The Member of Parliament for Tamale South in the Northern Region and former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has urged Parliament to ensure that no government under the Fourth Republic is allowed to borrow beyond 70 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Reacting to the country’s unsustainable and rising debt, the Tamale South lawmaker, strongly asserted that the unsustainable debt rate of country makes it very difficult for the country to repay, a situation according him has worsened the country’s economic situation in recent times.
According to him, if Parliament can impose such restrictions on the government’s capacity to borrow, it would help in addressing the country’s high debt situation.
“This parliament must sit up and we must sit up to demand a feeling for good for all presidents and governments. I maintain that no president or government should be allowed to borrow beyond 70% of GDP”.
Haruna Iddrisu
The former Minority Leader further called on Parliament to initiate steps to conduct a forensic auditing into the high amount of debt that the Ministry of Finance owes most state-owned enterprises in the country.
Honourable Haruna Iddrisu specifically mentioned the huge debt that the Finance Ministry owes State Enterprises such as the Ghana Gas Company, the Electricity Company of Ghana, and the National Communication Authority among others.
According to him, the situation is having severe implications for the day-to-day operation of most of these State Owned Enterprises.
“I am asking for a forensic audit as to how much money the Ministry of Finance has held on state-owned agencies, Ghana Gas, ECG, NCA. Those of them who have other holding that the office of the Chief of Staff has taken money away from them. We need to know”.
Haruna Iddrisu
Second Deputy Speaker Chastised Over Conduct During Finance Ministry Budget Approval
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central in the Northern Region, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has chastised the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Honorable Andrew Amoako Asiamah for his conduct during the voice note on the approval of budget allocation for the Ministry of Finance.
The Tamale Central Legislator speaking in a media interview on the issue raised concern over the lack of transparency on the conduct of the second Deputy Speaker and admonished the need for Parliament as an institution to embrace transparency in its operation.
According to him the decision by the second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Andrew Amoako Asiamah to suspend sitting after the Majority Caucus in Parliament lost a voice vote during the approval of the budget allocation for the Ministry of Finance was very unfortunate.
“What the 2nd Deputy Speaker needed to do after the voice vote was done which was very clear that we [Minority] rejected the budget of the Ministry of Finance was to rule. So, this idea of suspending sitting and coming back to rule on it was embarrassing”.
Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed
Honourable Murtala Mohammed further argued that the conduct of the Second Deputy Speaker contravenes the Standing Orders and standard practices of Parliament.
The lawmaker explained that the budget was approved because the bell in the chamber did not ring when the House reconvened, which resulted in the Minority Caucus losing the voice vote for the second time.
He also questioned why the Minority leadership did not raise concerns to the Speaker upon realizing there were few of their members in the chamber.
“What the Majority did with the 2nd Deputy Speaker was very clear. They knew that they have lost the vote and having lost the vote, they disregarded the procedure that is expected to be done
Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed
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