Senior Presidential Advisor Yaw Osafo Marfo has asked government to reconsider the introduction of the Fiscal Responsibility Act to tackle the election year budget overrun.

The Parliament of Ghana suspended the implementation of the Act in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982) charges the government to ensure that the overall fiscal balance on a cash basis for a particular year does not exceed a deficit of five percent of the gross domestic product for that year.

He said elections in the country since the inception of the Fourth Republic Constitution were characterised by budget overruns where the governments spent beyond their budget.

These budget overruns, he said, were usually caused by promises made by politicians in an election year; therefore, most projects in that period were unbudgeted.

Mr Marfo said this in Accra at the Open Government Partnership (OGP)-Infrastructure Transparency Initiative (CoST) Stakeholder Meeting on Revitalising Infrastructure Investment in Ghana.

“It is very important that the Minister of Finance go by the budget that has been presented to Parliament. If the government is not able to match additional revenue, it should not go for an additional expenditure.

If the budget exceeds the revenue, then there is going to be a cost overrun.

“So far, in our history in the fourth republic, in every election year, we have a situation where we have serious budget and cost overruns,” he said.

Mr Marfo, who is also the Chairman of OGP, said, “I think that the government must reconsider implementing the Act very well to address cost and budget excesses during the election year.”

The Presidential Advisor stated that if the Act was not fully implemented, it could lead to distortions and affect government finances in the subsequent financial year.

The Infrastructure Accountability Initiative, he said, promoted transparency, participation, and accountability in the delivery of infrastructure projects.

“This is done through multi-stakeholder working, disclosure of data, an independent review known as CoST assurance, and social accountability,” he said.

The project has been piloted in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly.

Through the project, he said, the Assembly earned a strong reputation for transparency and accountability as one of the sub-national OGP members.

Mr Christian Poortman, the Board Chairperson for CoST, said his outfit aimed at enhancing capacity, promoting effective governance in local infrastructure projects, and fostering engagement with stakeholders.

He said Ghana’s hosting of the 28th CoST Board Meeting in Ghana underscored the collective commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance in infrastructure development.