- "So, I believe in this Ghana beyond aid. The only thing is that we should widen the tax network, improve resource mobilization and gender confidence in Ghanaians that when they pay the taxes, we’ll be able to use it for the intended purposes."
Dr Eric Oduro Osae, the director-general of the Internal Audit Agency has kicked against any attempt by the government to return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support.
He said any plans by the government to seek an IMF bailout for the struggling economy will lead to the re-introduction of an economic neo-colonialism imposition on Ghana.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Wednesday (23 March), Dr Osae said, “if you go to IMF, then indirectly they will be monitoring or influencing our social-economic policies. And the social-economic policies of Ghana will then require that you go back to IMF again. If you go to IMF, what it means is that economic neo-colonialism is being re-introduced and that’s the area the President [Akufo-Addo] said we should move away from.”
Ghana beyond aid
“So, I believe in this Ghana beyond aid. The only thing is that we should widen the tax network, improve resource mobilisation and gender confidence in Ghanaians that when they pay the taxes, we’ll be able to use it for the intended purposes. People pay tithes to churches, they dance and put it in the offering bowl, because they know they’ll be blessed or because they have confidence in the church that when they pay the money, they’ll use it for the intended purposes.
“…We should be able to create that environment, it is not difficult to do it. We have to start from somewhere, let us cut our expenditure, let us make sure that we have it as our agenda; not a political agenda but a national agenda. It should be in the national development plan that we’ll finance our development locally because any amount you collect from IMF comes with conditionalities,” Osae added.
Nicholas Brown
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