The Deputy Ranking Member on the Local Government Committee of Parliament, Benjamin Kpodo, has disclosed that the government is indebted to the District Assemblies Common Fund to the tune of over GH¢6 billion due to the delay in the release of funds by the Finance Ministry.
According to the Ho Central MP, the Ministry of Finance has violated the constitution by failing to disburse the Common Fund on a quarterly basis.
He made this known in a contribution to the report on the proposed formula for distributing the DACF for the year 2024 in Parliament.
“The Ministry of Finance has been violating the constitution. Article 252(2) clearly states that the disbursement should be done on a quarterly basis, which they were not doing. As we speak now, the Common Fund is being owed some GH¢3.5 billion over the past two years.
“For 2023, the debt has again risen by another GH¢3 billion. So, I don’t know where the Ministry of Finance is keeping the money meant for the District Assemblies Common Fund.”
A Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare, on her part, assured of the government’s commitment to settle the arrears.
“I want to put on record that, Mr. Speaker, yes, we do owe Common Fund some arrears, and we are working very hard to make sure we pay those moneys. But I want to also put on record that we haven’t defaulted, or we haven’t gone against the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“That is a fact and that I should put on the table. We have come to Finance Committee to explain how we arrive at revenue numbers for DACF. So I just want to put that on the table that we haven’t gone against the ruling of the Supreme Court. But I want to assure the House that we will work together to make sure we clear any outstanding that we have with DACF.”
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