The Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has cautioned the Ministry of Finance to desist from the habit of not releasing the full amounts of budgets that are approved for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“I think that we should take this as the last occasion where we will tolerate it from the Ministry of Finance. We don’t want to have this again. What is done cannot be undone. 2022 is past and gone. In 2023, this is [a] clear notice to the Ministry; we do not want this to be repeated again,” he said.
The comments came when the House was considering an amount of GH¢3.7 billion as budget estimates for the Ministry of Defense to undertake its activities in the year 2023.
The Speaker said he had observed from the Committee for Defense and Interior’s report presented to the House that 81% of the budget on goods and services requested by the Ministry in the 2022 Budget was not released.
He also said he had observed from the 2023 Budget that there had been an increase in compensation, but goods and services and CAPEX had been reduced. “So, you are employing people and you are not going to give them the tools to work with.
Look at the budget for 2023, it has been reduced, both for goods and services and CAPEX. So, you are going to recruit them, employ many hands and let them sit in their houses, meanwhile you know what is happening. I think there has to be a second look.”
Before these observations by the Speaker, the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Mr. Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, who also commented on the report, said he observed that the Ministry could not get all the monies it asked for. He said the Ministry got only 89 million out of 141.7 million it requested for.
The MP lamented that shortfall release had become something very common with the Ministry of Finance, and questioned how the Ministry expects the Army to work well if it was not given the money it required to work effectively.
He said the Finance Ministry could toil with things such as accommodation of officers, but budgetary allocation should not be toyed with.
He called on the House to stop appealing to the Finance Ministry to release funds, and rather demand them to do so, because the tax they collect was so the Ministries could be well funded and equipped to do their work.
Calling on the House to desist from shortfall releases, Speaker Bagbin said that issues of safety, security and stability were things that must not be toyed with. He said there were a lot of issues of insecurities in the sub-region, and that the Finance Minister was aware, and that he could not comprehend the reluctance in the release of funds.
He, therefore, agreed with earlier calls made by the South Dayi MP that Parliament should not appeal to the Ministry to release funds again, but rather instruct them to do the needful.
“…It is not for this House to continue to be appealing to the Ministry to release funds. We are in charge. We pass the laws on taxation; they are to implement [it] so if they are failing to do it, we have to take them on. We should not be appealing to them.”
Speaker Bagbin admonished that the government should take security serious, even as it continuous to enjoy peace and safety from God.
