As the National Assembly convenes to review and approve the 2026 Budget Estimates, the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice calls on Members to place the needs and welfare of citizens above the privileges and comforts of public officials, especially those at the top.
The 2026 budget is unfortunately consistent with previous national budgets in which the bulk of public resources is allocated to sustaining the salaries, allowances, and extensive benefits of public officials. As the second most important law after the Constitution, the national budget must fundamentally serve the people by providing tangible goods, services, facilities, and opportunities that uplift their lives and safeguard their dignity.
Since Independence, successive governments have crafted national budgets that prioritize the welfare of public officials. Salaries, allowances, luxury vehicles, fuel, office furnishings, retirement benefits, travel expenses, per diems, staff loans, overseas medical treatment, among other incentives continue to consume the largest share of public funds. This approach has resulted in chronic underinvestment in the essential public services that citizens rely on daily.
A cursory look across the country reveals dilapidated and under-equipped hospitals, schools with insufficient teaching materials, police stations and prisons lacking basic tools, ferries and utility services struggling to function, and courtrooms and public service centres unable to operate efficiently to serve the people. These realities reflect a budget culture that places the comfort of officials above the wellbeing of citizens.
For example:
• The multimillion-dalasi luxury SUVs purchased annually for top officials could instead equip hospitals across the country with modern medical devices.
• The huge sums spent on travel and per diems could provide teaching and learning materials for every primary, secondary, and tertiary school.
• The money allocated to allowances and office rent could be redirected to strengthen key productive sectors of the economy.
EFSCRJ therefore calls on National Assembly Members to return the country’s money to the people through a budget that puts citizens first. We urge NAMs to reflect deeply on the persistent paradox: despite increasing budgets year after year, along with rising taxes and growing loans, poverty, deprivation, unemployment, and minimal opportunities remain widespread. Instead of empowering citizens and strengthening national development, our budgets have too often become engines of inequality and hardship.
This must end now.
We remind Members that their constitutional duty is to the people and not to themselves or to other public officials. History will one day judge whether this National Assembly chose to make a clean break from the past or opted to maintain a status quo that denies citizens the dignity, prosperity, and opportunities they deserve.
2025 – The Year of Transparency and Accountability
