The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya Kwabre North, Mr Collins Adomako-Mensah, has exposed what he described as insincerity, inconsistencies, half-truths, and complete deception in the 2026 budget statement and economic policy of the government.
Taking his turn during the budget debate on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Adomako-Mensah noted that some figures and projects mentioned in the budget have either been inflated or did not exist at all.
For instance, paragraph 505 of the budget statement said, “The ministry is implementing a national street lighting programme to enhance safety and visibility. Over 1900 solar streetlights have been installed in the Ashanti region.”
However, according to Mr Adomako-Mensah, this could not be possible as the Ministry of Energy announced that the project will be launched on 12th November, 2025, just a day before the budget was read.
“Mr. Speaker. When I saw this, I was a little bit alarmed. Because the members of the energy committee were informed of this particular programme on the 10th of November, Speaker. I’m prepared to tender this in as evidence,” he stated, displaying a letter from the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition dated 10th November 2025.
“The budget was read on the 13th of November 2025. Now, this particular letter on the 10th was written and addressed to all regional ministers. Mr. Speaker, the heading, I quote, ‘Rehabilitation or installation of streets, lightning systems, original capitals’ , and Mr. Speaker, it is very instructive to note that paragraph 3 says as part of the project implementation arrangements, the ministry will officially launch and hand over the project sites to the contractor on Wednesday, November 12.
“The letter is dated 10th November, informing regional ministers that this particular programme will be launched on the 12th. Then the finance minister comes to this house and tells us that within two days, 1,900 streets will be installed.
“How a programme that was launched on the 12th and necessitates or move to the construction of 1,900 street lights in Ashanti Region just beats my imagination,” the MP decried.
According to him, what was even more striking was that the Ashanti region was reported to have received 1,900 to be installed, while the letter from the Energy ministry indicated that the Region was entitled to only 800.
“How 800 suddenly move to 1,900 within two days, it’s only the minister for Finance who can explain to us,” Mr Adomako-Mensah stated.
89% electricity target
Mr Adomako-Mensah said the announcement that the government intends to deliver nationwide electricity coverage by 89 per cent was inaccurate.
Finance Minister Dr Ato Forson announced that under the national electrification scheme, 117 communities will be connected to the grid, raising national electricity access to 89 per cent.
Government, he added, will expand this coverage through a 10-key implementation model targeting full national electrification within five years. However, Mr Adomako-Mensah pointed out that this same Finance Minister had in the 2025 budget announced that this target was already achieved in 2024.
He quoted paragraph 568 of the 2025 budget, which said, “The Ministry of Energy and Green Transition is committed to achieving universal access to electricity under the rural electrification programme, a total of 276 communities were connected to the national grid in 2024, increasing the national electricity access rate from 88.95 per cent in 2023 to 89.03 per cent in 2024.”
He clarified that the 89 per cent that the Finance Minister talked about was already achieved by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government by 2024.
Honesty
Mr Adomako-Mensah praised members of the Minority for their sincerity during the budget debate.
“Let me say that I stand here very, very proud as a member of this particular caucus, the mighty minority.
“Mr. Speaker, for the past week, we’ve all had the opportunity to debate this budget, and any objective observer would say that the clarity of thought, the depth of the knowledge, the research, the depth of the research has been displayed by the minority side.
“Mr Speaker, there’s one particular theme that runs throughout all the debates from our side; honesty, honesty.
“Mr. Speaker, members from our side are even candid enough, Mr. Speaker, to acknowledge some good things in this budget,” he emphasised.
He said, unfortunately, members from the majority side failed to acknowledge the good performance of the previous Akufo-Addo government.
By Kyei Boateng
