Osafo Maafo goes to war

'General' Yaw Osafo Maafo, on Tuesday reached deep into his guts and gave the most aggressive all-action speech of his life at the conclusion of the two-day 'Economic dialogue' in Accra, writes The Ghanaian Chronicle.

It was an address which, according to the paper, stirred the emotions of the audience and participants and struck trepidation in the hearts of corporate debtors who had contracted loans that were cumulatively sapping the financial sector - a whopping 4.3 trillion cedis.

The Minister who was bailed to pledge the commitment of Government on a wide-ranging action plan adopted at the two- day conference chilled his audience with graphic easy-o- understand factuals on the state of economy.

Obviously armed with new hard data, Osafo Maafo read the horrifying statistics: 51 percent of all internally generated revenue goes into servicing debts, (both internal and external), 46 percent of all revenue also goes into payment of statutory payments of wages and salaries!

Clearly, the auguries were stark enough to fire the 'General' for war. And he demonstrated that he had fire in his belly by defining pragmatic objectives and isolating the only way out of what he categorically described as 'economic crisis'

"We've got to do a lot about increasing revenue and nobody (donors) will bring money to us just to pay salaries, we've got to generate funds internally... something is fundamentally wrong with our revenue generating systems," he noted.

Then he read the riot act.

All debtors who collectively, have taken from grant monies and advances from financial institutions would soon be getting knocks on their doors.

The records, which showed a startling figure of 4.3 trillion cedis in unpaid advances would be published in the newspapers, while the establishment of fast track commercial court had been discussed with the Attorney General's office for quick disposal of such cases if it meant going to court to retrieve such monies.

He said exemptions for all NGO's (Non-Governmental Organisations) had been abolished except for those with educational projects.