Parliament approves budget of Parliamentary Service and Media Commission

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - Parliament on Thursday unanimously approved the budget estimates for Parliamentary Service and the National Media Commission (NMC) Parliament Service was allocated GHC34, 037,510.00, whilst the NMC received GHC 2, 159, 244.00.

Mr. Alban Bagbin, Majority Leader, called for an increment in the budgetary allocation for the two organisations since they perform pivotal and strategic roles in the democratic dispensation of the country. He said Parliament needed to work independently and therefore called on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to consider establishing a separate treasury for Parliamentary Service. "The situation where all our activities are approved by Controller and Accountant General's Department, it takes a long time for us to get money for the execution of our programmes."

Papa Owusu Ankomah, Member of Parliament for Sekondi appealed for closer collaboration between the leadership of Parliament and Parliamentary Service to enable them to strengthen the democratic institutions in the country. He said the pledges made by previous administrations towards the betterment of Parliament were yet to materialize and appealed to President John Evans Atta Mills to consider working on the job 600 building project in order to provide office accommodation for Members of Parliament and workers of the Parliamentary Service.