Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, on Thursday launched nine booklets designed to simplify the technical language of national budget, economic planning and policy documents for easy comprehension by citizens. Among booklets launched in Accra was a 77-page abridged and simplified version of the 400-page 2007 budget statement dubbed: “A Citizen’s Guide to the 2007 Budget Statement,” which is the second of its kind after the publication of a similar version of the 2006 budget. This publication explains how government plans to collect money from various sources and how it intends to spend money between January and December 2007. Others are a booklet dubbed: “Policy Initiatives for the 2007 Budget Statement and Economic Planning of Ghana” and another publication, “Our Inputs” which captures inputs made by some public and private institutions and individuals into the 2007 budget statement. There are also two booklets dubbed: “Beyond the Budget” volumes one and two which contain a compilation of the wage, energy and employment issues from 1982 to 2006 and another one “Ahead of the times - Beyond our Means”, which contains initiatives planned for the coming years. The remaining three booklets are the first of their kind and they each focus on development projects in three separate districts assemblies, namely, Asante Akim North, Suhum Kraboa Coaltar and Savelugu/Nanton. All the publications are designed to communicate government policies and programmes to the public in very simple language. Mr Baah-Wiredu noted that in line with the purpose of investing the taxpayer’s money into the publications, the media would be expect to use them as a source of information to educate the public on national policies and programmes. Complementary copies of the booklets would be donated to schools, libraries, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), private sector organisations among others. Copies would also be made available in bookshops for sale. Panellists at the launch, including Ministers, admitted that the booklets would serve a good purpose, not only for ordinary citizens but also for government officials to be able to make a more informed analysis, critique and approval of national budgets and policy programmes brought before them. Source: GNA