The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori-Atta said at the Parliamentary censure motion ad hoc committee meeting today that, he did not breach the constitution by making payments in support of the construction of the National Cathedral.
Mr. Ofori-Atta claimed that all payments he has made towards the construction of the National Cathedral were lawful.
Ofori-Atta debunked the allegation by the proponents of the motion that he had made withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution for the construction of the President’s Cathedral.
“I say with both humility and confidence that I have not breached the Constitution in making payments to support the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.”
Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance
The Finance Minister alluded to the allegations levelled against him by the proponents of the motion when they appeared before the committee on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
Ofori-Atta noted that Hon. Haruna Iddrisu and Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson alleged that he had made unconstitutional payment into the Contingency Fund in support of the National Cathedral.
“I want to state that this is just not true. Let me be categorical. I have taken no money from the Contingency Fund to make payments for the National Cathedral,” he claimed.
The Minister admitted withdrawing money from the Contingency Vote and not the Contingency Fund.
Ofori-Atta explained that while the Contingency Fund constituted monies voted by Parliament and advances from the fund must be authorised by the Parliamentary Finance Committee, the Contingency Vote on the other hand, was a line under the ‘Other Government Obligations’ vote, which is approved by the Finance Committee and passed as part of the annual appropriation acts passed by Parliament.
The Minister of Finance disclosed that in “preparing the annual budgets, the practice is that provision is made for indicative expenditures that have not been fully costed at the time of the budget presentation” and that is what the Contingency vote under ‘Other Government Obligations’ is.
Ken Ofori-Atta cited monies paid to Black Starts contingents for the 2014 and 2022 FIFA World Cups as coming from the Contingent Vote.
“Expenditures in respect of the National Cathedral were made from the Contingency Vote,” Ofori-Atta added.
Ablakwa Questions Ofori-Atta
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a member of the ad hoc committee, read a portion of the report of Tuesday’s sitting to clarify that the proponents did not say the Minister withdrew monies from the Contingency Fund.
“Constitutional withdrawals from the consolidated fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution supposedly for the construction of the President’s National Cathedral.”
Haruna Iddrisu, Proponent of censure motion
Indeed, as per the report, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu alleged that the Minister paid some unconstitutional funds in aid of the construction of the National Cathedral. But, he didn’t specify the fund from which the monies where paid.
Okudzeto Ablakwa questioned the Minister on why he circumvented to explain what the Contingency Fund and Contingency Vote were when the proponents did not mention them.
In response, Ken Ofori-Atta said that because the statement from the proponents suggested that funds had been withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund illegally, he decided “to define the two different funds in which one might make a mistake.“
When Hon. Peter Yaw Boamah, MP for Okaikwei Central questioned the Minister on whether he made unconstitutional withdrawals from the consolidated fund, the Minister answered in the negative.
The North Tongu MP then asked Ofori-Atta on whether he sought the approval of Parliament before he made the withdrawals, since the Minister said the withdrawals where constitutional.
Ken Ofori-Atta claimed he received Parliamentary approvals before withdrawing from the Contingency Vote because in the budget, the Contingency Vote fell under ‘Other Government Obligations.’
Hon. Ablakwa who did not seem satisfied with the Minister’s responses, proved from the appropriations bills and reports of the office of government machinery for the years 2020 and 2022 that, government did not seek approvals from Parliament in those respective years on their expenditures.
“The practice is that even if you come under contingency, you must seek approval from Parliament. [So] why was Parliament kept in the dark all those years,” Okudzeto questioned.
The Lawyer of the Minister, said that whatever the case may be, they stood by the position that the withdrawals were constitutional.
“Hon. Co-Chair, as a factual matter we are of the considered opinion that there was no violation of the constitutional provision. There was also no violation of any subsidiary legislation. We’ll educate ourselves with the facts as disclosed by the documentation in the possession of the honourable member [Okudzeto Ablakwa]. But, it will not change our opinion.”
Lawyer of Finance Minister
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