The proposal by the Akufo-Addo government to deplete the Heritage Fund under the guise of financing our collective fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is a definite no-no.
The Heritage Fund was setup by the visionary Mills/Mahama government for good reason. It is to serve as an endowment to support development for future generations when our petroleum reserves are eventually depleted.
The billions of Cedis that government intends to borrow from external sources in the coming days, the GHS1.2 billion government intends to draw from the Stabilization Fund, and the recent $3 billion Eurobond, should be enough to bolster the COVID-19 fight and to plug the financial gaps and revenue shortfalls which will be occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.
Posterity will not forgive this generation if we bequeath nothing but debt to the next generation.
The Akufo-Addo government is by far the most resourced government in the history of Ghana. Sadly, they have nothing significant to show for the unprecedented resources that have accrued to them in loans, oil and tax revenue among others, in the last three (3) years due to their unbridled penchant for profligacy and corruption.
Rather than deplete the Heritage Fund, President Akufo-Addo should first cut down the size of his obese government and their wasteful expenses, so as to reduce pressure on the already-constrained public purse and increase available resources for the enhancement of our response plan against the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is what any responsible government that cares about future generations will do under the circumstances. This is not the time for government to pass on the buck of its ostentation to the unborn generation of Ghanaians. The Akufo-Addo government cannot make any justification for continuing to live large and fat in these abnormal times, at the expense of future generations.
It is instructive to note, that per section 10 (4) of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815), 2011, Parliament can only review the restriction on transfers from the Ghana Heritage Fund and authorize a transfer of portions of the accrued interest on the Fund, 15 years after the commencement of the ACT. The Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815), was passed in the year 2011; hence it is nine (9) years old. Therefore, any attempt by government to deplete the Heritage Fund at this time will be unlawful and must be resisted by all well-meaning Ghanaians.
#Don’tTouchTheHeritageFund
SAMMY GYAMFI Esq.
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I just don't understand this man at all, I don't also understand why you always turning every thing into politics. This is a life and death issue,what are we going to do with all that money if we all die of this disease. Would you allow a snake to bit you just because the rod beside you is meant for future snakes to come. Isn't that foolishness. Let all unit against the eradication of this sickness . may God help us all
When the followers of these two parties are at one another's throat their leaders who really take all the bad decisions just sit down and laugh. The reason being that they fight one another without even understanding properly the issues at hand. It is indeed very sad to live in these times as a Ghanaian. So we are ready to support our party even if they are slowly tightening a noose around our necks! This is scandalous and petrifying. To the neutral, the fact is that government does not NEED to dip its corrupt hands in the heritage fund to fight covid-19 at alllll! Have they considered how other governments, who are even giving social reliefs to their citizens, are funding these programs? To illustrate that it is just another ploy to squander money: why did the government spend over USD8million to print higher denomination currencies which no one needs and which was shrouded in secrecy? The government just wants to ride on the emotions of Ghanaians to dissipate what is the only asset we have for posterity! Look at the number and value of bonds we have already sold! What has the money been used for? We should stop these stuuupid emotional attachments we have for political parties and think for once! Why are they hell-bent on dipping their hands in this fund without considering alternative proposals from other civil society groups and academia in finance? Why do they always think that because they have majority in parliament they can always bulldoze their way through on every policy proposition without due consideration of dissenting opinions? Are we in a banana republic where some are more Ghanaian and therefor their views are superior to all others?
SAMMY GYAMFI BEYIE BONSAM´YOUR JEALOUSY AGAINST THE PRESIDENT WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR HOPELESS POLITICAL CARRIER.
Is the heritage fund for your mother or father? What power do you have in Ghana to tell the government not to touch it to take care of Ghanaians? and where were you when your uncle Asiedu Nketiah asked ndc to finish with the heritage fund during john mahama's time? Idi*ots like these make ndc very very much unattractive. The government will touch it and lets see what you can do! You talk k3k3 from your a$$es no sense. It will be easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than ndc with such people to come to power! My President the Wiseman who talks and the world listen said ! "We can bring back the economy but what we can't do is to bring back life" heritage fund was created by the npp under Papa Kuffuor and ndc infidel party has no power to tell Patriotic Ghanaians not to touch what they created for Ghanaians. Ndc infidel party,Never again in Ghana !