Blame Parliament over govt's excessive borrowing — Haruna Iddrisu

The Minority Leader in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu has admitted that Parliament has contributed to the current economic crisis.

He disclosed that Parliament must accept some blame and responsibility for not keeping the Executive arm of government in check in the performance of its functions including excessive borrowing.

According to him, the crisis is due to excessive borrowing adding that Parliament failed to restrain the government.

Excessive borrowing – who ought to have checked government not to borrow or over-borrow –the Parliament of Ghana. So Parliament must accept some blame and some responsibility for not keeping the Executive to check. The consequences of excessive borrowing are now being felt by all of us, he said at a roundtable with the core leadership of Parliament on harnessing the dividends of Ghana's democracy over the last 30 years organized by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

He indicated that the excessive borrowing has increased the debt stock beyond 100 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

Parliament's role as the defender of the people's interest is lost. So how did we get here, how come we didn’t anticipate it? Article 181 – It is only Parliament that approves the terms and conditions of a loan, so if we’ve borrowed and now we have exceeded 100 percent of GDP. How come we couldn’t anticipate it happening? he queried.

He cited the Sinohydro loan which was approved by Parliament.

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