Former president, John Dramani Mahama, has taken a dig at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to reduce the size of his government, which is having a toll on the economy.

He asked the President to reduce the number of his appointees to help bring down government expenditure to alleviate the hardships Ghanaians are faced with.

According to him, government’s directive on the use of V8s and V6s by appointees is untenable, arguing that it will be difficult for the government to monitor the movement of his appointees.

He questioned the modalities that will be used by the government to track appointees who drive V8s in Accra and its surroundings.

He charged the government to put in proper measures to cut down on expenditure that has crippled the economy.

“Unfortunately, in this budget, Ghanaians are slapped with stiff additional taxes and no tangible cuts in expenditure. They just say don’t travel with your V8s. If you are travelling outside Accra, you can use your V8, but don’t use it in town. I mean, who’s going to monitor if you use your V8 or not? Expenditure has increased significantly by 80 billion cedis.  It appears we have to accept to live with the excessive bloated size of government at the presidency,” the former President said.

He said this when he addressed the 13th Congregation of the Accra Business School over the weekend.

The Finance Minister during the budget presentation said, “Limited budgetary allocation for the purchase of vehicles. For the avoidance of doubt, the purchase of new vehicles shall be restricted to locally assembled vehicles; Only essential official foreign travel across government including SOEs shall be allowed. No official foreign travel shall be allowed for board members. Accordingly, all government institutions should submit a travel plan for the year 2023 by mid-December of all expected travels to the Chief of Staff.

“All MDAs, MMDAs, and SOEs are directed to reduce fuel allocations to Political Appointees and heads of MDAs, MMDAs, and SOEs by 50%. This directive applies to all methods of fuel allocation including coupons, electronic cards, chit systems, and fuel depots. Accordingly, 50% of the previous year’s (2022) budget allocation for fuel shall be earmarked for official business pertaining to MDAs, MMDAs, and SOEs”.