Due to floods in Ghana, the parliament summons Ofori-Atta and Asenso-Boakye

Francis Asenso-Boakye, the minister of works and housing, and Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, have been ordered by Parliament’s Speaker, Alban Bagbin, to appear before the House of Representatives and inform it on the country’s flood prevention efforts.

This comes after recent heavy rains had disastrous effects in several areas of the nation.

According to Governs Agbodza, the Minority Chief Whip, a woman and her two children are missing, along with other people who have been hurt and property that has been damaged as a result of the water.

Alban Bagbin, Speaker of the House, said the Ministers must outline the government’s plans for addressing the issue.

The Speaker further stated that there are deputy ministers on hand, therefore the absence of substantive ministers should not be used as an excuse.

“We anticipate that at the very least by the end of next week, these ministers should appear before us. The Minister Responsible for Works and Housing has been scheduled by the Business Committee to appear before the House along with the Minister of Finance to brief us on the action being taken to make this a thing of the past.

“This is a very significant subject, and one of the ways we might enable national leadership to find a solution is for us to enact the Budget Act,” the statement said. “If the substantive minister is not there, there is a minister of state in the Ministry that may come and represent him.

The Speaker continued, “It is a very important subject matter because we have had so many statements of this nature almost every year since I entered Parliament in 1993 and we are not finding solutions to the problem. I think it starts from the priority settings, and Parliament must be involved rather than waiting until one month before the end of the year forces the budget upon you, leaving you little opportunity to even discuss raising budget allocations.