Finance Ministry still most fiscally reckless Public Institution - Report

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has once again been named the most fiscally reckless public institution in Ghana for the period from 2021 to 2023, retaining the same title it held from 2015 to 2020.

This designation comes from a report released by policy think tanks IMANI Africa and Oxfam Ghana, which evaluated financial irregularities among various Ministries, Departments,

Read full articleand Agencies (MDAs) through its third Fiscal Recklessness Index.

In the rankings, the Ministry of Finance is followed by the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Communication and Digitalisation, Roads and Highways, and Health.

During a media briefing after the report’s launch, Dennis Asare, a senior research associate at IMANI Africa, highlighted the staggering financial impact of these irregularities, stating, “The state lost over GHC 4.9 billion in 2023 due to these financial mismanagement issues.”

Asare elaborated on the potential benefits of the lost funds, stating, “If this significant amount had been allocated to social intervention programs, it could have bolstered initiatives like the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and the Ghana School Feeding Programme.”

His comments underscore the real-world consequences of the ministry’s fiscal mismanagement.

He further emphasized that the Ministry of Finance is deemed the most fiscally reckless institution because “almost 90% of the irregularities can be traced back to them.” He recognized the ministry’s critical role as a central management agency with oversight responsibilities for other institutions, indicating that the fiscal irresponsibility extends beyond the MoF headquarters to related entities.

Among the primary irregularities identified in the report, Asare pointed to tax discrepancies, which highlight the government's ineffective revenue mobilization efforts.

To address these issues, he recommended the establishment of a more robust fiscal council.

“We need a stronger fiscal council,” he urged. “The previous one was merely a committee. All political parties agree that a fiscal council is necessary, so we should seize this opportunity to establish it properly. It should be legally backed and, more importantly, given the authority to carry out the vital work we expect from it.”