Captain Smart falsely claims Ato Forson is the first minister to not request extra funds in mid-year budget

Claim: Ato Forson is the first finance minister who hasn’t requested a supplementary budget in mid-year policy review

Source: Captain Smart

Verdict: False

Onua TV presenter, Blessed Godsbrain Smart, alias Captain Smart, has claimed that the 2026 mid-year budget is the first time in Ghana’s history that a Finance Minister is not seeking supplementary funding in the middle of the fiscal year.

He made the claim on the July 27 edition of his Onua Maakye show, a snippet of which was shared on the social media platforms of Onua TV (here, here, here).

He said about the mid-year budget that was presented to Parliament on July 23, 2026 by Minister for Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, “As for the budget, so far, so very good. I have spoken to a number of economists about the mid-year budget and they have all expressed surprise.

RelatedNews

30% women in cabinet: Mahama’s promise remains far off despite Zanetor’s nomination

Explainer: Ghana’s mid-year fiscal policy review – when mini-budgets started and why it matters

FACT-CHECK: MP Atta Issah falsely claims Mahama never requested additional funding in his first-term mid-year budgets

Afenyo-Markin’s claim that 2026 mid-year budget had no policy announcement on cocoa sector is false

“This is the very first time in the history of Ghana, from the time of Kwame Nkrumah till now, this is the very first time a finance minister has read a mid-year budget and hasn’t requested for supplementary budget, it has never before happened.

“From 1957 till date, it has never happened. Let any one point me to a finance minister who read a mid-year budget without asking for more funds. It is only under Mahama and Ato Forson, this is a bitter truth…” he said.

This report will verify the claim that Ato Forson is the first finance minister to read a mid-year budget and not request additional funds.

Fact-check

GhanaFact reviewed the last mid-year fiscal policy review of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government which was delivered on July 23, 2024 by the then minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam.

After giving a broad overview of the state of the economy as Ghana headed into crucial elections later that year, Amin Adam announced that the government was not going to seek supplementary funds.

“We are determined to be more efficient, strategic and intentional to entrench fiscal consolidation and strongly promote growth,” he stressed.

From the above, Captain Smart’s claim is false because this is NOT “the very first time a finance minister has read a mid-year budget and hasn’t requested for supplementary budget.”

We also checked the number of times that a government has requested additional funding during the mid-year fiscal policy review.

The statutory requirement for Ghana’s Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review was introduced under Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), which legally mandated the Minister of Finance to present the mid-year review to Parliament not later than July 31 of each year.

Verdict

Captain Smart’s claim that Ato Forson is the first finance minister to not request a supplementary budget mid-year is False.