Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah has waded into the ongoing debate about the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives.
The debate seemed to have divided many as some have called her corrupt and inept and put pressure on the President to sack her.
Others have also pushed her to resign referring to her as highly incompetent to run such a ministry.
The Minority in Parliament discovered some discrepancies in her budgetary allocation during the debates on the floor of the House.
They questioned the allocation for the purchase of new cars and the setting up of a website for GHC800, 000 a figure the Ministry and majority in Parliament has stated to be a typographical error.
They claim that the right cost of the website is GHC80, 000.
Mavis Koomson, Special Development Initiatives minister has insisted that such criticisms by the minority are out of place.
She argued that her ministry was new, and required vehicles to facilitate its work. According to her, she had been operating with her private vehicle for the past year as a minister.
“We all know the ministry is a new ministry altogether. I’ve been there for one year now and as a minister, I don’t even have an official vehicle. The development authorities are also coming… they need vehicles. We’ll be going into the hinterlands and we will need pickups to move around,” she said.
Among the projects listed to be undertaken by the ministry for 2018, is the procurement of 275 ambulances, construction of 50 warehouses, construction of 100 markets, construction of 275 CHPS compounds, and construction of 100 small dams.
The ministry is also charged with overseeing the operations of the three development authorities proposed by the government and passed by parliament.
Reacting to the criticisms, the Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa seems to not to be convinced with the argument being made by a section of the public especially members of the opposition calling for the minister to step down.
On his Facebook page, he quizzed "Hawa Koomson should resign? What is her crime?" "Tell me" he added
Media Foundation for West Africa Executive Director, Sulemana Braimah