Minority withdraws support for resolution on loan

US concessional loan before parliament

MDAs still operating accounts outside consolidated fund

Accra (Greater Accra ) 9^th July '99

The Minority in Parliament on Thursday withdrew support for a resolution to approve a 180 million-dollar loan agreement between the government and the International Development Association (IDA).

They explained that their action was based on the fact that the House has not been sufficiently apprised of all the facts relating to the loan, according to a press statement issued on Thursday.

The Minority Group said while they are in principle not against Parliament granting approval of loans contracted by government, it is their view that such approval should be backed by relevant documents in respect of policies on which the loans are based.

"Since ...the Ministry of Finance woefully failed to provide all the facts and such necessary information, the Minority Group did not find its way clear in lending support to the resolution approving the loan agreement...."

The loan is to be used for the implementation of the Finance and Economic Reform Support Operations (ERSO II) project.

"This particular loan," the statement said, "imposes significant conditionalities on the country, including the divesting of the Ghana

Commercial Bank (GCB), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and the country's shares in external marketing of cocoa, among other things.

" No clear guidelines for such divestitures have been given to Parliament by the Ministry of Finance despite repeated appeals", the statement said.

In spite of the Minority's concerns articulated on the floor of the House by its Leader, Mr J.H. Mensah, when debate on the loan agreement opened last week, Parliament adopted a report from the Finance Committee recommending the approval of the loan.

As a constitutional demand, Parliament is required to approve any loan agreement by a resolution.

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Accra (Greater Accra) 9^th July '99

A concessional loan agreement of 21.0 million dollars between the government and the US Export Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) for the electrification of about 1,400 communities under the Self-Help Electrification Project (Three) (SHEP 3) was laid before parliament on Thursday.

The loan is to be used for the procurement of off-shore electrical materials and equipment for those communities that qualify under SHEP 3 whose implementation began in 1996. It will end in the year 2000.

The loan is made of a credit of 13 million dollars and a grant of about eight million dollars.

A ministry of Mines and Energy memorandum accompanying the agreement said SHEP is a complementary activity of the National Electrification Scheme (NES) to provide electricity to all communities over a 30-year period.

It is estimated that 120 million dollars would be required to procure these materials. So far the ministry has secured 82.36 million dollars from other donors.

The memorandum said implementation of the NES has resulted in the provision of electricity to all 110 district capitals, electrification of towns enroute to district capitals is also on course with funds from donors.

Under the SHEP, communities within 20 kilometres of existing 333kv/11kv network are to be connected to the national grid provided they can purchase and erect their own low voltage distribution poles.

The memo said most of the 1,400 communities to benefit have erected their poles since 1993.

So far, 350 communities have been connected to the national grid under SHEP One and Two between 1993 and 1995.

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Accra (Greater Accra) 9^th July '99

The 1996 Auditor-General's Report on Public Accounts say some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are still operating accounts outside the consolidated fund.

This is in contravention of the constitutional provision requiring MDAs to conduct all government financial business through the consolidated fund.

The report on the fund submitted to parliament on Thursday, expressed concern over the inappropriate and unconstitutional manner in which revenues and other public moneys are collected and used outside the fund.

It noted that while the Ministry of Finance says its directive issued in 1997 that all special accounts operated outside the fund be lodged with the central bank is being complied with, the Controller and Accountant-General (CAG) says that full compliance is yet to be achieved.

The report, therefore, urged the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and the CAG to continue their joint efforts of ensuring that these accounts are transferred into the consolidated fund.

"MDAs operating revolving funds without parliamentary approval should take steps to regularise their operations and to ensure that these are reported as part of public funds."

The report charged the Ministry of Finance to conduct annual budget hearings on revenue collections by MDAs and submit revenue and expenditure estimates for consideration and approval by parliament.

''This will provide the basis for the assessment of revenue generation by MDAs,'' the report said.

The report further urged that seminars for MDAs under PURMARP should continue to include issues on the consolidated fund to ensure all government financial business is carried out as required by the constitution.

It said the existing pension scheme should be reviewed to allow for inclusion of data such as former place of work, last duty station and date of separation.

''This will allow pensioners to be traced back to their former places of work for review purposes and stem the flow of unauthorised insertion of names on the pension payroll.''

The CAG is charged to introduce procedures to ensure that confirmation of advances and foreign loans appearing in the public accounts at year-end to ensure their validity of accounts.

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Court orders workers to stay put

Accra (Greater Accra) 9^th July '99

An Accra high court on Thursday ordered workers of the African Automobile Limited (AAL) to stay all industrial action until their case with management, which is pending before it, is disposed of.

The order followed a complaint by management that last week some of the

workers besieged the premises of the company and allegedly threatened

to cause harm.

Mr Justice Richard K. Apaloo, who presided, warned that if they defied the

order, "I will have all of them rounded up and make sure that they are kept in a

place where they will have cold feet".

"This nation needs industrial peace for development and progress and,

therefore, the courts will not tolerate any acts of indiscipline".

The AAL has sued the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) of the

TUC for illegally organising workers of the company to demonstrate against

management.

The AAL further alleged in their statement of claim that the ICU instigated

the workers to take over the company after which they forcibly closed the

premises down for three weeks, thus disrupting business.

The substantive case has been adjourned to July 21.

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