Parliament Holds 2-Day Post-Budget Workshop for Members at Job 600
16-11-2019
A two-day intensive sensitization workshop for Members of Parliament on the 2020 Budget Statement and Financial Policy presented by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on the floor of the House on Wednesday is underway at the Justice D.F. Annan Auditorium in Parliament House, prior to the debate which starts on Monday, November 18 2019.
The Workshop under the theme, ‘Consolidating the gains for growth, jobs and prosperity for all’ is to expose the Members to the fine details captured in the budget to enable them to undertake a thorough debate and scrutiny of government financial policy for the year.
The Annual workshop for the MPs comes immediately after the budget is presented to the House and is expected to bring together technocrats from the Ministry of Finance and some experts in the financial sector.
Chairmen and Ranking Members of various Committees in Parliament that have oversight responsibilities of the Executive including the Government Assurance Committee, Finance Committee, the Gender Committee and all Members of Parliament are also expected to attend the workshop.
The Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Mike Aaron Oquaye in his opening address highly commended the Business Committee for maximising scarce resources by organising the Workshop in Parliament instead of the traditional sites outside Accra.
He called for active participation of Members since the role Parliament plays as the guardian of the public purse is one of the cardinal principles of parliamentary oversight which ensures that Government does not make additional expenditures other than those approved by Parliament.
Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta was confident that the government will not make additional expenditures other than those approved by Parliament even though 2020 is an election year remarking that adequate safeguards have been put in place to ensure fiscal responsivity and arrest this phenomenon of fiscal indiscipline that has become a regular feature of electioneering years in Ghana.
The Majority Leader Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu in his address explained the sensitization workshop is expected to equip the MPs with the intent behind government policies captured in the economic policy to enable them make cogent inputs during the 2020 Budget debate on the floor of the House.
Minority Leader Hon. Haruna Iddrisu was however unhappy about the Minister's reference to the poor state of the economy that he said the NPP inherited in 2017 from the NDC and passed a vote of no confidence in the Budget Statement saying that what he considers as an unimpressive 2020 budget is enough basis for the New Patriotic Party to be kicked out of office.
Dr. Isaac Mensah Bonsu of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) took the MPs through the topic: the Policy Underpinnings Of The 2020 Budget-General Analysis of the Budget with Professor Ebo Turkson of the University of Ghana, Legon and Dr. Hod Anyigba of Institute of Certified Economists (ICEG) as co-discussants.
