Your excuse on Volta roads omission from 2020 budget untenable – Minority to Gov’t

The Minority MP for Adaklu, Kwame Governs Agbodza says government’s explanation for the omission of the Volta region roads from the 2020 budget statement is untenable.

The Finance ministry said the omission of Volta roads as part of roads to be upgraded next year was an error.

NDC MPs said the omission was deliberate to serve as a punishment to the people in the Volta region for constantly ignoring the ruling New Patriotic Party during elections.

But the Finance ministry has denied the allegations describing it as untrue.

Presenting the 2020 budget to parliament on Wednesday, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta mentioned roads that will receive major attention in 2020. Roads from 15 regions were listed to receive attention with the exception of the Volta region.

The Volta Caucus in Parliament on Thursday accused the government of deliberately ignoring the Volta region and called on the government to apologise and add projects in the Volta region to the budget.

According to government, the omission was a genuine error which will be rectified as soon as possible.

A deputy Finance minister, Abena Osei Asare said “It was a genuine mistake…to err is human and to forgive is divine, we have a whole list of projects meant for the Volta region. I want to state that it was not deliberate but a mistake…we will rectify it and attach it as an addendum and send it to parliament”.

Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo also said there was a mistake with the document.

Reacting to the comments made by the deputy finance minister, Ranking member of parliament’s Roads and Transport committee, Kwame Governs Agbodza said government’s excuse is untenable.

“How can you make such a mistake? This cannot be a mistake. A government with over 1000 staffers and over 100 ministers cannot make such a mistake. All these people couldn’t remember we have sixteen regions and not fifteen? How come they excluded an entire region? Our point is that, the fact we’ve not been captured here, it means our names will not be included in the Appropriation bill and there will be no allocation made to us” he said in an interview on Accra-based Star FM monitored by The Ghana Report.

The Adaklu MP further noted that “if the Finance minister brings where the error was, selects those roads and brings them to parliament, case solved. But our problem is, you excluded Volta region and made Ghana look as though we have 15 regions when we have sixteen”.