At The Very Least Vice President Bawumia Must Explain To Parliament All The Implications Of The Financial Arrangements Entered Into During His Recent Trip To China

Most independent-minded and fair-minded Ghanaians are pleased that funding will be available from China for all the 1-district-1-factory projects.

However, it ought to be noted that whatever the government chooses to call the proposed funding from sundry sources in China for various projects in Ghana, they are still financial commitments entered into on behalf of Ghanaian taxpayers, which will eventually have to be repaid somehow.

With the greatest respect, it ought to be made plain to the government - by the more responsible sections of the media - that any regime that constantly infers that the ethos of transparency and accountability underpin it (because it is committed to good governance), must not wait for public opinion to demand it, before it sends the vice-president to Parliament to explain in detail, exactly what the so-called "financial model" presented to the Chinese authorities, implies.

Without sounding overly cynical, it ought to be pointed out that when regime-change occured after the swearing-in of Vice President Bawumia and President Akufo-Addo on 7th January, 2017, no one in this country thought rule by saints had been ushered in.

It is therefiore essential that the representatives of the Ghanaian people, parliamentarians, are properly briefed about every aspect of the arrangements entered into with the Chinese authorities and that nation's private-sector entities, which members of the Ghanaian delegation led by the vice-president interacted with.

All those arrangements and commitments must also be scrutinised by the relevant parliamentary committees, and at the level of the plenary, on behalf of the good people of Ghana. No question.

And, at rhe end of the day, regardless of what the government says, they will all have to have the approval of Parliament too - as all government of Ghana financial agreements with foreign investors are supposed to be. Full stop. Whatever be the case, at the very least, for now, Vice President Bawumia must explain to Parliament all the implications of the financial arrangements entered into by his delegation during his recent official trip to China. No ifs and buts about that. Period.