The new Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has promised that the caucus under his leadership would keep the government on its toes, to ensure good governance.
He said the Minority “would not tolerate any more bad governance” by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
Dr Forson, who gave assurance in his welcome address upon the House reconvening on Tuesday, in Accra, at the first meeting of the third session of the eighth Parliament, said his side would hold the government to the highest standards.
He said “We are simply unwilling to countenance any more bad governance and we will insist on the highest levels of performance from all government officials and institutions over whom this Parliament has oversight and jurisdiction.
“We are unwilling to be part of any negligence of duty of any sort, and neither shall we tolerate any lackadaisical attitude towards the work of this house by public officials”.
Dr Forson mentioned that the Minority will maintain the highest levels of vigilance and offer intense scrutiny of government programmes, policies, agreements, bills, and legislative instrument.
He said “We will not compromise on what we earnestly believe to be the right thing. This is our solemn pledge as a Minority Caucus under my leadership to the people of Ghana.”
According to the new Minority leader, Ghana was at the most distressing juncture in its history, causing widespread despair and disenchantment among citizens with millions going through unbearable hardship and severe pain.
He indicated that “Our economy is in its worst shape in decades, our country is simply bankrupt or insolvent. We are currently unable to repay our debts and have officially defaulted in the repayment of our external debt since January 18, 2023.”
Dr Forson said that Ghana’s financial sector, including banks and insurance companies, risked collapse as a result of the Domestic Debt Exchange, yet parliament was unaware of the programme.
He claimed Ghana’s inflation of 54 per cent was largely due to the Bank of Ghana’s unlawfully printing of about GH¢50 billion in the year 2022, which has resulted in the depletion of the country’s International Reserves to about two weeks of import cover.
Dr Forson noted that with the monetary policy rate pegged at 28 per cent, the Ghana cedi depreciated over 20 per cent in January, unemployment was at its “record high and counting” and lending rate was at about 40 per cent.
He said “the people of Ghana look up to us to mount a barrier between them and the worsening standard of governance, especially because of the hung nature of this Parliament”.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
