Month: August 2013

NDC MP for Ledzokuku Constituency in the Greater Accra Region and Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon Benita Okity-Duah, has sought to distance herself from reports that she masterminded the removal from office of Hon. Daniel Amartey Mensah as Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Ledzokuku-Municipal Assembly.

The Deputy Minister, in a statement issued today and signed by her Personal Assistant, Nii Ayi Anteh, denied ever saying that “I cannot work with Hon Daniel Amartey Mensah in a capacity as MCE for the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly”.

She however admitted that relations between the former MCE and herself were strained and there was more room for improvement; communication-wise.

Hon Okity-Duah pointed that she neither has “the power nor the locus to determine who becomes or is removed as MCE for any MMDA” and therefore could not have instigated his (MCE’s) removal.

“My target is to help fix the roads, improve on the water situation in Ledzokuku and deliver my promises to the constituents” and “not Hon Daniel Amartey Mensah,” the statement read.

Read below the full statement….

MY TARGET IS NOT HON DANIEL AMARTEY; MY TARGET IS TO HELP FIX THE ROADS, IMPROVE ON THE WATER SITUATION IN LEDZOKUKU AND DELIVER MY PROMISES TO THE CONSTITUENTS.

It has become very necessary to clarify the issues relating to the disturbances that occurred in Teshie on Monday, 19th August 2013 on the allegation that I, Hon. Member of Parliament for the Ledzokuku Constituency, Mrs. Benita Sena Okity-Duah have masterminded the removal from office of Hon. Daniel Amartey Mensah, the former MCE of the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly.

To start, I want to unequivocally state that I have no hand in the removal of Hon. Daniel Amartey Mensah as MCE for the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municiopal Assembly. Indeed, I have neither the power nor the locus to determine who becomes or is removed as MCE for any MMDA. To the best of my knowledge, that power to appoint or otherwise rests solely with His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana.

Further, I have never stated anywhere that I cannot work with Hon Daniel Amartey Mensah in a capacity as MCE for the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly. The position I have always maintained that I stated in a meeting with Hon. Julius Debrah, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Hon Daniel Amartey Mensah, and others was that, I will appreciate an improved communication between the MCE and my good self. And that that was one way we can build on our relationship as MCE and MP for the good of our Constituents.

I again re-emphasized the stance above in June this year when the Regional Minister visited the Constituency in relation to the Chieftaincy unrest in the Constituency. On that day, the MCE called me to inform me that the Hon Regional Minister was visiting the Constituency and invited me to be part of the delegation. I thanked the MCE and told him, “Hon. Amartey, this is all I want from you”. This position has become necessary because it is always worrying when Constituents sight a Minister on a working visit in the Constituency and the Member of Parliament has no knowledge about that, as it happened in the case of the visit of Hon. Dzifa Ativor, the Minister of Transport.

On my part, I have been doing everything possible to consolidate the communication between us. The last time I called Hon Daniel Amartey Mensah was on 7th August 2013 when I was following up on an invite I extended to him to be part of a Stakeholders’ Forum I was to hold with my Constituents on the 10th of August, 2013. When I called him, after I mentioned my name to him, the call dropped. His phone then went off and all efforts to get him back on proved futile. Although, I put his name on the programme as a Speaker, Hon. Daniel Amartey Mensah didn’t come to the programme and didn’t even call to inform me of his inability to make it.

The challenges that confront the good people of Teshie are numerous. Close to 80% of our roads are unmotorable/ untarred. The unemployment level among our vibrant youth is disturbing. The water situation needs to be improved. We have to tackle sanitation head-on. I have promised the Constituents of a Central Market and a Community Bank. These among others are what occupy my thoughts on daily basis. These are my target, and I am committed to helping in whatever ways possible to ensure that Teshie overcomes same.

I am ready to work with all stakeholders to put Teshie on the height it belongs. I am committed to lasting peace within the Constituency. Teshie must have its fair share of the Better Ghana success stories and I am looking forward to that. His Excellency the President appoints MCEs and I have no mandate or intention to usurp that.

Long live the People of Teshie. I feel privileged to represent them in Parliament and will always work in their interest. I use this opportunity to wish the chiefs, elders, and the people a happy homowo. Afi aya ni eba nina wor!!

Signed

Nii Ayi Anteh

(Personal Assistant for Hon. Benita Sena Okity-Duah)

On behalf of the MP.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bunkurungu, Solomon Boar has alleged that District/Municipal/and Metropolitan Assemblies around the country are crawling because government has so far failed to release statutory funds meant for the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF).

“From January till now, nobody has received the common fund from the administrator of the District Assembly. We will soon be ending the third quarter in September and from January up till now so if that happens, you can just imagine what the local authorities will be going through.”

The Fund is a creation of Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. In March this year, Parliament approved a new formula for disbursement of the Fund –– which is meant to spearhead development at the local level.

In approving the new formula, Parliament directed that a minimum of 10 percent of Ghana’s total national revenue be set aside as annual allocation to the DACF.

Speaking to Citi News, NPP’s Solomon Boar said since the approval of the new formula, not a dime has been released to Districts around the country to finance their development activities.

“I don’t think it’s only Bunkurungu that has not received its common fund; we are talking about the whole country and when we are talking about the non-release of the District Assembly Common Fund, it’s not just Bunkurungu Yooyo District alone.”

According to him, all efforts have been made to get the monies release but to no avail adding that “if in the next few weeks nothing happens, I can assure you that it’s really going to be very terrible for the Districts to be able to even attend to anything that you can call development.”

Meanwhile, an amount of GH¢1,149,287,000 has been approved by Parliament this year for the fund as against GH¢821,665,000 last year.

In a related development, a former Local Government Minister, Kwadwo Agyei Darko has described the delay in the release of the Common Fund as in illegality on the part of government.

He said the failure to distribute the funds violates the 1992 Constitution which stipulates that a minimum of 5% of national revenue be shared among all District Assemblies.

“The government is obliged to release that money and what the constitution said is clear that not less than five percent and now which is 7.5% is to be set aside as common fund and paid to the assemblies for development so that 7.5percent is not money for the government to use; it is the statutory payment. Just like the GETFund.”

He mentioned that the delay amounts to illegality because “statutory payment is statutory payment. It has been set up by a constitution and so if you do not pay, you are violating the constitution.”

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The Member of Parliament for Ayensuano, Samuel Ayeh-Paye has expressed worry at the government’s continuous delay in the disbursement of funds to enable MPs to carry out development projects as well as other interventions.

He noted that development projects have stalled in most of the constituencies and districts because of lack of funds. According to him assemblies and members of parliaments rely on these funds including Social Intervention funds, Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), National Health Fund and the likes.

Mr. Ayeh-Paye indicated that the situation is more problematic with regards to the Social Intervention funds meant to mitigate the suffering of people in need. “It’s social intervention because there is a problem that needed urgent attention, so if the money cannot be made available to provide the needed intervention then what are we doing?” he queried.

A typical case was when a whole village in his constituency got burnt and the affected households needed to be provided with roofing sheets to enable them secure back their homes. Unfortunately this could not be done and the people are still waiting for this intervention.

He stated that some of the funds are in about eight months areas, and Members of Parliament who are paying school fees for some students had to fall on their own resources to honour those obligations so as not to disrupt their education.

He therefore called on government to expedite action on disbursing common funds and other statutory funds to enable the various stakeholders to access the funds for their various projects.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Education, has said the manifestation of the observations and some predictions made by Dr Arthur Kennedy, in his book Chasing the Elephant into the Bush: the Politics of Complacency makes him a prophet.

He said after reading Dr Kenedy’s book, which was published after the 2008 elections, he concluded that the NPP needed to heed the advice of the former Presidential aspirant to progress as a party.

Referring to a long passage from Arthur Kennedy’s book, he read:

“Throughout the [2012 Presidential and Parliamentary] campaign, we never agreed on who was the target for our advertising and media campaign. Some favoured the harsh, confrontational, take-no-prisoners approach, while others favoured the moderate, respectful, throw-no-bombs approach that appeals to floating voters, women and apolitical people.

“While the difference was not significant, for instance in billboards, it mattered for instance in those who were put on air and how they came across to the public. Often after an appearance, while independent [minds] were calling to commend me for being reasonable and effective, party big-wigs will complain that ‘you did not go after them hard enough”.

Okudzeto Ablakwa is convinced the preference to confrontational communication is what has landed Sir John into this criminal contempt conviction.

He said until the NPP “changes its ways, the colossal disgrace it suffered this week [on Wednesday at the Supreme Court] would certainly befall them and keep befalling them time and time again.”

The Supreme Court hearing the 2012 Presidential election petition on Wednesday August 14 convicted NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie and a party communicator, Hopeson Adorye, for intentional criminal contempt.

The party’s General Secretary and Mr Adorye were fined GH¢ 5,000 and GH¢ 2,000 respectively for dragging the Judges and the Court’s name into disrepute. They were also asked to retract their contemptuous comments and sign a bond of good behaviour.

However, speaking on Alhaji and Alhaji on Radio Gold on Saturday, Okudzeto-Ablakwa noted Arthur Kennedy on several pages of the book warned the NPP leadership to change their violent and confrontational approach towards politicking but instead he [Arthur Kenedy] was vilified by the entire party.

He said Dr Kennedy, who was then the party communicator, was removed from his post after publishing the book and the NPP members he criticised for their violent behaviour were instead elected into party leadership.

“Nobody can convince me that members of the NPP delegates conference did not know that these were the traits and these were the statements that [Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie] was noted to be making [before appointing him]”, said Okudzeto-Ablakwa.

According to Okudzeto-Ablakwa the NPP leadership must act to purge its ranks of abusive communicators by first demanding the resignation of the party’s General Secretary – or sack him if he refuses to do so.

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Mr Emmanuel Aboagye Didieye, Member of Parliament for Afraim Plains North, has appealed to supporters of the National Democratic Congress not to celebrate after the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on August 29.

He said this is essential to safe guard the peace and unity of the nation saying: “No matter how the verdict of the Supreme Court goes, we all have to accept it”.

Mr Didieye said this during the first general meeting of the National Forum of National Democratic Congress Constituency Chairmen (NAFOCOC) in Accra.

The forum which brought together constituency chairmen of the party across the country with the exception of the Greater Accra Region was on the theme: “Promoting the welfare and sustenance of political activists for accelerated peace and development”.

Conspicuously absent from the function were the current functional national executive committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), regional chairmen and Senior Ministers of State.

He urged the party chairmen to set aside the August 25 -26, for a peace march throughout the country and use it to sensitize the people on the need to preserve the peace and stability of the nation.

Mr Didieye appealed to them to inculcate in the young ones the culture of tolerance and to avoid politics of insults.

“In your own small way, do something that will bring peace and development to our great party and the nation.

“Without peace, there can be no sustainable development,” he said.

Mr Didieye, himself a former constituency chairman and the youngest Member of Parliament in the current Parliament, said NAFOCOC is not a pressure group within the NDC, but rather it seeks to promote the well-being of both present and past constituency executives of the party.

He said the NDC’s match to victory in the 2016 election has begun and all must put their shoulders to the wheels.

GNA

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) says it has no intention of using the Committee’s public hearing to vilify any government.

Ahead of the Committee’s public hearing on Monday, President John Mahama has cautioned that the hearings should not be used to tarnish the image of any ruling government.

President Mahama urged the committee to come up with concrete recommendations that will help improve governance.

But speaking to Citi News, Vice Chairman of the Committee and MP for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta-Kyea noted that some of the issues before them have political implications.

“I agree with him [President Mahama] 100%. I do not believe in destruction of anybody’s reputation if there is no basis for it but when the issue should touch on for instance the Attorney General in the CP matter, then of necessity, those issues will come up.”

He advised all the public officials who will appear before the committee not to take this personal explaining that “most of the matters that are discussed at the Public Accounts Committee are not personal in nature. You are in a public office and certain things you have done or ought to have done…are being interrogated, I don’t think they should take it personal.”

Mr. Atta-Kyea gave the assurance that the committee will in no way vilify any individual who appears before them “for political advantage…but if the issue is political, then what can you do? You need to look at it.”

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