You ambushed Us! cries Ato Forson

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, leader of the minority caucus in Parliament, has accused the majority caucus of ambushing his side with the loan facilities approved by the House on Tuesday, May 2.

According to him, the Majority believed it was the appropriate time to present the loan before the House for approval at a time when NDC members of parliament were preparing for their primaries and actively campaigning in their respective districts.

According to him, the Minority is vehemently opposed to the sanction of the loan facilities, and civil society organizations are urged to assist the opposition in holding the government accountable.

Even though Minority MPs are preparing for their party's internal election, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin recalled Parliament from recess to consider the loan facilities.

Dr. Ato Forson, speaking to the media after Parliament approved approximately US$750 million for the financing of various government projects, argued that when the country is in such dire straits, it is extremely inappropriate for the government to still consider or even have the courage to increase the public debt.
"They believed this was the best opportunity to present the loans, and they obviously did so and were successful. We were opposed to this, but we urge the citizens of Ghana to hold this government accountable.

"Throughout this entire period, the opposition has done what it could with the numbers provided by the electorate. More often than not, however, the impression is created that only the opposition should hold this government accountable.

They are satisfied with their parliamentary representation. They are larger than us by one or two, and they frequently use these numbers to promote their business even though it is only one.

According to the leader of the minority, the success of the majority's agenda can be attributed to their straightforward majority.

However, he emphasized that the loans are excessive and should not have been authorized in the first place, and he urged the government to change course and not sign the loan even though it has been approved by Parliament.

These include a US$60 million credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group for the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project; US$150 million to finance the West Africa Foo System Resilience Programme Phase 2 under the Multi-Phase Programmatic Approach; US$150 million to finance the Primary Healthcare Investment Project; and US$150 million to finance the public financial management system.

The remainder consists of €170,000,000.00 from the Development Bank of Ghana (DBG) for the establishment of the Development Bank of Ghana (DBG), and $30,000,000,000.00 from the Export-Import Bank of Korea for the Medical Equipment Provision.

Chairman of the Finance Committee Kweku Kwarteng, who presented the Committee reports to the House, stated that in light of the enormous benefits to be derived from the various projects and their capacity to address pressing challenges and vulnerabilities in the sectors the projects are intended for, the Committee recommended that the House adopt the report and approve the loans by a majority vote.