The Minority in Parliament has been advised to thoroughly scrutinize the government’s request to withdraw funds from the contingency fund to deal with the impact of recent droughts severely affecting eight regions.
The Ministry of Finance through a letter to the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament is requesting approval for the withdrawal of Ghc 500 million from the contingency fund. In total, an amount of GHC 8.36 billion is needed to implement a National Emergency Response Program to avert the impending crisis.
But the Dean of the University of Cape Coast of Business School, Prof. John Gatsi fears that this might be used as a conduit for some people to dissipate funds.
Prof. Gatsi, who played a significant role in the drafting of the NDC manifesto for the 2024 General Elections, believes the approach of the government is bedeviled with serious issues that must be addressed.
“I think the whole approach is shrouded in secrecy. We need to interrogate the whole issue about the drought, the effects it’s having, what we are having in our stock, and whether it’s not possible that countries are aware that suffering from drought.
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“Ordinarily, they will be willing to send their produce to the country. We need to assess all those issues to see whether this approach we are adopting will not end up dissipating money and then we come out to say we are blaming domestic shock from agriculture as we blame Russia and Ukraine,” he told The High Street Journal in an interview.
He is therefore calling on Members of Parliament to thoroughly scrutinize the request before approval. He is also calling on the Minority to consult widely to understand the extent of the issues, the level of impact and the response needed so that national funds are not dissipated by some people for elections purposes.
“I am skeptical about this. It needs to be interrogated. The Parliamentarians including the minority should open their eyes. They should approve what they believe is the truth. What they believe is in the interest of the country.
“We are in an election year, I believe if we are not careful, we will give money to a group of people who will just use it for elections. We need to be very careful about this,” the Dean of UCC Business School cautioned.
