Member of Parliament for Ningo-Pramparam, Sam Nartey George, has questioned the government on how a loan they seek to take from the World Bank is consistent with Ghana Beyond Aid.

According to him, he does not understand the rationale behind the Finance Committee’s report that suggests the loan was in line with Ghana Beyond Aid.

Speaking ahead of the approval of the loan agreement totalling US$710 million, Sam George said, “Mr Speaker, reading the committee's report, I am interested to see how they say that this loan is consistent with Ghana Beyond Aid. We are taking a loan from the World Bank as part of Ghana Beyond Aid; I am trying to understand the rationale behind it.”

He also stated that the government needs to come clear with regards to the $43 million loan facility which seeks to ensure exclusive and safe digital transformation.

“Mr Speaker, it is also important that, when you look at component 1, is a 43 million US dollars facility for ensuring exclusive and safe digital transformation.

“Mr Speaker, currently we are all dealing with sim card registration and our bio data being used by people we don’t know. We need to know how this 43 million Dollars is going to be used to protect the bio-data and strengthen the data protection commission.”

On May 2, parliament approved a total of $710 million in an emergency sitting today.

MPs were summoned from the Easter break purposely for the 7 loan agreements some of which have been outstanding since last year.

The facilities are US$60.6 million as a third additional financing for the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project, US$150 million to finance the West Africa Food Systems Resilience Programme, and €170 million for the establishment of the Development Bank of Ghana.

The rest are a US$30 million facility to finance the Medical Equipment Provision Project in response to Covid-19, US$150 million to finance Primary Healthcare Investment Project, US$150 million to finance Public Financial Management for Service Delivery Programme and US$200 million to finance the Ghana Digital Acceleration Project.



YNA/BOG