President John Dramani Mahama says his administration is reforming Ghana’s governance systems to strengthen accountability, fight corruption and ensure public resources are used more efficiently for the benefit of citizens.
He said the government was reviewing systems and financial arrangements within the public sector to improve transparency and ensure that public funds were channelled towards their intended purposes.
President Mahama made the remarks at the Accra Reset event in New York, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly under the theme, “Full Circle: Making Global Development Work Again.”
He said reforming Ghana’s governance systems remained a key priority, particularly in the areas of accountability, public finances and the management of national resources.
“In Ghana, we are reforming our systems. We are making government more accountable. We are fighting corruption, and we are making more efficient use of our resources than we did in the past,” he said.
President Mahama cited the decision to uncap funding for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as one of the first steps taken by his administration after assuming office.
He criticised the previous government’s management of statutory funds, arguing that the system had restricted the resources available to the NHIS and other statutory institutions.
“One of the first steps I took was to uncap the National Health Insurance. And what the previous government had done was to put a cap on all statutory funds,” he said.
According to President Mahama, funds exceeding the prescribed percentage of the national budget were transferred into the Consolidated Fund, which he alleged was then used largely for programmes intended to secure political support.
“And if they exceeded a certain percentage of the budget, the excess funds went into the Consolidated Fund and government used it mostly for programmes that would buy political patronage and put them in a better position to win the elections,” he said.
The Accra Reset event brought together stakeholders to discuss global development, governance, financing and the need to reshape development systems to make them more responsive to the needs of countries and their populations.
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