Ayariga drags government to Supreme Court over MASLOC, Free SHS

The Bawku Central Member of Parliament has filed a suit against the Akufo-Addo administration over its infrastructure for poverty eradication programme, Planting for Food and Jobs as well as the operations of existing agencies like the Microfinance and Small Loans Center (MASLOC) among others.

About GHC7 billion has been alloted as budgetary allocation for the implementation of the programme in the 2018 Fiscal Policy that will cover projects such as government’s ambitious 1-village-1-dam, 1-district-1-factory, and Nation Builders Corps among others.

But Mr. Mahama Ayariga has said government failed to submit operational modalities, as well as policy framework to the legislature to have proper regulations for enactment.

He’s therefore prayed the court to direct the NPP government to submit to parliament the modalities of the various projects/initiatives, as well as the parastatal agencies established to oversee the initiatives.

In a writ filed at the Supreme court, Mr. Ayariga is seeking “an order of mandamus compelling the President or his assigned Ministers to bring to Parliament appropriate legislation establishing the institutions or agencies to implement the said initiatives, and to have proper regulations presented to Parliament for enactment to govern the exercise of discretionary power necessarily implicated in the implementation of the said initiatives once the Appropriations (No. 2) Act, 2017 (Act 951) was passed by Parliament authorizing the appropriation of the funds.”

According to the lawsuit, the MP will also be seeking “An interim order of injunction restraining the President or his agents from implementing the initiatives until such time as the appropriate institutions for implementation are enacted by Parliament and the appropriate regulations to govern the implementation of the said initiatives are also approved by Parliament.”