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Parliament approves ¢252.8million for 2009 supplementary
Budget
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh,Ghanadot
Accra, Aug 28, Ghanadot - Ghana’s
Parliament has approved the ¢252.8 million supplementary
budget for the 2009 financial year after a heated debate on
the floor of the House for close to about seven hours.
The new spending will be required “to commit the required
additional resources to address the inadequacy of the amount
of monies approved under the 2009 Budget.”
Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor, presenting the
supplementary budget to Parliament on Tuesday, this week,
also said government required more funding to “appropriate
additional resources to resolve the domestic interest costs
and also to liquidate some arrears and other outstanding
commitments in conformity with Article 179(8) of the
Constitution.”
The motion which was moved by the Finance Minister last
Tuesday, was seconded by the Chairman of the Finance
Committee of Parliament, James Klutse Avedzi.
Seconding the motion, Mr. Avedzi indicated that “There is
the need for the government to get additional funds to
undertake projects and programmes it has set for itself”.
In Parliament on Thursday there was crossfire as the First
Deputy Speaker, Doe Adjaho, struggled to control the MPs;
the Minority sporadically registered threats of walkout.
Members of both sides engaged in verbal exchanges and
frequent heckling, dragging the debate for over seven hours.
The Minority sought to question the language of the Finance
Minister that the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
administration inherited a run-down economy and huge
judgment debts due to bad governance.
The Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Dufour in his presentation
of the budget said the economy was slowly picking up because
it had been run down.
Whilst members of the Minority side quoted statistics to
back their claim that the economy was robust at the time of
leaving office, MP’s on the majority side insisted the
economy was in bad shape.
Ghanadot
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