Minority sabotaging economy through misinformation – Majority

The Majority is unhappy with the Minority over what they see as the unnecessary demand for Parliamentary approval of every government transaction.

According to the majority caucus, this development is petty and is driving away potential investors in the country’s economy.

The Minority has, in the last few weeks, criticised the government for unilaterally signing various contracts, including the recent 5G service deal with NextGen InfranCo.

The NDC MPs contend that some of these sole-sourced deals must be subjected to parliamentary approval.

However, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, disagreed at a press conference in Parliament on Wednesday, June 5.

He said the minority group’s persistent accusation of government agencies of signing contracts in blatant violation of the Public Financial Management Act is misleading.

“It is important to remind our colleagues that they ought not to make Parliament a busybody nosing for things that are not part of the mandate of Parliament.

“Our job as Parliament is provided for in the Constitution, and I will urge our friends in the NDC that by that act, they are obstructing government business.

“By the act, they’re scaring investors and that affects the economy.

“If businesses are hearing such news, basically, they are not going to give up their best people, keep their money, and that will affect the good people of Ghana,” he said.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin claims that the nature of the deals does not breach any constitutional provision and does not require approval from Parliament.

“The contract in question must be an international transaction. That is where our colleagues should pay attention.

“It does not mean that every contract with a multi-year value should come to parliament. So they should stop misleading the public.

“They should stop peddling falsehoods. Every government engages the private sector. The object of that is to create space for economic growth.”

“So if you recklessly scare off the businessmen and where you know that what you are putting out is not true, what you are trying to do is to sabotage the economy.

“So I would want to encourage them that we know it’s an election year but let’s argue on facts. Let’s put out the facts,” he stated.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin also urged the business community to desist from hoarding dollars as the government works to ensure the stability of the cedi.