Parliament approves 2013 Budgetary Estimates for four Ministries

Parliament has approved the 2013 Budgetary Estimates for four Ministries. The Ministry of Health gets Three Billion Five Hundred and Twenty-Nine Million, Four Hundred and Forty-Four Thousand and Fifty-Six Ghana Cedis, while the Ministry of Trade and Industry is allocated One Hundred and Twenty-Four Million Eight Hundred and Sixty-Eight Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Ghana cedis. 

Presenting separate reports on the budgetary estimates for the ministries the chairman of the various committees stress the need for the government to adequately resource the ministries and their agencies to effectively carry their mandates. 

The Chairman of the Health Committee, Joseph Yieleh Chireh said the health sector is key in the transformation process of the country and improving the lives of Ghanaians.  He gave the breakdown of the over three billion estimates for the Health Ministry .

In seconding the motion for the approval of the estimates for the Trade Ministry, The Chairman of the Trade Industry and Tourism, Alhaji Amadu Sorogho urged the ministry to liaise with the Ghana standard authority and the food and drug authority to develop a national quality infrastructure policy to outline and alienate the roles and responsibilities of the two authorities. 

For the utilization of the One Hundred and Twenty-Four Million Eight Hundred and Sixty-Eight Thousand Four Hundred and Forty Ghana cedis allocation, Alhaji Sorogho  said projects such as the resuscitation of the Komenda Sugar Factory in the central region and the Keta salt project will  be pursued.

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has been given one billion, sixty one million Ghana cedis for its operations this year. There was however no budgetary allocation for the Petroleum Commission, PC, this year. 

The Commission had requested for 24 million Ghana cedis this year. The Committee on Mines and Energy in its report expressed concern about this development and therefore appealed to the Ministry of Finance to as a matter of urgency rectify the anomaly by providing funds for the Commission for the first quarter of the year. 

This is due to the critical role played by the PC in regulating the upstream petroleum industry. The Chairman of the Committee on Mines and Energy, Dr. Kwabena Donkor made a case for the release of an additional 50 million Ghana cedis for the Ghana National Gas Company.

The Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing’s budget allocation was also approved. The Ministry has given five hundred and ninety-eight million nine hundred and two thousand, six hundred and forty-seven Ghana Cedis for the implementation of its programmes and  activities for the year. 

In presenting the Works and Housing Committee’s report, the Chairman of the Committee, David Tetteh Assumeng said the Department of Rural Housing will construct 17 cocoa Farmers’ Houses in selected districts adding that government has allocated five million Ghana cedis to augment the two million Ghana cedis revolving fund of the Public Servants Housing Scheme to enable beneficiaries of the programme to complete their houses while others are assisted to purchase estate houses and initiate their own houses.

GBC