Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has revealed that government had to rely on an alternative source of funding after the country’s main constitutional emergency fund was blocked by a High Court garnishee order.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express hours after presenting the Mid-Year Budget to Parliament on Thursday, Dr Forson said government had planned to use the constitutional contingency fund to support flood response efforts but discovered that the account could not be accessed.

He explained that Ghana has two main contingency funding arrangements, including a constitutional fund created under Article 177(1) of the Constitution.

“Let me put it this way: contingency money for the Republic of Ghana. One is a creation of the Constitution, Article 1771 of the Constitution, and this is the only emergency fund the Constitution created for the Republic of Ghana,” he said.

According to him, the fund, which currently holds ¢500 million, is controlled by Parliament’s Finance Committee and requires approval before withdrawals can be made during emergencies.

“That fund is under the control of the Finance Committee of Parliament, and so when you create that money, and you pay into that money, when there is an emergency, you have to go to the Finance Committee as Minister of Finance to get approval before you can take money from that contingency fund,” he explained.

Dr Forson said following the devastating floods on June 29, President John Mahama directed him to seek parliamentary approval for ¢350 million to support disaster mitigation efforts.

“When the unfortunate incident happened on June 29, the President directed that I should go to Parliament and ask Parliament to release ¢350 million for disaster mitigation and flood mitigation,” he said.

He added that Parliament’s Finance Committee approved the request and authorised the release of the funds to the National Disaster Management Organisation’s account.

However, the Finance Minister said government later discovered that the constitutional emergency fund had been garnisheed by a High Court order.

“Unfortunately, when I got that approval and instructed the Controller and Accountant General to transfer same to the disaster management committee, we found out that the account, the constitutional fund, the only emergency fund that this republic has, has been garnisheed by a high court order. Simply put, you can’t access that money,” he stated.

Dr Forson said he raised concerns about how the country’s only constitutional emergency fund could be blocked.

“I protested, and I said, ‘Hang on a second, are you telling me that the only constitutional emergency fund set aside for the country, for all of us, so that if there is an emergency, government can access those resources to fix it, has been garnisheed, and who did that?’” he said.

He noted that the Attorney General would be better placed to explain the circumstances surrounding the garnishee order, but said steps had been taken to challenge it.

“I know that the Attorney General has taken steps to quash that garnishee,” he said.

Dr Forson argued that the situation highlights the need for legislation to regulate garnishee orders involving critical state funds.

“This issue brings to question the need for us to have legislation to define what can be garnisheed and what cannot be garnisheed, because it is becoming one too many,” he said.

With the constitutional fund unavailable, the Finance Minister said he turned to the contingency vault under his control to provide the needed resources.

“As Minister of Finance, I had ¢361 million in the contingency vote, Parliament, and the request from His Excellency the President was to release ¢350.

"It is more than enough, and so I made money available not from the contingency fund, the Parliament-controlled contingency fund, but from the Minister of Finance’s contingency vault,” he said.

Dr Forson confirmed that the full ¢350 million was released on the same day.