Dr. Clement Apaak, Member of Parliament for Builsa South, criticized the government’s borrowing practices, attributing the economic difficulties to excessive and imprudent debt accumulation rather than external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic or the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“One of the reasons why our economy is in shambles is not as a result of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war. It is because of the reckless and excessive borrowing for which we have not seen any significant development,” he said. He made these remarks on A1 Radio on Friday, August 2, following a recent session where Parliament voted against a 250 million dollar loan agreement intended to address issues within the country’s energy sector.
He questioned the need for allocating $90 million of the loan specifically for consultancy services, arguing that the problems within the power sector are already well-documented and understood.
“When you bring a loan and you designate 90 million dollars for consultancy, to consult on what? Don’t we know the challenges that we have in the power sector?” He added, “Our power sector and its challenges are well documented and well known, so why should we give you 90 million to go and do consultancy?”
He further criticized the government’s handling of previous funding initiatives, specifically the Millennium Compact, which was compromised by alleged fraudulent activities involving the Power Distribution Services (PDS).
“If this government was minded to prioritize the power sector, how come they messed up the Millennium Compact where the Americans had given us a substantial amount of money by bringing in that fraudulent PDS which was created by friends and cronies?”
The decision to vote down the loan, Dr. Apaak emphasized, was made with the national interest in mind, asserting that the country should refrain from additional borrowing at this time. “The point that I’m making is that this loan that we rejected, we did it in the national interest.”
“This country should not be borrowing money. Not at this time,” he stated.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Gifty Eyram Kudiabor|Bolgatanga|
