MP calls for establishment of contingency fund

Accra, Dec. 18, GNA- Parliament on Tuesday approved a sum of 1,846,310,737,00 Ghana cedis for the servicing of statutory payments and other government obligations for the 2008 fiscal year, with a call for the establishment of a contingency fund in line with constitutional provisions.

Dr Ben Kunbour, (NDC-Lawra-Nandon), who made the call, questioned a portion of Parliament's Finance Committee's report seeking 117, 385, 725 Ghana cedis out of the 1,846,310,737,00 Ghana cedis to take care of contingency in 2008.

He said if Parliament was going to vote for such an amount for contingency there was the need for a legal basis for that payment. The committees' report mentions external debt servicing, the district assemblies' common funds, pensions, social security, the national health insurance fund and contingency as some statutory payments and government obligations, for which the sum of 1,846,310,737,00 Ghana cedis was required.

Dr Kunbour argued that there was the need to establish a contingency fund as required by the 1992 Constitution to take care of expenditure for contingencies.

Dr Anthony Akoto-Osei, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, said monies for contingency was always part of every budget to take care of unexpected expenditures.

Earlier, Nii Adu Daku Mante, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said the contingency provision of 117, 385, 725 Ghana cedis has been made to cater for possible obligations that government may encounter in the course of 2008 such as increases in public sector salaries. He said it would also help to deal with any unanticipated emergencies next year for which no specific allocation had been made. The leadership of Parliament congratulated Mr Joseph Agbeko, for winning the International Boxing Federation Batamweight Champion title. This was after, Mr Albert Zigah, (NDC-Ketu South) had made a statement in his honour.

Mr Zigah urged the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to institute an investigation into why Ghana has not been able to produce world champions for a long time although the country has good boxers.