The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has criticised the government for failing to submit programme documents on 11 major national initiatives, including the 24-Hour Economy.
According to him, the government’s failure to present detailed documents on these flagship projects undermines parliamentary oversight and accountability.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said although the government lists these programmes in the national budget and allocates huge sums of money to them, Parliament and the public have not seen any clear plans showing how the initiatives will be implemented or monitored.
“The big economic policy that is submitted just mentions these programs that we’ll do a One Million Coders Program aimed at training one million people for digital skills. People will say ‘hear hear.’ A figure is put by it, the minister defends it at the committee level, and it’s approved. But that doesn’t mean that the programme document has been brought to Parliament or published,” he explained.
The Ofoase Ayirebi MP listed 11 programmes that have so far not been backed by any official documents. These include the One Million Coders, 24-Hour Economy , Jobs Export, Adwumawura, National Apprenticeship, Tree for Life, Accra Research , One Child One Tree Initiative, Ghana Infrastructure Plan, Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities, and the No Fee Stress Programmes.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said it is worrying that millions of cedis are being disbursed for these projects even though there is no publicly available information on their goals, selection criteria, or performance indicators.
“How does the media, civil society, or even the general public know the details or how to access these programmes?” he questioned.
He revealed that his information suggests the issue has already been discussed at Cabinet level, and that the President has instructed ministers to submit the necessary documents to Parliament.
“The programme documents need to come so that Parliament can properly perform its oversight role,” he stressed.
By: Jacob Aggrey
