August 20, 2013

The Member of Parliament for Ayensuano, Samuel Ayeh-Paye has expressed worry at the government’s continuous delay in the disbursement of funds to enable MPs to carry out development projects as well as other interventions.

He noted that development projects have stalled in most of the constituencies and districts because of lack of funds. According to him assemblies and members of parliaments rely on these funds including Social Intervention funds, Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), National Health Fund and the likes.

Mr. Ayeh-Paye indicated that the situation is more problematic with regards to the Social Intervention funds meant to mitigate the suffering of people in need. “It’s social intervention because there is a problem that needed urgent attention, so if the money cannot be made available to provide the needed intervention then what are we doing?” he queried.

A typical case was when a whole village in his constituency got burnt and the affected households needed to be provided with roofing sheets to enable them secure back their homes. Unfortunately this could not be done and the people are still waiting for this intervention.

He stated that some of the funds are in about eight months areas, and Members of Parliament who are paying school fees for some students had to fall on their own resources to honour those obligations so as not to disrupt their education.

He therefore called on government to expedite action on disbursing common funds and other statutory funds to enable the various stakeholders to access the funds for their various projects.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.gov.gh