News:
March 26, 2013
The Member of Parliament for Atwima Mponua, Isaac Asiamah has challenged the Ministry of Health to provide supporting documents to Parliament explaining how it overspent an amount of GHc187,000,000 over its annual budget for the year 2012.
According to him, this act of financial indiscipline is highly reprehensible and must not be tolerated by Parliament as it is the institution responsible for protecting the public purse.
A total amount of GHC 54,244,178.00 was approved for the programmes and activities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year 2012, however at the end of December 2012, actual expenditure was GHc 240,993,010.76.
The ministry claims that the over expenditure is due to funds released to the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) for the payment of arrears due beneficiaries of the programme.
However commenting on a Report of the Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture on the 2013 annual budget estimates of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Hon. Isaac Asiamah who is also the Ranking Member on the Committee noted that officials of the ministry failed to provide a single document explaining the reckless overspending of the ordinary tax payers hard earned money when they appeared before the committee, a situation he stated must be condemned.
“ The Ministry must tell Ghanaians who were the beneficiaries of this monies spent, it’s important that we know them, we cannot allow the public purse to be misused by institutions of state’’ he added.
He further indicted the government for failing to draw an Action Plan for the National Youth Policy, several years after it was put together.
However MP for Chiana Paga who is the former Chief Executive Office of GYEEDA was quick on his feat defending and vouching for the existence of such an action plan, saying he was privy to putting out the document, urging the ranking member to formally ask for the document which will then be supplied him. But even before he could sit, the Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon. Speaker Edward Doe Adjaho stated that he himself was interested and hence the MP must supply the House with the document.
Meanwhile, GHC 53,872,871.00 has been approved by Parliament for the smooth running of activities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year 2013.
Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh