Parliament Is Not Broke; Govt Has Released GH¢25m Arrears - Annoh-Dompreh

Major Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has said that the government has released an amount of GH¢25 million due the Parliament as its budgetary allocation for goods and services.

According to him, the Speaker of Parliament complained about the delay of the release of the money on the floor of the House because he was not aware of the process involved.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Annoh-Dompreh, added that officials of Parliament including the Clerk and Chief Account Officer were aware that the money had hit the accounts of Parliament.

“… they (Clerk and Chief Account Officer) all had knowledge of the processes involved and the fact that the releases had been done … I’m talking about a GH¢ 25 million outstanding goods and services to Parliament.

“So yesterday when Speaker was lamenting, indeed officially the release had been effected, the process had kick start so it was just a matter of a few hours for it to hit Parliament’s account. The Speaker’s statement was a bit presumptuous and if he had exercised a bit of restraint, he may not have made the comment that Parliament is broke,” he said.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, said the delay by the Ministry of Finance to release the needed funds to Parliament is affecting the house.

According to him, Parliament has no money to function hence the halt in approving financial commitments of the House.

"Parliament is currently being run on arrears and the House should not be treated as one of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)," Graphic online quoted the Speaker as having said.

He said the government has written to the House to reduce their budget by 50 percent.

“This is an arm of government. We are not part of the MMDAs. We have even been written to reduce our budget in some cases by 50 percent,” Bagbin complained.

Source: Ghanaweb.com