Parliament did not unanimously approve $200m World Bank loan – John Jinapor

The Member of Parliament for Yapei/Kusawgu, John Jinapor, says it’s untrue that MPs unanimously approved a loan agreement between the government and the World Bank for an amount of $200 million to finance the Ghana Digital Acceleration Project.

He said it will be unfair for anyone to blame the Minority caucus for the passage of the loan agreement adding that they vehemently opposed the loan agreement, but the numbers did not favour them.

Speaking on Eyewitness News with Umaru Sanda Amadu, the ranking member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, explained that the loans were approved solely by the Majority.

He argued that Ghanaians are faced with economic challenges and passing the loan agreement will worsen the situation.

“It’s not true that the House unanimously approved those loans. If you look at the committee’s report it will tell you that it was by Majority decision. The committee’s report will attest to the fact that the Minority side objected. So the Majority carried the day by one single vote”.

“Today, the voice vote clearly indicated that we, the Minority side gave an emphatic no. The Speaker gave it to the Majority side because they have the numbers. If anybody wants to blame the Minority for the insensitivity and incompetence of this government, I think that it will be very unfortunate and unfair,” he explained.

The Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. John Kumah noted that the loans are not new agreements but loans already contracted.

“These are not new loans, they are loans we have already taken on in our books. We want to put it on record that these are loans we have already contracted on our books and require Parliamentary approval. Parliament just approved the agreement between government and Development Bank Ghana. These are not new loans, they are loans we have already taken on in our books. We want to put it on record that these are loans we have already contracted on our books and require Parliamentary approval,” Mr. Kumah said.

Responding to this, John Jinapor lashed out at the Deputy Finance Minister for being disingenuous with his comment on the loan agreements.

“The Deputy Finance Minister was being disingenuous, to say the least. John Kumah should take his time, learn from past experience and move away from this narrative because it will not help him at all,” he asserted.

The House also approved an amount of $150 million dollars for the financing of the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme phase 2 under the Multi-phase programmatic approach.

Parliament also approved an on-lending agreement between the government and the Development Bank Ghana for an amount of £170 million Euros to support the establishment of a financially sustainable development Bank.