The Upper East Regional Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peter Ayinbisa, has sharply criticised the 2026 national budget presented to Parliament last week, describing it as uninspiring and deeply disconnected from the realities facing Ghanaians.
Speaking on the BlueWaves Breakfast Show, Mr. Ayinbisa said the financial policy statement delivered by Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson fails to tackle the country’s most urgent economic challenges and offers no real prospects for young people seeking employment.
“To me, the 2026 budget was just another vicious cycle,” he said. “It didn’t inspire confidence, it didn’t engender hope, and it certainly didn’t provide anything that gives the youth a sense of opportunity.” He maintained that there is “virtually nothing” in the budget that young people can look to as a beacon for economic advancement. “I describe it as a hopeless budget—one that fails to address the problems confronting us.”
Mr. Ayinbisa accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of abandoning several promises made ahead of the 2024 elections, arguing that many flagship commitments for 2025 have either stalled or been omitted entirely from the new policy document. Citing the Women’s Development Bank as an example, he noted that despite a GH¢51 million allocation in the 2025 budget, “nothing is said about it in the 2026 budget.”
He also raised concerns about the Ghana Gold Board initiative, alleging inconsistencies in government spending. Although more than GH¢279 million was earmarked for the programme in 2025, he claimed, “not even a cedi has been expended,” yet gold purchases continue. “Where are they getting the money to buy the gold?” he queried. “It suggests the Bank of Ghana is funding the Gold Board, and that is something that requires clarity.”
On the government’s much-publicised “Big Push” infrastructure initiative, Mr. Ayinbisa said less than GH¢8 billion of the GH¢13 billion budgeted had been released by the third quarter of 2025. He further dismissed new allocations to the 24-hour economy and social programmes like free sanitary pads, arguing that such interventions do little to address the country’s unemployment crisis. “After you use the sanitary pad, you return home still looking for a job—and there is none,” he remarked.
The NPP communicator insisted that the NDC had not delivered the transformational leadership it promised Ghanaians. “They claimed to be the better alternative, only for us to see no major change,” he said. Drawing a metaphor, he described the situation as “selling your colour TV to buy a black-and-white TV,” accusing the government of mismanaging public expectations.
“They have scammed us,” he asserted. “They just want to create the impression that they are working because the economic indicators look favourable. But what exactly did they do to get us here?”
Source: Bluewaves Radio 93.7fm| Maurice Duncan
