The 2012 Vice Presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party has called for the passage of a Fiscal Responsibility Act by parliament to regulate government spending.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia revealed the lack of fiscal discipline by government since independence has affected the value of the cedi relative to the dollar by some 2 million percent.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was speaking Wednesday at the one year anniversary of late Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama in Accra.

Dr. Bawumia said “the price of fiscal and monetary indiscipline by successive governments since independence is that cumulatively, between 1965 when the cedi traded at ¢1.04/$ and October 2013 when it is trading at GH¢2.2 (¢22,000)/$, the U.S. dollar has appreciated relative to the cedi by some 2 million percent. The value of the cedi has been decimated in the process, losing 99.9999 percent of its value relative to the US dollar".

He laments that ordinary Ghanaians have always had to suffer in the form of more taxes whenever governments fail to spend within their means.

He believes that as a way for Ghanaians to  demand discipline from government, a Fiscal Responsibility Law will help  governments not to spend above a certain limit relative to revenues.

According to the NPP stalwart, the law will require governments to declare and commit to a fiscal policy that can be monitored.

Dr. Bawumia explained the law will include fiscal rules that will govern election year spending and also provide for transparency and sanctions on the Executive whenever it fails to abide by the law.

He concedes however that even this law would not work without political will.