Assurances Committee embarks on verification visit

A 25-member delegation of the Government Assurances Committee has embarked on a10-day health and road projects verifications in four regions of Ghana.

Mr. Emmanuel Bedzrah, Chairman of the Committee and MP for Ho West, is leading the delegation to the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern and the Volta Regions, a statement signed by Mr. Akrofi Tibo, Deputy Clerk of the Committee on Government Assurances, Parliament House, and copied to the GNA in Accra, on Tuesday said.

Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, MP, Kwesimintsim, who is also the Ranking Member on the team, is travelling with the delegation, which is currently in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The visit forms part of the mandate of the Committee, which is tasked to exercise oversight responsibility over the Executive.

Its major duty is to pursue all assurances, promises, and undertaking given by Ministers from time to time and report to the House on the extent to which such assurances have been fulfilled.

“These visits form a key part of our mandate as we seek accountability to the Ghanaian people through their elected representatives and whatever information we gather will serve as evidence based information to hold sector ministers accountable during our upcoming public hearings,” Mr Bedzrah, explained.

STAR-Ghana is supporting the verification visit which begun on Monday, October 26 and would end on November 6.

The statement said the delegation started off the tour with a courtesy call on the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Sarpong, who led the team to inspect the reconstruction of the Sunyani Road in Kumasi, which includes the Sofoline Interchange.

The project began in 2007 and is set to finish by the end of the year, as stated in the 2014 Budget Statement.

In an interaction with the site engineers, the issue of funding from government came out as the main bane hampering the execution of the project in view of the timelines, said the statement. Currently, the project is 78 per cent completed.

Also in the Ashanti Region, the statement said, the Committee members inspected various projects at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, which are earmarked to be completed by the end of this year.

These include uncompleted Maternity and Children’s Block that started in 1974, the completed and operational Eye Centre; Installation of new MRI and CT scan equipment.

The delegation also inspected the uncompleted Maternity Block at the Tafo Government Hospital.

The major drawbacks affecting the completion of both maternity blocks are lack of funds from the Central Government, the statement said.

In the Brong Ahafo Region, the Committee has so far inspected road projects at Atebubu, Kwame Danso, Kwadwokrom, the Prang-Kintampo road project as well as five completed Polyclinics in the Region.

From the Brong Ahafo Region the Committee would move to the Northern Region where they are expected to inspect the Buipe-Tamale Road, as well as the Salaga-Makango road project, according to the statement.

The verification visit would be rounded off in the Volta Region with the inspection of the Eastern corridor road that stretch through Nkwanta-Oti-Damanko, Dodo-Pepesu and Asikuma Junction-Have and Ho-Adaklu-Sogakope Roads.

Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah stated that the verification visit would help equip the Committee with first-hand information about projects being monitored by the Committee, undertake media outreach and also interact with citizens “whom we have already been engaging on the CGA’s digital platform (www.assurances.gov.gh)”.

The Committee, formed in 1998 by the Standing Orders of Parliament, is currently one of the most vibrant and active in Parliament, the statement said.

“This was emphasised by the Majority Leader, Alban S.K. Bagbin, who joined the delegation to inspect the Sofoline Interchange,” it said.

“The Committee on Government Assurances is non-partisan and it is interested in facts and shall insist for the right thing to be done because that is the only way Parliament can support the President to execute his mission," the statement quoted Mr Bagbin.

"The committee is interested in bare facts and that is the only way doubt, lack of trust, and confidence can be removed from leadership in Ghana," Mr Bagbin said.

The verification visit is the second undertaken by the Committee after the maiden visit to the Western Region where members inspected progress of work on the Atuabo Gas Plant, the Atuabo Thermal Plant, and one of the promised 200 SHS by the Government.