The Akufo-Addo administration was recommended to slash expenditures and the size of the government by the German ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull.
But, Daniel Krull has been instructed to be more explicit about the areas in which he wants the government to cut spending.
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA) Pius Enam Hadzide indicated that the easiest thing to do is to just call for cuts in government spending and not give specifics.
The German Ambassador while addressing the press on Friday, wondered why Ghana has been crying to the international community for help when the country continues to operate a large size government bigger than that of Germany.
“I only can compare with other countries like my own and I can just come to the conclusion that the number is much higher than in my country. So that might bring me to the conclusion that maybe there’s room for improvement.”
“Well, of course, it depends very much on what kind of expenditures you’re looking at… I’m convinced this is true for if I look at the budget of the German Foreign Ministry of the German government, I’m convinced there are important tasks that can be cut without hurting economic development. And I’m convinced without going into details this also is true for Ghana. There are certain expenditures that can be lowered substantially and make an important impact, and it has to be part of the package.
“I mean, I cannot go out to the international community and say I need help, but I’m not willing to cut my own budget expenditures. I have to be careful not to cut the social expenditures that are destroying lives and families. I have to be very careful not to take measures that might negatively impact economic growth.
“But I’m convinced there are many expenditures that could be looked at very carefully and can be lowered substantially,” he said.
But speaking on the Big Issue, on TV3 Tuesday February 28, Mr Hadzide said “First of all, I think that we must understand that there are rules that govern international diplomacy, and as much as Ambassadors and representatives of sovereigns are allowed certain levels of laxity, there are rules within the Vienna Convention that must guide our narrative.
“I have listened to the Ambassador, he said a lot of good things and he had a lot of vote of confidence for what is happening within our jurisdictions.
“It is reported that he said something about the size of the government, I heard him say that we need to cut public expenditure. If it is about cutting public expenditure, we are aligned with that one. Mr President himself has said, members of the government have said and I have said that we need to find the balance for public expenditure and public government revenue. So yes, it is easy to say we should cut our expenditure but expenditure in what [areas]? We should cut expenditure in the road sector because that is public expenditure or expenditure in education or we should cut our expenditure in the health areas?
“So our development partners must appreciate the severity of our problems and the need for us to jump-start if we have to compete on equal terms. It is easy for them to say cut expenditure here, cut expenditure there.
“I hold the view that these our development partners or bilateral partners and so on, they are not really and truly out there in our best interest. If they had their way, Africa would be a production force for them to be feeding their economies, that was the intention that even drove them to come in the first place to colonize us.”
Mr Hadzide further indicated that it is not automatic that the country should implement whatever demands that are made by the partners.
“When they make their subscriptions, we must look at it in our own context and take our own decisions.”