Institutions urged to defend budget before Parliament

Apam, Feb. 21, GNA - Mr. Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, a member of Gomoa West District Assembly has commended President John Evans Atta Mills for proposing that Parliament should amend its standing orders to allow institutions established under Article 71 of the constitution to go to the House to defend their budget.

Mr. Aidoo-Mensah, who is also the Senior Accountant of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) said the decision announced by the President in the State of Nation Address if pursued would improve resource of such institutions. Speaking to the GNA in an interview at Apam on Friday, the Assembly member mentioned CHRAJ, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Media Commission and the Electoral Commission as some of the institutions established under the Article.

He said since previously the budgets of those institutions were passed through the Ministry of Finance, funds allocated to them were normally inadequate to meet demands of their work.

Again, he said their service allocation were also woefully inadequate to last for even a quarter of the year.

Mr. Aidoo-Mensah however, appealed to the government to impress upon the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to be considerate when putting ceilings on the limit the budget of the institutions could reach to enable them get enough money to work with. "The decision to allow us to go and defend our budgets is laudable," he said, adding that, if would serve a good purpose if something is done about the ceilings.

He commended the President for appointing more youth into his government and appealed to them to work hard to justify their appointment for more young people to be considered. 21 Feb. 09