Month: May 2011

The Member of Parliament for Bantama Constituency, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has condemned the increasing indiscipline and intolerance among political opponents which sometimes result in heated arguments and fights.

According to him politics must center on productive issues and how to improve the lives of the ordinary people.

She expressed the concerns following the recent fight between supporters of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and President Mills on Tamale based radio station, which caused a lot of tension in the area.

On Wednesday 18th May, a brawl ensued between the Eastern Regional Youth Organizer of the NPP, Annor Dompreh and an NDC activist after the latter insulted the NPP Flagbearer Nana Akufo Addo, an issue the Youth Organizer did not take lightly.

Speaker on NET 2 Television in Accra on Thursday, the Member of Parliament for Bantama, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, called for political tolerance especially among activists who represent their various parties on radio and television.

She urged radio and television presenters to ensure that political discussions on the programmes are devoid of rancor to preserve the peaceful political atmosphere that currently exist.

She said as Ghana readies itself for the 2012 general elections it is essential that the entire country begin to condemn such unfortunate political misdeed now, to ensure it does not become a feature in the impending general elections.

“As Ghana’s democracy grows it is important that we politicians learn to accept dissenting views since that is the beauty of democracy’’ she said.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gh

Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, Member of Parliament (MP) for Tain in Brong-Ahafo Region, on Tuesday underscored the need for administrative continuity in governance for accelerated national development.

He said the lack of administrative continuity had been the bane of Ghana’s development and called for its encouragement in the governmental process to ensure value for money.

Mr Ibrahim made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Hani in the Tain District after addressing a mini-durbar jointly organised by the chiefs and people of Hani and Namasa to precede a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a road linking the two communities.

The eight-kilometre road project would be completed within a year at the cost of GH¢ 796,000.00 by Sunyani-based Dynamic Star Construction Limited.

The MP said the road was one of about 11 feeder roads in the district prioritized by the government to be constructed before the 2012 general election.

He explained that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government under former President Rawlings began the project with the construction of culverts before leaving office in 2001.

Due to its socio-economic importance, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government should have completed it but rather abandoned it, Mr Ibrahim added.

Mr Ibrahim said the road when completed, would open up the western part of the district to link the western corridor at Seikwa, as well as the district’s economy through the creation of access to Seikwa Market, one of the leading trading centres in the district.

The MP admitted that politics had become a complex field of human endeavour but hinged on the creation, organisation, coordination and provision of goods and services to promote the welfare of the people and their socio-economic interests.

He gave assurance that the government would not relent in efforts to fulfill the political mandate Ghanaians had given to it.

Mr Samuel Jones Tawiah, District Chief Executive (DCE), in a welcoming address, appealed to the people to cooperate with the contractor to ensure the execution of the project on schedule.

He expressed the hope that the contractor would assist to offer temporary jobs to some of the unemployed youth in the area within the period of the project execution.

Mr Joseph Osei, Community Health Officer in charge of the local Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS), established eight years ago, appealed to the District Assembly to provide the facility with open-shelter and a borehole to facilitate work.

Nana Takyi Abeam II, Krontihene of Hani, who presided, requested the District Assembly to construct a 12-seater KVIP for the town as well as bulbs for the street lights.

Source: GNA

The Member of Parliament for Upper Denkyira West , Benjamin Kofi Ayeh has cautioned President John Evans Attah Mills against making more promises during his ongoing Western Regional tour.

President Mills at a durbar of Chiefs and People in the Western Region assured the people of his government commitment to do more than the ten percent (10%) of revenue expected from oil production that the chiefs had earlier demanded.

Chiefs from the Western Region late last year demanded ten percent of the revenue expected from Ghana’s oil production to be dedicated to the development of the region.

The Chiefs argued that although the Western Region contributes a huge chunk of the country’s resources, it is yet to enjoy a fair share of the national cake, hence the need for Government to dedicate ten percent of the oil revenue for the Region’s infrastructural development.

According to them, the ten percent will make up for the unfair treatment meted out to the Region in the past in terms of development.

However contributing to a discussion on e.tv’s Breakfast TV show, the Member of Parliament for Upper Denkyira , Benjamin Kofi Ayeh, stated that President Mills must desist from raising the hopes of the Chief and People of the Western when he knows he cannot fulfill the promises he’s making.

“President Mills should not make the mistake of giving the people of the Western region new promises when he knows he just cannot realize it, he did that in the past and when he was confronted about it he gave excuses’’ he said.

He noted that President Mills has only the 2012 budget to present to parliament which he knows obviously cannot cater for the new promises he is making during his grounds.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon. Joyce Bamford Addo, has charged Members of Parliament to work hard to enable the House pass outstanding bills.

According to her, this could be achieved only if the MPs punctually attend parliamentary sittings regularly.

The issue of absenteeism in recent times has been a source of concern to the Speaker, who has had cause to complain on several occasions as that attitude does not auger well for efficient work in Parliament.

The Speaker gave the admonishing while welcoming the Members of Parliament back from recess today to continue with the passing of important bills to govern the country.

The leadership of the House expressed hope that both sides of the House would give their utmost best to ensure that parliamentary work is not adversely affected.

Majority Leader Cletus Avoka, commended the New Patriotic Party for holding successful parliamentary primaries which was held nationwide to elect the party’s crop of Parliamentary candidates for the 2012 election.

The Minority Leader Osei-Kyei Mensah –Bonsu on the other hand urged the ruling NDC party to peacefully address its internal party wrangling to ensure that governance of the country is not negatively affected.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman East, George Kuntu Blankson has appealed to the National Premix Committee to investigate why the fishermen of Narkwa were denied supply of the fuel from February 26 to May 12, 2011.

Mr Kuntu Blankson, who is also the Deputy Majority Chief Whip in Parliament made the call at a meeting with supporters of the National Democratic congress at Narkwa.

He said the people of the community were mainly fishermen and fishmongers and for them to be denied fuel for nearly three months was untenable and needed to be investigated.

Mr Blankson said Government would tar the main road from Nanaben to the town as part of the two roads earmarked to be tackled as soon as funds had been secured.

The NDC members expressed concern about the poor showing of the Party in the town and appealed to the constituency executives and the MP to wake up to the challenge.

They also expressed concern about the dormant Party communication channel and asked supporters to be bold to defend the NDC at all times.

GNA

The Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Maxwell Kofi Jumah has criticized the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) for unduly detaining Mr Herbert Mensah, a confidant of the former first family (Rawlingses).

He was picked up on Monday and released after nearly nine hours of interrogation on an alleged tape in their (he and Rawlingses) possession which indicated that President Mills had set aside an amount of GHC 90 million to persuade delegates to vote for him in the upcoming NDC national congress in July.

Mr Mensah was kept in an isolated questioning room for hours and was left out of the reach of the public.

He was initially asked to report to the BNI’s Headquarters at Ridge on Monday, but when the former Chief Executive Officer of Kumasi Asante Kotoko arrived somewhere around 10am, he was hurriedly whisked away to another BNI facility, the regional office close to the 37 Military Hospital, for interrogation. All his mobile phones and other communication equipment were siezed.

However speaking on Oman FM’s morning show Tuesday, the Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, condemned the mode of investigation by the BNI which cause a lot of inconvenience to the interviewees.

He stated that the action by the BNI is part of a grand plot of intimidation by government officials to intimidate supporters of Nana Konadu into submission which is very unfortunate.

Hon. Kofi Jumah called for the re-training of personnel of the Bureau of National Investigations to meet modern international standards.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

Mr Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has appealed to all candidates who were defeated in the just ended parliamentary primaries to join the party’s campaign trail to win back power in 2012.

According to him, it was clear that the NPP would win both the parliamentary and presidential elections come 2012 to continue the good policies and programmes started by former President John Agyekum Kufour.

He therefore called on all those who won the primaries to include the vanquished in their campaign in order to mobilize more support for the party.

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey made the appeal when he addressed the media in Koforidua after a closed door meeting with all the elected parliamentary as well as candidates who lost the contest during the primaries.

He noted that considering what happened in the 2008 parliamentary primaries, where the party prompted most of the losing candidates and some aggrieved supporters to contest as independent candidates, it was important to map strategies to correct those mistakes, hence the “all hands on deck” nationwide tour by the Flag bearer.

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of destroying all the good policies started by the NPP government between 2001 and 2008, therefore, appealling to Ghanaians to reject the NDC and bring back the NPP to save them from the high rate of poverty they were experiencing.

“If you see what is happening in the country it is clear that the President and the government had lost focus, vision and direction and if care is not taken to take them away in 2012, things will go from bad to worse,” he said.

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey appealed to all NPP supporters to close their ranks, unite and not to allow anything divide them from the main objective of wining power in 2012.

Source: GNA