Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress(NDC) in the Salaga South constituency have clashed over the District Roads Improvement Programme (DRIP) equipment.
DGN Online gathered that the East Gonja Municipal Chief Executive, Richard Broni and some officials of the assembly went to Damongo to transport the DRIP equipment for the assembly to Salaga.
Information reaching DGN Online , indicates that some NPP supporters went to usher the MCE and his entourage into Salaga and upon reaching the entrance of the town some NDC boys also blocked the road claiming that the equipment belong to the people of Salaga and not only the NPP.
The confrontations created led to some misunderstanding resulting in a clash where some supporters of both NPP and NDC sustained severe injuries and were rushed to the Salaga hospital for medical treatment.
Earlier , some opposition Members of Parliament have claimed that government used their share of the common funds to procure the equipment.
But the Minister for Finance, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for the Karaga Constituency, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, debunked the claims that the District Roads Improvement Programme (DRIP) is being funded with the MPs Common Fund.
Addressing participants at the distribution of the DRIP equipment in Tamale, the Finance Minister said “Let me also use this platform to dispel the falsehood that is moving around in some of our districts and constituencies about the source of this equipment. I have heard some parliamentary candidates say that their share of MPs common fund are put together and under the instructions of the MPs, the government used that money to procure this equipment. This cannot be true. This cannot be a fact.”
According to him, this year alone, the government allocated GHS5.7 billion to the district assembly common fund, and only 5% of the common fund goes to MPs as MP share, and if they take 5% out of GHS 5.7 billion, that amounts to about GHS 285 million.
“How can GHS 285 million procure equipment that costs billions of Ghana cedis? That is not possible. Apart from this, the MP share of the common fund is being released to the MPs and first and second quarters release was done.”
He urged the public to disregard the claim that the government used the MPs share of the common fund to procure the equipment.
BY Eric Kombat, Salaga