Ministry of Youth and Sports overspends budget

Mr Asiamah said even though the sector Minister, Mr Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, agreed to submit documentation covering the over-expenditure when he met the committee, he failed to do so.

He, therefore, called on the Speaker to ensure that the documents were made available before the ministry’s budget for this year was approved.

  "As a House, we should protect the taxpayer from being treated in such a manner by being alive to our oversight responsibilities," he said.

Mr Asiamah stated that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had suffered for far too long and mentioned a report on the recent Maputo All African Games which indicted a number of officials for corruptible practices.

He laid the report on the table, and when some MPs from the Majority side began to murmur, the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, remarked that "the report is damning”. adding, “Corruption is corruption."

Mr Asiamah also accused the government of failing to submit the action plan it promised to use for the implementation of the youth policy put in place by the Kufuor administration.

When he took his turn, the NDC MP for Chiana/Paga, Mr Abuga Pele, explained that the over-expenditure by the ministry was a result of the fact that money was used to pay beneficiaries of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).

On the Action Plan for the Youth Policy, he stated that it was ready and could be presented to the House any time.

When Mr Adjaho requested Mr Pele to submit the action plan, he agreed to do so later.

Mr Pele called for a financial plan for the NYEP, so that its employees would not be paid outside the budgetary allocation for the ministry to be accused of over-spending.

For her part, the NPP MP for Tano South, Ms Freda Prempeh, called on the ministry to invest more in female soccer, in addition to the completion of both the Cape Coast and Legon sports stadia.

Mr Afriyie-Ankrah informed the House that the ministry was aware of the report on Ghana's participation in the Maputo All African Games and had given the officials implicated up to the end of this month to respond to the queries.

The House approved GH¢53,872,871.00 for the ministry to implement its programmes and activities.

Story by Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah & Mark-Anthony Vinorkor