the Minority Caucus stressed the importance of prudent financial management and urged a transparent account of how these funds will be utilized in the coming year.
“The Office of the President, in particular, their budget is being increased by over 100 per cent, from 2023 to 2024 so what exactly are they going to do in 2024, is it the elections, is that the reason they have budgeted so much? The office of the presidency alone, their goods and services alone is 450 million cedis.”
“The budget they have allocated to the Office of the President alone is 1 billion and 93 million Ghana cedis for the year 2024. Mr Speaker, All of us agree that the country is in a crisis and there is a need for us to be careful about how we spend money.”
Additionally, the Minority criticized the establishment of Development Authorities, including the Coastal Development Authority (CODA), labeling them as “a waste of resources” and a “pretext to amass resources for wrongful spending.”
Governs Agbodza, the Minority Chief Whip, led the charge against these authorities, asserting that they serve as channels for diverting funds away from critical areas and called for their prohibition, citing their perceived failure to fulfill their intended mandates.
