Minority spokesperson on Finance, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei has indicated that Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) are always outnumbered during the vote to approve loan agreements.
He has thus urged Ghanaians not to accuse Minority MPs of failing to prevent government from contracting more loans.
“When Parliament approves a budget, we expect government to live by it and at the end, it comes to vote by the majority so when you are saying your MPs, don’t generalize because the MPs of the government side are not helping the government cut waste because we have consistently said that there is waste in the system but at the end of the day, it will come to vote and we are outvoted,” he remarked.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ig4ECMPklsGaA8NSSK2SZVlRTzhg3pbJ”]Parliament is set to approve about six loan agreements to support the financing of the 2015 budget.
This development has angered many who are of the view that the Minority MPs are failing Ghanaians by consenting to the approval of these loans which are increasing Ghana’s debt stock to GDP which is now almost 70%.
The Ministry of Finance has however given the assurance that the nation’s rising debt is under control and that the country will not go HIPC.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Dr. Akoto Osei bemoaned the country’s governance system which gives more powers to the majority.
“Unfortunately, our system of governance is by majority rule. Parliament has a majority from the sitting government and so, at the end of the day, it is not what everybody wants that gets done; it is what the majority decides to do.
“…it suggests that anytime the government comes and we have to vote, it becomes a majority vote in spite of the arguments that will be made that are rational, it’s a matter of vote.”
Dr. Akoto Osei traced Ghana’s increased appetite for stealing to the discovery of oil in commercial quantities.
According to him, “the fact that the oil was going to bring in additional revenue does not mean that the capacity to pay debt is improved especially, since so far, we are experiencing decline growth rate because if growth rates are not high enough, we might not be able to pay our debt so we need to be careful.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ osamidan