News:
December 6, 2010
Deputy Majority Leader Rashid Pelpuo has stated that Parliament will reconsider a proposal to allot 10 percent of the oil revenue to the Western Region if the House receives formal request from the Executive.
Mr. Pelpuo was speaking to the raging controversy over a demand for 10 per cent of the oil revenue by chiefs from the Western Region on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday.
In the wake of the proposal by the chiefs, the Vice-President, Mr John Mahama was reported to have promised the people of the region during political campaigns that if the NDC won the 2008 elections, the government would allot 10 per cent of oil revenues from the Jubilee Fields to the development of the region – reports flatly rejected by some government spokespersons who contended the reports were fabricated to dent the image of the vice president.
But the Vice-President, addressing a cross-section of Ghanaians at a reception in his honour in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, said, “I have not changed my earlier position on allocating 10 per cent of the oil revenue for the development of the Western Region,” reported the Daily Graphic.
Responding to the reports, the Deputy Majority Leader said, “if it is true that the Vice president has said that…we [parliament] would want to have a formal communication to parliament so parliament can decide on its stand,” stressing that parliament only debates the merits of policies and takes decisions relating to policy directions of the Executive.
Parliament’s Joint Committee on Finance and Mines and Energy had advised against giving ten percent of the oil revenue to the Western Region as demanded by the chiefs. According to the Committee, granting the request of the chiefs would set a dangerous precedence and open the flood gates for people of other regions to demand from the government a certain stake from resources allocated in their regions.
Mr Rashi Pelpuo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Wa Central, however believes, parliament could be persuaded to reverse its decision if it is proven without doubt “that [it] is the way to go, and a way that will then go to enhance the policy of the government; that will be to the general good of the people,” adding “we [parliamentarians] are gatekeepers and we try to reflect the thinking and aspirations of the people.”