The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has launched a critique of the government’s economic management, accusing the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, of failing to address the concerns of ordinary Ghanaians despite presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review. Speaking shortly after the Finance Minister’s presentation to Parliament on Thursday, July 23, Mr Afenyo-Markin questioned the government’s spending priorities, its handling of key sectors of the economy and what he described as a lack of meaningful relief for citizens facing economic difficulties. He challenged the Finance Minister’s presentation, arguing that the true measure of a Finance Minister should not only be based on expenditure figures but on the impact of government policies on the lives of Ghanaians.
“You see, the true measure of a finance minister is not how much he spends,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said. The Minority Leader also raised concerns about what he described as inconsistencies in figures provided by government officials regarding funds released for certain programmes. “His deputy minister told the nation that 1.6 billion was released to the Agric minister.
Today, he says only 1.1 billion,” he alleged. Mr Afenyo-Markin criticised the government for what he described as a lack of concrete policy measures for cocoa farmers, saying the sector had been neglected. “Throughout his review, there was no policy announcement for the cocoa sector.
The 4 million farmers, the 4 million cocoa farmers are suffering,” he said. He argued that since Dr Ato Forson assumed responsibility as supervising minister for cocoa-related matters, farmers had continued to face hardship. “This Finance Minister, since he took over as a supervising minister responsible for cocoa, we have seen suffering and wailing, and he comes here to lament,” he stated.
The Minority Leader also accused the government of ignoring previous warnings from the opposition regarding its economic decisions, particularly the gold-for-reserves initiative. According to Mr Afenyo-Markin, the Minority had raised concerns about the charges associated with the policy but the government failed to take their advice. “When GoldBod and Bank of Ghana charges on the gold for reserve policy was at 15%, we cautioned him.
He claimed the eventual reduction of charges following engagement with the Intern…
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