All the members of the Council of State will now take 20% less of their allowances, as part of measures devised by the government to tackle the economic crisis afflicting Ghana.

Speaking at the Jubilee House, the seat of the Presidency, the Chairman of the Council, Nana Otuo Serebour II, said, “We have decided to reduce our monthly allowances by 20% to the end of this year”.

“This move is our way of contributing our widow’s [mite] to efforts toward economic recovery.”

A few days ago, President Nana Akufo-Addo said his government needs to take some difficult but necessary decisions to spur growth, development and restore the economy.

“We need to undertake the difficult but necessary fiscal and other measures that will enable us to maintain the 2021 and higher rates of growth in the immediate years ahead of us, to develop and strengthen our economy, and help improve the living standards of us all,” the President said the 92nd Speech and Prize-Giving Day of St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast on Saturday, 19 March 2021.

He noted that the Ghanaian economy grew at a provisional 5.2% in the first three quarters of 2021, with GDP growth for 2021 projected at 5.6%, as against the 0.4% of 2020.  

The President also assured Ghanaians that the policies being implemented by his government, in the wake of the difficulties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, will help the economy rebound faster than anticipated.

Acknowledging the difficult times the nation is going through, President Akufo-Addo noted that every country on the face of the planet, is going through challenges brought forth largely by the pandemic of COVID-19.

“Ghana is not the only country faced with extraordinary increases in global freight rates, strong inflationary pressures, dramatically rising fuel prices, unprecedented volatility of stock markets, and tighter global financing conditions. These are global phenomena,” he said.

The President continued, “Nonetheless, the government continues to work hard to address these issues, and I am certain that, sooner, rather than later, our economy, through the implementation of Government’s one hundred-billion-cedi (GH¢100 billion) Ghana CARES Obaatanpa Programme, will rebound from the ravages of the pandemic, bringing in its wake stability, development, progress and prosperity for all Ghanaians.”

Democracy

Touching on the country’s democratic credentials, President Akufo-Addo noted that the Ghanaian people, for these last twenty-nine (29) years of the 4th Republic, have reposed their trust in the democratic process as the avenue to resolve the myriad of problems the country faces, and have demonstrated their determination to uphold democratic values and institutions to bring development to the nation.

“There are a few, though, who I have characterised as ‘restless spirits’, who are not prepared to allow you to complete your education in conditions of calm, peace and stability, and who seek constant turbulence in the governance of the state. This has led, lately, to some irresponsible utterances about coups as panaceas to our problems,” he said.

He continued, “I have said, and will use this platform to repeat that coups have never been, and will never be durable solutions to the political, economic and security challenges confronting our nation and continent.”

The President was confident that the great majority of Ghanaians, who are committed to democratic values and democratic institutions, “will continue to resist the rhetoric and advances of coup mongers and coup plotters, and those of us who have the responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the state will employ all legitimate means in a democracy to preserve our free, open system of governance, which is respectful of human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability.”