By Ruth Serwaa Asare
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo Markin, has criticized the government for launching major flagship programmes without first presenting the necessary documents to Parliament for scrutiny and oversight.
Speaking at the Leaders’ Press Briefing in Parliament today, Mr. Afenyo Markin expressed disappointment that although President John Dramani Mahama has publicly launched several key initiatives, Parliament remains in the dark about their operational details.
“Mr President has gone ahead to launch these programmes at various events across the country. Sadly, to date, none of the programmes has been presented to parliament to enable us properly commence the task of oversight”; he stated.
He listed a number of initiatives, including the 24-hour economy programme, the 1 million coders programme, the agri for economic transformation programme, the programme to export labour, and the national apprenticeship programme, which he said have all “not seen parliamentary scrutiny.”
According to the Minority Leader, these programmes are expected to be executed with funds already approved by Parliament, yet legislators have not been furnished with any documentation to enable them perform their constitutional mandate of oversight.
He questioned why the executive continues to bypass Parliament, stressing that such practices undermine transparency and accountability. “We cannot say there is oversight when the basic programme documents are not laid before Parliament,” he added.
Mr. Afenyo Markin urged government to “show commitment and avail these documents to Parliament for proper oversight to commence,” warning that the Minority will not relent in its demand for transparency in the execution of national programmes.
The Minority Leader also used the platform to highlight what he described as growing inefficiencies in governance and declining public confidence in the administration’s performance.
