Ofori-Atta completely forgot to include Volta Region in 2020 budget – Okudzeto Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has recalled a moment he describes as a "never-before-time" in parliament when the government completely forgot an entire budget for a region in its yearly budget.

He explained that this was in November of 2019 when the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, came to present the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to the House.

Recalling this on Friday, January 20, 2023, edition of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, the MP said that it took his scrutiny of the statement to be able to identify the major omission.

“You remember when the Year of Roads budget was presented? I quickly went through the budget and discovered that the Volta Region had been left out – November 2019, for the 2020 Year of roads,- and then we drew attention,” he said.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa went on to say that the minister, in order to express gratitude to the Minority, had to return to parliament the next day just to present a budget for the Volta Region.

He added that the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, was also grateful to them because he knew that their discovery had saved them from an unintended consequence.

“So, the next day - it was the first time it had happened in the history of Ghana’s parliament, the finance minister came back to the House and presented a budget, listing projects for the Volta Region, and even commended us for discovering that; that it was an oversight; it was a major slip, and if we hadn’t discovered it, and 2020 had come, and Voltarians found out later on, the consequences would have been dire,” he added.

AE/BOG