By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Aug. 31, GNA – Stakeholders at a forum in Wa have advocated increased funding for social intervention programmes in the country to help support the vulnerable in society.
They also raised concerns about the delay in releasing the funds for those social intervention programmes such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and School Feeding Programme, which should be considered by the government.
The stakeholders called on the government to increase the Disability Common Fund (DCF) of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) from three per cent to five per cent to help meet the needs of the targeted beneficiaries.
In a presentation on behalf of the stakeholders at a citizen budget forum in Wa, Mr Mashawudu Adams, the Assembly Member for the Kambali Electoral Area in the Wa Municipality, noted that the three per cent allocation for Persons with Disability (PWDs) was woefully inadequate and stressed the need for an increase in the 2023 budget.
The forum was organized by SEND-GHANA with funding support from UNICEF to collate inputs from the public to feed into the 2023 national budget and economic policy being prepared by the Ministry of Finance.
The participants were selected from key departments and groups across the region including PWDs, the Ghana Health Service, Environmental Health and Sanitation Department, and the Department of Social Protection and Community Development, among others.
Representatives from the Ministries of Education, Sanitation and Water Resources, and Gender, Children, and Social Protection also made presentations on the priority areas of the ministries for the 2023 financial year.
Mr Adams, who was the Chairman of the Social Welfare of the Wa Municipal Assembly, observed that the inadequate budget allocation for the DCF presented a serious challenge to the assemblies in disbursing the funds to achieve the needed impact.
Mr Mumuni Mohammed, the Regional Programme Manager, SEND GHANA, emphasised the need for the government to do priority investment in the 2023 budget considering the current economic challenges the country was facing.
“I think what is coming out clear is that 2023 is going to be a very difficult year given the economic turbulence that we find ourselves in, we are having challenges in mobilizing enough revenue and that is translating into expenditure and also how we finance that budget.
“There is a lot of wasteful expenditure in government spending. We think that given the situation or current circumstance, the government should be measured and make sure that whatever we invest our resources it is something that will give us the best return”, he explained.
Mr Mohammed also urged the government to ensure that the various sectors of the government machinery such as the health, education, and agriculture sectors functioned effectively to ensure the delivery of quality services and reduce the payment of compensations.
Mr Alexander Kwadjo Nkansah, the Principal Economics Officer, Ministry of Finance, said it was a constitutional provision for the citizens to make inputs into the budget prepared by the government every year.
He explained that the inputs collated from the citizens would be submitted to the appropriate sector ministries for consideration in their 2023 budget estimates to the Ministry of Finance.
GNA