Accra, Ghana - The presentation of the government’s 2012 budget and economic policy last Wednesday and the continuing debate on the biometric register for the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections occupied the front pages of newspapers in Ghana during the week. “Better Ghana budget,” was the headline of the state-owned Daily Graphic after the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, presented the budget to Parliament.

It said under the budget, the government had introduced tax reforms to provide relief for pro-poor employment generation sectors to enable the country to share in the fortunes of certain sectors of the economy.

Foremost on the list of tax reforms that will impact on a wide range of Ghanaians is the expansion of personal income tax bands. 

According to the Minister, the review in the income tax bands was “in line with the government’s social democratic principle of the equitable distribution of income and also for the protection of low-income earners”.

The Graphic in another story said the minority in Parliament had described the 2012 Budget as “a recycled bin and a package of unfulfilled and broken promises to win the support of the people in the 2012 elections”.

“During the more than two hours that the minister used to read the 46-page budget statement, the Minority did not spare him the boos and jeers that have come to characterise the presentation of budgets,” it said.

The pro-opposition Daily Guide had the headline “Boos, cheers at bye-bye budget”.

The story said chaos preceded the presentation of the 2012 budget statement, which members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament described as “bye, bye” and “propaganda” budget, with the majority side cheering it as an economic policy document for a better Ghana.

The majority NDC gave Dr. Duffuor a thunderous applause after his presentation but the NPP clapped “away, away, away,” as if that was the last budget presentation by the minister.

The paper said according to the minority, the whole budget presentation was “pure propaganda” as parliament was virtually turned into a rally ground during which the minister merely announced unachievable policies to woo Ghanaians for votes in next year’s elections.

The state-owned Ghanaian Times had the headline, “Budget! 18,983.2 million Ghana cedis voted for recurrent expenditure”.

It said the 2012 budget was designed to address the infrastructure deficit for sustainable growth to improve the standard of living in the country.

It said whereas the majority caucus hailed the budget, as the minister catalogued promises the government had delivered, including provisional growth estimate of 13 per cent in the year, the minority caucus tagged it as propaganda piece for the 2012 election and
“talk-no-do government”.

The Daily Guide carried a communiqué issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ghana which covered a broad range of subjects including a biometric voters’ register and the duration of second cycle education in Ghana.

“Bishops want biometric register”, was the headline of the pro-opposition Daily Guide.

It said Roman Catholic Bishops in the country have thrown their weight behind the verification of voters as an adjunct to the biometric registration process towards the 2012 general elections.

The story said while commending government for releasing funds to the Electoral Commission (EC) to undertake the biometric registration of voters, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference demanded rather robustly that both government and EC procured the necessary equipment for the authentication of voters since according to the priests, peace in the country depended upon the transparency of elections.

“EC budgets for biometric register”, was the headline of the Graphic on a statement by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.

It said the Dr. Afari-Gyan put to rest concerns raised by some political parties and identifiable groups about the need for verification of the biometric register by announcing that the commission had made provision in its budget to the government for the verification gadgets for the 2012 elections.

However, he cautioned that the verification, per se, was not the panacea to electoral fraud, double voting and stealing of ballot boxes, because what were required of all, especially political parties, were vigilance, honesty and decent electoral behaviour.

It said Dr. Afari-Gyan wondered what the need for verification and biometric registration would serve when the EC was able to successfully undertake the exercise but on the Election Day people decided to carry ballot boxes away or engage in double voting.

The Graphic carried the reaction of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) under the headline “NDC Won't Support Funding For Verification.”

According to the story, the NDC has said it will not support the application of funds towards the acquisition of the biometric verification being demanded by some stakeholders.

According to the General Secretary of the party, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the party will  rather place premium on issues of security and intimidation during elections rather than biometric verification.

“Polling station security is more paramount than bringing in machines which would still make way for ‘machoism’ across board,” the NDC General Secretary stated. 

The Daily Guide said Dr. Afari Gyan declared that the Electoral Commission was not contemplating a biometric voting system but what it hoped to do was to compile a biometric voters' registration.

He explained that there was no logical relationship between a biometric voters' register and biometric voting, hence the need for campaigners of the verification mechanism to stop misconstruing the process.

Pana 19/11/2011