Penplusbytes Participates in Civil Society Forum on Ghana’s IMF Bailout Programme

Having successfully played a pivotal role in the coming together of key civil society players in Ghana to dialogue with major stakeholders in Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the details of the latter’s bailout package, Penplusbytes will join other civil society entities for the CS Platform’s 2^nd National Civil Society Forum on Ghana’s IMF Programme on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at Mensvic hotel in Accra.

The forum, running on the theme, “National Conversation on the Implementation and Monitoring of the Ghana-IMF Programme” will be the first gathering of the Platform’s members after the IMF Approved a US$918 Million ECF Arrangement to Help Ghana Boost Growth, Jobs and Stability back in April this year.

Guided by the aim to enhance a citizen-based participatory dialogue at each step of the IMF bailout process, the forum seeks to sustain a national conversation to discuss and agree on common positions on the key issues by civil society to inform both Government and IMF at the implementation and monitoring stages of the programme. The forum is yet another opportunity to increase public interest and discourse on critical subjects which inevitably impacts their lives and, promote public awareness and inclusiveness in the entire fiscal programme.

President of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu, II, reiterates the platform’s neutrality and genuine motivation to contribute towards ensuring the most positive impact possible on the ordinary Ghanaian as the most credible basis to judging the eventual relevance of the IMF intervention. “Our focus as an organisation however is to find ways of leveraging on relevant ICTs, such as bulk SMS, Social Media and on-line Platforms to as many Ghanaians as possible to make informed contributions,” he said.

The platform is made up of several other institutions including Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), SEND Ghana, Ghana Institute for Public Policy, Occupy Ghana, Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Institute for Chartered Accountants, IMANI Ghana, Oxfam Ghana, Financial Accountability and Transparency- Africa (FAT-Africa), and Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).

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Penplusbytes is a leading organization in Africa, established in 2001 and working in 3 areas: the use of technology to drive governance and accountability, new media and innovations as well as oil, gas and mining.

Civil Society Platform is an initiative to advocate for civil society inclusiveness in major public financial management issues and in particular the IMF negotiations as well as the implementation of the final agreement. It is made up of broad spectrum of leading civil society organisations in Ghana.