Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Deputy Majority Leader, has described the Minority side’s decision to audit the use of Covid-19 funds as jumping the gun.
According to him, the NDC MPs are simply attempting to carry out a process that will be repeated by the Auditor-General and laid before the House for debate.
He explained that, while the Majority is not opposed to an audit of Covid fund expenditures, Article 187 and Order 919 of the House are opposed to the duplicity that the Minority is attempting to create.
He urged the Minority to be patient and await the Auditor General’s report.
“Article 187 is standing in their way and Order 919 is also standing in their way. You see sometimes I don’t understand our colleagues and well we’re there in a political enterprise, the ultimate goal is to win.
“They lost the elections in 2020 and we announced breaking the 8. So for day one, all they’ve been doing is to win ’24. So, pure politics and they would try to carry on the nation. Our duty in the Majority is to push back and ensure that we get the right things done,” he said.
He added that “Look, there’s no doubt that by a constitutional imperative, parliament has its oversight on the executive, exercise oversight on the institution of the state and all that. Those are our primary bona fides, no doubt at all about that. But in the same vein, the constitution has also created some pillars to aid us in our work. So what is really their plaint?”
His remark comes after the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, and the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, filed a motion to Alban Bagbin, requesting a bipartisan investigation into the government’s 8.1 billion expenditure.
This motion was admitted.
However, the motion was rejected by the First Deputy Speaker, who presided over House proceedings in the Speaker’s absence.
The Minority is currently preparing to file an appeal against the dismissal of their motion.
Afenyo-Markin explained the Majority’s opposition to the motion by stating that the auditing of the Covid expenditure should be left to the appropriate state agencies.
“Fine, now if so what do you do? Or how do you establish an irregularity in expenditure? You establish an irregularity through an audit, no other means. They must get that straight. You establish an irregularity through an audit. Now by the same constitutional imperative, there is a body called the Auditor General’s office, there’s a state agency called the Auditor General who has the mandate to audit public accounts.
“They have their audit and that audit report is laid, it is referred to public accounts committee there is a bipartisan headed by the minority, Hon. James Kludze Avedzi the deputy minority leader. So the interrogation will be done. All the things that they want to know can be found in the Auditor General’s report,” he said.
He went on to say that if the Minority is dissatisfied with the Auditor General’s report, they can always file a complaint with the plenary.
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SOURCE: myjoyonline
