Month: June 2010

The Minority in parliament has subjected the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye Marfo, to numerous questions on the celebration of BA@50.

Mr Marfo in his presentation, indicated that the information he was providing was tentative and unaudited. He said total revenue received from both public and private sources towards the celebration amounted to GH¢462,894.42.

The Regional Minister who was in the House to answer questions, said revenue from public sources recorded GH¢285,634.42, private sources yielded GH¢162,360.00 and proceeds from BA@50 cloth stood at GH¢14,900.00.

On expenditure, Mr Marfo gave the breakdown as Sports GH¢ 47,953.00; Publicity/Artistes GH¢65,482.50; while Fuel and Repairs recorded GH¢18,262.55.

Travel and Transport (T&T) and Accommodation was GH¢ 21,901.45; Consultancy recorded GH¢19,089.00; BA@ 50 Cloth was GH¢ 22,700.00 and Awards amounted to GH¢27,580.50.

There rest were Grand Durbar/Climax which recorded GH¢41,390.10; Quiz Competition wasGH¢12,076.50; Projects (Arch, Statue/Busts) was GH¢93,806.14; BA Trade and Investment Fair stood at GH¢23,022.24, with others recording GH¢20,300.00.

Mr Marfo said the Auditor-General had been invited by the Regional Coordinating Council to carry out audit inspection of the BA@50 accounts after the year-long celebrations.

He said the exercise was ongoing and as stipulated in the regulations under Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 554), the audit report would be laid before parliament at the appropriate time.

He said in the management of BA@50, revenue and expenditure were guided by the various established provisions and procedures in both the Financial Administration Act, 2003 (Act 654) and Regulation 39(1) of part II of the Financial Administration Regulation, 2004 (L.I. 1802) in which relation to the discharge of duties and responsibilities were spelt out.

Mr Marfo said best practices were used by all officers in all the BA@50 activities in relation to the issue of receipts, custody and disbursement of funds, adding that procurement of goods and services was done in accordance with public procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).

He said the celebration had impacted positively on the quality of life of the people and that it gave a good justification for the creation of the region. When Mr Marfo indicated at a point that he could not immediately give figures, Papa Owusu Ankama, member for Sekondi, rose to his feet and said when Ministers were called to the

House, they were to assist members to know what situation was on the ground in their spheres of responsibility and urged Ministers to take the work of the House seriously.

Papa Owusu said ministers must come prepared to answer supplementary questions. Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader, said the Minister had lived up to expectation in his answers.

Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, Minority Leader, said questions for Ministers in parliament were to ensure clarity, and transparency in governance.

Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh in a supplementary question wanted to know why the expenditure on Miss BA Beauty pageant was absent from the account rendered by the Regional Minister, to which Mr Maafo replied that it was part of expenditure on Artistes.

Asked why the statue which was still at the foundation level but yet had records for expenditure, Mr Maafo said it was true but that the Arch, Statue, and busts were in Kumasi yet to be erected.

He said members of parliament from the region were asked to contribute an amount of GH¢ 500 each but that none had so far paid the contribution.

PF

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on Monday said that the powers of Parliament in exercising oversight responsibilities over state institutions are grossly under utilized.

“Article 103 of the 1992 Constitution empowers Parliament to establish committees with the powers to investigate and inquire into activities and administrations of ministries, and departments as it may determines,” Mr Justice Emile Francis Short, CHRAJ Commissioner stated at a public forum.

The public forum organized by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science (GAAS), was on the theme: “Governance in Ghana: Challenges to Administrative Justice, Anti-Corruption and Access to Justice”.

Mr. Short said that the parliamentary committees had the powers and privileges of a High Court or Justice of the High Court at a trial to compel the public officers to make available vital documents.

Speaking on “The Role of Institutions of Governance,” the Commissioner explained that the functional attributes of administrative justice embraces values or principles, which underpin good administration by state officials, and others, who deliver services on behalf of the state.

Mr. Short said that these principles include: openness (or transparency); fairness; rationality (including the giving of reasons for decisions); impartiality (independence) of decision-takers; accountability; the prevention of the exercise of arbitrary power and the control of discretion; consistency; participation; efficiency; equity and equal treatment.

He said these underlying values of administrative justice were not wholly consistent with one another, “there may be circumstances in which openness may properly yield to confidentiality; where fairness of process may conflict with the efficient reaching of a decision.

“Each of these values is to an extent contingent upon the context in which it is asserted. One of the challenges for those who govern, and for those who criticize the role of government, is to achieve an appropriate balance between these conflicting objectives”.

Mr. Short identified public institutions including ministries, departments’ agencies, district assemblies, security agencies, financial institutions, and other quasi-governmental institutions as having administrative justice mandates.

He noted that key element of administrative justice was the principle of natural justice – procedural fairness, a right to advanced warning contractual obligations and deprivation of individuals’ rights cannot be imposed retrospectively.

Mr. Short said that the principle of natural justice demands that a person accused of a crime, or at risk of some form of loss, should be given adequate notice about the proceedings including any charges.

“A person making a decision should declare any personal interest they may have in the proceedings should be unbiased and act in good faith..He or she therefore cannot be one of the parties in the case, or have an interest in the outcome,” he said.

Mr. Short said that in spite of the principle of administrative justice, bulk of human rights abuses are committed by state functionaries against citizenry due mainly to arbitrariness and lack of knowledge on rights.

He questioned the discretionary powers of state institutions but commended Constitutional bodies including National Media Commission, National Commission for Civic Education creating awareness about rights of citizens.

Professor Reginald F. Amonoo, President of GAAS, chaired the lectures attended by immigration officials, academia, students, security officers, and a cross section of the public.

Source: GNA

Ms Elizaberth Agyeman, Member of Parliament (MP) for Oforikrom in the Ashanti Region, has urged Parliament to start exercising its responsibility of holding accountable, those responsible for ensuring that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are met by 2015.

She said it was the responsibility of the MPs to ensure that health was better prioritized in the country’s development plans and also to generate more visibility in making MDG-5 and sexual reproductive health rights a political priority at all levels.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at the end of the three-day world conference on Women Deliver, Ms Agyeman who was the only Ghanaian MP at the Parliamentarians Forum, which was part of the conference, said MPs had a bigger role in ensuring the realization of the MDGs my 2015.

She explained that with a greater understanding of the problems, gaps, difficulties and obstacles in realizing the MDG 5 world wide, and ensuring universal access to reproductive health from a political, economic and social point of view, MPs will now be in a better position to hold the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies responsible and accountable in meeting the goals of the MDGs, especially Goal 5.

She said there were many stakeholders like the Ministry of Health, and the various departments under it that were responsible for numerous programmes in ensuring that the goals of the MDG were met, such as the Ministry of Finance. “All these stakeholders must be held accountable and monitored to see whether they are doing their work diligently”.

She said though some progress had been made towards preventing maternal and child deaths, a sizeable number of women and children continued to die each year.

“These deaths are particularly tragic because the vast majority of them are preventable and with simple, low cost interventions the lives of many of the women and children most at risk could be saved”.

She noted that women throughout the world were the engines of economic growth for families and therefore funding for basic interventions to help keep women and children healthy was a good investment in global stability and prosperity, even during difficult economic times.

Ms Agyeman recounted the high number of women who have died through childbirth, which could have been prevented if the necessary measures were put in place and expressed regret for the recent death of a woman in the hands officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI)in Accra.

She said there was the need for the MPs to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling MDG 5 from a parliamentary perspective, create awareness about the involvement and the role of parliamentarians in ensuring universal access to reproductive health.

The Oforikrom MP who is also a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, attributed the high rate of maternal and newborn deaths to the negative mind sets of some women, especially those in the rural areas, that giving birth at home without any supervision from a qualified midwife or health personnel was the right thing to do, and also blamed some health personnel for their negligence.

She expressed regret that there were only 20 women in Ghana’s Parliament, adding that “This makes our work more difficult because although we are not many we will still work hard to make an impact and make sure we include the men in all our deliberations”.

Ms Agyeman stressed the need for government to take a second look at the role of midwives in complementing the roles of other health professionals in making child birth a joyous moment for every mother.

“We need to strengthen nursing and midwifery services to ensure rapid progress in achieving MDG 5 and contribute to the achievement of MDGs 4 and 6, which aim at reducing child mortality, combating child HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.”

GNA/DS

A list of 17 Members of Parliament (MPs), including some of the most prominent names in the House, was yesterday unanimously rejected on the floor of the House when it was presented as the body to factor Parliament’s views into the work of the Constitution Review Committee (CRC).

It was rejected on the basis that it did not include representatives from the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) and also that all but two of the 17 MPs who were on the list were lawyers, a situation described by one MP as “ndt professionally balanced”.

During the debate which preceded the rejection of the list, the MP for Juaboso, Mr Sampson Ahi, said it was unfortunate that all but two of the MPs who had been selected to form the committee were lawyers who occupied the front benches of the Majority and the Minority sides.

“Madam Speaker, the House is not made up of only lawyers. There are also teachers, farmers, economists and other professionals whose views should be reflected in its submission. The list is not professionally balanced,” he argued.

The two non-lawyers on the list were the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and Hajia Rafatu Halutie Dubie, NDC MP for Sissala East and a Minister of State.

The lawyers on the list include Mr Cletus Avoka, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, Mr Alfred Agbesi, Mr Emmanuel Bandua, Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, Alhaji Abukari Sumani, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh and Mr Alban Bagbin, all from the Majority side.

The rest are Mr Ambrose Dery, Prof Aaron Michael Oquaye, Papa Owu8u-Ankomah, Mr Joe Ghartey, Mr William Ofori Boafo, Mr Osei Kwame Prempeh and Ms Esther Obeng-Dappah, all NPP members in the House.

Soon after. the Majority Leader, Mr Cletus Avoka, had moved the motion for the list to be accepted by the House, which was seconded by Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the sole Convention People’s Party (CPP) MP for Jomoro, Ms Samia Nkrumah, intervened and argued for the inclusion of CPP and PNC MPs on the committee.

She argued that since the country was practising multi-party democracy and members were not made up of only NDC and NPP MPs, the other parties should be represented on the committee.

Her comments resulted in a long debate, after which the Speaker, Mrs. Joyce Bamford-Addo, ruled that the committee should reflect the various shades of opinion in the House, as stipulated by Order 154 of its standing orders.

The PNC MP for Sissala West, Mt Haruna Bayirga, who supported Ms Nkrumah’s argument, expressed worry over the situation, adding that it was a calculated attempt by the NDC and the NPP to “swallow” MPs from the smaller parties in the House.

“Don’t swallow us. If you do so, we will get stuck in your throats,” he said, amid hilarious laughter from both sides of the House and the public and press galleries.

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Bagbin, supported the argument that MPs from the smaller parties be included on the committee, arguing that the committee should be structured in a manner as to also ipclude a representative of the four independent MPs in the House.

He stated that even though CPP and PNC MPs were few, they had large numbers of constituents outside the House whose views should be included in any submissions that would be made to the eRC.

For her part, the MP for Tema West, Mrs Irene Naa Torshie Addo. argued that the youth, as well as women, should have more representatives on the committee, instead of the present membership which had everyone being born before independence.

Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana