Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
The Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in parliament has questioned why the out-going National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has taken a unilateral decision and now wants parliament to approve $86.2 million loan for the supply and sale of tractors, matching implements and accessories.
The tractors are to be given to farmers from the government’s proposed Agricultural Mechanisation Centres as captured in the party’s manifesto.
But the minority said the government had conveniently side-stepped the rules of procedures in parliament, more especially in the transition period, to perpetrate illegality.
Putting their concerns across during a press conference yesterday in parliament, the minority members, led by their leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the NPP would never be part of an illegitimate decision and processes to approve supplier’s credit and project implementation agreements tabled before parliament in the transition period.
The NPP also said that it was completely wrong for the transition team not to furnish parliament with copies of handing-over notes, adding that if such notes were not given, the party would not vote to approve anything.
According to the minority leader, Act 854 mandates the Administrative-General and for that matter, the Presidential Transition Team, to serve parliament with copies of the handing-over notes so that projections of the out-going government in the transition period would help parliament to determine the outstanding government business for parliament to deal with.
“Parliament has not been presented with handing-over notes from the Administrative-General covering activities of the presidency, ministries, departments and agencies as well as regional ministers and district chief executives,” he said, stressing that parliament had also not been given any report on projections of development the government envisages in the transition period.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that over 90 percent of business conducted in parliament is government’s or public business and that without reports on the developments which have taken place during the tenure of President John Mahama and statement on what is projected to be done within the transition period, parliament cannot decide on which business to transact, including the approval of loans.
The minority also wondered why the out-going government is in a rush recruiting people into the security services and other public institutions.
“We are aware of the agreement between the government and the IMF in respect of net freeze on employment until 2017, except for the health and education sectors, so why is the government going contrary to this agreement with IMF?” the minority leader asked.
He said what is more worrying is that neither the 2016 and the first quarter of the 2017 budgets presented to parliament by the finance minister made provisions for these ‘latter-day’ recruitments.
The minority therefore called on President John Mahama and his team to be open and transparent and build consensus within these last days to avoid a situation where the next government would be forced to review some unscrupulous acts of the out-gone government.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr