Political parties efficient in opposition than in govt—Prof. Bokpin

Professor Godfred Bokpin, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, has observed that political parties in the country are more efficient and effective when in opposition than when they are voted into power.

He explained that the challenge facing the country is efficiency and effectiveness of political parties while in opposition as opposed to when they are in power, and that most parties make huge promises, but find it difficult to implement same when given opportunity in government.

“This has been the nation’s challenge, we are more efficient and effective when we are in opposition, but when we are in government, reality becomes difficult for us to manage, all the political parties when in opposition, you get the best statement, that’s when you get to judge their best intentions, but when they get into government, I don’t know the reason why they are unable to implement with some level of accuracy, issues discussed when in opposition, this is where we find ourselves. Increase in some taxes can be avoided had the government not chosen “low hanging fruit” approach in generating revenue.

“The government has a point in some taxes they have to do away with, which is also realistic, they could have been careful, they were optimistic and inevitable, we failed to look at other ways of generating tax revenue, used lazy approach because that doesn’t require lot of effort to enforce compliance.

“Another challenge the country is battling with is enhancing domestic revenue envelope which has failed to respond to various tax measures put in place by government, until practical steps are taken to address this challenge, it will be impossible for the government to achieve Ghana beyond aid agenda, reality is, the last couple of years, revenue envelop failed to respond to various tax measures implemented.

“Ghana beyond aid will be beyond us until addressed, our public debt will continue to rise because the way to contain over the years is to ensure expenditure cuts harmful to economic growth, in an election year, the government can’t cut expenditure, and it will mean physical deficit will widen.

“Growth in economy driven by hydrocarbon production, mining, world price has also favoured us but non-oil real sector, that employs a lot of people is where we can actually generate lot of tax revenue, has not been doing well, and affect revenue envelop, and it doesn’t seem the government is doing well in the area of exemptions,” Prof. Bokpin bemoaned. -abcnewsgh.com