€75 million to be used for COVID-19 response project
Minority resists motion to approve €75 million
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has asked the finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta to present to parliament, a detailed account of monies spent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Speaker, until such is done parliament will not approve any more funds for COVID expenditure.
The Speaker made these calls after the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Kweku Kwarteng moved the motion for the approval of €75 million for the COVID-19 health response project.
The motion which was resisted by the Minority threw the House into a stated of disagreement.
The Speaker after these disagreements noted that until the finance minister submits the accounts the loan will not be approved.
“So, I will complete my submission by directing that the finance minister should appear before this House and account for all the monies that have been approved for the utilization of COVID-19 management.
“It is only then that this motion would be expressed on the floor again to approve or disapprove,” he noted.
The Speaker however noted that the executive arm of government should not be blamed for misappropriation of funds and corruption, instead Parliament should be the one to blame since it has the power to bring defaulting officers to book.
“People of Ghana have been blaming the executive arm of government for some of these things, but I think it is Parliament that should be blamed. We have all it takes to make sure the right thing is done so it is Parliament that is weak."
Additionally, the Speaker noted that it is not advisable for government to go for a domestic loan because it will be more expensive.
