Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed, has disclosed that finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is the only minister who proffers excuses anytime he is called to appear before parliament.

According to him, the finance minister on a number of occasions, has refused to show up before parliament to answer questions on matters, the latest being government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme. He revealed that Mr Ofori-Atta only came out to give an update on the 85% subscription to the debt exchange.

“Parliament requested the presence of the minister for finance and the reason why parliament requested his presence in the House was because of concerns raised by our constituents. Now, if our constituents raised questions about the way things are done, parliament invited you [Ken Ofori-Atta], he once again disrespected, disregarded parliament by giving excuses. He is the only minister who gives excuses anytime he is called to appear before parliament. Show me one single time parliament invited him without him giving excuses.”
Murtala Mohammed

Mr Murtala recounted that he wrote to the finance ministry requesting for information on how much the finance minister has collected in the name of COVID levy and how much was spent for the purposes of free water and free electricity. However, he noted that before parliament went on recess, the finance minister refused to honor the invitation to answer questions and it is a situation he has been seeking a redress on.

“Parliament requested the minister to answer questions that are germane to the people of this country, that are of tremendous concern to the people we represent, and he gave excuses.”
Murtala Mohammed

On his part, Collins Adomako-Mensah, member of parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, stated the finance minister gave a clue of the domestic exchange programme in budget. As such, he expressed his intent on the alternative to reviving the economy prior to its implementation.

“I remember that in the budget, DDEP was mentioned, the minister gave a clue that government intends to have this conversation with bondholders and our debtors to see how best we can restructure.”
Collins Adomako-Mensah

Reacting to this, Mr Murtala stated that the finance minister providing clues of the DDEP in the budget does not mean an approval of the programme by parliament.

“If I hint that I want to do this, it’s different from parliament approving details of how you want to do it. So, the fact that there was a hint, without provision of the details of how it was going to be done, cannot be a justification why the minister is engaged in that.”
Murtala Mohammed

Appropriation of budget in parliament

Commenting on a statement made by Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who posited that parliament appropriated for the minister of finance an amount for the minister to use to service the country’s domestic debt, as such, he cannot unilaterally after parliament approving the budget decide not to pay those debts as and when they fall due, Mr Murtala stated that the minority leader’s statement was exact.

The Tamale Central legislator clarified that Dr Forson never said that appropriation to the finance minister means there’s money to carry out details in the budget. He explained that the purpose of the appropriation is to rather guide the expenditure of government.

“What he said was that running a government is not like running a private property and therefore, the minister for finance cannot just go and expend money without being asked to do so by parliament. Parliament approves the budget and for the minister to be able to expend what is captured in the budget, the appropriation bill must be passed.”
Murtala Mohammed

Mr Murtala elaborated that even if parliament approves the budget without appropriation, the minister or government cannot expend any money. The reason why there are such laws, he noted, is for purposes of checks and balances within the operations of parliament.

” Parliament is the house of representation of the people… Therefore, if a minister wants to expend money which is not his, whatever he wants to do, he comes to parliament with a budget… So, if you go ahead and you’re doing something outside what was appropriated for you to do, it is illegal.”
Murtala Mohammed