Month: July 2011

The Member of Parliament for Atiwa, Kwasi Amoako-Attah has launched a special fund to assist flood victims in his constituency.

He has also made a passionate appeal to governmt , NADMO state/private organizations and all public- spirited individuals to come to the aid of the people of Atiwa.

A statement he issued said a bank account had been opened at the Anyinam Branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank with the account 2121130005180 under the name Atiwa Disaster Management Fund.

The release explained that all the monetary donations, preferably crossed cheques, could be paid into the account, whilst all donations in kind could be delivered to the office of the MP at Anyinam in the Atiwa Constituency, opposite the Anyinam Market.

The statement attributed the flooding mainly to the mining activities which aggravated the flooding disaster because of the diversion of the Birim River course as well as the other main rivers.

“Failures of the mining operators to cover the deep dug pits after extracting the minerals has brought about this disaster. I strongly advise that the Minerals Commission should stop issuing licenses to prospective firms until all the fundamental problems attributed to the mining are resolved to avert further delay’’.

It said the Atiwa Constituency got fooded on Monday, July 18 2011following almost twelth hours of torrential rainfall.

The resultant floods caused a major and irreparable damage to life and property as well as the death of people from various communities.

Buildings, agricultural products such as maize, plantain, cassava, cocoyam and cocoa farms have been destroyed.

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Yaw Owusu Boateng has commended personnel of the Jungle Warfare School of the Ghana Armed Forces in Akim Akyease, for their yeoman’s job in evacuating persons who have had their homes flooded after heavy rains in Akim Oda and its environs yesterday.

According to the MP the timely intervention of the soldiers who brought their expertise to bear on the precarious situation, has contributed largely to ensuring that no death has so far been recorded.

Heavy downpour in Akim Oda has rendered several thousands of people in communities including Zongo, Jamaica and Saw- Mills areas homeless, as the Birim River has over flown its banks flooding many of the communities. The extent of damage caused to property is yet to be assessed.

The already terrible roads in the area have been worst hit as some have been submerged while others rendered unmotorable. The water is reported to have risen very high to the base of the Birim Bridge which is very strategic and links Akim Oda to towns in the Eastern and Ashanti Region including Ayirebi, Nkwanta, Abenase and New Edubiase.

Speaking to ghanamps.gov.gh, the Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Yaw Owusu Boateng who is currently in the constituency empathized with the affected persons, urging them to exercise restraint as efforts are being made to help them with relief items, but was quick to add that the items can be donated to the victims only after the high waters have receded.

He expressed confidence that the relief items which the National Disaster Management Organization is yet to share among the victims would go a long way in bringing them some respite.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

Parliament on Friday recessed after nine weeks of sitting, having approved at its last sitting, three loan agreements for various projects across the country.

The loans include 337 million facility for the construction of a 59-bed hospital with equipment for the University of Ghana, Legon, and also for additional works on the Ho Regional Hospital and Hohoe District Hospital.

The agreement is between the Government of Ghana and the Bank Hapoalim BM of Israel. The House also endorsed a 13 million Euros loan agreement between the Government of Ghana and ABN AMRO Bank NV of the Netherlands to finance the additional works on the Barekese Water Supply Expansion Project.

Another loan agreement that engaged the attention of the House was for $75,800,000.00 to finance additional works on the on-going 132-megawatt Combined-Cycle Thermal Plant at Aboadze (Takoradi-3 Thermal Power Project).

The supplemental credit agreement is between the Government of Ghana and the Societe Generale, Canada.This recess is for the second meeting of the Third Session of House. In all, five Bills out of the nine presented to the House, were passed.

The Petroleum Commission Bill, Bio-Safety Bill, The Law Reforms Commission Bill, The Health Institution Facilities Bill and the Export Development and Investment Fund Bill were those passed into law within the period.

Two instruments, such as the Sports Regulation and the Mobile Portability Regulation 2011 (L I 1994) were debated while the House ratified 20 agreements and conventions and adopted two motions.
These motions are the report on the House Committee on the State of Security and General Maintenance of the House and the Supplementary Budget Estimate of GHc1,463,123,559.00.

The House also considered the second reading of the Presidential Transition Bill during the period. Performing the closing ceremony, Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo Speaker of Parliament, said there were usual challenges that confronted the House but they were overcome.

She said the work of Parliament at the plenary and the committee levels were very hectic and difficult but were managed through the hard work of members.

Mr Cletus Avoka, the Majority Leader, said they had done their best to serve the people they represented through the voicing out issues of their key interest and advocacy. He said Parliament was willing and ready to collaborate with civil society, academia and think tanks in the legislative process.

He said: “By this engagement we endeavor to enrich law making and the governance process generally.” He urged civil society groups to put their services at the disposal of Parliament anytime the House called for them.

He said the presence of the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, in the House to join the supplementary budget debate in accordance with Article 111 of the 1992 Constitution was commendable.
She thanked the Speaker for the firm and fair manner with which she steered the affairs of the House, adding that her efforts actually consolidated democracy in the country.

He indicated that her democratic effort had been recognized with the conferment of the prestigious award, “The Companion of the Order of the Volta.” “On behalf of the entire House I congratulate you,” he said. “You deserve our commendation for the balanced manner in which you executed the affairs of the House.”

He thanked the Minority for the cooperation and support in managing the businesses of the House, saying that the Clerk and the Parliamentary Service must be commended for their hard work because Parliament could not have functioned well without their efforts.

Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minority Leader, said though the meeting had been hectic and difficult the House had been able to diligently debate and craft new Bills as well as scrutinize and amend existing ills thoroughly.

“It is our hope that these bills would positively affect the lives of the good people of this country,” he said. “However, the unfortunate practice of very few members making themselves available when bills are at the consideration stage still persists.”

He said : “It is regrettable that most members demonstrate disinterest whenever bills are being considered.” He, therefore, called on the Speaker to arrange for some capacity building workshops for members in this regard.

He said the meeting had witnessed too many absenteeism of members resulting in the Chamber being empty frequently and called on the leadership to make every effort to ensure that the House sat in time and the issues of quorum and lateness addressed.

“For the members of the press corps, I commend you for your continuous efforts at partnering Parliament to bring issues of the House to the general public,” he said.

He called on editors to accord Parliamentary business much more space than they had done now for the electorate to better appreciate what their representatives do on their behalf.

Source: GNA

The Member of Parliament for Adentan Kojo Adu- Asare has bemoaned the lack of adequate security at well patronized public places across the country.

He said the security of customers and revelers who visit such places must be of paramount concern to the operators of the facilities.

The MP’s concern follows the armed robbery attack at the Accra Mall branch of Ecobank in Accra yesterday where masked armed men made away with an undisclosed amount of money after they took siege of the bank.

The robbers found it very easy collecting monies from tellers before zooming away on a motorbike due to the absence of security men at the security post at the time of the robbery. The policeman who was supposed to be on duty was no where to be found at the time.

It was also reported that security cameras in the banking hall was off as at the time of the incident making it difficult for the identities of the robbers to be known.

Speaking on e.tv Ghana “Breakfast TV’’ show on Friday, the Member of Parliament for Adentan Kojo Adu- Asare expressed his disquiet over the lack of a security post at a place such as the Accra Mall ,which is always a beehive of activities and host more than a thousand people visiting in a day for their shopping activities.

“A vast place like the Accra Mall should have at least one police station to ensure maximum security at the place, the volume of people who visit the place makes it necessary for a police post to be established at the place to ensure safety, and this must be done immediately’’ he said.

He also condemned officials of the bank for declining to speak publicly on the incident for fear of losing customers adding that such attitude does not help in tracking the criminals.

Story by :Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday paid an impromptu visit to Parliament to take part in the Supplementary Budget debates for the 2011 financial year.

It was his maiden visit since he became the Vice President of the land.

Article 111 of the 1992 Constitution allows some members of government such as the Vice President and the other Ministers of State who are not members of Parliament to take part in parliamentary debates.

“The Vice President or a Minister of State or Deputy Minister, who is not a member of Parliament, shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of Parliament and shall be accorded all the privileges of a Member of Parliament except that he is not entitle to vote or hold an office in Parliament,” the article states.

The Vice President said Government was committed to the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority and that it was currently in the process of appointing a Chief Executive Officer and when that was done, sufficient funds would be pumped into its operations.

Vice President Mahama, who entered the chamber at 1120 hours in white flowing apparel with black shoes to match, said “As part of the economic management team, I am in the House to listen to debates on the approval of the supplementary budget.”

“I want to express how much nostalgia I feel being back in this house having been a member for 12 long years,” he said.

The Vice President noted that the economy was in good shape as Ghanaians placed it into capable hands.

He indicated that African countries had proved resilience against the economic down turn since 2008, adding there were some non African countries who were still struggling to come out it.

Vice President Mahama called on Parliament to probe the activities of the SADA to ensure its success.

He told the Minority in the House that had argued that agriculture activities were retrogressing, to look at figures on yearly bases.

“We will ensure that the Better Ghana agenda we promised Ghanaians would be delivered,” he said.

Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu welcomed the Vice President into the House describing him as a stranger but the constitution grants him the liberty to participate in debates.

Source: GNA

Parliament on Thursday approved a total of GH¢ 1,463,123,559.00 as supplementary expenditure for the 2011 financial year.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who moved the motion for the approval, mentioned specific areas earmarked to benefit from the supplementary allocations as the creation of jobs and employment opportunities for the youth, provision of crucial economic and social infrastructure and improvement in sanitation.

He said developments in both the domestic and global environment had necessitated some variations in the assumptions underlying the 2011 Budget statement and economic policy presented to the House in November, 2010.

He said the Finance Committee noted that with the passage of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2011, Act 815, key provisions in the law had direct implications for the estimation of the Benchmark Revenue, determination of the Annual Budget Funding Amount and transfer of funds into the Ghana Petroleum Funds Account.

Mr James Klutse, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said the committee further noted that increases in crude oil production volumes and rising world market prices meant upward adjustment in revenue projections.

Additionally, he said there had been the receipt of two major inflows from the World Bank, the sale of AngloGold Ashanti shares in lieu of royalties as well as increased revenue collections from the Ghana Revenue Authority through enhanced administration measures.

He said as regards the rationale behind the decision for the sale of shares in Anglo Gold Ashanti without Parliamentary approval, it was indicated that the shares were held by government in lieu of royalties and hence government only sold them to realize the deferred royalties.

Mr Klutse said an additional five million Ghana cedis had been allocated to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority for the 2011 financial year.

He said the supplementary budget was necessitated by developments which had arisen on the macro-economic front especially with regards to the petroleum benchmark revenue and financial developments associated with domestic borrowing.

He said as a result of the build up in the stock of domestic debt and related high cost of borrowing as well as the need to liquidate some arrears and outstanding commitments, payments would exceed earlier estimates for 2011, thereby requiring additional resources to meet those additional payments.

Source: GNA