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The Ranking Member on the Economy and Development Committee of Parliament, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has welcomed the presentation of the 24-Hour Economy policy programme document to Parliament by the government.
He, however, expressed disappointment that it took over a year for the government to present just one of its 16 policy and programme documents to Parliament.
Some of the initiatives so far launched by the government for which funds have been allocated for their implementation are the One Million Coders programme, the 24 Hour Economy programme, the Jobs Export programme, the Adwumawura programme and the National Apprenticeship programme.
Others are the Tree for Life programme, the Accra Reset programme, One Child, One Tree Initiative, the Ghana Infrastructure Plan, the Free Tertiary Education for Persons with Disabilities and the No Fees Stress initiatives.
In an interview, Mr Nkrumah, who is also the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase/Ayiribi, described the presentation of the report to the House as laudable, adding that it will enable members to thoroughly scrutinise the programme and track its implementation of the policy.
"It is commendable that they have finally presented this document, but we are still waiting for the other 15 documents," he said.
"We will go through the document, detailing this policy programme, look at it in detail, and try to match it with the commitment they have made to help Parliament track the implementation of this policy," he said.
Mr Nkrumah emphasised the importance of having access to policy and programme documents, saying it allows Parliament to peruse in detail what the government intends to do, set targets, and track implementation.
He gave an assurance that Parliament would continue to advocate the release of policy and programme documents and use them to perform its oversight function.
Touching on the current inflation rate announced by the government, Mr Nkrumah noted that the government's claim of a 3.8 per cent inflation rate does not match what people are experiencing in the market, and expressed confidence that the government statistician would be interrogated on the data when he appears before Parliament.
"The inflationary targets are being achieved not by tackling the supply side, but by sterilising a lot of money from the system," he explained.
"The government has sterilised about GH¢60 billion from the system, sucking out money from the economy, making it inaccessible to people who want to use it for transactions," he said.
The government last Wednesday presented the 24-Hour Economy policy document to Parliament, which was subsequently referred to the Committee on Economy and Development.
The Majority Leader and National Democratic Congress MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, presented the report.
Presenting the report, Mr Ayariga acknowledged the consistent demand by the Minority Ranking on the Committee on Economy and Development and MP for Ofoase / Ayirebi, Mr Nkrumah, for the document.
