Ghana Threatened with Shutdown for the First Time

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Former officials in the Ghanaian government and experts predict that Ghana‘s Parliament is unlikely to approve a temporary expenditure budget before the election on December 7, 2024. This could trigger a shutdown in the country next year.

Ghana, a country in West Africa, is likely to elect a successor to President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose term ends in January 2025. Typically, the temporary expenditure budget is approved in November when the year of the election is held to bridge the gap until the new president officially takes office. “We are putting the government at risk of shutdown or at best by relying on expenditure budget until January 2025,” said Seth Terkper, former Finance Minister of Ghana for the 2013-2017 period.

The government may have to cut interest payments and financing for the transition period, unless the expenditure budget is passed in December 2024. If Ghana’s Parliament fails to pass the expenditure budget, it will be the first time in over 30 years in Ghana’s history as a cocoa producer country.

Ghana’s Parliament has been in an indefinite recess since October 23, 2024, due to a stalemate over which party is entitled to majority votes. On November 12, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the statement by Ghana’s House Speaker Alban Bagbin was unconstitutional.

Since then, Bagbin has refused to call upon Members of Parliament, claiming it would disrupt the election campaign. “There has never been such an incident before,” said Patrick Yaw Boamah, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Ghana’s Parliament.

The Ghanaian Ministry of Finance has yet to comment on this matter. While Ghana‘s Finance Minister Amin Adam had set November 15, 2024, as the deadline to present the temporary budget. As a result, Ghana’s Parliament only has a few more weeks to pass the temporary expenditure budget to avoid cuts and the possibility of a shutdown. Several labor unions in Ghana hope that Parliament will work hard to find a solution before this issue impacts the workers.

Source: Reuters

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