Parliament this week: Finance Minister expected to appear before House
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is scheduled to appear before Parliament tomorrow to brief the House on the expenditure incurred by the government since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country in 2020.
The Finance Minister was programmed to attend to the House last Thursday, June 16, 2022 to brief the House on the government's COVID-19 expenditure and to answer 16 questions asked by Members of Parliamemt (MPs) relating to his ministry, but he was unable to do so due to circumstances beyond his control.
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The Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, made this known last Friday, June 17, 2022, when he presented the business statement for this week.
This week’s sitting begins today and ends on Friday, June 24, 2022.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu presenting the statement said, "Mr Speaker, as indicated in this week's business statement, the minister responsible for finance was scheduled to attend to the House on, Thursday, June 16, 2022 to brief Parliament on the expenditure incurred by government since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic ".
" Mr Speaker, unfortunately the Minister of Finance was unable to attend to the House to brief members on the matter due to circumstances beyond his control. Mr Speaker, the Minister of Finance has been programmed to attend to the House on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 to brief the House on government's COVID-19 expenditure, " he stated.
During last week's sitting, the issue of the non-availability of the Finance Minister to brief the House on COVID-19 expenditure was raised by the Minority caucus.
The Speaker, Alban Bagbin on that matter reiterated his earlier directive that the House would not consider any business coming from the Ministry of Finance until the sector minister responded to the questions and briefed the House on the COVID-19 expenditure.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu however assured the House that the Finance Minister would be available on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 to brief the House and answer the 16 questions that stood in the name of his ministry.
Minister of National Security
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu announced that the leadership was still in consultation with the minister responsible for National Security to brief Parliament at a close sitting on matters pertaining to the security of the state, particularly on the recent spate of terrorist attacks within the West African sub-region.
He said the day of the briefing would be communicated to members during the week.
Questions
The Business Committee of Parliament aside from the Finance Minister, has scheduled six other Ministers of State to respond to questions asked of them during the week.
They are the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah; the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah; the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah; Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah and a Minister of State at the Office of the President