Month: July 2011

The Minority in Parliament on Thursday cautioned the government against its excessive borrowing culture because of the adverse fiscal consequences on Ghana’s economy.

The Minority made the call during a debate in Parliament on Thursday to approve GHC1, 463,123,559.00 as supplementary budget for the 2011 financial year.

The debate, which was characteristic by heckling, went into several hours as each of the 10 Members of Parliament (MPs) (five from the Majority and five from the Minority) over ran the eight minutes allotted to them.

Dr Osei Akoto, MP for Old Tafo, who led the Minority in the debate said: “ At the rate of borrowing, interest rates will go high. I am surprise that government is complaining that interest rates are high.”

He said more arrears would accumulate when the Single Spine Salary Scheme was fully operational.

Dr Akoto said within a period of two years the National Democratic Congress Government (NDC) has accrued a debt of more than what the New Patriotic Party (NPP) left within a period of eight years.

He said the NDC within two years of administering the country had accrued a debt of GHC 1.5 billion in 2009 alone, which according to him was 1.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.

Dr Akoto accused the NDC of mismanaging the oil revenue by spending the revenue instead of depositing it in the stabilization fund as demanded by the Petroleum Revenue Act.

Mr Moses Asaga, NDC MP for Nabdam, said the government had made strides in the macro-economic indicators, which according to him were signs of a Well-managed economy.

He said: “Government must be applauded for the maintaining single digit inflation”.

Mr Asaga said within the two years of NDC administration, the country’s interest rates had drastically fallen and called on the House to commend the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning for a good work done.

He said government was very transparent in the management of petroleum revenue, which was unprecedented in Africa, adding that it took Norway about 15 years to get to where Ghana had reached in managing petrol revenue.

Mr Asaga said that the Minister should be praised for using oil revenue in the development of sectors such as road, modernization of agriculture and economic infrastructure was commendable.

Mr Kweku Agyemang-Manu, NPP MP for Dormaa West, said government had a lean commitment to the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority, stating that as at now only 8 million dollars had been committed to the project out of the 25 million dollars promised.

Mr Cletus Avoka, the Majority Leader in Parliament, said the government must be commended for increasing revenue but called for the automation of revenue collection across the country to seal leakages and corruption.

He said the allocation of GHC 50 million to the Electoral Commission would enhance transparency in the electoral process and deepen Ghana’s democracy.

Mr Avoka noted that most African countries were ravaged by crises because of election problems

The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, rounding up the debate, said the economy was in good hands and called on the MPs to approve the supplementary budget.

The House again approved a loan agreement between Ghana and the Deutsche Bank AG of New York, USA, for an amount of US$ 267,000,000.00 to finance the supply and installation of medical equipment for selected health institutions nationwide.

Parliament also endorsed the loan agreement between the Government of the Ghana and the Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited for an amount of Ghana cedi equivalent of US$ 39 million to finance the completion of the State House Project (Job 600) to provide offices for MPs.

Source: GNA

MP for Asante Akyem-North in the Ashanti Region, Kwame Anyimadu Antwi has served notice that if the harassment of locals by Fulani herdsmen in the area gets out of hand, indigenes will take the law into their own hands and defend themselves.

He told Adakabre Frimpong Manso on Dwaso Nsem on Adom FM Wednesday that the people of Agogo and its surrounding areas have suffered enough in the hands of these Fulani’s and asked the government as a matter of urgency, to check the menace.

Kwame Anyimadu Antwi noted that due to police inaction to protect citizens, there is a perception that the police are protecting the Fulani’s rather than the indigenes of the communities.

He observed that the presence of military patrols in the area has not stopped the criminal activities of the Fulanis. He alleged that a farmer has been shot by the Fulanis and is currently on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.

Kwame Anyimadu Antwi stressed that the two Fulanis who were arrested have been granted bail and the case has been left unattended to.

The MP said the government should not hide behind ECOWAS protocols and let the Fulanis off the hook. Citizens, he said, need protection.

The MP for Fanteakwa, Kwabena Amankwah Asiamah said since 2002 the Fanteakwa District Assembly has recorded 38 brutalities against inhabitants of the area by Fulani herdsmen.

He said he had tabled this on the floor of Parliament yet no measures have been taken to remedy the situation.

Kwabena Amankwah Asiamah bemoaned the situation where Fulani herdsmen are often armed and rape women in farms at gunpoint while male victims are assaulted.

He gave an instance where a watermelon farmer had his farm destroyed by cattle of a Fulani herdsman and decided to pay compensation of one Ghana cedi for each watermelon.

He added that the Fulani herdsman however rescinded his decision over the payment of the compensation and rather accused the farmer of killing his cattle.

Mr. Kwabena Amankwah Asiamah said the watermelon farmer is now out of business.

Story: Adom News

The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) on Wednesday said it was conducting checks on reports alleging that 20 girls selling iced water had been arrested by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) task force on various streets of Accra.

The Ministry also said the AMA had rejected claims that the 20 iced water sellers had been found guilty by the AMA Court and subsequently sent to the Nsawam Prisons because they could not pay for the GH¢ 600 fines imposed on them.

A statement signed by Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs who is also Member of Parliament for Ho East, said a follow-up by MOWAC on the report at AMA indicated that even though the Assembly had been engaged in the enforcement of the hawking bye-laws, the taskforce had not arrested and prosecuted 20 girls in the AMA court.

It said that according to the AMA, street sellers, who had been arrested and prosecuted, were those who on various occasions had attacked and assaulted the AMA taskforce in their attempt to get them off the streets.

“The ministry is conducting further checks on the issue to address the situation,” it said, and appealed to the street hawkers to desist from attacking the taskforce who had been mandated to enforce the bye-laws.

The statement also called on the AMA taskforce to exercise restraint and adopt a human face in the exercise of their duties.

GNA

The Minority in Parliament has abstained from the voting which approved the purchase of Embraer E 190 jet aircraft, Joy News’ Sammy Darko has reported.

The Minority claims the $105,370,177.09 price quoted for the aircraft is outrageous.

The Embraer which has a 100 capacity will be used to carry military personnel on peacekeeping missions. It has a hanger which includes an ambulance and a bus.

The Minority has however approved the purchase of four other aircraft costing 72 million.

Prior to approval, however, there was an intense debate which is said to have lasted a little over four hours, Darko noted.

The Majority claims the time is ripe for the country to purchase five aircraft

The Majority in Parliament has mounted a vehement defence of the purchase of five aircraft for the country’s military and the presidency.

According to them, the time is ripe and with a booming enough economy for the country, Ghana can afford to purchase the aircraft.

The Minister of Defence upon recommendation by the military is seeking approval from Parliament for the purchase of five military aircraft.

The fleet include an Embraer E 190 jet with a hanger costing $105,370, 177.09, two BA 42 Guardian Surveillance costing €11 million and another two CT95 aircraft costing €60 million.

The request has provoked an intense debate on the floor of Parliament, Joy News’ Parliamentary Correspondent, Sammy Darko has reported.

The Minority is questioning not the propriety of the purchases but the honesty of the majority in proceeding with the purchase of five jets when only a few years ago they were against the purchase of two.

In opposition and in the run-up to the 2008 general elections, the then NDC Minority, had questioned the propriety of the purchases of the jets.

They accused then President John Kufuor of engaging in profligate expenses at a time when the country was sweltering under poverty, with workers crying for increases in salaries.

During his first State of the Nation address to Parliament, President John Mills announced he would reconsider the purchase of the aircraft proposed by his predecessor.

On the Floor of Parliament on Wednesday, the Minority led by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu quoted religiously from parliamentary records of 2008 in which the then Minority mounted a crusade against the purchase of two military aircraft.

They cited comments made by Benjamin Kumbour, E.T. Mensah and others on the floor, all of whom believed buying two military aircraft at the time was an imprudent and insensitive choice against the plight of ordinary Ghanaians.

The Minority therefore questioned their colleagues on the other side if the time is now ripe for five aircraft to be purchased.

The response from the Majority was definite. Now is the time to change the fleet of the military’s aging aircraft.

Alfred Agbeshi, MP for Ashaiman insisted the economy is better now and could absorb investment into five aircraft.

He and his colleagues argued the military needed the fleet to be able to carry out their statutory mandate.

But the MP for Atwima Mponua, Isaac Asiamah also believes the prices for the aircraft have been inflated.

According to him, his research shows that the prices of the aircraft are far lower than what has been brought before Parliament for approval.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Wenchi, Prof. George Gyan Baffour, has provided some schools within the constituency with computers and television sets in fulfillment of a promise made, and his personal quest to help improve the standard of education in the area.

The beneficiary schools include the Frema Seventh Day Adventist Primary/Junior High School (JHS) in Wenchi, which received five Dell desk top computers and accessories, plus two step-down stabilisers.

The Nwoase Local Authority Primary/ JHS also had five Dell desktop computers and accessories plus a 21-inch color television, whilst the Nchiraa Senior High School also received five computers and accessories, a colour printer and a 21-inch colour television.

While presenting the items to the school authorities, an appeal was made for the provision of air-conditioners to help protect the computers from excessive heat, for the equipment to last longer.

Professor Gyan Baffour assured the authorities of the beneficiary schools to take good care of the equipment, and use them for the intended purpose, which is to give school children from the constituency opportunities to take part in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) on ICT.

According to the Member of Parliament, lots of BECE candidates from the area had been denied access to take part in the ICT examination, as their colleagues in other parts of the country do, due to the lack of facilities and equipment to aid the teaching and learning of ICT.

He gave the assurance of doing what he can as an MP to help arrest the situation with the provision of education-related facilities and equipment so that school children from the constituency have equal access as their colleagues in other parts of the country.

Professor George Gyan Baffour bemoaned conditions witnessed at the Nchiraa Senior High School, which was established by the community members, hoping it would be absorbed by the Ghana Education Service (GES).

The Nchiraa Senior High School is currently being housed in a converted five-unit primary school block by the chiefs, elders and people of the community for children who complete their JHS education.

Despite persistent appeals by the people of Nchiraa for the GES to absorb the Nwoase Community Senior High School, the school is yet to receive a response.

Prof. Gyan Baffour expressed dismay with the structures, facility and lack of teachers and teaching materials, and promised to assist the school in achieving its goal, for the children from the area to gain access to second cycle education.

The Headmaster of the Nchiraa Senior High School, Philip Gyebi, disclosed that the school had a permanent site for future development, while appealing that the GES kindly expedite action on absorbing the school.

He said the school, currently with a student population of 100 from Nchiraa and its surrounding communities, has only forms 1 and 2 and is in its second year of existence.

Source: Chronicle

The New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South constituency, Nana Akomea has said he would consider re-running the seat if it becomes necessary.

Nana Akomea had earlier announced his intention not to seek another term in Parliament.

However, following the unresolved impasse between Ahmed Arthur and Vicky Bright who contested the seat, there have been calls from the constituents for him to rescind his decision and re-contest.

This according to some members of the party is to ensure that the NPP retains the seat which has been in their grip since 1996.

Nana Akomea told Citi News a decision to run for the seat again would be based on his assessment of his party’s election dispute resolution committee’s decision.

He said, “I have had calls from several well meaning people mostly in the constituency and outside the constituency that in the light of the stalemate which never seems to end, I should consider standing again as some kind of a neutral or compromise candidate.

“At the end of the day, I want to see the NPP win the election.

“I want to see Nana Akufo-Addo elected the president of this country to take us to a more dynamic leadership so that is my overriding concern and if there is something I can do to realize this aim, why not? My party is supreme”.

Source: Citifmonline.com