Mahama govt using helicopter crash to buy 2 jets, 4 helicopters and 2 offshore patrol vessels costing US$1.2b – Minority

Member of Parliament for Karaga and Former Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, said that the youth are no longer a matter of concern to this government.

“They have forgotten about you after getting power from you,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Friday, responding to the 2026 budget statement presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, on Thursday, November 13.

He added, “That is why their priority has shifted to the use of the recent helicopter accident involving some of our gallant citizens as cover to procure 2 jets, 4 helicopters, and 2 offshore patrol vessels. This is going to cost our country US$1.2 billion. Government must come clear why the purchase of 2 Executive Jets is a priority at the time it is asking Ghanaian workers to sacrifice more.”

He further said that the NDC government has hailed Ghana’s 2025 fiscal outturn as evidence of prudence and consolidation, yet behind this narrative lies a deeper problem: the systematic under-execution of growth-enhancing public investment.

Dr. Amin Adam said that Parliament approved capital spending equivalent to 1.5% of GDP, but the government implemented only about 0.5% year-to-date.

“Even this, we can challenge it as it may have been inflated. But for a government that seems to want to shift the fortunes of Ghanaians with its so-called ‘Big Push,’ this is heartbreaking,” he said at the press conference on Friday, November 14, reacting to the 2026 budget statement.

This 1-percentage-point gap, nearly US$1.1 billion in foregone public investment, he said, was not a product of efficiency savings. It reflected cash rationing, auction shortfalls, and mounting debt service pressures.

In reality, he added, the Minister’s approach to fiscal management is not disciplined; it is reactive, relying on short-term cuts to maintain the appearance of order, and this is very dangerous for our medium-to-long-term development.

“Using Ghana’s macroeconomic parameters and IMF-consistent multipliers, you will clearly understand the cost of the damage:

Effective demand cut: 0.514% of GDP
GDP impact: circa 0.41% of GDP (≈ US$469 million)
Revenue loss: circa US$75 million
Forgone potential growth: circa 0.1 percentage point annually

“The government has effectively traded tomorrow’s output for today’s optics. Every 1-percentage-point cut in public investment means thousands of construction and supply-chain jobs not created, roads and schools not completed, and private contractors pushed into arrears. Short-term fiscal ‘savings’ thus translate into higher unemployment, weaker SMEs, and slower future tax growth. Real GDP grew by 6.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, yet the composition of this growth is telling. The recent 6.3% growth is services-heavy, led by ICT, finance, and trade, while construction and manufacturing lag. The government is not building the economy’s productive base.

“Banks, meanwhile, are crowded out by government borrowing at the short end, preferring T-bills over long-term lending, deepening the cycle of high interest, low investment, and low job creation. Since this administration came into office, budgets have been presented in this August House but not implemented (2025 Budget and the Mid-year Budget). Allocations for capital expenditure and goods and services remain unreleased, and workers across the public sector are paid, but not given the necessary tools and inputs to work. Some Ministries do not have basic things and are unable to provide fuel for government work. This is true fiscal indiscipline.

“A close look at the data presented in the 2026 Budget confirmed the fear by the Minority earlier this year that this government was incapable of implementing the programmes they presented in the 2025 Budget.”