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Presidential Palace loan approved by
Parliament
Accra, July 31, Ghanadot - After a stall last Wednesday due
to lack of quorum, parliament voted to approve a loan
agreement between the Government of Ghana and Stanbic Bank,
Ghana, for an amount of $15 million for construction and
rehabilitation works at the Flagstaff House.
The approval came after a heated debate between the Majority
and the Minority parties. While the Majority extolled the
construction project, to be considered as Ghana's
Presidential Palace, the Minority NDC dismissed it as a
waste and suggested the money could be used to support
solving the nation's energy crisis, poverty alleviation
program and providing accommodation on Ghana's university
campuses.
The points raised by the Minority were mostly dismissed by
the Majority as political wrangling and posturing that had
nothing to do with the actual cost or merit of the project.
The Minister of Presidential Affairs, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani had
maintained that he had told the House when he appeared
before it that the cost of the project at its initial stage
was 36.9 million dollars but the total cost could only be
known after completion.
The House on Monday also approved the Loan Agreement between
the Government of Ghana and the Fidelity Bank for an amount
of $11.8m to support the Ghana@50 celebrations.
Prior to the approval, members from the Minority side had
called on the Ghana@50 Secretariat, which was tasked with
the planning of the Jubilee, to account to the nation on how
the amount of $20m previously authorized for celebrations
was utilized.
Contributions from the Minority NDC side, with the support
of the Mr. Eugene Atta Agyapong from the Majority NPP,
earlier rejected the motion to approve the loan which they
said added up to make the total expenditure on the
celebrations $31.8m.
"It is the unwise to use a loan to celebrate a birthday"
they said, but Mr. Mpiani explained that the monies were
necessary to give the city a facelift to host the numerous
dignitaries that came from around the world for the
celebrations.
The House also ratified a request by the Government of Ghana
to borrow from the International Capital Market an amount up
to $750m to support the implementation of the medium term
investment plan of 2007-2008.
It adopted the Supplementary Budget Estimates for the year
2007.
Source GNA
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