Minority in Parliament has cast doubt on government's commitment to be transparent in the utilization of money expected to accrue from the Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue target set in the 2014 budget.

Government expects to generate 745 million Ghana cedis from the 2.5 percent VAT increase. The money, according to the finance minister, will finance capital projects in the country. 

During the budget debate in Parliament on Wednesday, November 27, MP for Wenchi, Professor Gyan-Baffour said government's non-compliance with payment into the statutory fund makes mockery of their commitment to be transparent in the disbursement of the VAT funds.

"47% on infrastructure - 10.9% (about 32 Million Ghana cedis), sadly only 4.5million Ghana cedis (1.5%) was spent on modernization of agriculture. It is very sad to note that this is a major priority of this country and out of  the money we are getting from these resources, only 1.5% was used for that and about 10% was used for capacity building

"It is therefore not surprising that the agricultural sector is down. The agric growth is so unimpressive (3.5%) and all the other sectors are also abysmal. This is because of the lack of alignment between our budgets and our priorities of this country," Prof Gyan-Baffour intimated

According to him, Ghana's growth indicators are appalling as GDP growth is sliding back to the levels of 1990, when the country was experiencing growth rate of 0 - 5% , adding, " it was only in 2003 that we were able to break that ceiling but we are sliding towards that".

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP therefore challenged the managers of the economy to be up and doing in turning round the fortunes of the country.

"The managers of the economy should not sit down and watch as we gradually slipping back into those bleak periods of economic history of this country", Prof. Gyan-Baffour stressed.

However, Trade and Industry Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, who is the MP for Tamale for South, challenged the minority to be clear on their position on the VAT increase.

"Our colleague opposite must come clear whether they are opposed to principle of an upward adjustment of the tax by a 2.5% or they are concerned about procedural issues about how that particular thing was done", Haruna Iddrisu challenged the minority in Parliament.

According to him, Ghana has come far with the politics of VAT as  the increment from the current 15% to 17% should be given  a by-partisan support.

The Minister of Trade and Industry further noted that the benefits that are derived from the tax could not be quantified looking at the enormous gains  the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and Ghana Education Trust fund (GETFund) have given Ghanaians.