Alexander Afenyo-Markin
The Majority in Parliament has accused its Minority counterpart of ‘misleading Ghanaians’ about the award of multi-year contracts by some government agencies.
The Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, recently accused the government of breaching the Public Financial Management (PMF) Act by signing long-term contracts without first getting Parliament’s approval.
He pointed to the contract awarded to dualise the Kasoa-Winneba portion of the Accra-Cape Coast highway as an example of such violations, claiming that the government failed to secure parliamentary clearance.
However, the Majority stated that the Minority group’s constant claim of government agencies signing long-term contracts in contravention of the PFM Act is a deception and an attempt to make the government appear bad in the eyes of the people.
Addressing the media in Parliament yesterday, Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, called on his colleagues to “stop misleading the public and stop spreading falsehood.”
According to him, the Minority mischievously relied on Section 33 of Act 921 to throw dust into the eyes of the public.
Section 33 of the PFM Act (Act 921) provides that, “A covered entity shall not enter into any agreement with the financial commitment that binds the government for more than one financial year or that results in contingent liability except where the financial commitment or contingent liability (a) is with the prior written approval of the Minister, and (b) authorised by Parliament in accordance Article 181of the Constitution.”
Clause 5 of Article 181 of the Constitution also says that “This Article shall, with the necessary modification by Parliament, apply to an international business or economic transaction to which the government is a party as it applies to a loan.”
Mr. Afenyo-Markin said the contract under reference must be an international transaction, per the imperative of the Constitution, saying, “That is where our colleagues should pay attention to. It doesn’t mean that every contract with a multi-year value should come to Parliament.”
“So, they should stop misleading the public; they should stop spreading falsehood,” he stressed and added that this action of the Minority is similar to what they said about the GRA-SML contract.
“Every government engages the private sector. The objective is to create space for economic growth. So if you recklessly scare the businessmen and where you know that what you’re putting out is not true, what you are trying to do is to sabotage the economy,” the Majority Leader asserted.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin urged the Minority to argue on facts, despite the fact that it is an election year.
“They have been in power before. They were in office for eight years. There were things that they could not do. The very things they said they could not do, we came to office and we’ve done them.
“Dr. Bawumia has put out his vision. They have had the benefit of being in opposition and perhaps even learning from the mistake. The question is whether their flagbearer has come out with any bold initiative to challenge the status quo,” he stated.
He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, who has been president before, was elected as flagbearer two years ago and, “Up to date, we have not heard any big announcement from him. There is nothing from the NDC that will turn the corner of the economy. What they are engaging in is the usual political mischief.”
According to him, unlike the NDC, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has demonstrated a clear difference in terms of the path the nation should chart.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House