MP bemoans delay in release of allocation to Foreign Ministry

The MP’s concern was based on the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the ministry’s budgetary allocation which called for efforts to attract foreign direct investment into the country to create avenues for employment and income generation.

The report said the role of diplomacy, especially economic diplomacy, in projecting the image of the country abroad as an attractive social and economic destination required that the country’s foreign missions were properly resourced.

Commenting on the situation, Mr Boamah, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, observed that the delay in the release of allocation to the ministry had resulted in the pile up of huge debts which got bigger over the years.

According to the MP, the committee was informed that the ministry’s foreign missions owed GH¢8,958,932.39 in unpaid rent and contractors’ fees for other repair works to properties they owned.

The report of the committee indicated that faced with the rather precarious financial situation, the ministry could only rely on its internally generated fund to help implement its programmes and projects for the year.

Unfortunately, while the ministry projected generating about GH¢35,177,083.74, which represented a 33.81 upwards adjustment in the 2012 levels, the Ministry of Finance had only allocated GHCI4,583,160.

According to the report, while the Ministry of Finance permitted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its agencies to retain 25 per cent of their IGFs, the Passport Office could not directly retain its portion,since it was required to pay all receipts into the Consolidated Fund and subsequently apply to the Ministry of Finance for releases.

However, such requests have not been honoured over the past two years and the situation had hampered the development of the Passport Office which had the capacity to even collect more IGFs provided its releases were made to facilitate the retooling of its staff.

The committee, therefore recommended to the Ministry of Finance to review its procedures and allow the Passport Office to directly retain its portion of the IGF to enable the office to revamp its operations and serve the public more effectively.

Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Hanna Tetteh moved the motion for the approval of GHCII0,229,049 to enable the ministry to implement its programmes and activities for the 2013 financial year.

The House approved the amount after it had debated on the committee’s report.

Story by Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah