NPP Has Shown Us The Way . . . This Is How Budget Should Be - Kwesi Pratt

Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has lauded the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Government of Ghana over the 2017 "Asempa" Budget and Government Economic Policy before Parliament on Thursday, March 2.

The Finance Minister was on the floor of Parliament yesterday and delivered the "Asempa" budget, which is to mean good news and indicated that the government has scrapped some taxes in order to ease the economic challenges confronting the nation.

He said the government has abolished taxes on the importation of spare parts as well as levies on head porters (Kayayei) in the country.

The 2017 budget seems to have brought lots of relief to spare parts dealers and Kayayeis' as they thronged the streets in jubilation over the budget statement.

Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Kwesi Pratt applauded the government saying the budget addressed significant areas of the economy.

According to him, the government's intention to abolish taxes and levies on spare parts and head porting is indeed good news to the people of Ghana.

Mr. Pratt believed the NPP government has had a position of advantage and control over the erstwhile Mahama government because they failed to capture areas that would have a direct effect on citizenry in their budget statements.

Though he explained a budget as an "estimate of incomes and projections about expenditure” which is reviewed every 6 months and it’s based on “assumptions which may not turn out to be true”, this year's budget "has shown us something. I’ve learned something from the budget. But at first, when you say it; nobody accepts you. Then they start to ridicule…A lot times we talk about the gap between the rich and the poor and how to bridge the gap and so on. The budget itself is a political instrument that shows the direction of the government and this budget defined that thing clearly.

 ". . two of the best examples is so-called abolition of taxes on spare parts . . . The second one is the Kayayei thing. That is how the budget should be. I’m not saying it’s wrong. When you finish reading a budget, you have to see which sections of the society are going to benefit and which sections of the society are not going to benefit.”