The Minority in Parliament is fuming over a decision by the Veterinary Service Department to buy 30 new vehicles to fight the outbreak of the bird flu in Ghana.
The Minority is of the view that it is unwise to consider such an option at this critical moment.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance and Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei said some civil servants want to benefit from the current emergency.
He questioned how come the Veterinary Service Department suddenly wants to buy 30 new cars to deal with the outbreak of the disease while they lack basic logistics and drugs to combat the bird flu.
[contextly_sidebar id=”SGpamlchj9M4YuUSabh7vQa24MrpK3KS”]“The propensity of people to find additional money for non-emergency is irritating. The question I want to ask is that currently, how many cars do they have? But because they have an emergency, they are proposing to buy 30 new cars at the cost of GHC 30 million,” he fumed.
“But look at the logic; because there is an emergency, let’s beef up! That is my point! If you do that, some of us will give you zero because they are not dealing with the emergency,” he added.
Dr. Akoto Osei wondered why people always want to take advantage of situations to benefit financially by “over bloating the budget.”
On Thursday, the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF) issued a statement indicating that government’s fight against bird flu has hit a snag because of the non-availability of resources.
The bird flu has so far affected 16 major poultry farms in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and the Volta Regions.
Almost 40,000 birds, 1,300 crates of eggs and 37 bags of feed in the three affected regions have been destroyed at the cost of nearly GHC 1,000,000.
The Agric Ministry is also asking for additional resources from Parliament to help contain the outbreak.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana