The Deputy Majority leader in Parliament, Alfred Agbesi watered down the concerns of the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) over the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneural Development (GYEEDA) Bill being discussed in Parliament.
“They have no concern which is worth considering. Isaac Asiamah [MP] got it all wrong in terms of the processes towards legislation,” he said.
The two sides of the House on Monday disagreed over the laying of the National Youth Employment Agency Bill.
The Bill when passed will give legal backing to GYEEDA to ensure proper oversight of the operations of the Agency.
The Minority accused the Majority of smuggling in the Bill into Parliament; insisting that it did not reflect deliberations of the joint committee that scrutinized the Bill.
[contextly_sidebar id=”OBlg1QOQLhXrbuddqX3OsjC70KLLzsUW”]But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Agbesi said no objections were made prior to the laying of the report.
He explained that “when a report is to be laid before the House and there are some concerns, you raise it; you don’t wait until the report is laid. Technically, you cannot say anything…”
According to the Deputy Majority leader Alfred Agbesi, the Minority’s insistence on including how embezzled GYEEDA funds are being retrieved in the bill is wrong.
“How can you make a law and then in the law you say that you want to see how the Attorney General was going to recover the money before a law is passed? Straight away, he got it wrong. The process of law making does not take into consideration, processes of retrieving money,” he argued.
Mr. Agbesi pointed out that in law making, “you will look at the Memorandum of the Bill, what defect is there that must be cured and you make provision towards blocking any loophole that will allow somebody to squander money.”
“There are state institutions handling the recovery of the money and I am sure the state institutions briefed the committee but it cannot be part of the law. You make the law to block any access that somebody may have to the fund and if it does happen, what is the punishment for such a conduct,” he asked.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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