By: Daily Guide
Source: http://www.modernghana.com
The Minority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called for a holistic scrutiny of the 2012 Budget which was read last Wednesday by the Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.
The scrutiny, he said, would ensure that the budget provided equitable access to services by all Ghanaians regardless of their status and background.
According to him, the 2012 budget, which comprised the fiscal information for next year, among other things, 'Should be subject to public and independent scrutiny. In other words, information provided in the budget document should not be taken as a given. Fiscal information should be subjected to an acid test.'
His remark comes after ongoing deliberations and debates that followed the reading of the budget last Wednesday.
As the Majority is defending the budget with its last breath, the Minority have subjected the budget to much scrutiny. They have also described it with names such as 'Enkoyie', 'Bye Bye', 'Propaganda', 'Azonto' and 'Recycled budget' among others.
Meanwhile, the former presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples' Party, (CPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has also questioned whether the budget is for growth or go slow.
The Minority leader made the remark in Ho during a post budget workshop for leadership of Parliament, committee chairpersons, ranking members and selected members of parliament.
The three-day workshop, which ended yesterday, was organised by Parliament in collaboration with its donor partners.
The workshop was to furnish the about 135 parliamentarians with in-depth knowledge as well as the requisite tools and skills to better appreciate and criticize the budget.
Resource persons were drawn from various areas such as legal, financial, public administration, petroleum, trade, governance and agriculture to enlighten the parliamentarians.
Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, who is also the MP for Suame, noted that the workshop was essential to ensure that parliamentarians discharged their mandate on the most important document of government diligently. He was hopeful that parliamentarians would keep an eagle eye on the comprehensiveness and predictability of the budget.
Other areas include transparency, periodicity, clarity of roles and responsibilities, public availability of information and independent assurances of integrity of the budget.
He also urged parliamentarians, Ministers of State and other public servants and government appointees to ensure that the common problems with budgeting were reduced to the barest minimum.
These, he said, included poor planning, insufficient linkages between policies and the budget as well as weak cash management. The rest are ill-disciplined execution that leads to a large gap between the budget as approved and the budget as implemented, inadequate accounting systems and insufficiently detailed, poorly organised and unreliable budget documentation.
The Majority leader, Cletus Avoka, who chaired the occasion, called for objective deliberations and criticisms devoid of political colouration. He also commended his colleagues for participating in the workshop and called on Ghanaians to accept the budget in good faith since it was geared towards accelerated growth for a better Ghana.
The Speaker of Parliament, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, whose speech was read by the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adzaho, commended the parliamentarians for their outstanding role in holding the executive to account and exercising the power of the purse in recent times.
She expressed the hope that this would be sustained to protect and promote good governance and the country's young democracy.
Source: http://www.modernghana.com/news/362909/1/enkoyie-budget-needs-acid-test.html
Source: http://www.modernghana.com
The Minority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called for a holistic scrutiny of the 2012 Budget which was read last Wednesday by the Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.
The scrutiny, he said, would ensure that the budget provided equitable access to services by all Ghanaians regardless of their status and background.
According to him, the 2012 budget, which comprised the fiscal information for next year, among other things, 'Should be subject to public and independent scrutiny. In other words, information provided in the budget document should not be taken as a given. Fiscal information should be subjected to an acid test.'
His remark comes after ongoing deliberations and debates that followed the reading of the budget last Wednesday.
As the Majority is defending the budget with its last breath, the Minority have subjected the budget to much scrutiny. They have also described it with names such as 'Enkoyie', 'Bye Bye', 'Propaganda', 'Azonto' and 'Recycled budget' among others.
Meanwhile, the former presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples' Party, (CPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has also questioned whether the budget is for growth or go slow.
The Minority leader made the remark in Ho during a post budget workshop for leadership of Parliament, committee chairpersons, ranking members and selected members of parliament.
The three-day workshop, which ended yesterday, was organised by Parliament in collaboration with its donor partners.
The workshop was to furnish the about 135 parliamentarians with in-depth knowledge as well as the requisite tools and skills to better appreciate and criticize the budget.
Resource persons were drawn from various areas such as legal, financial, public administration, petroleum, trade, governance and agriculture to enlighten the parliamentarians.
Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, who is also the MP for Suame, noted that the workshop was essential to ensure that parliamentarians discharged their mandate on the most important document of government diligently. He was hopeful that parliamentarians would keep an eagle eye on the comprehensiveness and predictability of the budget.
Other areas include transparency, periodicity, clarity of roles and responsibilities, public availability of information and independent assurances of integrity of the budget.
He also urged parliamentarians, Ministers of State and other public servants and government appointees to ensure that the common problems with budgeting were reduced to the barest minimum.
These, he said, included poor planning, insufficient linkages between policies and the budget as well as weak cash management. The rest are ill-disciplined execution that leads to a large gap between the budget as approved and the budget as implemented, inadequate accounting systems and insufficiently detailed, poorly organised and unreliable budget documentation.
The Majority leader, Cletus Avoka, who chaired the occasion, called for objective deliberations and criticisms devoid of political colouration. He also commended his colleagues for participating in the workshop and called on Ghanaians to accept the budget in good faith since it was geared towards accelerated growth for a better Ghana.
The Speaker of Parliament, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, whose speech was read by the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adzaho, commended the parliamentarians for their outstanding role in holding the executive to account and exercising the power of the purse in recent times.
She expressed the hope that this would be sustained to protect and promote good governance and the country's young democracy.
Source: http://www.modernghana.com/news/362909/1/enkoyie-budget-needs-acid-test.html
