Franklin Cudjoe Clarifies Misunderstanding Over £5m Consultancy Payment for Ghana Program
Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of IMANI, has addressed a misinterpretation regarding the allocation of £5 million for a public financial management initiative in Ghana, which was criticized by economist Amoah Citizen.
Mr Cudjoe clarified that the £5 million is not a consultancy fee but rather the total amount earmarked for a range of public financial management interventions across multiple government agencies.
“The £5 million mentioned in my original post refers to the amount dedicated to all the various public financial management interventions identified across multiple agencies. We engaged critical government agencies to identify potential support areas to complement existing workstreams by other partners of government,” he explained.
He further emphasized that at no point did he state the entire amount was allocated to consultants designing the program. Instead, he noted that the initial stage was merely a scoping exercise to outline ideas for future government support.
“Frankly, how the UK takes that forward is still to be decided. It could be through a new program or existing programs and partnerships,” Mr Cudjoe added.
The clarification by Mr Cudjoe seeks to address misconceptions and provide accurate information about the nature of the funding and its intended use to enhance public financial management efforts in Ghana.
Rejoinder: Economist Amoah Citizen Criticizes £5m Consultancy Payment for Ghana Program.
I think there is a misunderstanding in relation to the amount dedicated to the program. The £5m mentioned in my original post is the amount dedicated to all the various public financial management interventions identified across multiple agencies.
We engaged all critical agencies of government that could potentially be supported to undertake an aspect of public financial management to complement existing workstreams by other partners of government.
It is not to be paid to the consultants who designed the program. No where in the original post did l state that the consultants were paid £5m.
What l reported was just a scoping exercise to set out some ideas for future areas to support the government. Frankly, how the UK then takes that forward is still to be decided, it could be through a new programme, or through existing programmes and partnerships.
Thanks.
Here is my original Post, “Franklin Cudjoe writes…”Hon. Ato Forson for Finance Minister. Sensible appointment. Thankfully, he is not an overhyped investment banker who would have wet dreams of some delusional $50bn century bond his predecessor entertained in spite of the odious debts he had accumulated. Worse, he was planning to mortgage our gold resources through very bad deals like Agyapa. Agyapa was horrible and kudos to IMANI and our cousins at ACEP for leading the charge to kill it. Whoever advised Agyapa must be lashed 38 times
Anyway, last April 2024, l had an opportunity to engage Ato Forson up close to discuss what must be done to prevent further damage to our jalopy economy. I had invited him to meet a small team of Ghanaian and British consultants the British Government recently engaged to design a modest new, £5m programme – the Financial and Economic Resilience in Ghana (FERG) programme – to complement existing workstreams, and those of other development partners, to address Ghana’s longstanding challenges with fiscal and macroeconomic instability. The interaction was eye-opening and worth every second of the two-hour encounter. I was convinced that Hon.Ato Forson had earned the stripes to be a successful finance minister.
As deputy team leader of the mission, I will endorse the release of the £5m as soon as possible to help Ato Forson strenghten ministerial budget preparation to cut out waste and capacitate Ghana’s debt management office to slow down debt-happy finance ministers among many others.
Good luck Ato.”
