Section of the public unaware of Budget Statement
Lots of Ghanaians in the streets do not know of the Budget Statement or its contributions to the socio-economic development of the country.
To some, it was the normal “booing and cheering” sessions in Parliament House, which was of no interest to them.
“As for me I heard the people talking for so many hours and others were either booing or cheering and when asked I was informed they were reading 2012 Budget but since I did not understand their big English I just left for the Market”, Hajia Memuna, a petty trader at Kaneshie Market said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.
She said all that was important to her was peace in the country, good health and flourishing business to enable them to work and attend to their families needs.
“As for the government, they know what is good for us so we leave that in their hands to do for us,” she added.
Alhaji Kpalaba Donkoh, also a petty trader, told the GNA that he knew the budget was to increase prices of items, especially petroleum and Liquified Gas since Christmas was approaching.
“Hey, my sister, as for politicians they are the same everywhere. If you think this one is not doing well and you vote for the second one, he will do worse things than the first one,” Alhaji Kpalaba argued.
A random sample of people interviewed by the GNA clearly showed that majority of Ghanaians either did not know about the budget at all or had very little knowledge about it as well as its impact on their lives.
Meanwhile, they formed the grassroots and needed to understand some of these policies and issues well for onward dissemination to their colleagues back home.
The key question that remains is, “Whose duty is it to ensure that the ordinary man in the street is brought abreast with important national issues in the interest of development?”.
Mr Anane Bosiako an Accra trader thought the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) had more work ahead and should start strategizing to catch the attention of the group early enough to ensure a holistic development of the human resource of the nation.
Source: GNA