By: Mathias Amoah (Daily
Express)
Government
has disclosed its intention to lay before cabinet, more systematic set of
policy measures that will remove fraud and create a cleaner and leaner wage
bill.
This
move is to pave way for the introduction of the better management
of the payroll going forward.
According
to President John Mahama, several initiatives have been undertaken and are
underway to tighten expenditure controls and address any leakages in the
management of public expenditures.
“We
know there is a lot of waste in the public sector. We are dealing with this
consistently in order to improve services to our citizens”, he
said at a one-day Ministers’ retreat yesterday.
The
retreat which was under the theme “understanding government’s relations with
the IMF”, was to enlighten the ministers and their deputies,
presidential staffers and high hierarchy of National Democratic Congress (NDC)
on government’s position on IMF programme.
The
President said the meeting was also aimed at triggering discussions
on the implications of a possible fund programme for the budget 2015 and
government’s medium term development plan.
“It
is also meant to achieve the objective of setting out Ghana’s current
economic reality and identify the constraints as well as the opportunities for
our economic development”, he said.
He
explained that government’s decision to move in for an IMF support
programme was informed by a careful and thorough deliberations against
the backdrop of a series of policy measures his outfit had already
initiated.
“
In July, I took a decision for Ghana to initiate discussions with the
International Monetary Fund after extensive consultations especially with the
Presidential Advisory Group on the Economy”, he said, adding that
……..government has painstakingly engaged in thorough series of policy measures
aimed at stabilising and consolidating our macroeconomic environment and
restoring confidence in the economy”.
Expressing
optimism that the Dr Kwesi Botchey led delegation would give the
country a better leverage in terms of negotiation with the Bretton
Woods Institution, President Mahama said he remains focused on
fixing the short-term bottlenecks to ensure that Ghana can proceed to the
bright medium and long term prospects on a more solid and sustainable
foundation.
“I
have gone at length to describe the composition of our negotiating team so that
you are well aware of the fact that we do have a solid team under impeccable
leadership and accessible to all members of government”, he said.
President
John Mahama tasked Ghana’s team negotiating with the IMF programme to execute
their mission as one team with a common consensus.
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