News:
Hon Awaji-Inombek D. Abiante
December 3, 2022
A member of Nigerians delegation to the Community Parliament, Awaji-Inombek D. Abiante has said the reduction in the budgetary allocation to the ECOWAS Radio in Monrovia for the year ended December 31, 2023 is a minus and a no no.
According to him Parliament should revisit the issue and rather maintain the allocation given to the ECOWA Radio in the 2022 budgetary allocation rather than cutting fifty percent of their budgetary allocation.
In an interview he noted that other lawmakers in the Community Parliament shares his sentiment, stating that the reduction in the budgetary allocation has to do with the Radio station not utilizing this year’s budgetary allocations.
“I do not understand their impediment towards the untilisation; were they given the go ahead to manage themselves? It has not been clear and from the explanation, I think something has not been properly disclosed to us. If truly we want to have the participation of the various communities and truly we want others to know what we do and probably have that support it’s important that we support the radio and provide them with all that they will require in terms of equipment and man power, getting to online platforms. Most of us if you ask do not even know that ECOWAS has a radio situated somewhere in Monrovia”, he stated.
And further added that the Head of the Radio station should have been invited to tell lawmakers, explain to lawmakers why they were unable to utilise what was appropriated to them, they need to know.
For someone who has not come to parliament to defend his or her position and tell us that the person could not utislise allocation for 2022, “I do not see how that fit into the purpose of what we are doing”.
In addition, he questioned, if in Liberia the ECOWAS Radio is broadcasting; he does not know and if they are broadcasting what is the range, how many people do they reach? “There is a lot of question surrounding the ECOWAS radio and the reduction in budget”.
“If you in Ghana cannot receive signal and I cannot receive in Nigeria and several other communities cannot receive and they are returning money and cutting down on their budget, a lot of things are still unknown to members of Parliament”.
He indicated they are desirous and want to understand what the challenges are; unless and until there is proper oversight and an invitation to the Head of Radio to appear before the Parliament and tell them their own side of the story what happen to the radio station, the true picture will not be known.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com