By Albert Futukpor
Tamale, March 21, GNA – Stakeholders at a roundtable discussion on the implications of the country’s current economic challenges on social sector spending have called on the government to take steps to prioritise investment and spending on the social sector for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable.
They argued that prioritising investment and spending on health, education, social protection, child protection and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sectors would help maintain decent livelihoods for the poor, and vulnerable especially women, children, adolescents and the youth.
It was organised in Tamale by SEND GHANA, a civil society organisation, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to share reflections on the implications of the country’s current economic challenges on the execution of the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy with a special focus on the social sector (health, education, social protection, child protection and WASH).
Participants were drawn from CSOs, NGOs, the public sector, persons living with disabilities amongst others, and they discussed the challenges that the 2023 Budget would face as far as the current economic crisis was concerned, and what government should do differently to ensure that spending on the social sector did not suffer.
Trend analysis of budgetary allocations to the social sector from 2019 to 2023 showed erratic, irregular and frequent delays in disbursement of funds allocated to the sector hence concerns that the situation could be worse given the current economic challenges with its consequences on the poor and vulnerable.
Mr Mohammed Mumuni, Regional Programme Manager of SEND GHANA, speaking during the event, said “If you take the education sector, over the years, the trend analysis actually indicates that we have less than 65 per cent of budget execution rate. With the current circumstance we find ourselves, are we able to do more?
Mr Mumuni added that “If you take the case of social protection, LEAP is a similar example that government is always in arrears in terms of reimbursing or paying the grant. In the health sector, there is a peculiar case; it is generating a lot of resources except that the money from the NHIS Levy, in most cases, is actually diverted to other sectors.”
He said “Given the lessons that we learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, we think that government or the Ministry of Finance should desist from using the NHIS Levy for other interventions. The facilities are crying for resources. They are always struggling to provide services because the NHIS is always in arrears.”
He called on government to prioritise the use of the NHIS Levy purposely for providing health care services.
Mrs Abubakari Sahadatu Nima, Northern Regional Vice President, Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, expressed need for a more reliable source of funding for the social sector to sustain it.
Some of the participants also proposed that government should lodge the COVID-19 Levy into a fund and outline its use and management to ensure efficiency.
GNA