The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has charged Ghanaians to "eschew the language of poverty of aspiration" and embrace greatness.

Citing Tony De Mello in the 'Song of the Bird, he called on Ghanaians to act as the bird of prey they are, the eagle, instead of cowing like a chicken.

“Mr Speaker, we are eagles; we must eschew the language of poverty of aspiration and reject the 10 spies who want us to go back to Egypt. We are God’s people meant for greatness. Let us fly,” he said.

His comment comes on the back of his presentation of the 2022 budget dubbed the 'Agyenkwa' Budget, which was delivered on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, November 17.

According to the Finance Minister, the Budget will be the propelling tool to catapult the country into a prosperous future.

He stated that the Budget will do so by creating a careful realignment and rebalancing of the country’s needs, wants, and aspirations as a nation to ensure sustained recovery and transformation to a Ghana Beyond Aid.

Mr Ofor-Atta said the government has extensively engaged and built partnerships of trust to implement the policies presented in the budget.

The Minister emphasised the need for citizens to share in the burden of the country's recovery from the blow dealt the economy by the pandemic, urging those who have not suffered as much a loss of income to make sacrifices for the rest.

He stated that the budget demonstrates the commitment of the Akufo-Addo led administration to continue tackling the devastating impact of the pandemic on the economy and the fiscal impact on the debt sustainability efforts.

Mr Ofori-Atta has thus called on Ghanaians to support the President’s vision while eschewing ideas that may derail the country from achieving its Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.

He said, “while we have not eliminated suffering, we have done more in terms of social interventions than any other government since 1992 and certainly more in this regard than the NDC governments.

“We will therefore continue to work towards mitigating the burdens imposed by the global impact of COVID-19 on Ghanaians as we also commit to tackling the social ills of expenditure control, corruption, recurring leakages and low productivity.”

He added, “with his renewed mandate; the President is resolute that in the next three years, he will establish a stronger and more stable economy, an entrepreneurial nation that empowers young people to be bold, innovative, proactive and dynamic to contribute to the transformation of our country.”