The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has served notice that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will not compromise the use of the country’s oil revenue in funding some key policies of the government outlined in the 2017 Budget.
The government has indicated in the 2017 Budget Statement it intends spending the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) on its major flagship policy — free SHS — as well as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the sole aim of alleviating poverty from the country.
However, the Minority Leader contributing to the debate on the budget on the floor of the House last Wednesday, said his side was not in support and would never support the government in funding the free SHS with proceeds from the country’s oil find.
“Mr Speaker, we will not accept the use of our oil money for consumption,” he noted.
Commenting further, the Minority Leader also raised issues about the government’s intention of abolishing duty on the importation of spare parts, insisting that such move must be regulated.
“We on this side will demand that it is regulated because even new vehicles can be cannibalised to become spare parts and, therefore, it must be regulated. We put levies on imports to discourage it but you are rather encouraging imports and how can you help improve on balance of payment when you adopt this attitude,” he quizzed.
Mr Iddrisu also chided the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for presenting a budget which he said was weak on infrastructure.
Minority not happy
The Minority members also expressed anger at what they described as disrespect and bias on the part of the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, towards them.
This is not the first time such an accusation has been levelled against the Speaker by Members of Parliament (MPs) in opposition.
The latest accusation happened last Wednesday during the concluding debate on the maiden budget of the NPP government.
The Minority Leader and the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, who stood on their feet to draw the Speaker’s attention to inadequate numbers in the chamber to approve the budget, were ignored when the Speaker rather put the question to vote at a time the opposition MPs believed the House did not constitute a quorum to transact parliamentary business.
This angered Mr Iddrisu, who registered his side’s displeasure at the Speaker’s action towards the NDC MPs.
Mr Iddrisu told Parliament: “I’d risen earlier, Mr Speaker, and I don’t want to believe that we could not catch your eye. That is why we are in the frontbench and as leadership and we demand that we are accorded the respect.”
Source: Daily Graphic
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even in opposition they still wont let go of their evil ways. they still want us to continue suffering. is the oil money to for Ghana? why cant we use it to the benefit of the ple? i have always said ndc is a group of evil ple being coordinated by the devil himself and they will go any length to see the ple suffer. God knew this and that is why he gave NPP an overwhelming majority in parliament. they will lose more seats in 2020 and by 2032 they will be like cpp or pnc.
What is bothering this man ,if i may ask " gush .now we see the differend colours ,,,so called minority leader ? Every Ghanaians citizen have right to benefit from the oil God gave us .not only if you are educated .ok , you must shoutup and abstain from ***barred word*** comments that will not favour Ghanaians
In fact, the northerners should get visa before coming to the south. Eddddiot kola nut chewers.
we are tired of northerners who get things for free even though they do not contribute ANYTHING. Cocoa, Gold, oil DO NOT come from the north. so these northerners should STOP dictating how the Ghana resources should be spent until they start producing something from their land!
Foooooooulish Northerner MP. DId your govt find the oil? Go back to Tamale and do stop being a beggar on the resources of the South! Kwassssshia
E!!!!! NDC YOU WILL TALK FOR LONG PAAAOOOOO. THE TALKING JOURNEY IS LONG SO TREAD CAUTIOUSLY AND ACHIEVE IT SLOWLY. MEANWHILE LET ME ASSURE YOU THAT BY THE END OF THE FOUR YEARS YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT.HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA
WHEN DID HARUNA REALIZED THAT THE HOUSE WASN'T IN QUROUM, WAS IT AT THE TIME OF VOTING OR DURING THE BUDGET DEBATE?, AND WHAT'S HE SAYING THAT THE NDC MPS ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW GOVERNMENT TO USE OIL MONEY FOR ANY INITIATIVE, HARUNA IDDIRUSU IT SEEMS YOU ARE GETTING MAD IN OPPOSITION, ARE THE OIL MONEY FOR GHANAIANS OR FOR NDC OR NPP?, YOU CLAIM YOU ARE SOCIAL DEMOCRACRATE YET ALL YOUR BEHAVIOUR AND COMMENTS DOESN'T SHOW THAT, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU HARRUNA AND YOUR PARTY NDC. NANA ADDO WILL USE THE OIL FOR FREE SHS AND ALL OTHER GOOD INITIATIVES AND ABOLISH YOUR USE LESS TAXATIONS IF YOU LIKE TO HELL. WHAT AN ERRANT NONESENSE
You are fighting a loosing battle. You know that the majority will always get their way. By the way can the minority explain to the people of Ghana why it is wrong to use oil money to help finance free senior secondary school when it is successful? What should we do with the so - called oil money? Are you looking forward to 2020 election to campaign against free S'S education? As a socialist party you should be worried for 2020 election since npp can again win overwhelmingly. Who doesn't want free education?