The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, says the Majority in Parliament has made a tin-god of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

According to him, despite several attempts to get the Finance Minister to the floor of Parliament to answer key questions, the Majority have posed a stumbling block; always finding an excuse to defend the Minister’s absence.

He noted that the Finance Minister since his assumption of office has failed to conduct his own business on the floor of Parliament; always delegating his duties to his deputies.

This he says is responsible for the Finance Minister not appreciating the work that Parliament does.

“When I was the Majority Whip, find out from Seth Terkper, I gave him a permanent seat. I gave the Attorney General a permanent seat and the Finance Minister. I said no, these guys we need them every day here. We’ll need them so they must have permanent seat.

“Any day you get Seth Terkper ask him, the quarrel, this Chair will tell you, you cannot be sending deputies, you have to be here. So he comes to sit, he appreciates the challenges that is going on, when you’re talking the person appreciates the challenges,” he said.

“These guys are always, when I say this they say why am I saying this, they’ve turned the Finance Minister as a tin-god. 99% of his business has to be done by deputies; always begging, o you know he’s in some World Bank meeting, he’s in an IMF meeting, some foreign donors have come he’s in a meeting, so he won’t have time for Parliament?

“Always, if you want today going to July ending tell your reporter Parker to count the number of times the Finance Minister will come and conduct business. His own business, not that the one we Parliament wants him to do, his own business that he has generated from his Ministry that he wants Parliament to get done he won’t find time to come and do that.

“When it’s time for budget then he’ll come, when it’s time for Mid-Year Review then he’ll come. Other than that nothing,” he added.

He was reacting to the Speaker’s statement about the lack of funds for the smooth running of Parliamentary business.

According to Alban Bagbin, Parliament is broke, thus lacks adequate funds to run its operations.

He attributed this to the delay in the disbursement of funds by the Finance Ministry.

Corroborating the Speaker’s statement, Muntaka Mubarak said “As we speak, money for 2022, apart from salaries, not a dime has been released. Even what was released last week, after Speaker’s comment, were part of outstanding for 2021.”

Muntaka Mubarak, added that even the salaries of Members of Parliament have been delayed as a result of the lack of funds.

“If you ask the Members of Parliament they will tell you, MPs cannot open their mouth to talk about salaries. Today is 30^th, I know many civil and public servants have received their salaries. If you are in this house, the earliest you should expect, sometimes, a week after the month has ended… 5^th, 7^th, sometimes, 10^th. At the peak of the e-levy. It came after 15 days. You say you won’t allow e-levy so they don’t have money to pay.”

He said it is therefore needless for members of the Majority side of the House to defend government in this regard and shield the Finance Minister from coming to answer questions on the floor of the House.