Indefinite shut down of Parliament could badly hurt economy- Finance Committee Chair

The Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Patrick Boamah is warning that the indefinite shutdown of Parliament could badly hurt Ghana’s economy.

Mr. Boamah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Okaikwe Central noted that the current development in the House could affect Ghana’s programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on meeting some timelines and conditions to aid disbursements.

Speaking to JOYBUSINESS on the sidelines of the Annual IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington D.C USA, Mr. Boamah noted that “what is happening will not only affect a fraction of Ghanaians and Government, but everyone”.

He appealed to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to look at the national interest when dealing with the current development in Parliament.

“Being political on every matter will not help the economy now and that is why I urge leadership of the House to consider all these implications”.

“Based on what is going on, some key legislations that should have been passed by parliament when it comes to the economy and government’s finances and operations will suffer”, he observed.

Background

Speaker Bagbin on Tuesday October 22 adjourned proceedings in the House indefinitely amid vacant seats controversy.

The action by the Speaker of the House, was in response to an earlier decision by the Supreme Court that sought to freeze his decision to declare four parliamentary seats vacant.

“The fact that there’s a question on the composition and constitution of Parliament, and having regard to public interest and the exigencies of the state of affairs in Parliament, I will proceed to, in accordance with Standing Orders 59, adjourn the House indefinitely”, Mr Bagbin said.

Implications on Ghana’s Economic Recovery and Ghana’s Programme with IMF

Mr. Boamah revealed that there are currently some key legislations that should be passed by Parliament, as well as reforms in line with the IMF programme. He cautioned that delays will not be good for the economy. .

“The IMF and the World Bank have all been helpful in recent times to stabilize the economy, but we on our part are now failing to do the needful”, he expressed worry.

According to him, important bills such as the Environmental Protection Bill regulations, Ghana Investment Promotion Center Bill, and some reforms in the Public Financial Management Action are all currently before the House.

He also revealed that there is currently a $250 million loan from the World Bank to help the financial sector is currently before the House.

“We are delaying on this as well and that is not good for the economy”, he lamented.

He added that the Expenditure in Advance of appropriation for the first three months of 2025, should have been laid last week.

“By end of November this should have been passed by the house and looking at how things are going, we should be worried about the timelines”

Investor Response

Ghana recently received some positive response from the Three Rating Agencies about country’s Credit Worthiness, post completion of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and the External Debt Restructuring.

The outlook from the agencies about sounded positive.

Mr. Boamah is however worried that the current development could reserve the trends.

“Some of these reports could soon see these investors revise their notes about the economy”, he warned.

Remedies

Mr. Boamah is optimistic there could be an emergency recall of parliament to deal with the backlog of issues.

“I trust in the leadership of Parliament to effectively deal with the situation once things are getting out of hands” he said.

He suggested that Parliament can also look at sitting on weekends, depending on the direction of leadership to deal with the challenges.