A DEPUTY Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and NDC Propaganda Secretary, Fiifi Kwetey, yesterday created confusion and nearly marred the debate on the 2010 budget with what members from the Minority side described as belligerent and disrespectful conduct on the floor of Parliament.
The Propaganda Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who had a hectic time before getting parliamentary approval for his current portfolio, virtually turned the whole House upside down in a strenuous attempt to disentangle himself from an earlier comment he made that the economic (GDP) growth of 7.3 achieved in 2008 by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration was cocaine-inspired.
In the process of extricating himself from the statement, he rather compounded the situation with phrases questioning the understanding and intellectual capacity of the former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and MP for Old Tafo, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, who had earlier described the Deputy Minister’s comment as unfortunate.
Not taking kindly to Fiifi Kwetey’s derogatory comments, members from the Minority rose from their seats and protested vehemently against the Deputy Minister for verbally attacking Dr. Akoto Osei who is also the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament.
Fuming with rage, the Minority group vociferously demanded that he withdrew the comments and accordingly apologize to Dr. Akoto Osei, as according to them, the remarks were unparliamentary and disrespectful to a Member of Parliament.
However, the Deputy Minister, representing his boss, was reluctant to eat the humble pie with a simple withdrawal and apology, but rather engaging in a long winding melodrama- a conduct which brought proceedings to a halt for almost an hour, as the MPs insisted on a real withdrawal of the comments.
“Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity on the day the budget was presented to have spoken on Citifm and what I said was very clear and unambiguous.
I said that the 7.3 percent growth attained by the NPP government was unsustainable and therefore could not be used as a normal situation,” Fiifi Kwetey claimed, comparing the economic growth in 2008 with “an athlete that has taken steroids or an athlete who has taken cocaine knowing that what he did was not genuine”.
He reluctantly yielded to incessant pressure only after the Majority Leader and MP for Nadowli West, had indicated that his comments were not in good taste and also from the prompting of the First Deputy Speaker, Hon. Doe Adjaho, who was on the Speaker’s Chair for the day.
Meanwhile, at the time of going to press, DAILY GUIDE learnt that the Minority group is contemplating taking an action against Fiifi Kwetey for exhibiting what they described as reprehensible behaviour towards a highly-respected Member of Parliament.
The whole confusion in the House affected the budget debate which commenced yesterday, as only two MPs, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, and Clement Kofi Kumado, MP for Anlo, made submissions instead of the stipulated number of six, with three from each side of the House.
Making his submissions, Dr. Akoto Osei contended that the 2010 budget was full of contradictions and inaccuracies, calling on the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, to appear before the House to justify some claims in the budget statement.
He also challenged the Finance Minister over an amount of GH¢1.7 billion given in the budget as payments for arrears left over by the NPP administration in 2008, stressing that the figure is incorrect and a complete deceit, asking the Finance Minister to appear before Parliament to speak on the matter.
