Parliament Is Broke– Speaker
The Speaker of Parliament under the 4th Republic for the 8th parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin express his worried about the current financial challenge Parliament is facing.
The Speaker said that he has ceased receiving financial commitments from the house due to the challenge.
Speaking in Parliament, the Speaker called out the Minister for Finance for starving the House of funds. “It is not because I like declining your requests. It is because we don’t have the wherewithal to fund those operations.”
Mr. Bagbin also suggested that Parliament was deserving of more respect than it currently is stating that “the Ministry of Finance should not treat Parliament like a ministry or NGO.” he added.
“This is an arm of government. We are not part of the MMDAs. We have even been written, to reduce our budget in some cases by 50 percent.”
He emphasizes that he would take responsibility for these financial persuasions.
“If they want Parliament to run aground, they should let us know. The Speaker is not ready and prepared to be blamed for the inability to get Parliament going on just because we are not getting the necessary funding.”
