Ghana Aid Effectiveness Forum asks government to be accountable in budget process

The Ghana Aid Effectiveness Forum (GAEF)  a civil society network has charged government to be more transparent and accountability in the budget process to ensure that public spending becomes more efficient and responsive.

Mr John Akarbo, Secretary of GAEF said the body aims at ensuring that government adheres to the achievement of Ghana’s medium-term development plan on how allocations in selected sectors reflect the quest to reduce poverty.

Mr Akarbo was speaking at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday  to launch a campaign dubbed: “ Spend wisely” to build on its engagement with the multi donor budget support base and other budget related process and to push an agenda for budget reform for development.

He said the GAEF  has currently 10 regional focal organisations and 14 platforms network focusing on gender, poverty reduction, governance , monitoring and evaluation, water and sanitation , education, oil and gas , right to information, health, agriculture,  environment and local production and labour,

He said government must systematically develop the process and structure to promote revenue mobilisation and to improve domestic revenue mobilisation for accelerated development.

Mr Akarbo recommended that government should raise the standards at the health, agriculture, education and oil and gas platforms in order to enrich the target in the 2012 budget.

He said even though government has done well there was the need to push higher in 2012 to meet every challenge that springs up.

Mr Akarbo asked the government to throw more light on efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Mrs Awo Aidan Amenyah Gender Programme Officer of the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition said government must develop a comprehensive public investment management policy, which takes into consideration the level of adoptive capacity of the economy.

She said government should direct investment to sectors that have significant multiplier effect and capable of increasing economic growth on sustainable basis.

Mrs Amenyah explained that government has signaled its intention to develop public investment programmes, which would provide a systematic co-ordinated and comprehensive manner, planned public infrastructure investment over the next five years.

She added that the institution and legislative reforms that addresses the weaknesses in the management of oil revenues must also be given critical attention.

Source: GNA