Ghana is not a poor country but is simply being poorly managed, these are the sentiments of tax expert Abdallah Ali-Nakyea.
His comments follow the conditionality attached to the imminent $3billlion IMF bailout to the government of Ghana; conditions which include restructuring of the country’s debts, a programme that has met stiff domestic resistance.
Chiding the government, Dr. Ali-Nakyea asserted that mismanagement and corruption have landed the government in the tentacles of the Bretton Woods institution.
“…my key issue is corruption. We cannot run away from it,” he told George Wiafe on JOYNEWS’ primetime show, PM Express on Thursday, adding that the lifestyle of some government appointees make nonsense of claims that the country does not have money.
“How can they live that way if we don’t have money?” He quizzed. “That is why I am saying that Ghana is not poor…we are only being poorly managed.”
Dr. Ali-Nakyea who teaches Law of Taxation at University of Ghana School of Law further argued that closing the leakages in the tax collection system would help the country to avoid borrowing money on unfavorable terms.
He referenced the past three years; 2020, 2021 and 2022, where he noted the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) exceeded its targets as a result of automating the collection processes.
“Once you automate, the tendency to hide any income or misapply revenue can be solved,” he said, adding that “it can curb a little bit of the corruption.”
“And then once we try to close the tax gap and all those who are required to pay, pay, we don’t need to go borrowing,”
He also called on the government to cut its expenditure, a call numerous critics have made, with the Minority in Parliament currently seeking to block new Ministerial appointments by President Akufo-Addo.
The MPs argue the government size is already huge and the President should be merging Ministries and relieving redundant Ministers instead of adding to the number.
The President, however, remains adamant to the critiques.
