Hopeson Adorye (middle) and his colleagues
A GROUP that calls itself Fixing the Country Ghana (FixGhana) has hit out at representatives of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament for exhibiting what they called “double standards” by refusing to sit in the Chamber to review the 2022 national budget but still went on to sit for parliamentary committee meetings just so they could be paid allowances.
According to the group, the NDC Members of Parliament (MPs) publicly paraded themselves as persons with the intent of protecting the public but secretly extort money via very cynical means from the same public purse, saying they are “a bunch of greedy, incompetent, selfish, hypocritical, and self-aggrandizing dishonorable persons.”
It would be recalled that following the presentation of the 2022 National Budget and Economic Policy by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta about two weeks ago in Parliament, news emerged last Friday that the NDC, who constitute the Minority in Parliament, had rejected the budget following a walkout by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs who make up the Majority.
On Tuesday, Parliament reconvened to review the budget and consequently approved the same but the NDC MPs boycotted the sitting for reasons unknown to Ghanaians.
However, at a press conference addressed by Hopeson Adorye on Wednesday, the group, alleged that despite the absence of the NDC MPs during the Parliamentary sitting to review the budget, some of their members still availed themselves during meetings of the various sub-committees of Parliament.
“Our main point of call today is to question the minority’s intention to sneak into budget estimates committee sittings! Why did they refuse to come to the chamber to approve the budget after a long meeting by both sides? If they will not participate in any proceedings about the budget in Chambers, why will they participate in any proceeding at the committee level?” they quizzed.
“It is sad to announce to you that the only reason why the minority MPs intend to participate in the various budget estimates committee sittings is to make allowances. It is plainly because of monetary consideration. The minority is so money conscious that they only pretend publicly to protect the public purse whiles they go behind the scenes to fight over allowances and plunder the national kitty wherever and whenever possible”, they said.
“If this is not nation-wrecking, they should tell us what else it is! It beats any reasonable imagination why the minority will refuse to partake in a budget presented at the committee of the whole, but sneak into subcommittee meetings. This is because no allowances are paid for sitting at the chamber whereas huge allowances await them at the committee stages”, they added.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio & Linda Tenyah-Ayettey