“Parliament Is Broke…” – Muntaka

The Minority Chief Whip of  Parliament, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, has ratified a recent assertion by the Speaker of Parliament, in which Alban Bagbin indicated that the House lacks the needed funding for its operations.

According to Muntaka, as a result of the prevailing situation, MPs cannot talk about their salaries, and it is needless for members of the Majority to contribute to defend the government.

Alban Bagbin on Friday, May 27 stated that Parliament does not have the needed funds to run its operations. He linked the development to the delay by the Ministry of Finance to release the needed funds to Parliament.

The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annor-Dompreh, however, debunked the Speaker’s assertion and stated during a press conference that an outstanding amount of GhC 25 million allocation for goods and services for Parliament has been released, while the Speaker was telling the whole world that the house is broke.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, May 30, Alhaji Muntaka explained, that MPs were paid late and Parliament funding had not been fully released, only a part of it was released after the Speaker’s comments. He also noted that the situation has also affected the printing of  Parliamentary Hansard and reports.

Muntaka stressed that the official report of debates in the House is critical because “these official reports are what we as MPs take and read and if there are any controversial issues you can resolve them. The challenge is that, these have to be corrected to get the final one…Things happened in March, we are in May. This week we will go into June. And you bring me March issues that were raised and debated, say in July and I say this is not what exactly I said, you are going to put the house into confusion.”

 

Source: Ghana Web