The Majority in Parliament has backed claims by the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia that the immediate past government failed to account for GHC 7 billion they spent while in office.

Addressing the press today [Thursday], the Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr. Assibey Yeboah said details of the 7 billion cedis were hidden from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable the previous government meet the targets set under a three-year programme entered into with the Fund.

The Vice president at the launch of the Ghana Corporate Governance Initiative in Accra on Tuesday said the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government did not account for a GHC7 billion expenditure drawn from state coffers between 2014 and 2016.

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Dr Bawumia said the current government realised this while interrogating data on the previous government’s expenditure.

The Minority in parliament has since denied the claims by the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.

In a statement, the Minority said it is “displeased by the tendency of the Vice President to rush with information to the public and the media particularly the structural measures and reforms without taking time to understand the rational for the reforms and initiatives.”

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According to the Minority, the Ghc7 billion that the Vice President Dr. Bawumia is talking about “is as a result of a major initiative or reform on government contracts and expenditure, which is part of the GIFMIS project that the new administration is expected to continue implementing. The framework is also covered in the new Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, under the Budget Responsibility provisions.”

The statement from the Minority also indicated that the fund was used for “part of the contract database and outstanding commitment, and does not constitute conventional definition of arrears. The government is obliged to incorporate the commitments, as a first charge on the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA’s) budget 2017.”

But Dr Assibey Yeboah, who represented the Majority MPs at a counter press conference today [Thursday] argued that “On the face of the reality that the arrears date back to 2014, then it will suggest that when the previous administration entered into negotiations with the IMF, full disclosure of data was not made available to the fund.”

“Again, on account that arrears for 2015 and 2016 were not fully disclosed, that raises further questions on the integrity of data that we have been churning out over the past eight years.”

He said the conduct of the past government could have dire implications for the country's budget deficit for 2016.

“These new uncovered arrears could put the overall budget deficit at 10 to 11 percent of GDP… For an economy like ours, the current deficit numbers show that in 2016 alone, our expenditures far outweighed our revenues by as much as $4 billion.”

“There is an admission by the minority that the GHc 7 billion expenditure which had been kept out of the purview of the books of government constitutes rare expenditures that have been taken.”

Dr. Assibey Yeboah, however, believed that given the ongoing implementation of the extended credit facility, the IMF would be in a better position to clarify issues.

“As to whether this represents a breach of the ECF programme conditionality, we will know by next week when the mission chief is expected to brief donors on his findings.”

“Under the programme, the government is not allowed to accumulate arrears. This may yet represent another serious breach of the programme and if care is not taken, punitive actions could be taken against Ghana,” he said.