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A Deputy Chief of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor, says Nana Akufo-Addo’s announcement of a GHC20 million budget for the Ghana@60 celebration is not outrageous.

According to him, the budget includes monies to be used to undertake legacy projects that will be beneficial to Ghanaians.

He said a part of the funds will be used to undertake social intervention projects and not just for merrymaking.

“The assumption that we are going to spend GH¢20 million on parties or eating and drinking is not true. That is not what the money will be entirely used for. I am a member of the legacy projects sub-committee, and we received a proposal from a young man who says that we should find a way to fund the psychiatric hospital as a legacy project for the 60th anniversary. It is a proposal that we are discussing and in the end, we will have projects which will be out-doored and executed to commemorate the 60th-anniversary celebration,” Mr Jinapor said.

Government has come under heavy criticism over the GHC20 million budget it announced for the upcoming celebrations in March.

But according to Mr. Jinapor, the government has received positive feedback from the Ghanaian business community over their preparedness to sponsor the anniversary celebration.

“There are a lot of benefits that will accrue to them [private companies]. This is a national event, it is a Ghanaian enterprise so if a private entity supports a Ghanaian undertaking it has extraordinary benefits and those who are into marketing and understand the way these things work, will agree with me that there are extraordinary benefits that a company will accrue by supporting this venture. Since Thursday the President made the clarion call on corporate Ghana, we’ve had a lot of positive responses from government. I am very hopeful in the end we should be able to raise the needed funding to fund this anniversary without burdening the Ghanaian people in any way.”

President Akufo-Addo on Thursday revealed that, the estimated cost of the celebration will be GHc 20 million.

Speaking at a ceremony to launch the logo and theme of the anniversary celebration, he expressed hope that the cost of the celebration would be borne not only by the state, but also individual Ghanaians and private companies.

“This diamond jubilee commemoration is estimated to cost some GHc 20 million and I am hoping that individual Ghanaians, the Ghanaian private sector and corporate Ghana in particular, will provide the funds for this anniversary. My ambition is to commemorate this anniversary with minimum or no burden at all on the national treasury”.

“I have instructed the planning committee to come up with a plan to develop significant projects that can stand as national monuments for his diamond Jubilee,” President Akufo-Addo said in his address.

The theme for the celebration is “Mobilising for Ghana’s Future”.