By Ghana News 
A heated legal and political battle has erupted in Parliament over the management of emergency state funds. The Minority caucus is aggressively demanding the immediate dismissal or resignation of the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, over his role in a controversial three hundred and fifty million Ghana Cedi flood relief package.
The political confrontation follows allegations that the massive financial disbursement broke state laws because the country’s Contingency Fund was legally locked by a court order. While flood victims across the country are desperate for support, opposition lawmakers argue that the state cannot bypass constitutional procedures even during an emergency.
The parliamentary crisis stems from a basic tracking problem regarding how public money moves between state institutions. Parliament initially approved the extraction of three hundred and fifty million Ghana Cedis from the official Contingency Fund to finance relief efforts following devastating seasonal floods.
However, the fund was actively facing legal garnishee proceedings in court, meaning no cash could be legally drawn from it. Addressing journalists at a press conference, Deputy Minority Leader Patricia Appiagyei raised massive red flags, stating that the Ministry of Finance either violated a standing court order or secretly moved the cash from an entirely unauthorized public account.
Opposition lawmakers emphasize that our national financial guidelines exist to ensure complete accountability, regardless of the emergency at hand. If the initial approved source of funding became legally frozen, the government was constitutionally required to present an alternative spending plan to Parliament for fresh authorization.
Bypassing this crucial legislative checkpoint directly breaches both the 1992 Constitution and the Public Financial Management Act, which strictly criminalizes the unauthorized withdrawal of public funds. The Minority argues that the state cannot arbitrarily swap bank accounts under the table while keeping the people’s representatives completely in the dark.
The Minority is placing the blame squarely on Dr. Dominic Ayine for failing to perform his core duties as the principal legal adviser to the state under Article 88. Lawmakers point out that the Attorney General’s office failed to resist or discharge the court attachment that locked up a crucial sovereign fund in the first place.
The caucus insists that if the Minister refuses to resign voluntarily, President John Dramani Mahama must step in and relieve him of his position immediately. Furthermore, the group is demanding that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana break his silence and publicly reveal the exact state account from which this massive cash haul was drawn.
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