The Ranking Member on Parliament's Works and Housing Committee, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, has questioned the Finance Minister's explanation that a court order freezing Ghana's constitutional contingency fund hindered the government's response to recent flooding in Accra, describing the claim as both surprising and inconsistent with earlier assurances given to Parliament.

According to the former Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, the explanation raises concerns about coordination within government, particularly at Cabinet level, where major emergency interventions are discussed and approved.

His comments follow the presentation of the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review by the Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who disclosed that government's efforts to access the constitutional contingency fund for flood relief and mitigation were frustrated because the fund had been garnisheed under a court order.

READ ALSO: The only emergency fund we have is blocked – Ato Forson concerned over garnisheed state account

The Finance Minister described the contingency fund as Ghana's only constitutionally established emergency fund and warned that its unavailability posed significant challenges to government's ability to respond promptly to disasters.

Speaking on JoyNews' The Pulse on Friday, Mr Mensah Korsah questioned how Cabinet could have approved emergency flood response measures without being aware that the contingency fund was inaccessible.

"That's quite a big surprise. I mean, the aftermath of the rains and the subsequent overwhelming flooding that we saw, every step that the government took, we in Parliament were made to believe, was as a result of a government emergency response born out of Cabinet deliberations," he said.

He argued that if Cabinet had indeed authorised the interventions, it was difficult to understand how ministers, particularly the Attorney-General as government's chief legal adviser, were unaware of the legal restrictions on the fund.

"If the Cabinet of Ghana could convene and brainstorm on measures to mitigate subsequent floods and decided to assess money from the contingency fund and it never occurred to Cabinet, of which the chief legal advisor to the President, Attorney-General, is a member, and they did not know that the contingency fund had a garnishee order, then it's quite strange. Absolutely strange."

The Suame MP said the development suggested a possible breakdown in coordination among key ministries and state institutions involved in disaster management.

"I don't even know then how these agencies or departments or ministries of government are coordinating to work. In the manner that we saw of these floods, it obviously had a certain arrangement between various ministries who have to put themselves together, pull strength together to deal with it."

He added: "This particular claim raises a lot of questions that they either do not work together, they work on their own or that synergy, that working together as a government is not there."

According to Mr Mensah Korsah, the Attorney-General's presence in Cabinet should have ensured that ministers were fully informed about the legal status of the contingency fund before decisions were announced publicly.

"There is no way the Attorney-General who sits in Cabinet, chief legal advisor, wouldn't have known the state of this contingency fund. And for you to have come to the Parliament of Ghana, spoken to the whole country, outlined these measures only for us to be told that you went and you couldn't access the money. How are you working as a government?"

The Ranking Member also rejected suggestions that the previous Akufo-Addo administration had mismanaged the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, describing allegations made by the Finance Minister as "complete falsehoods."

"Again, respectfully, these are heavy untruths, complete falsehoods. And it's becoming the case that persons in government have two versions of each story—what is said on the streets or in the media and when they come to the presence of Parliament, whether at committee level or on the floor, is a different matter," he stated.

Citing World Bank implementation reports issued in September 2024 and May 2025, Mr Mensah Korsah maintained that neither document identified any misuse of project funds by the previous administration.

"At nowhere does the World Bank find any wrongdoing or misuse of money. No, you don't find it anywhere," he said.

Instead, he contended that the reports pointed to delays in the release of funds by the Ministry of Finance for the implementation of the flood mitigation project.

"Rather, the World Bank believes that in spite of the flooding that is happening all around us, there is a project to deal with it and there's money which is not being released by the Finance Ministry."

He argued that government should focus on addressing the implementation bottlenecks rather than engaging in what he described as political blame.

"One would have thought that the Finance Ministry would eat a humble pie and get to fix this problem. Rather, when the World Bank report indicts them for sitting on money and not releasing funds for GARID to be completed, they rather turn their backs on propaganda."

Mr Mensah Korsah further disclosed that during a recent meeting of Parliament's Works and Housing Committee involving officials from the Ministries of Finance, Works and Housing, and Sanitation, no allegations of financial impropriety regarding the GARID project were raised.

He explained that discussions at the meeting centred on consultant payments under the World Bank-funded programme, noting that project components could not be altered unilaterally without the lender's approval because of the strict implementation framework governing World Bank facilities.

The debate over government's flood response has intensified following the devastating floods that recently affected parts of Accra, with calls mounting for stronger investment in drainage infrastructure, timely release of project funds and improved coordination among institutions responsible for disaster prevention and emergency response.