Minister of National Security to report on Akufo-Addo trip, government has nothing to hide – Majority leader

The parliamentary majority leader has dismissed reports that the government is hiding behind technical details to avoid reporting on President Akufo-Addo’s overseas trips to France, Belgium and South Africa.

According to Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, far from what the minority has touted, National Security Minister Kan Dapaah will make the financial report available to Parliament as stated by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta .

“I think when the Minister of National Security is invited, he will report to it. Sometimes I think it’s manipulative management and when there is a lack of communication people fill all kinds of things. I think it’s important that this also doesn’t make it look like someone is hiding something from anyone. If you want to build trust, no attempt should be made to hide anything from anyone. It would freeze things, ”he said.

Talk to JoyNewsMajority leader Joseph Opoku Gakpo on Tuesday insisted that Mr. Ofori-Atta’s inability to disclose necessary information implies that he was shirking responsibility, is inaccurate.

“It’s not that the minister is running away. He said he did not have the responsibility and our rules provide that you ask questions of ministers who have official responsibility for a matter. It should not be assumed that the Minister of Finance is the one who makes the funds available to pay entrepreneurs. This is not how it works. So put the question to the responsible minister, so if the responsible minister comes in and says “I’m not the only one responsible”, we have cause for concern.

However, he maintains that “the question will not end there”.

The finance minister told parliament on Wednesday July 21 that the national security ministry, rather than its outfit, is mandated to report on the president’s trip.

“Sir. Mr. President, the President’s national and international travel is a matter of national security. Therefore, the Minister of National Security is in the best position to provide this Honorable House with the necessary details,” he said. .

Since that revelation, NDC MPs have described the news as a way for the government to escape responsibility.

Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu, at an event hosted by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry on consensus building, said the government was working hard not to release the numbers.

“The Minister of Finance is struggling to come and answer a question in Parliament on the sums spent by the president on his recent trip. In a democracy, that shouldn’t be difficult. But I can see he’s struggling, hiding behind national security, hiding behind the law to say that a finance minister doesn’t know how much is being spent on presidential travel and which goes to the Flagstaff House budget or to the government apparatus is false, he lamented.

According to North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah, the president’s luxurious trip aboard the G-Kelt plane instead of the presidential jet cost £ 15,000 an hour.

In response to these allegations, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said that the need to rent the G-Kelt plane for the president’s trips was not due to luxury.

For him, such assertions are unfounded, especially when the presidential plane ensures the safety of the president compared to the rented plane.

“The presidential plane offers greater security to the president than the plane the state has had to hire. The presidential plane is much safer and more stable than this plane, so why won’t the president use it if there was no challenge?

“The Minister of National Security will have to explain why we had to do this. It was not to satisfy or offer a luxury to the president, but as I say, the truth will come out, ”he declared.