Parliament summons Ofori-Atta and Asenso-Boakye over flooding in Ghana

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has directed that the Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, and the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta, appear before Parliament to brief the House on measures against flooding in the country.

This follows the devastating impact of recent downpours in parts of the country.

In a statement on the Floor of Parliament, the Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza stated that a lady and her two children are missing, with persons injured and properties destroyed as a result of the flooding.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin says the Ministers ought to provide details on how the government intends to deal with the concern.

The Speaker added that the unavailability of substantive ministers should not be an excuse when there are deputy ministers available.

“Minister responsible for Works and Housing be programmed by the Business Committee to appear before the House together with the Minister of Finance to give us a brief on the action being taken to make this a thing of the past, and so we expect that at latest before the end of next week, these ministers should appear before us.

“If the substantive minister is not there, there is a minister of state at the Ministry that can come and represent him and this is a very important matter and one of the ways we could support national leadership to find a solution is for us to pass the Budget Act.”

“It is a very important subject matter because since I entered Parliament in 1993, we have had so many statements of this nature almost every year and we are not finding solutions to the problem and I think it starts from the priority settings, and Parliament must be involved and not wait until a month to the end of the year and the budget is thrust upon, and you have no time to talk about even increasing budget allocations,” the Speaker added.