Rituals At Parliament Today

The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, will deliver the 2010 Budget Statement to Parliament today and expectations are high as ever, as Ghanaians look forward to the second economic policy of the Mills Administration since coming into office on January 7, 2009. In Parliament, opinion is sharply divided and while members on the Majority side believe the 2010 budget will clearly define the path to achieving the better Ghana agenda, members of the minority insist the Finance Minister will simply send redressed 2009 budget to the House. The member for Offinso South Constituency on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hon Ben Abdallah Banda, declared to the Daily Democrat that Ghanaians are once again going to be disappointed by the government. According to him, the Minister for Finance read the 2009 budget barely nine months ago and from the time to November, people�s livelihood has continued to worsen, far from the change that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration promised. He wondered what other promises would be made by the Finance Minister when it is clear the 2009 budget has failed to fulfil the aspiration of Ghanaians. He argued that government has completely lost it and is managing the economy by trial and error, hence delivering the budget statement is not going to make much difference in the lives of the expectant Ghanaian public. The MP for Nadowli East, Hon Mathias Puozaa, however, noted that when the Finance Minister appeared on the floor of the House and read the 2009 Budget, he highlight some critical areas that government will focus attention on and how the administration intends to fulfill the promises made to Ghanaians during the electioneering campaign. According to him, despite the challenges that the Mills Administration inherited from the Kufuor-led government in terms of the poor economic position of the country, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is gradually putting the economy back on track. He stated that a larger section of the Ghanaian public may not have felt the impact of the government�s efforts simply because the Mills administration has been forced to go at a slower pace than expected as the true state of the economy gradually came into sharp focus. Hon. Puozaa noted that the economy has taken off and the sound economic policies being pursued by the administration will soon be felt by every single Ghanaian. The 2010 Budget, he said, holds the hope people have looked forward to since the NDC came into government. In spite of the expectations, ordinary people on the street see arguments between members of the two political parties as a continuation of the ritual of opposing whatever the other presents. According to some interviewees, Ghanaians would no doubt hold unto their views until the Minister has read the budget and then they will determine whether the government�s policy has the antidote to solve the problems bedeviling the country.