Parliament will meet Finance Minister, Seth Terkper and officials from the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) to discuss government’s freeze on their HIPC accounts and its failure to make payments into various statutory funds.
Government recently froze the Parliamentarians’ HIPC accounts without notifying them, but to make matters worse, statutory payments such as the Health Fund, District Assemblies’ Common Fund, and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) have also not been forth coming.
The situation has angered the Members of Parliament (MPs), especially those from the Minority side, with some of them threatening to sue government for reneging on its statutory obligations.
Minority MP for Obuasi East, Edward Enning, has said he will bring a court suit against government for the recent developments – describing government’s actions as criminal.
The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, also attributed the situation to “sheer maladministration”.
But a meeting on Wednesday September 18, between the Finance Ministry and the Controller and Accountant General Department is expected to bring closure to the unfolding events.
However, MP for Manhyia North, Collins Owusu Amankwah, is certain Members will not tolerate any decision to postpone the payments further.
He told Joy News “some of us are not going to relent on our efforts to ensure that the proper thing is done…even if I have to mobilise [people in my constituency] to hit the street I am ready to do so.”
According to him, the disbursement of the funds does not depend on the discretion of government. “Government ought to pay the monies into the accounts,” he stressed.
Source: GhanaWeb
