Reject government's GHS1.8bn request - Kweku Kwarteng

Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Kweku Kwarteng, has called on Members of Parliament to block the approval of GHS1.8billion to supplement the 2016 budget for the second half of the year.

Finance Minister Seth Terkper told parliament on Monday July 25 when he presented the supplementary budget and mid-year review that the amount would help government make up for its revenue shortfalls.

But speaking to Class News’ parliamentary correspondent Ekow Annan, the Obuasi West lawmaker said government does not deserve the quoted amount when it has not solved the challenges facing the economy.

“My immediate response to the supplementary budget is that my colleague parliamentarians, join me in rejecting this supplementary budget for government.

They should vote against it as a message to government that they cannot continue to spend public resources without addressing the fundamental problems that worry us and here, I am talking about erratic energy supply that is crippling businesses, creating unemployment and increasing poverty and we have had this continuously for four and a half years,” he stated.

“Government has been overtaxing and distressing businesses. Government has been competing with businesses on the capital market for credit as a result of which businesses cannot borrow because interest rates are very high, and on top of all these, government is coming to tell us that we must give them additional GHS1.8billion to deliver more of the same.

My response is no, we should not give it to government; we should let government go back and sit down and think that parliament has rejected this.

What are the things I need to do to demonstrate before parliament will now approve my request for appropriation and when that happens, I am sure government will come to no other conclusion but that if I will sit down and solve the energy crisis, if I will stop borrowing excessively, if I will cut the waste and the corruption, I am sure people will be more pleased and the people’s representatives will be more willing to endorse this request for additional appropriation for us.