The Minority in Parliament are unhappy following the alleged delay in the disbursement of funds by the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, for the smooth running of Parliament.
The minority caucus maintains that the continuous withholding of funds allocated for Parliamentary works is gradually crippling the work of various committees, adding that many committees are unable to fulfil their due mandates due to lack of financial resources.
These concerns were brought to the attention of the speaker by the Chairman of the Assurances Committee and Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul.
The former Defence Minister in the erstwhile Akufo-Addo government demanded an expedited response and actions from the Finance Minister to enable Parliament to conduct business without delay.
Dominic Nitiwul said, “Parliament is now literally begging for money to enable its committees to function. As a committee chair, I could not access funds to carry out our duties. We had a scheduled workshop, but not even a cedi was released. Members across committees are fully aware that there is no money. Why aren’t we demanding that the Finance Minister release the funds?”
This claim was heavily countered by the Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, who revealed that Parliament is not faced with financial challenges, adding that all allowances have been paid.
“They are alleging that Parliament is struggling to do what? As Members of Parliament, our salaries and allowances have been paid. The Finance Minister has released funds, and no one has officially raised concerns about not being paid,” he remarked.
