It has now emerged that the new Mahama administration preached virtue but now practicing vice after severely criticising the previous Akufo-Addo government of operating a bloated government with high administrative cost.
President John Dramani Mahama’s first budget for the 2025, which was presented to Parliament by Finance Minister, Dr. Ato Forson, included mindboggling expenditure lines, especially at the office of the President, which is millions of Cedis more than the Akufo-Addo government.
Deputy Ranking Member on Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Gideon Boako noted that the Mahama government, which has promised to cut down expenditure and operate a lean government is seeking to spend an outrageous GH¢290 billion as total appropriation for 2025.
Out of the amount, the Office of Government Machinery alone is allocated GH¢2.7 billion for compensation (salaries), miles above the GH¢327 million the so-called bloated government of President Nana Akufo-Addo spent on salaries.
Accordingly, Dr. Gideon Boako has accused the Mahama government of deception, hypocrisy dishonesty, following what he described as a bloated budget, after preaching a lean government with less expenditure.
“The NDC, particularly President Mahama, made a lot of bliss about the size of President Akufo-Addo’s government and the budget that was allocated to the office of the President. So one would have expected that having campaigned on the wings of lean government by President Mahama and the NDC, we would naturally expect that to translate in government expenditure especially when they talk about cutting expenditure and lean government.
“What is even more shocking is the allocation to the office of the President. A lot of the time, people listen to the Minister and don’t read the budget. The detail is in the tales, and if you look at appendix 4a of the budget, allocation to office of government machinery, compensation alone is shocking, far more than what they criticised.
“They said President Akufo-Addo’s government was bloated, hired so many people were paying salaries, allowances, and all of that. Yet compensation that was spent by President Akufo-Addo in 2024 was far less than they are seeking to spend.
“So the government that you said was bloated at the office of the president spent 327 million on compensation. Now you come and say that you want to run a lean government, you are not increasing the staff at the office of the President, yet you’re seeking to more than the government you criticised.
“How can you say you’re reducing the number of ministers from 80 or so to 60, cutting expenditure, and yet you seek to spend more than president Akufo-Addo’s government, which you said was bloated,” Dr. Gideon Boako noted.
“Interestingly, the Akufo-Addo government, which the NDC accused of being bloated, spent GH¢250 billion in 2024, and in 2025, under a promised lean government, Mahama is spending GH¢290 billion.
“Out of the total budget of 290 billion for 2025, certain detailed planned expenditure lines also raise serious eyebrows.
“For example, the Research Department at the office of the President alone, has been allocated a whopping 50 million Cedis for goods and services, and an additional 20 million Cedis for CAPEX (capital expenditure), making it a total of 70million Cedis for just one year,” Dr. Gideon Boako who is also the MP for Tano North pointed out.
This figure, he explained, is more than three Ministries combined under the previous Akufo-Addo government.
“Again, under the Office of the President, the Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has been allocated a whopping 78 million Cedis for government communication, a worrying figure considering the fact that the office is no longer a full ministry, and its budget is far more than when it was a full Ministry under Akufo-Addo’s government.
“Out of the 78 million Cedis to Felix Kwakye Ofosu, compensation (goods and services) alone is 8 million Ghana Cedis, and the remaining 70m Cedis is for CAPEX (Capital expenditure) for Felix Ofosu Kwakye’s office,” Dr. Gideon Boako disclosed.
