MP ‘CRIES’ OVER COMMOND FUND

  By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House [email protected] The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Atwima Mponua Constituency, Mr Isaac Asiamah yesterday had a shock when the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD), Alhaji Collins Dauda, stated on the floor of Parliament that he (the MP) had no outstanding common fund payment to receive […]

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By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House

[email protected]

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Atwima Mponua Constituency, Mr Isaac Asiamah yesterday had a shock when the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD), Alhaji Collins Dauda, stated on the floor of Parliament that he (the MP) had no outstanding common fund payment to receive from the District Assembly.

The Atwima Mponua MP had earlier asked the Minister for LGRD what was causing the delay in the payment of his share of the MP’s common fund.

Alhaji Dauda, answering the question on the floor, said that there was no outstanding payment to be made to the MP, as far as the records of the Ministry were concerned.

The answer hit the MP, who said he had not received any money from the District Assembly and efforts made to get the District Chief Executive to heed to his call proved futile, as the DCE did not respond to any of his (MP) requests.

Mr Asiamah sought to find out from the minister “what had occasioned the delay by the District Chief Executive of Atwima Mponua District in giving effect to the request by the Member of Parliament for Atwima Mponua Constituency for his share of the Common Fund to be disbursed for his stated purpose and when it will be disbursed.”

The minister in a written answer, which he read on the floor of Parliament, said that: “Mr. Speaker, there is no outstanding payment to be made to the Hon. Member so far as our records are concerned.

In the first quarter of this year, a total amount of GHc73, 938.31 was released to him (MP, Isaac Asiamah) by the District Assembly Common Fund.

“Out of this amount, the District Assembly Common Fund paid GHc 15,098.31 to Conpa Enterprise and GHc 58, 840 paid to Premium World.

In the second quarter an amount of GHc56, 102.07 was released and this amount was also paid to Lexmall by the District Assembly Common Fund,” the Minister added.

However, the answer from the minister to the question did not satisfy the MP, who stood up to ask a follow up question as to whether the minister was aware he (MP) had sent statements to the DCE for the money, adding “so far as I am concerned, Mr. Speaker, I have GHc 45,000 in my account that has not been disbursed by the DCE.”

Meanwhile, the minister could not say much to that based on the information available to him from the District. “Mr. Speaker, this is the information I have from the District Chief Executive and the District Assembly. But because I want us to make progress and also because I know Members of the House have this experience, I want to crave your indulgence to allow me arrange a meeting between the Chief Executive and the Hon. Member to have this matter resolved,” the minister urged.

The Rt. Hon. Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho, directed that the minister should provide his information by asking his DCE. “…You are responsible for the Local Government and Rural Development Ministry, I have decided that you should provide the information and after that you make it available to me and then we take it up from there.”

He also told the MP, who said the DCE had not been responding to his numerous requests since January this year, to make copies of the letters he wrote to the DCE available to the minister, for the minister to add to his information and submit to the Clerk of Parliament by Wednesday, for the issue to be taken from there.

 

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