Audio By Carbonatix
The approval of the 2016 budget for the operations of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has been suspended.
This comes after the Minority rejected a report by the Mines and Energy Committee over what they describe as inadequate information on allocations in the budget.
The Minority is among other things questioning the allocation of ¢115 million for the construction of a new head office for the Corporation.
Although the Majority has justified the budget, saying it is meant to well position the GNPC in the oil and gas industry, the Minority is against it.
According to Minority, until a full disclosure is made they will not be part of the process, forcing the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament to suspend debate on the budget.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima-Mponua in the Ashanti Region, Isaac Asiamah urged the house to stand down the motion until GNPC makes a proper account of its finances to Ghanaians.
He a said the GNPC cannot be allowed to continue with its reckless spending.
"I am unable to support this motion because GNPC is becoming a monster and we need to discipline it", he added.
The MP for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea who is pushing for a rejection of the report tells parliamentary correspondent, Elton Brobbey that GNPC’s budget doesn’t make economic sense.
"The national purse should always be an area people can peek into for understanding and meaning. Nobody should come and stand before parliament and just wave his hand that we should approve programmes for the GNPC without us knowing what we are approving," Mr. Akyea said.
He added the minority is embarrassed that it is unaware of the contract sum for the construction of a new head office for the GNPC.
He indicated that although the minority is not against the construction of the new office, issues such as who the contractor is and the basis for which the contract was awarded has to be scrutinized.
"The programme is silent on all these matters. They want to reduce us into a rubber stamp and just approve this and get away with it," he added.
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