News:
June 18, 2024
The Minority chief whip Governs Kwame Agbodza is advocating that Parliament set up a committee to investigate budget allocated to the National Health Insurance Authority on its ICT since the amount allocated is more than a budget for a lot of ministries.
According to him the NHIA ICT budget has always been in the hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis; and it is like the ICT infrastructure is replaced every year. Sometimes it is three hundred million Ghana cedis; other times two hundred million Ghana cedis.
“So, we should set up a committee to look into it; why NHIA spends so much of that amount, how can we justify that and ensure that money is not being wasted? The presiding chair indicated that it was viable proposal as a condition precedent. We were going to set up a committee since then we’ve not heard the leader setting up the committee”, Agbodza stated.
“Again, looking at the budget line since I have been in the House since 2013, members have had cause to complain about the budget size of the NHIA on ICT.”
Responding to the Minority chief whip as he presented the business statement on the floor of the House and the issue came up, Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin pointed out that the day the matter in question came up on the floor of the House he referred it to the chair presiding and he indicated that the matter was not properly before the House and that if a call is being made for an investigation, “we know what to do. It is not for me to act in a matter that is being described, let our colleagues use the proper channel and we will all support it”, he pointed out.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com