By Collins Sarkodieh 
Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee and Tano North MP, Dr Gideon Boako, has strongly criticized the government for relying on foreign loans to fund the Free Senior High School policy. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, the lawmaker argued that the flagship education program must be sustained through domestic tax revenues rather than external borrowing.
His comments followed Parliament’s approval of a 300 million dollar loan facility meant to improve secondary education infrastructure, construct 10 new schools, upgrade 37 Senior High Technical Schools, and eliminate the double track system. Dr Boako questioned why the Finance Ministry failed to generate enough local revenue to support education commitments.
Dr Boako presented official fiscal data from the first quarter of 2026 to show that persistent revenue shortfalls are forcing the state into heavy debt. He revealed that value added tax collections fell short of targets by over five percent, while National Health Insurance and GETFund levies missed their targets by 29.9 percent.
Additionally, crude oil receipts missed targets by 37 percent, import duties fell by 14 percent, and excise taxes dropped by 23 percent. When local tax collection fails so drastically, the government inevitably turns to foreign borrowing to cover basic operational expenses.
The Tano North MP pointed out that weak revenue mobilization forced the government to scale back critical public expenditure. During the first quarter of 2026, overall state revenue fell short by 4.5 percent, forcing the Finance Ministry to cut national expenditure by a staggering 29 percent.
A similar trend occurred throughout 2025, where revenue shortfalls caused a 13 percent drop in overall government spending and a 13.8 percent reduction in capital development projects. Slashing infrastructure budgets hurts long term economic growth across every region of Ghana.
Dr Boako contrasted current financial management with previous policy implementations, emphasizing that Free SHS originally relied on local revenue mobilization rather than foreign loans. He urged the Finance Ministry to overhaul tax collection efficiency instead of burdening future generations with external debts.
Sustaining social intervention programs through internal revenue guarantees long term stability for public schools. Ghanaian taxpayers want to see their hard earned tax contributions directly funding quality education for their children.
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