Parliament is broke; we don’t have money to function well – Bagbin fumes over delay in disbursement of funds

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is fuming with rage at the delay in releasing funds to the legislature to enable it to function correctly.

According to him, the delay has led to the House being broke and in need of adequate funds to run its operations.

Addressing the House on Thursday, May 26, 2022, the Speaker lamented the dire financial constraints Parliament has been plunged into and cautioned the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, against treating Parliament like a Ministry or a District Assembly.

“It’s not easy. So, sometimes we see your requests for me to approve for you to do some things I had declined. It’s not because I love declining your requests; it’s because we don’t have the wherewithal to fund those operations. I think the Minister of Finance should not treat Parliament like a Ministry or MMDA – I will emphasise this again,” he said.

The Speaker also added that the situation if not checked and addressed immediately will halt activities of the House.

“This is an arm of government; we are not part of the MMDAs. We have even been written to, to reduce our budget in some areas, by 50% and so if they want Parliament to run aground, they should let us know. The Speaker is not ready and prepared to be blamed for the inability to get Parliament work going on just because we are not getting the necessary funds. Others will have some hesitation saying this; I don’t have,” he added.

The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, however, assured Parliament of the government’s commitment to release the necessary funds for the effective running of the House.