Release funds to districts, MPs — Parliament

Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

PARLIAMENT has recommended to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund to release funds to districts and MPs to embark on their development activities.
The House also called for the strengthening of public-private partnership engagement between the sanitation service providers and the government to help improve the sanitation situation in the country.
These were contained in the report of the Committee of the Whole on the proposed formula for the sharing of the District Assemblies Common Fund Allocation for this year.
The report was signed by the Chairman of the committee who is also the Second Deputy Speaker, Mr Mike Oquaye.
In the 2009 budget, the proposed allocation into the DACF is GH¢345,483.00.?????
There are four factors considered for the disbursement of the fund to the district assemblies. These are the equality factor, need factor, responsiveness factor and the service pressure factor.
For this year, the equality factor is attracting 50 per cent, need factor, 40 per cent, responsiveness factor, four per cent, and service density factor, six per cent.
Meanwhile the House could not approve the formula for the sharing of the Ghana Education Service Trust Fund (GETFund) and the formula for the distribution of subsidies to be paid to Licensed Mutual Health Insurance Schemes alongside that of the DACF.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, told the House that reports on the two subjects had not been completed.
He explained that the House would sit in camera later in the day to discuss the formulae for the two funds and make sure that they were approved before the House ended its special two-day sitting.
In another development, the Speaker, Mrs Joyce Bamford-Addo, yesterday referred a statement made by the MP for Kwadaso, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, to the leadership of the House to consider how security could be provided to MPs.
The MP had told the House that he was robbed by four armed robbers in his residence at East Lagon last week Friday at gunpoint.
He said the robbers made away with cash, computers, mobile phones, jewellery and wrist watches, among other valuables.
Dr Akoto said, the robbers escaped with their loot in a Range Rover of his friend who was on a visit to his House.
He said it was appropriate that MPs should be given protection, and called on the Minister of the Interior and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to take the necessary measures and make adequate resources available to the police to control armed robbery in the country.