Finance Minister will lay Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation - Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu assures

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has given an assurance that the Minister of Finance will present the Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation to Parliament this week for members to approve the salaries of public sector workers for January to March 2025.

He said Dr Mohammed Amin Adam first presented the document to the House ahead of the conduct of the December 7 polls, when the Leader of Government Business pleaded that, “we should have business transacted on that”.

However, Dr Adam had to withdraw the document from Parliament following the quibble that ensued over which side constituted the Majority.

“So, let it not be stated for the record that the ruling administration is failing in its duty as this is a palpable untruth,” he said.

The document is requesting the House to approve GH₵68,134, 674,527 from the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of the government before the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act in respect of the 2025 financial year.

Countering accusations by Minority MPs that the Finance Minister was deliberately refusing to present the Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation to the House for consideration in a bid to undermine the next government, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu described such accusation as false.

“The Finance Minister is currently engaged in meetings of the Transition Team and will do the needful.

“Mr Speaker, it is not only workers who may not be paid from January 2025 if the House is unable to approve the vote on account. Even this House, meeting after December to listen to the President present his last message on the state of the nation cannot hold. The House was called upon to avoid this situation before the elections and why was it not done?

“If we are not able to approve of the vote on account, the summoning of Parliament to elect a Speaker for the Speaker to now also swear in the new Members of Parliament technically cannot take place, and is that what you want as a nation?” he questioned.

Minority’s accusation

At the commencement of business yesterday, the House was due to consider a motion on the Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation, which was advertised in the Order Paper.

However, the Finance Minister was not in the House to present the documents, causing the Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza, and other Minority MPs to call out the minister.

To Mr Agbodza, the item was a critical requirement of the government and a responsibility of the House to undertake based on the understanding that Dr Adam was going to be in to lay the papers.

“I know you (Speaker) are in possession of what he (Dr Adam) was supposed to lay and that is why it appeared on the Order Paper.

“We are here today again and the Finance Minister is not here, the Leader of the side opposite is not here and nobody is telling us anything,” he said. 

He, therefore, expressed the hope that there was no conspiracy to make it impossible for the documents to be laid and to be taken until the Eighth Parliament expired. 

But challenging Mr Agbodza’s accusation, the former Majority Leader said Dr Adam was not deliberately refusing to present the Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation to Parliament.

“Let it be established that the Majority Caucus, as of now, has never decided not to lay documents in this House,” he said, describing Mr Agbodza’s accusation as “patented untruth”.

He said it was never true that the Majority had decided not to work and urged the Minority Chief Whip to refrain from peddling rumours.

On why he would not want to present the documents himself, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said while he was aware that the document was in the House, he did not want to bear the responsibility of presenting it “because of issues that have arisen before the Transition Team meetings”.

He said Dr Adam was required to go to Parliament to present the document himself but given the issues that were emerging, he “may want to amend portions of it”.

Scratch my back

Wading into the argument, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Tema Central, Carlos Ahenkorah, urged the Minority MPs to first consider the tax exemptions for companies operating under the One District, One Factory programme before looking at the Expenditure in Advance of Appropriation.

He said the government had “appropriated our bill” to allow public sector workers to get their salaries “till we leave office in December”.

“You are coming in from January and we are coming back even in January before we go home. So, you cannot push us as the opposition to do your wish.

“On the floor here, we want to tell you that we are prepared to do 1D1F exemption and if you do not want that, then you do not tell us what you want us to do because for now, you have given us the right to present government business and that is exactly what we are doing,” he said.