Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has told Parliament that Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is not running away from accountability as some members of the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) claims.
The
explanation follows the failure of the Finance Minister to go to Parliament on
Thursday to answer questions asked of his Ministry’s activities.
According
to the Majority Leader, the Finance Minister had indicated to him on Wednesday,
June 15, 2022 that answers he needed from the technocrats with respect to
expenses on COVID-19 were dumped at his house last night, for which he would
need some time to read through before facing Parliament.
He said the Finance Minister therefore
wanted Parliament to reschedule his appearance for next week Wednesday, June
22, 2022 to enable him to come before the house and answer to questions with
respect to all expenses made on COVID-19.
The
Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim had demanded of the leadership of the
Majority, why questions requiring answers had been taken off from the order
paper (Parliament timetable) which meant the Finance Minister had once again
failed to appear before the house on Thursday.
Adding
his voice to the issue, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said the minority
was demanding for accountability in the interest of the Ghanaian people, so the
Finance Minister needed to come and account for an amount of GH¢9.7 billion
COVID-19 expenses.
Haruna Iddrisu added that he hoped
there would not be another excuse next week and that Parliament needed to step
down all transactions and businesses coming from the Finance Ministry until Ken
Ofori-Atta came to account for the COVID-19 expenses.
Speaker
The Speaker, Alban Bagbin in his ruling on the matter, directed that the
Finance Minister must appear before the house next week, Wednesday, June 22,
2022 to give account of how the COVID-19 money was utilised since the outbreak
of the pandemic and also answer some 16 questions by MPs which are standing against
his ministry.
Mr.
Bagbin said until the Finance Minister appears before the House, all matters
related to COVID-19 loan facility agreement laid before Parliament are
suspended.
Source:Graphic.com.gh