News

Friday, March 11, 2016

Speaker urges strenghtening of Parliament's capacity in budget analysis
 
Parliament, The speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Justice Joyce Bamfo-Addo has noted that one of the most compelling challenges facing Ghana’s Parliament today is the building of a strong capacity to critically analyze budgets to ensure that national allocations match the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) plans and commitments.

In the interim, Parliament has however managed to address this shortcoming by the engagement of experts through the support of Ghana’s development partners to take Leadership Committee Chairpersons, Ranking members and Clerks through the budget in workshops that held after the presentation of the budget in Parliament.

Madam Speaker made these observations when she presented the keynote address at the first ever assertion meeting between the Parliament of Ghana and the United Nation’s system, on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) held on Tuesday November 17th 2007 at the Sir Charles Quist Conference Room.

She was of the conviction that if the capacities of Parliament and its Committees can be strengthen by the provision of the required Technical and Financial support in budget analyses, much progress will made to ascertain whether Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are appropriately resourced in the country’s quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) .

Madam Speaker emphasized that though as a nation he have made important strides towards achieving the tenets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),recent global trends have tended to negatively affected the gain made.

The Speaker also averred that the responsibility of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is not only the responsibility of the Executive arm of Government but also that of the Legislature.

The Majority Leader, Hon. Alban Bagbin on his part noted that this is the first time Parliament is collaborating with the United Nations Systems in such a manner and advised that the engagement should continue in order to help improve the living conditions of the people.

The Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Ambrose Derry in his contribution also dwelt on some of the challenges confronting Ghana’s Parliament such as office, accommodation and lack of logistics. He stressed on the need to educate the poor on programmes that are meant to improve their living conditions such as education on how to avoid maternal mortality.

Mr. Daouda Toure, The United Nations Resident Coordinator, noted that Ghana is one of the active members of the UN system and has contributed immensely in turn providing personal to the global body and engaging in peace-keeping activities.

He urged Parliament to take appropriate steps to educate the people on the real role of the Legislature. He called for more of such meetings to be held periodically to help find lasting solutions to the problems confronting mankind.