Parliament Exposes Ato Forson Over GH¢280.3m Coronavirus Cash

Parliament has disclosed that allegations by NDC MP for Ejumako Enyan Essiam that a question he filed in the House on details of funds allocated for the COVID-19 fight during the lockdown is yet to be answered - weeks later - are false.

The House says if it did, it would apply the rules as is the norm.

A statement from the Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, indicates that the MP, Cassiel Ato Forson, has not filed any such question on the expenditure returns on GH¢280.3 million allocated during the coronavirus period contrary to a claim by him on JoyFM’s 6:00 pm News on Monday, June 1, 2020.

From our records in Parliament, there is no specific Question with the said amount filed by the Honourable Member or any Member for that matter.

“Per the rules and practices of Parliament, Questions are not filed in the name of, or by Caucuses. Rather a Member seeking a response to a specific issue would file a Question in his or her name, signed by the Member as provided for in Standing Order 64.

“The Office's interaction with the Honourable Member does not disclose that he had filed an earlier Question. Rather reference is made to a Question filed earlier by a Member of the Minority seeking to "ask the Minister of Health what emergency preparedness and response plan the Ministry has put in place to help contain the spread of COVID-19 virus and the details of how the 100 Million Dollars announced by the President will be spent."

“Upon further consultation with the Honourable Member, he indicated that he intends to file a Question today on the matter raised in the media. Once the question is filed, it will be processed in accordance with the rules of the House.

The statement issued by the Public Affairs Directorate also dealt with a claim that the Majority Leader, who is also the Chairman of the Business Committee had allegedly alluded to the creation of new constituencies in his presentation on Friday 20/05/2020 of the Business Statement for this week.

No such presentation has been made by the Majority Leader. In fact, the Majority Leader in the said presentation, stated categorically that Committee on Subsidiary Legislation should endeavour to submit its report on the Public Elections (Registration of Regulation of Voters) (Amendment) 2020 for the consideration of the House on or before the coming into force of the Instrument.

“He insisted that the Committee must submit their report to the House by Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020 for consideration on Thursday June 4th, 2020. The attribution to him with regards to the creation of new constituencies is therefore wrongful.