Member of the Gender Committee of Parliament and the legislator for Kumbungu Constituency, Hamza Adam is worried that the absence of the substantive minister for Gender Ministry has had a lot of negative impact on the work of the ministry though the sanitation minister has been assigned as a caretaker minister for that ministry.
Meanwhile, the Privileges Committee of Parliament has declared the Dome-Kwabenya Member of Parliament who doubles as the Gender Minister, Sarah Adwoa Safo a missing person after she failed to appear before them.
“Despite that the sanitation minister is acting as the minister for the Gender Ministry, I can confidently say things have not been going well, and as a committee we have lost a lot. Because we have made several requests to the ministry demanding to have a meeting with the minister to discuss a number of issues regarding the ministry and also to map up strategies to undertake our role of oversight responsibilities but we have not received any positive feedback because of the absence of the minister” the member of parliament echoed.
He further revealed that the Gender Committee had a meeting with the acting minister to discuss issues affecting the ministry and to their dismay no money had been allocated to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection as at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
“The first quarter has passed and not even a cedi was received by that ministry and we were wondering the kind of magic they were performing to be able to undertake their activities. And when we pushed them, we realized that they were relying on donor funding” the Kumbungu MP revealed on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show.
He however was worried that the donor agencies that fund the Gender Ministry are the ones that determine the activities the ministry should do with their money. Thus, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
The Member of Parliament also mentioned that members of the gender committee are not pleased with the absence of the minister and how things are going on at that ministry.
“If you asked any member of the committee, they will tell you we are not happy about the happenings in the ministry because things are not well placed” he stated
According to the legislator, a very crucial bill as the ‘Affirmative Action Bill’ has been unjustifiably pending for a while now as a result of the absence of the substantive minister and has left donor agents, the public, legislators and the Speaker of Parliament all worried.
The Kumbungu MP has added his voice to the calls on President Akufo-Addo to appoint a substantive minister for the Gender Ministry.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana