The Rt Hon Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has called on both Defence and Interior ministers, Mr Dominic Nitiwul and Ambrose Dery respectively to take the safety and security of the individual, community and the country as a whole seriously as the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa is seriously experiencing terrorist attacks.
He explained that his checks at the Ministry of Defence and controller and accounts general indicate that, the security agencies are one of the government’s priorities but the amount of money allocated to these ministries is very small, especially where about eighty-one percent (81%) of their budget on goods and services were not released to the Defence Ministry for the year 2022.
Mr Speaker further asked, how can the security operations as they are not furnished with enough resources and logistics in the midst of terrorist threats, and that, Parliament would have to use its powers to ensure that, the executive arm of government implements what the legislative body has agreed on, and if the executive arm of government is failing to do what is lawful and right, then Parliament would have to take them on.
Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin made these comments today Monday 19 December 2022, when the House was approving the budget estimate of Gh 3,742,913,487 to the Ministry of Defence for the year ending 31 December, 2023.