Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has charged the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to up their games in releasing the MPs’ Common Fund for developmental projects.
According to him, the MPs Common Fund is just a fraction of about 5% of the total budgetory allocations of the Assemblies for intervention projects and it must be released on time as soon as the request is made.
But, “almost all the Assemblies usually sit on the that money for months for whatever reason best known to them”.
The Chairman who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ketu North constituency, James Klutse Avedzi, stated this during the on-going public sitting to consider reports of the Auditor-General on the management and utilisation of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund and other Statutory Funds for the year ending 31st December 2015/2016 in Parliament House.
Avedzi noted that, both the MP and the DCE are to work together to develop the District yet DCEs are found of not willing to release MPs’ Common Fund even if the request letter is issued by the MP for specific projects.
“I’m just making a general statement, it’s happening in my District (Ketu North), it’s happening in every Member of Parliament’ District.
Sometimes, if both the MP and the DCE are from the same Political Party, it’s worse. It does not help at all”.
Source: Edzorna Francis Mensah