Ghana’s Parliament summons Ofori-Atta and Asenso-Boakye for flooding

Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister of Works and Housing, and Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, have been ordered to appear before Parliament to update the House on the nation’s flood prevention efforts by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.

This comes after recent storms in some parts of the country caused devastation.

A woman and her two children are missing, other people have been hurt, and property has been ruined as a result of the flood, according to the Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza, who made the announcement on the floor of the legislature.
Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, thinks the Ministers should be more precise about how the government plans to handle the problem.

The Speaker went on to say that the absence of substantive ministers should not be used as an excuse when deputy ministers are accessible.

We anticipate these ministers to appear before us by the end of next week. “The Business Committee has scheduled the Minister responsible for Works and Housing to appear before the House, along with the Minister of Finance, to give us a brief on the action being taken to make this a thing of the past.

“This is a very important matter, and passing the Budget Act is one way we could support national leadership in finding a solution,” a minister of state at the Ministry could attend in the absence of the substantive minister.

The Speaker continued, “I think it starts from the priority settings, and Parliament must be involved and not wait until a month to the end of the year and the budget is thrust upon, and you have no time to talk about even increasing budget allocations. We have had so many statements of this nature almost every year since I entered Parliament in 1993, and we are not finding solutions to the problem.

Source: Mynewsghana.com