Parliament disagrees over EC Budget

Accra, Dec. 10, GNA - Parliament on Monday suspended the approval of 36,803,056.00 Ghana cedis for the services of the Electoral Commission (EC) for the 2008 fiscal year after calls for rejection of a motion for approval of the budgetary allocation.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, (NDC-Tamale South) called on members to reject the budgetary allocation because it fell short of the 51,744,000.00 Ghana cedis requested by the EC.

He said for a credible and fair election next year, the EC, as an independent institution, had the mandate of the constitution to be given all resources to conduct elections.

He said, it was not proper for the Finance Ministry to give an assurance that additional funds for the EC's services would be allocated to them from the contingency funds because it meant the EC had to wait on the Executive, which undermined the independence of the EC. Mr. Iddrisu based his arguments on the report of the Special Budget Committee of Parliament, and called on members to reject the motion for the approval of 36,803,056.00 Ghana cedis for the services of the EC. The report states that: " ...this year's EC's budget comprised two main components. The general budget to be expended on personnel emoluments, administration, services and investments within the institution itself and a special budget..... to cater strictly for election activities."

"For the combined programmes, the EC requested 51,744,000.00 Ghana cedis, an amount which includes 15 per cent contingency for a possible election run-off.

The allocation to the EC totals 36,803,056.00...."

The report said the Finance Ministry would provide additional funds to make up for the shortfall, which includes the funds for a possible presidential run-off, from the contingency funds during the year. Mr. Iddirisu also touched on the implementation of the Representation of the Peoples Amendment Act, and said the NDC would not accept any "questionable" results by the EC if it went ahead to implement the law since it was a recipe for instability. Dr. Anthony Osei-Akoto, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, who stood up on a point of order, said it was wrong for Mr. Iddrisu to infer that the Executive was controlling the EC. He the Finance Ministry would not just go ahead to give in to all and any requests made by the EC without ensuring that it was in order. He said for instance, the EC had put in a request for funds for public education during elections, while the National Commission on Civic Education had also made a similar request and therefore there was the need to harmonize this matter to avoid duplications of budgetary allocations.

Prof. George Gyan-Baffour, Deputy Minister at the Finance Ministry, said majority of government ministries, departments and agencies were given about 50 percent of their budgetary request but the EC was one of the very few institutions given about 80 per cent of its request. Mr Abraham Ossei-Aidooh, Majority Leader, after arguments by both sides of the House, requested that the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Freddie Blay, who sat in Chair, step down the motion for approval of the EC budget until some consultations. Mr. Edward Doe-Adjaho, Deputy Minority Leader, also requested that leadership met with the Finance Ministry and the EC to deal with concerns raised over their budget.

Earlier, the House approved 629,893.00 GH cedis for the services of the Public Services Commission and 173,700.00 GH cedis for the District Assemblies' Common Fund Administrator.

It also approved 4,126,717.00 GH cedis or the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice for the 2008 fiscal year. On the budget of the Public Services Commission, Mr Iddrisu said there was the need to deal with corruption and lapses in the sector. Alhaji Abubakar Sumani, (NDC-Tamale North) who touched on the budget of the Common Fund Administrator said with the increase of the districts the office needed more funds to extend development to all districts in rural areas and the cut in budgetary allocations to administration, investments and service was therefore worrying.