Minority threatens to boycott February 20 State of the Nation Address
Opposition legislators in Parliament have served notice of their intention to desist from participating in the next State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 20.
The Minority claimed their share of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) has not been disbursed for the past five months.
Joy FM’s Parliamentary Correspondent, Joseph Opoku Gakpo, on Wednesday, February 12, 2020, reported that the Minority had a caucus meeting earlier in the day, and one of the topical issues was their share of the common fund, which is used in funding some projects in their various constituencies.
They contended that the government was deliberately embarking on that action to sabotage them ahead of the 2020 polls, by withholding the funds since September.
The caucus, the MP for Bodi Samson Ahi said, has decided to give the government until February 14, 2020, to release their share of the funds, otherwise they will stage a walkout during President Akufo-Addo’s address to Parliament.
This would not be the first time the minority has raised issues with the pending arrears.
In November 2019, the Minority clashed with Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, who had disputed an amount of GH¢142 million put out as outstanding balance for the third quarter of 2018.
Ms Osei-Asare insisted that the funds had been released to the assemblies in addition to that of all the three quarters of 2019.
But MP for Ho Central, Benjamin Kpodo, disputed the assertion and argued that the matter had been an issue for discussion at the committee level, hence it could not be true that the monies had been disbursed.
The matter was later referred for further investigation.
The District Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) is a pool of resources created under Article 252 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana.
It is a minimum of 5% of the national revenue set aside to be shared among all district assemblies in Ghana with a formula approved by parliament.
The fund, is a Development Fund which, enables the use of the nation’s wealth throughout Ghana to the benefit of all citizens.
If they really needed that money they shouldn’t have doled out 50m cedis to Wayome and signed do many contracts on the eve of handing over power to NPP. The evil that men do lives after them.