A senior research fellow at the Kumasi Technical University and an economist, Dr Smart Sarpong, has urged the government to scrap two ministries in order to have extra money to help cushion Ghana’s crippling economy.
The two according to him are the Fisheries and Sanitation Ministries.
Speaking on Movement In The Morning Show with Kwaku Dawuro on Wontumi Radio/ Movement TV, Dr. Sarpong said, “I would like to join many others to suggest that many of these ministries should be scrapped. Some could be merged like the Fisheries and Sanitation Ministries. The Fisheries Ministry can be added back to the Agric Ministry as well as the Sanitation Ministry being added to the Local government Ministry so the money used to run these ministries can be used on something else- when we do that it can reduce our expenditure”, Dr. Sarpong advised.
Dr. Sarpong was reacting to the recent downgrading of Ghana’s economy by some rating agencies. He advised that if the country is able to streamline its digital space like the Vice President had started, Ghana will have a common platform to monitor it’s economy.
He however blamed Ghana’s balance trade as the main cause of the bad outlook. According to him, the country is capable of producing many of the items which are imported into the country, but that is not done. “Our manufacturing industry isn’t able to grow large because we are supporting others by importing more things into the country”, he lamented.
“But we have all that it takes, instead of maximizing it to our own growth we are still importing. I’m not saying we could end importing totally because even the US imports things but there are certain things which could be manufactured here in Ghana and that helps build the economy”, Dr. Smart added.
In February Moody’s downgraded Ghana to Caa1 with a stable outlook.
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