Author: Fred GhanaMPs

Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is advocating for the Auditor General to be thorough in auditing the accounts of various Assemblies in the country.

According to the Osei-Kyei when done the story would be horror and added that the (AG) is unable to do a lot because every year it stretches itself to cover every area.

He further added that perhaps as a nation we need to compel the Auditor General to focus on some areas they would then see the “rot”.

“We would be able to save a lot of money as a nation, very often there are insufficient and unreliable budget implementation, this is not about a particular regime, as a nation how do we overcome these challenges”.

Mr. Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was speaking on Sunday 17th November 2019 at the end of a two day workshop organized for lawmakers from both sides of the House.

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According to the Tamale South lawmaker, the Bank of Ghana has its report before the Finance Committee but had not touched on the clean-up exercise.

“Conspicuously lost in the Bank of Ghana report is the report on the clean up at the banking sector, we need to know and we the Minority would demand that”.

Again, families have experienced death, pensioners same, and what is government doing  to support them in that respect?

The Finance Minister said he want to do justice to persons who have lost money in the process of the cleanup of the banking sector, it cost the state not less than twenty billion Ghana cedis, “the only justice you can do to the Ghanaian people especially depositors is to give them their money”.

He made this remarks on Saturday 16th of November at the beginning of a  post-budget workshop for Members of Parliament at Job 600 of Parliament House at Justice D. F. Annan auditorium.

“It is not as if we should praise you for a banking sector clean-up when we have lost twenty billion cedis for undertaking this exercise out of lack of capacity to raise minimum capital. as we speak the banks are still vulnerable, many of their assert regime remains at the same level.

Now microfinance and saving institutions have all collapsed, the contribution on the financial sector hinges only on the banking sector.”

He pointed out that the Minority would demand answers on what the Finance Ministry came to ask the two billion for in pursuit of the Ghana amalgamated trust and more importantly the Bank of Ghana as reported to Parliament in their half year report.

“Nothing said about the Banking sector clean-up, their report is before the Finance Committee, the Ministry in the exercise pursuant to amendment on Act 931 requires that the Bank of Ghana report to Parliament”.

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According to the Cape Coast South lawmaker, he hopes and pray that as a country we stay along all the limits and do not do anything as a result of kneejerk reaction from public outcry, when things are not going well and people are suffering.

In reaction to the 2020 budget, he told journalists in Parliament that the Minister indicated that all programmes they have started would be completed next year that is a “danger” if it is not planned well and executed it would collapse same way like the banks.

“This is going to erode all the fiscal gains we have made in the past five years, it has taken us five good years to achieve this it was started when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was in power under John Mahama”.

When he took the country to IMF some people were thinking the idea was not good, but it was highly a necessary decision, the NDC started it and the current government came in to complete it.

As a result we had some discipline in terms of our fiscal deficit, we kept to fiscal responsibility and public financial management Act.

He said he hopes  the government keeps to its promises of fiscal discipline.

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According to the Minority, it took the intervention of the Minority Volta caucus for the Finance Minister to do the needful.

He noted that it is appropriate and legitimate for the Finance Minister to do the right thing, because the Volta Region notwithstanding, the constitution of Ghana the standing orders of the House deserved to be respected.

“Is it not an afterthought, how do we add the amendment to the appendix you presented, we would look at the substance, and we of this House would monitor religiously?”

“Mr. Speaker I was in the Volta Region with the President at Hohoe, I met him on the way, and if you look at how he was dancing on the road because of the nature of the road, we look forward for the debate on the budget”.

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“It’s good he came back to amend the 2020 budget, we are going to monitor religiously as to whether he just came in to flatter us”, she said in an interview just after the Finance Minister finished presenting his amendment.

She was of the view that roads budgeted for, for the period 2017 to 2019 we’re never fulfilled in the region.

“He is saying they are priority road, we would see if they would work on the roads he came back to the House and added, you came and presented the budget and now you have come to do some addition that it was an oversight”.

She further questioned if money is available or the Minister is going to get money from somewhere to construct the roads, adding that it is one think talking about doing it and actualized it. “We are waiting for him to get the funds to be able to do those projects”.

“Those he mentioned have been budgeted for, this one has not been budgeted for so we are waiting and as to whether they would go back to the chiefs to inform them of the new development they talk about at their press conference”.

The former Minister noted that with the advent of social media, the chiefs and people of  the Volta Region had gotten the message of the retune of the Finance Minister to do the needful, because it was the same way they got the information when he left the Region out on critical roads in the budget.

Again I am told the contractor working from Hohoe to Jasikan has been told to go back to work but the issue is that he has not been paid the work he has done so far for them to ask him to go back. There was a Chinese contractor working from Asikuma to Kpeve for three years now we have not seen the contractor.

Since next year is an election year we would see what happens across the Oti Region, the roads are bad we have not seen anything we are waiting, she concluded.

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According to the Garu lawmaker, he was hoping that the 2020 budget was going to address the shoddy nature of the ‘one village one dame’; this project is dear to my heart”.

He noted that he was expecting the Finance Minister to indicate to MPs if some provisions would be made towards one village one dam.

Again, about our road networks  they are in bad shape I would get the details in the budget and I hope the Eastern corridor roads started by John Dramani Mahama would be  continued, it links up to the Northern Region which comes to Garu, he added.

Mr. Albert further revealed that he had earlier questioned the Roads and Highways Minister and he said they were looking for funding.

Good road would help move foods stuffs from the hinterland, and for those of us from Upper East, the Bolga Bawku roads are in very bad shape.

According to him, the contractor who started the work was asked to suspend work since auditing was being done, adding the potion already worked on is fast deteriorating.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com