Memorandum from NDC Cabinet provokes turmoil in Parliament

General News on Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-07-31

A memorandum containing provisional supplementary budget estimates that would have been presented to cabinet by the Minister of Finance for final approval but intercepted by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) sparked a lively debate in Parliament yesterday.

NDC Bolgatanga Central MP Isaac Adongo began the "fight" by waving the so-called Supplementary Budget Memo, prepared by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

He said the minister was asking the cabinet for new budget estimates for security-related entities such as the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior, but the budget was finally revised considerably to solve the problems. of the energy sector.

Mr. Adongo then suggested to the Minister of Finance that he ask for more money from these departments for "imbalance".

The New Patriotic Majority Party (NPP) led by the Minister of Planning and MP for Wenchi, NPP MP in Wenchi, Professor George Gyan Baffour; Samuel Atta Akyea, Minister of Public Works and Housing and NPP MP for Abuakwa South, and Ursula Owusu Ekuful, Minister of Communications and MPP MP for Ablekuma West, strongly protested against Mr. Adongo's action and have asked for the authenticity of the.

According to them, a memo is confidential and it is virtually impossible for the NDC MP to access it.

They said that the NDC MP had to prove the authenticity of the document before he could refer to the debate and then asked the presidency not to admit it for debate.

The first vice president, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who was then chairing, called Mr. Adongo to file the document to verify its authenticity, as did the NDC MP.

The First Vice-President stated that if Mr. Adongo had tabled the note, its authenticity is clear because it has become an official document of the House. If the majority still insists on additional proof of authenticity, the Minister of Finance, present at the debate and on whose behalf the document exists, should be done to prove the authenticity of the document.

He said that there was no reason to reject this document, adding that if the majority had a problem, it should worry about the failings of the Ministry of Finance from where could come the alleged memo.

Mr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, chairman of Parliament's Finance Committee, said the NDC should remain silent on the supplementary budget, amounting to 6.3 billion GH, because the demand was mainly aimed at to deal with inherited debt from the energy sector left by the previous one. NDC Government.