The Minority Members of Parliament who clashed with Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, over the National Food Buffer Stock Company’s (NAFCO) failure to pay the food suppliers’ two-year arrears have come under fire for how they approached the Minister.
Michael Aheampong, a Governance Expert, pointed out that there were more effective strategies that the Members of Parliament could have used to hold the Minister accountable.
He listed some methods for holding Ministers accountable, including summoning them before Parliament and asking questions. The Minority’s strategy, according to Mr. Acheampong, is extremely inflammatory and should not be accepted in a functioning democracy today.
However, Mr. Acheampong claimed that while the opposition MPs’ strategy was flawed, they had a right in calling the Minister to account for his actions because the food suppliers depend on their money to stay in business.
“In my view, they could have adopted a better approach to dealing with this matter. But here we are, we have MPs walking into a place, and stampeding the Minister in the presence of the Media. It was like an attack on the Minister; highly provocative.
“This, in my view, is not the best approach. This is like a Rambo-style approach and we should not accept that in a modern-day democracy. You could have summoned the Minister because we see it all the time that Ministers are hauled before Parliament to answer questions, there was no need for the show that we saw the last time.”
Michael Aheampong
On Friday, July 7, the Minority in Parliament, led by its leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, invaded the NAFCO office and demanded from the Minister of Agric, why the picketing food providers had not received their back pay.
Bryan Acheampong however, disapproved of the style and manner in which his legislative colleagues had confronted him. This led to an exchange of words between the Minister of Food and Agriculture and the Minority Caucus.
The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) management therefore admitted its debt to food suppliers about the arrears, which led to the picketing and promised to honor all payments in due time.
National Food Suppliers To Resume Picketing If Not Paid Soon
The National Food Suppliers Association claims that if the government breaks its promise to start paying them on July 17, it would be forced to continue its picketing.
Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Agriculture, promised on Friday, July 7, that payment procedures for food suppliers will start on Monday, July 17.
The National Food Suppliers Association had previously staged a four-day protest outside the National Food Buffer Stock Company to demand payment for the food that was provided to senior high schools across the nation.
The Association’s representative, Kwaku Amedume, stated that his organization’s members are hopeful that the government will uphold its half of the bargain.
“The Minister met us on Friday and gave us some assurances, but it doesn’t mean that we left the place because of those assurances. We left because we believed that we have created much awareness in demanding our money from the government. And the Buffer Stock Company has admitted its indebtedness to us and has promised to pay by July 17. And we hope the government is able to pay, as it has promised.”
Kwaku Amedume
READ ALSO: Afriyie Akoto Persuaded World Bank To Invest $200M Into TCDA
