Parliament approves mid-year budget

Page 16, Aug 28, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE mid-year budget estimates presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, today received the approval of the House after intense debate.
So intense was the debate that the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho had to occasionally appeal to the leadership of both the Majority and the Minority to restrain their members to adhere to the rules governing the House to ensure a smooth debate of the supplementary estimates.
The Government had requested the House to give approval of GH¢ 252,790,947 as the supplementary estimate for the 2009 financial year.
The motion which was moved by the Dr Kwabena Duffuor last Tuesday, was seconded by the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Mr James Klutse Avedzi. Seconding the motion, Mr Avedzi said there was the need for the Government to get additional funds to undertake projects and programmes it had set for itself.
The beauty of the debate was marred by frequent point of orders, shouting and flipping of hands from both sides of the House.
In the ensuing melee, Mr Adjaho was not spared as he received some bashings from the Minority MPs, who accused him of being a biased Speaker.
The Member of Parliament for Kwabre East, Mr Kofi Frimpong nearly incurred the displeasure of the Mr Adjaho during his submission when he remarked that “I have not seen such a Speaker before”.
But he was prevailed upon to withdraw his remark. He explained that he was not aware that his microphone was switched on.
As if that was not enough, the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also expressed some misgivings about the debate and accused the Speaker of giving the Majority side too much room to heckle the Minority MPs without giving the Minority side chance to make their point of orders.
When he took his turn in the debate, the Minority Ranking Member of Finance, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei took a swipe at the Finance Minister’s assertion that the Government inherited a rundown economy from the Kufuor administration.
He made references to the economy the Kufuor led Government inherited from the NDC in 2001 and asked Ghanaians to judge for themselves which of the two scenarios could be referred as a rundown economy.
So emotional was Dr Akoto Osei that some MPs from the Majority side occasionally heckled him through point of orders by asking him to tone down his emotions for the sake of his health.
He explained that in 2001, the Kufuor led Government inherited 41 per cent inflation, but was able to beat it down to 18 per cent before it left office while it increased the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from $290 to $712; reduced interest rate from 50 per cent to 27 per cent, reviewed minimum wage from 42 pesewas to GH¢ 2.20 and reduced poverty level from 39.5 per cent to 28 per cent.
He, however, conceded that the budget deficit in 2008 was 14.5 as against the 8.5 that the previous Government inherited from the NDC Government in 2001 and attributed that to the exigencies of the period.
He wondered why the minister of finance should write to the World Bank to praise the NPP Government for its economic achievement and turn around to do politics by telling to Ghanaians that the Government had inherited a rundown economy.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, on a number of occasions, had to come in to defend the Government and asked Dr Akoto Osei not to attack the personality of the finance minister, explaining that the current figures were there for everybody to see.
For his part, the NDC MP for Nabdam, Mr Moses Asaga noted that the depreciation of the cedi as a result of bad economic situation in 2008 was gradually improving due to the prudent management of the economy by the NDC.
He said with the space of six months, the Government had recorded a budget surplus of $125 million.
Mr Asaga explained that the Government was not spending frivolously by prioritising its expenditure adding that the Government was on course to achieve its set targets.
“The mid-year estimate will touch on the lives of the ordinary Ghanaians”, he stated, explaining that some social interventions included in the budget would go a long way to improve on the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian.
Mr Asaga mentioned the introduction of the free school uniform, the proposed mechanisation of agriculture, the enhancement of the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme.
The MP ended with an advice to politician across the divide to always present the true economic picture to the people, especially when they assumed office.
Other MPs who contributed to the debate were Mr Dominic Azumah, NDC, Garu-Tempane, Mr Joe Ghartey, NPP, Essikado-Ketan, the Minority Leader, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and the Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin.