Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Parliament’s minority leader, has said that the Mahama government has neglected to send important documentation about its flagship programs to Parliament for review months after they were introduced.
He pointed out that parliamentary oversight and transparency are compromised by the government’s persistent tardiness in releasing official policy documents for programs like the One Million Coders program, the Committee on Youth Exports, the National Apprenticeship Program, Feed Ghana, Big Push, the 24-Hour Economy, and the Big Push.
Speaking at a press conference hosted by Parliament’s leadership on Wednesday, October 22, Mr. Afenyo-Markin voiced his concern that lawmakers have not yet received the necessary paperwork, even though the government has started a number of high-profile projects and Parliament has approved significant budgetary allocations for their implementation.
“The government has failed to furnish Parliament with programme documents for the flagship programmes it has launched. Since the swearing-in, Parliament has approved billions of cedis for various ministries ostensibly to execute these programmes. Sadly, to date, none of the documents have been presented to Parliament to enable us properly commence oversight,” he said.
He added that the absence of such documents raises questions about transparency and accountability.
“The 24-hour economy programme, the One Million Coders programme, the Agri-for-Economic Transformation initiative, the labour export programme, and the National Apprenticeship Programme, among others, have all not seen parliamentary scrutiny.
“These are projects funded with public resources approved by Parliament. Why Parliament is being kept in the dark can best be explained by the executive,” the Minority Leader stated.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin noted that while the policies themselves are commendable, proper oversight cannot take place without official documentation.
“We will not relent in our demand that the government make these flagship programmes available for scrutiny to ensure transparency, fairness, and value for money. Oversight cannot happen when the basic programme documents are not laid before Parliament. It is imperative that the government demonstrates commitment and avails these documents for proper parliamentary oversight,” he insisted.
