Member of Parliament for Salaga South Hajia Zuweira Ibrahimah has told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta to sit up and address the challenges facing the economy.
She described the current economic situation the country is saddled with at the moment as the worst ever.
Speaking in an interview with TV3, she said “In one year, over 60 per cent increase in fuel prices, naturally every business person will pass it on to the consumer, it makes the consumer worse off. Salaries have not been increased. Have you heard anything about salary increments or adjustments? I have been in Parliament for one year and four months, no one has adjusted my salary.
“In fact, I haven’t even been told my salary yet because when we got into Parliament we inherited the salaries that members of the seventh parliament were paid. Salaries for the 8th Parliament have not been determined and we are still on that salary.”
She added “You walk around and people are chasing you for One Cedi and you know the value of that One Ghana cedi that it is not going to buy you anything. Even Five Cedis is not going to buy you anything.
“You don’t need a magician to tell you things are hard. We are praying that our mother, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo will say things to Nana Akufo Addo in his ears in the evening when they are home that he should call Ken Ofori Atta to relook at this whole economic venture of the people of this country and make things a little bit bearable for us.”
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to tackle the economic problems, Finance Minister Mr Ofori-Atta announced on Thursday, March 24 new measures.
with immediate effect, the government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year.
He said “With immediate effect, the Government has imposed a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year. This will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives. We will ensure that the overall effect is to reduce total vehicle purchases by the public sector by at least 50 per cent for the period,” he said.
“Again, with immediate effect Government has imposed a moratorium on all foreign travels, except pre-approved critical/statutory travels; Government will conclude ongoing measures to eliminate “ghost” workers from the Government payroll by the end of December 2022;
“Discretionary spending is to be further cut by an additional 10%. The Ministry of Finance is currently meeting with MDAs to review their spending plans for the rest of the three (3) quarters to achieve the discretionary expenditure cuts; ii. these times call for very efficient use of energy resources.
“In line with this, there will be a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and Heads of government institutions, including SOEs, effective 1st April 2022,” he added.
Source: 3news.com
