Government exaggerating drought in the north just to go for loan – Speaker of Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has accused the government of exaggerating the drought in the eight regions of the country: Northern, Upper East, North East, Savannah, Upper West, Bono, Bono East, and Oti regions.

According to the Speaker, the government is making a meal out of the dry spell in these areas of the country just so it can borrow money.

Bagbin, who made these remarks in an exclusive interview on TV3 on September 10, 2024, said that the recent deployment of the military to the northern borders of the country to prevent the export of the country’s grains was unnecessary.

“That (the deployment of the army) is catastrophic and a complete exaggeration of the situation just to create a platform to go in for a facility.

“And who knows how that facility will be applied? That is my honest view,” he said.

Asked what he meant by a “facility”, the Speaker of Parliament retorted, “A credit facility in terms of money or in terms of food items is (and) that kind of thing.”

About the drought:

The government announced a GH¢8 billion National Emergency Response Programme to address the looming food security crisis in the country as a result of the drought in the 8 regions.

The Ministry of Finance has requested the approval of GH¢500 million from the Contingency Fund to deal with the ongoing drought in the northern parts of the country.

The Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, indicated that the request has become necessary to help raise the over GH¢8 billion the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has asked for to tackle the dry spell in the north and its consequences, including food shortages and loss of farmers' income.

“Mr. Chairman, considering that we are eight (8) months into the implementation of the 2024 Budget and the proposed interventions are unplanned expenditure occasioned by a "force majeure", Government cannot fund the request of GH¢8.36 billion solely from a reallocation of existing budget lines in the 2024 Budget.

“In light of the foregoing, we write to request approval from the Finance Committee for the withdrawal of GH¢500 million from the Contingency Fund, in accordance with Article 177 subsection 1 of the 1992 Constitution, Section 36 subsection 1 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) as well as Section 227 subsection 1 of the Standing Orders of Parliament of Ghana,” part of the letter which is dated August 28, 2024, reads.

The minister added, “To complement this withdrawal, government is mobilising support from Development Partners as well as realigning approved fiscal operations in the 2024 Budget. Mr. Chairman, given the assessed impact of the impending food security crisis in five (5) Northern Regions and three (3) Transitional Zones affecting over 900,000 farmers and heightening the risk of extremism, your urgent approval would enable government to implement the critical measures required to address the situation.”

BAI/BB

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