GH3bn Terkper Request: Ade Jabs Minority In Parliament

The hue and cry by the Minority in Parliament over government request for a supplementary budget of GH3billion has attracted scorn from the National Democratic Congress (NDC)�s Joseph Ade Coker, who has dismissed the protest as �noise that was expected.� In an interview in Accra, Mr. Coker, who is the NDC�s Greater Accra Regional Chairman, also took offence on behalf of Ghanaians, saying the minority�s posturing was an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians. He said, Ghanaians were aware of the fact that the country�s transition from lower income to lower middle income meant that a lot of loans and grants that it used to attract are no longer forthcoming. It is because of this reason that government is constrained to spend more of our own money to keep the wheels of development oiled, he said. His comment is a counter to the razzmatazz that the Minority in Parliament recently raised over government�s request for a GH3b budget supplement for 2014. Even though Finance Minister, Seth Terpker, outlined a vivid road map for the utilization of the extra money requested, the Minority, led by MP for Obuasi West, Kwaku Kwateng, dismissed the request as a �meaningless exercise.� They also said the prudent spending-guards that the minister had outlined to ensure that the injection of the extra money would stimulate the economy were �recycled lip service.� The NPP, in particular has a history of resisting everything that government proposes, including faulting the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Policy, which was adopted by them. In the Minority�s hue and cry over the GH3bn budget supplement, NPP MP for Wenchi, Prof. George Yaw Gyan-Baffuor, who had actually called on the Mahama government to pack bag and baggage and leave because of the difficulties in the economy, interestingly, made an important admission. He said the GH3bn supplementary budget was a meaningless exercise because the country�s economic problems were structural. He said, the problems were mainly due to the fact that the country imported far more than it exported. To this Chairman Ade Coker applauded and asked Pro. Gyan Baffuor to go back to the President�s last State of the National Address and refresh himself on what Mahama wants to do about that. Ade Coker said, if President Kuffuor had plucked the courage to start from where President Mahama is starting now, instead of tip-toeing round the structural problems of the economy to go and do redenomination in 2007, the country would not be in the current mess. Joseph Ade Coker urged Ghanaians to be patient with Government, and reasonably understand that the hardship in the economy are not peculiar to Ghana. He asked for patience for the President, saying, as John Mahama has already promised, things will gradually ease up.