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Government to fund 36.8m Ghana cedis
Election 2008 cost
Accra, Nov. 15, Ghanadot/GNA – The Government has voted 36.8
million Ghana cedis for the country's fifth presidential and
parliamentary elections next year, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu,
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, announced on
Thursday.
Presenting the 2008 Budget statement to Parliament, he said
the Government was aware of the challenges of an election
year, like budgetary overruns, and, therefore, would ensure
a sound fiscal discipline.
He said: "We are determined to exercise the necessary fiscal
discipline and prudence as we did in 2004 to ensure that we
do not derail our hard work and accomplishments of the past
seven years.
"The primary policy focus for the year will be to maintain
the strong fiscal discipline and resilient macroeconomic
environment because prospects for economic growth are
bright."
Come December 2008 the country would organise its fifth
presidential and parliamentary elections under the Fourth
Republican Constitution with the major political parties
being the New Patriotic Party; National Democratic Congress;
Convention People’s Party and People’s National Convention.
In the forward to the Budget, President John Agyekum Kufuor
pledged the Government’s commitment to ensuring the conduct
of a free, fair and peaceful election.
He said Election 2004 was conducted in such an atmosphere to
the admiration of the world, adding, "I am, therefore,
appealing to the entire nation, including all the political
parties and other stakeholders to resolve to make next
year's election violence-free and credible”.
On oil management, Mr Baah-Wiredu said the discovery of oil
had generated a lot of excitement and expectations both
within and outside the country and for good reasons too.
"We believe that the prospects for any country as regard the
discovery of oil in commercial quantities are mixed.
"We want to believe that the oil that has been discovered
off the shores of Ghana will be for our good and not for
evil; to provide us with the kind of future that we expect
for ourselves and for the generations to come.”
The Minister said the Government was preparing for the
establishment of the appropriate regulatory and
institutional framework to ensure that it maximised the
expected output from the resource.
GNA
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