Month: November 2012

The Member of Parliament for Upper Denkyira West, Ben Kofi Ayeh has begun his version of the controversial free SHS system as a pilot project in his constituency.

He has built two new schools in Ayamfuri with resources from his share of the MPs Common Fund, HIPC Funds, and GETfund to enroll the about 70% of students of secondary school going age in his constituency who are willing to go to school but are out due to financial constraints.

The MP said his motivation for putting up the schools stemmed from the fact that the educational standard in his constituency had dipped and affected the development of the area, and there was the need to find alternative ways of improving the standards.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem programme on Friday, Hon. Kofi Ayeh stated that currently about 300 students have registered and are expected to start school on Monday 5th November 2012, a development which is very encouraging.

He noted that more schools would be built in other parts of the constituency to absorb the remaining students in the area who may not have the opportunity of being part of the current programme.

Hon. Kofi Ayeh who sounded very confident of retaining his seat in the upcoming December election hoever stated that in the unlikely event that he does loses, the new MP for the area should not abandon the programme as it is a good idea and would eventually inure to the benefit of the entire constituency.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Minister of Health Alban Bagbin has responded to assertions made by the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) Nana Akufo Addo about the state of the National Health Insurance scheme which he(Akufo Addo) described as collapsing.

Below is the full test of the statement signed by the Minister.

I have been compelled to issue this statement for three main reasons: The first reason is to dispel the untruth put out by the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, at the recently held presidential debate in Tamale about a false statement he alleged to have come from me.

The second reason is to reassure the millions of Ghanaian subscribers of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) that the ratings and the outlook of this landmark social safety net are higher and better than ever before under the four year tenure of the NDC Government; and thirdly, to demand an unqualified apology from the NPP flag bearer, for not only deliberately twisting the facts, but also attempting to denigrate my reputation and that of my office as the Minister for Health.

The NPP flag bearer curiously alleged at some point during his presentation at the presidential debate that my good self Alban Bagbin, had stated somewhere (only he could tell the world where), that the NHIS was “collapsing” and he left the matter at that.

Granted even that I ever did make such a wild prognosis regarding the scheme that is the source of comfort to well over 10 million of our compatriots nationwide, it stands to reason that I must have also proposed a solution. But dear reader, as you saw and heard, it was not in the interest of the man who wants to rule Ghana one day to venture further by giving me the smallest bit of credit!

Happily, H.E. President John Mahama gave enough evidence with facts and figures to demonstrate to the many discerning people who watched and listened to the debate, that this purely cooked up allegation about the collapse of the NHIS and attributed to me, had no substance. I want to add my voice the President’s rebuttal that night that I have never said any such reckless thing on any platform anywhere. And I dare the flag bearer and his cheer leaders to prove their point.

No well-meaning Ghanaian should describe the NHIS as “collapsing” when the scheme by all the most critical measures is actually stronger now than before. And the evidence lies in the over 10 million of our population who since the NDC won power in 2008, have been voting emphatically for the scheme day-in, day-out.

On the one-time payment policy, which the NPP again appears in a mad rush to discredit is indeed another of our creative responses to scaling up the revenue base of premium income from its currently insignificant level of 4.5%. It may seem impractical to some politicians whose main preoccupation is to ensure that this country fails or is perceived to be failing under the NDC leadership.

But this policy which is intended to generate more funds to guarantee sustainability of the NHIS, in reality is informed by the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal health coverage for all in the long term. If you cannot support such a policy to succeed, you do not denigrate it for sheer political sport.

And despite all the evidence provided to the contrary, we have taken note that the NPP flag bearer and his cheerleaders have consistently perpetrated falsehood on the NHIS despite vehement clarifications of the issues. In their unholy haste to gain political power, one cannot help but wonder whose side the NPP is on – on the side of the doom mongers in our society? Or on the side of the queuing masses of patients who are benefiting from the NHIS?

Finally, I demand an unqualified apology from the NPP flag bearer, for not only deliberately twisting facts for sheer political sport, but also attempting to denigrate my reputation and that of my office as the Minister for Health. And as I have had the occasion to say before, if some folks would not support me to do my job, they have no business peddling convoluted arguments, marinated with unhelpful half truths just to score cheap political points as the NPP flag bearer has attempted to do!

ALBAN SUMANA BAGBIN

(MINISTER OF HEALTH)

The Member of Parliament for Ayesuano Samuel Aye –Paye has described the decision by President John Mahama to reject the newly approved salaries for the executive arm of government as shocking and populist act.

According to him, President Mahama has resorted to that move to portray himself as someone who is not out there to earn fat salary at the expense of the ordinary tax payer; an action he asserts is intended to endear the president to the masses and win him more votes.

Parliament last week approved a monthly salary of 12,000 cedis for the President; ten thousand five hundred cedis for his vice and between 8,000 and 9,000 cedis for ministers and their deputies.

However the news of the increment was swiftly met with a lot of criticism among a cross section of the public and civil society groups.

In a statement released over the weekend President Mahama directed parliament to consider a review of the emoluments to ensure it was aligned more realistically with the original recommendations of the Professor Ewurama Addy Committee.

Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo programme on Monday, Hon. Aye-Paye stated that President Mahama’s move raises eye brows as the President according to him cannot feign he did not know that such amount was to be approved for him as his signature was beneath the document that was presented to Parliament.

“The President cannot claim or pretend he did not know of this figure which was stated in the recommendation, the document came right from his office and he dare not say that the Chief of Staff signed his (President’s) signature on that document’’ he said.

“This attitude of the President makes some of us believe that he is indecisive in taking critical decision that can move this nation forward as he himself claims in his own book’’ he added.

Hon. Aye – Paye however urged Parliament as an institution should come through the Public Affairs Directorate to educate the public on the issues surrounding the emoluments of MPs to avoid a situation where the media continue to churn out biased stories that incite the public against Members of Parliament.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Effia-Kwesimintsim, at the weekend advised journalists not to lose sight of their noble role in the country’s democratic process.

He gave the advice during an encounter with journalists at Anaji near Takoradi.

Mr. Baidoe-Ansah said journalists should be alerted to their responsibilities and role towards nurturing of the country’s democracy into maturity.

“Journalists should be alive to their “Gatekeeping” responsibilities to keep politicians and public officers on their toes”, he said.

Mr. Baidoe-Ansah said, “Politicians and public officers should know what was going wrong in the society and journalists should keep them informed in order to maintain and protect what the country has”.

He urged journalists not to allow anybody to dent their reputation as professionals.

Mr. Baidoe-Ansah announced his intention to contest the Parliamentary Seat for the newly created Kwesimintsim Constituency.

GNA

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast South , Mr Ebo Barton Oduro has donated a brand new desktop computer and its accessories to the Central Regional Headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS)..

The accessories included a printer, scanner, photocopier and a fax machine.

Mr Barton Oduro, who presented the items at a short ceremony in Cape Coast, said even though the Government may not be able to bear all the cost of their needs, his office would try as much as possible to meet all their demands in order to help make the work of the Service easier and efficient.

He asked that details of the cost of other projects they may need be forwarded to his office as soon as possible in order to start working on it.

The Regional Fire officer, ACFO John Amponsah Tetteh, who received the items, thanked the MP for the gesture and said the equipments had come at an opportune time since there was a lot of work to be done but that they were limited due to the lack of computers, printers and a photocopy machine.

He said the regional headquarters was made up of 14 departments and due to the lack of the requisite logistics, officers were not able to complete work in the office and in some cases had to borrow their children’s computers to do office work.

Mr Tetteh said that the Service was faced with a lot of challenges with some of the Fire Stations in the region having no equipment or office furniture and appealed to the MP to assist the office with a camera and camcorder to take shots of fire scenes to support investigations and make their work more efficient.

He expressed his gratitude to the MP for the gesture and urged him to come to the aid of the Service so that it could perform its statutory functions effectively and efficiently

GNA

The number of women contesting in the upcoming December parliamentary elections has increased by 30 per cent as compared to that of the 2008 and 2004 elections.

So far 133 women out of 1,332 men have filed their nominations with the Electoral Commission to contest as parliamentarians in their various constituencies for the December general election.

This is an increase from the 2008 figure of 103 women who contested with 20 of them winning and the 2004 election which saw 104 women contesting with 25 winning.

In Africa, Ghana, with 8.3 per cent female representation in parliament ranks higher than Botswana which has 7.9 per cent female representation, followed by Gambia with 7.5 per cent, Congo with 7.4, Nigeria 6.8 and Egypt 2.0 per cent.

On the global scale, Ghana ranks 122 out of 190 countries according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Rwanda ranks first on the world scale with 56.3 per cent female representation in parliament, Senegal comes sixth with 42.5 per cent, South Africa eighth with 42.3 per cent, Mozambique ranks 12th with 39.2 per cent and Zambia ranks 105th with 11.5 per cent female representation.

Others such as Uganda ranks 21st with 35.0 per cent, Algeria ranks 27th with 31.3 per cent, South Sudan 26.5 per cent, Sudan ranks 47 with 24.7 per cent while Mali ranks 113th with 10.2 per cent representation.

Developed countries such as Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States of America ranks 4th, 14th, 58th and 80th respectively.

Out of the 190 countries that are involved in the IPU parliamentary survey, 112 of them use some form of quota systems such as legislated quotas and voluntary quotas by political parties.

Some of these countries include Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and South Sudan which uses the legislated quota system while countries such as Mozambique, United Kingdom and Cote d’Ivoire uses the voluntary quota systems.

Ghana on the other hand is yet to adopt any form of quota system as the country is yet to adopt an affirmative action (AA) policy.

To this end the NPP, NDC and CPP before the Electoral Commission added 45 newly created constituencies to the already 230 seats were fielding 24, 17 and 18 female aspirants respectively while the PPP is fielding 24 female aspirants.

After the EC added 45 new constituencies to the already existing 230, on a regional basis, the Greater Accra Region has the highest number of women contesting which is 34, followed by the Ashanti Region 26, Central Region 15, Western and Eastern has 12 each, Volta Region 10, Northern 7, Upper East and Brong Ahafo 6 each and the Upper West Region has the least with 5.

Speaking to the Governance Programme Manager for Women in Law and Development (WiLDAF), a women’s right advocacy organisation, Mr Frank Bodza said his organisation was looking at not less than 35 women winning in the elections.

Looking at 12 constituencies at least, including Dome Kwabenya, Sega, Ledzekuku, Ada, Kpando and Tarkwa Nsuayem among others, where the two major parties have fielded women, Mr Bodza said this was a good start for more women to be elected since according to him, some of the parties have also fielded women in their strong holds.

Coupled with the good quality and competence of the women who were contesting the elections, he said there was no doubt that more women would be elected into parliament.

“The picture this year is brighter because at least we have 30 per cent increment in the number of people contesting as compared to previous elections”, he added.

An increase in the number of female parliamentarians he said was achieveable if more effort were put in by civil society organisations, the media and the contestants themselves to ensure that they were given the needed exposure and training.

The current female representation of 8.3 per cent in parliament he said was not acceptable for a country which had become a beacon of democracy on the African continent and therefore a lot more needed to be done to turn the situation around.

He called on the general public to support women by voting for them in the upcoming elections so that the countries democracy would be more entrenched.

Daily Graphic

Parliament on Wednesday 31 October proceeded on recess to allow MPs to visit their various constituencies to campaign vigorously for the upcoming 2012 general election.
The House is expected to reconvene on Monday 17 December after the election to wind up on its mandate before dissolution.

Parliament will then break on the 21 December for the Christmas festivities and will however be expected to reconvene on the 3rd January 2013.

The President is expected to deliver a massage on the State of the Nation while election and swearing in of Speaker and the swearing of the Members of Parliament – elect for the sixth Parliament will be held on Saturday 5 January 2013

KwadwoAnim/ Ghanamps.gov.gh

Parliament on Wednesday night recessed after eight days of sitting to enable members prepare for the December polls with the approval of an unequaled loan agreement totaling 1.34 billion dollars in a day’s sitting.

Uncharacteristic of such legislative venture, First Deputy Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho deftly forged consensus between both sides of the House to successfully achieve the feat without the contentious partisan objections and banter that accompanied such encounters.

The loans include a 200 million dollar agreement between Ghana’s Government and Credit Suisse International for the construction of 5,000 affordable housing units for the public.

The House also endorsed a 15.8 million Euros loan agreement between the Government of Ghana and Stanbic Bank (Ghana) for the purchase of 200 ambulances for the National Ambulance Service.

Another finance arrangement that engaged the attention of the House was a mixed credit facility between Ghana and the Export-Import Bank of China for an additional funding of 151,560, 000 to complete the Bui Hydro Electricity Power Project.

Even though the legislature approved the amount, it froze a component of 56.15 million dollars of the amount pending a comprehensive report by relevant authorities detailing a breakdown of what that amount was to be used for.

This was as a result of the Minority expressing reservations on certain unexplained escalations in the initial contract sum, and unjustified request for substantial amounts for non-core business of the Bui Power Authority.

Parliament also approved a loan agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Export Import Bank of the United States of America for an amount of 538,299,497 dollars to finance the Accra Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Project.

The House also approved an additional 125 million dollars loan agreement between Ghana and the Standard Chartered bank Ghana to finance the same project.

A further 55.5 million dollars was approved to finance the implementation of the Wa Water Supply System Development project. That financial arrangement is between the Government of Ghana and Government of the Republic of Korea acting through the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

Parliament additionally permitted the contracting of 86,503,082 million Euros between the Ghana Government and the ABN AMRO Bank NV of the Netherlands to finance the expansion and rehabilitation of the Kpong Water Supply System.

The House also approved a credit agreement between Government and Export-Import Bank of India for an amount of 35 million dollars to finance the establishment of a sugar factory at the Komenda –Edina-Eguafo¬-Abirem Municipality in the Central Region.

It also approved a financing agreement between Government and the International Development Association for an amount of 30 million dollars to finance the First Phase of the Ghana Public Private Partnership Project.

The House additionally a 32 million dollar concessional loan agreement between Ghana and China to finance the design, procurement and construction of the redeployment of the Kotokuruba Market Infrastructural Facilities at Cape Coast in the Central Region.

Mr Adjaho who performed the closing ceremony, commended members for their prompt response to duty and their commitment to discharge their constitutional mandate effectively.

He urged members who aspired to return to the House and those seeking to join the Legislature to conduct civil campaigns because the sustenance of the country’s peace depended on their good conduct during the elections.

“Your campaign should be issues-based and may God give you strength and good health” he told members.

Majority Leader Cletus Avoka thanked the Speaker for his resilience that ensured the successful sittings, urging all members who were going to their constituencies to prosecute the elections well.

Minority leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu charged the nation to take “precaution and show circumspection” in the many financial agreements it was negotiating to ensure that Ghana got value for money to enable it position itself to repay the loans.

Parliament is expected to reconvene on Monday, December 17th 2012 after the general elections.”

The House will take another break in December 21, 2012, for the Christmas and New Year break, and reconvene in January 3, 2013.

GNA