By Daniel Bampoe
Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over its decision to finance key aspects of the secondary education sector through a loan facility, arguing that such an important national programme should be funded from domestic revenue rather than borrowed money.
Contributing to a debate in Parliament on a report seeking approval for a loan facility to support the education sector, Dr. Boako said it was worrying that the government had chosen to borrow to finance critical investments in education, particularly the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme, instead of prioritising the sector through revenue generated within the country.
According to him, the proposed financing package is intended to support four major components of the secondary education system.
These include increasing equitable access to secondary education, improving the quality and relevance of secondary education, strengthening secondary education management systems, and establishing a contingency emergency response component to enable rapid interventions during emergencies affecting the education sector.
While acknowledging the importance of these objectives, Dr. Boako maintained that investments in education are too critical to be financed through borrowing.
“If Ghana is going to finance access to secondary education, the first option should have been government revenue rather than taking on additional debt that will attract interest and other charges in the future,” he argued.
The former economic adviser also expressed concern that the government had quickly returned to borrowing after Ghana’s recent exit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
He questioned why the administration had resorted to the debt market less than a year after completing the IMF-supported economic recovery programme.
Dr. Boako attributed the government’s borrowing to what he described as poor revenue mobilisation by the Finance Ministry.
He accused the managers of the economy of doing “little to nothing” to improve domestic revenue collection, leaving the government with no option but to borrow to finance essential public investments.
According to him, the decision sends the wrong signal to Ghanaians, particularly students and young people, suggesting that education is not being given sufficient priority in the national budget.
He insisted that taxes collected from citizens should be directed towards funding critical social interventions such as Free SHS instead of relying on external loans that would eventually increase the debt burden.
To support his claims, Dr. Boako cited what he described as significant revenue shortfalls recorded by the government. Referring to first-quarter fiscal data for 2026, he said Value Added Tax (VAT) collections were 6.5 percent below target, while the National Health Insurance Levy and GETFund receipts each fell short by 29.9 percent.
He further noted that crude oil receipts underperformed by 37 percent, excise tax collections were 23 percent below target, while import duties also missed their target by 14 percent.
According to the Tano North legislator, these revenue challenges have forced government to cut expenditure while simultaneously resorting to borrowing.
He stated that overall government revenue for the first quarter of 2026 fell short of target by 4.5 percent, leading to a 29 percent reduction in public expenditure.
He added that in 2025, revenue also underperformed by 2.2 percent, resulting in a 13 percent reduction in government spending and a sharp 38.8 percent cut in capital expenditure.
Dr. Boako questioned what concrete measures the Finance Ministry was implementing to improve revenue mobilisation and reduce the country’s dependence on borrowing.
He maintained that the Free SHS policy, introduced under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration led by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017, was not financed through borrowing, arguing that education was prioritised using government resources.
He therefore urged the NDC administration to demonstrate a similar commitment by allocating more domestic revenue to education instead of increasing the debt obligations.
The MP also raised concerns about the cost of the proposed loan, stating that Parliament had not been provided with full details of the eventual interest payments and other charges associated with the facility.
He warned that taking on additional debt without certainty about the total repayment cost could place an unnecessary financial burden on future generations.
Dr. Boako concluded by calling on the government to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation, prioritise education financing through tax revenue, and reduce the country’s growing dependence on loans to fund essential public services, insisting that investing in the children should remain a top national priority.
