Isaac Adongo honoured for role in shaping public policy

The Confederation of Governance Assessment Institute (COGAI) has honoured financial analyst and Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Mr Isaac Adongo, for his hard work, fairness and balanced contribution to national development discourse.

At its 2018 Pan African Republic Honourary rewarded night in Accra, the institute awarded Mr Adongo as one of the top influential MPs for the 2017/2018 year.

A citation accompanying his prize said the award was to recognise the dedication, hard work, fairness and balanced discourse of the NDC MP in shaping public policy and improving governance.

The COGAI said its research arm, the Bureau of Research on Governance, Commerce and Administration (BORGA), and the selection committee of the African Republic Honourary Awards found his “commitment and relentless devotion to be fair, free and firm in balanced decision making have earned you this honour.”

In 2018, Mr Adongo was voted the Best Minority MP by indigenous research and investigation company, FAKS Investigation Services.

Dedicated to my constituents

After receiving the award, Mr Adongo, who is one of the critical voices on the economy, dedicated the award to his constituents in the Upper East Region for “the privilege you have given me to serve you and amplify your voice in national discourse for the collective good for our people and country.”

He added that the honour imposed on him expectations of higher standards and quality of work on national issues.

“My constituents now expect more from me in enhancing the image of the constituency,” he added.

Adongo writes

Mr Adongo has been one of the vocal voices of the minority NDC on the economy, often taking on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ministry of Finance on issues he disagrees with.

He mostly expresses his concerns through writings that are always titled: ‘Isaac Adongo writes. Majority of them bother on current issues on the economy.

In one of those write-ups, he critiqued the government’s handling of the special purpose vehicle, the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT) that is used to recapitalise some five indigenous banks.

He said the SPV was poorly structured as a backdoor approach to selling the two state-owned lenders, the National Investment Bank (NIB) and the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), which he said do not require external support to recapitalise to GH¢400 million.

His latest piece is on the cedi depreciation in which he said that the BoG’s measures to help douse the sentiments and arrest the rate of depreciation were not credible and would, therefore, not yield the necessary results.