Month: December 2013

Parliament on Wednesday joined the rest of the world to eulogize the great former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela who died last Thursday for his selfless life and for leading the struggle to liberate his people under apartheid rule.

The MPs described him as an iconic figure of leadership and arguably the greatest man of his generation and across the generations and was also one of the most courageous people any individual could ever hope to meet.

The Majority Leader, Dr Benjamin Kunbour in a statement on the floor of the House in memory of the great son of Africa noted that Mandela’s life embodied a holistic view of principles and virtues ever lived in this contemporary world.

“In fact, he was well rounded in all aspects of life. The life of Nelson Mandela as a freedom fighter, a prisoner, and finally as a president and post presidency; captured a broad spectrum of valuable moral lessons, principles and philosophies which we must emulate in order to live his legacies,’’ he said.

Dr Benjamin Kunbour noted that Mandela was an embodiment of reconciliation, presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to multicultural democracy, he saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency and worked to reassure South Africa’s white population that they were protected and represented in “the Rainbow Nation”.

Adding his voice to the statement, MP for Secondi Papa Owusu Ankomah stated that the life of Mandela is a great lesson in leadership especially one that teaches individuals to places ones nation above ones personal interest.

He added that as leaders it is important and prudent to bow out when the applause is loudest as was shown by Mandela when he served only a term in office when in fact he could have stay for years as some African leaders did.

“it takes a man of courage to place vilification and persecution behind him and embrace his enemies. He has taught us that there is life after leadership. Often we are asked what you will do with your life when you leave office as President or MP as if that is all there is to life. In deed there is life after leadership, let us live our lives such that on our death beds people will genuinely mourn us.” Papa Ankomah stressed.

Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa MP for North Tongu on his part saluted the efforts of all those who took part in the liberation struggle including Ghana Capt. Kojo Tsikata who faught in a war in wich the apartheid army was humiliated which eventually led to the freeing of the black majority South Africans.

MP for Tema East in adding his voice to the statement described Mandela as a symbol of peace who demonstrated this to the fullest.

He noted that Mandela had the opportunity as a lawyer to make money but decided that the majority of South Africans were more important than himself and so shelved his law practice and begun the struggle for liberation.

Hon. Titus Glover added that there is the need for Ghana to have someone like Nelson Mandela who will speak for the entire country to listen both in social life and politics.

GhanaMPs.gov.gh

Parliament has repudiated allegation in the public domain that Members of Parliament have received mobile phones from ZTE Corporation of China as bribe.

The law making body expressed its indignation House at the rumours circulating that MPs were induced with the ZTE phones during the approval of a supply contract for the delivery of dedicated security information system between the Government of Ghana and ZTE Corporation of China.

The issue came up for discussion on the Floor of the House on Tuesday when the MP for Kwesimintsim, Joe Baidoe-Ansah who felt very strongly about how the reputation of the honourable members was being attacked in relation to the alleged phone bribe.

He noted that the supposed phone issue was cited during the anti-corruption day celebration by some social commentators referring to the MPs as corrupt.

The Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated that the Phones were supposed to boost the work of the MPs whiles the Majority Leader, Dr. Benjamin Kunbour said that the phones were not the bonafide properties of the MPs, adding that the phones seizes to belong to the MPs once they lose their seats.

The Speaker Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho observed that the rumour is part of the occupational hazards that comes with working in such public offices, adding that he received his phone about 5 years ago while some Parliamentary Service workers have been using that type of phone for the past 7 years which obviously cannot be said to be bribes to MPs.

GhanaMPs.gov.gh

Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) has met with the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs over the Plant Breeders Bill.

The FSG delegation of 11 comprised Mr Duke Tagoe, Deputy Chairperson, Mr Kweku Dadzie, Secretary, Samia Nkrumah, Chairperson of the CPP, Mr John Yaw Opoku, Mr Ras Aswad Nkrabeah, Blakk Rasta, among others.

Full text of FSG position:

A plant breeder right shall be independent of any measure taken by the Republic to regulate within Ghana the production, certification and marketing of material of a variety or the importation or exportation of the material.”

The objections by FSG to this particular clause were unassailable. The FSG petition recommends “ix/ Delete Section 23 on Measures regulating commerce.” FSG position is that it is important for the Bill to be coherent with other legislation and national interests such as the protection of environment, health, prevention of misappropriation of genetic resources etc.

The inclusion of Clause 23 hinders the ability to achieve such coherence as it views the grant of PBR as being independent from other regulations. In certain cases it may be important to refuse to grant PBR over a variety, particularly where national interests are at stake. Such situations include not granting PBR on varieties that are injurious to public health, environment etc or where the application does not disclose the origin of the genetic material.

UPOV 91
An area where we strongly disagree is why the government opted for UPOV 91 in the first place. The Bill is presented, first and foremost as being in fulfilment of the requirements of UPOV 91, which incidentally is also in conformity with the WTO rules. We can fulfil our WTO obligations without UPOV. We do not need UPOV. It is a very restrictive and dangerous trap into a permanent enslavement and loss of our sovereignty as a people. This is what is staring at us in the face. Our destiny as a people is involved in which decision our Members of Parliament make.

Ghana is a member of the World Trade Organization and the rights and obligations concerning intellectual property are governed by the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). According to Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement, Ghana has to provide protection of plant varieties by an “effective sui generis” system. Sui generis means “unique” system of protection.

This provision allows Ghana maximum flexibility in the design of plant variety protection (PVP). This means that Ghana has the option of using this flexibility to innovatively design a PVP system that reflects the conditions prevailing in Ghana. This is what many advanced developing countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, India have done. The African Union Ministers have also recommended a unique Model Law for Plant Variety Protection.

The bill ignores all of these developments. The Bill presented is neither innovative nor does it reflect the conditions prevailing in Ghana. It is simply based on the 1991 Act of the Convention for the Protection for New Varieties of Plant (UPOV 1991), a restrictive and inflexible legal regime. UPOV 1991 came about with the development in industrialized nations of large scale commercial farming and professional breeding focused on producing uniform varieties.

UPOV 1991 is extremely rigid, with very limited flexibility given to governments to accommodate their socio-economic conditions. UPOV 1991 is also in conflict with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (ITPGR) as the terms of UPOV 1991 does not allow full realisation of farmers rights.

Thus to date of 71 countries that have signed up to the UPOV Convention, only about 22 countries are from developing countries and most of these are members of UPOV 1978, while most developed countries are members of UPOV 1991. Compare this with the 166 number of countries which have signed up to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is even much more recent.

It is not for nothing that at present, in Africa only Morocco and Tunisia are signatories to UPOV 1991, while Kenya & South Africa are signatories to UPOV 1978. The previous Convention of UPOV 1978 is no longer open for ratification and new members are only able to join UPOV 1991.

The rigidity and inflexibility of UPOV 1991 and the failure to appreciate the varying needs and conditions of developing countries has deterred many developing countries from joining UPOV 1991. It is thus not in the interests of Ghana to adopt a Bill based on UPOV 1991 or to join UPOV 1991.

Ghana should investigate and explore other models on PVP (e.g. The Indian PVP law, the AU Model law) and design its own PVP regime based on its own needs and priorities in particular the interests of its farmers, its food security needs.

CONCLUSION
In the current Bill the farmers rights are subject to the discretion of the Minister of Agriculture, whilst the rights of foreign corporate plant breeders are put above the state! The Committee insisted that they had already put laws in place to protect the Ghanaian farmer, although FSG has not seen evidence of this.

On the issue of Clause 23, the Committee admitted it was worthy of consideration. Also accepted for further consideration was the issue of linkage of GMOs with the Plant Breeders\’ Bill.

After a passionate appeal from Ms. Samia Nkrumah, calling on the Committee to carefully examine the petition, the Chairperson of the Committee promised the petition would be given due consideration, and thanked Food Sovereignty Ghana for making our concerns available. The meeting lasted for almost two hours. We shall be coming out with a full report soon.

For Life, the Environment, and Social Justice

Source: GNA

Parliament on Tuesday expressed disquiet on the continued observance of customary norms and practices that are inimical to the inclusion of persons with disability in society despite the passage of the Persons with Disability Act (Act 715).

The legislators said it was time that society breached the physical, socio-cultural, attitudinal and economic impediments that hindered the inclusion of people with disability in national developmental.

The lawmakers made the call when contributing to statements made on the floor of Parliament to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

They held that society should be guided by the principle and conviction that the quality of life for people with disabilities will flow from useful collaborations with them, and urged a closer interface to guarantee meaningful opportunities that promote independence and self-sufficiency for them (People with Disabilities) .

Mr Isaac Osei, MP for Subin said Ghana’s reputation for respecting citizen’s human rights was being tested for want of comprehensive policy structure to shore up the contributions of persons with disability in development process.

He noted that most public institutions and installations were bereft of facilities to ease access by people with disabilities, adding that the consequence of the Persons with Disability Act that was passed in 2006 was yet to be effectively felt.

Mr Osei urged community leaders to connect with people with disabilities, gain knowledge of their abilities and reservations in order to mainstream their activities in Ghana’s growth quest.

He mentioned the Minister of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs, Dr Henry Seidu Daanaa who, despite his disability, had shown that there was no glass ceiling for people with disability given the opportunity, urging stakeholders to shed every bias and create the enabling conditions and opportunities for the fruitful integration of people with disability in society.

Mr John Majisi, MP for Krachi Nchumuru also observed that in spite of interventions to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, there was still a vast disparity between people with and without disabilities.

He said majority of people with disabilities still faced various forms of discrimination and was more likely to live in poverty because they were unable to assert their rights.

“It is noted that there are still barriers and lack of opportunities to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream society”, he observed.

Mr Majisi called for a national forum to draw a plan for the full implementation of the National Disability Law, 2006, (Act 715), urging colleague MP’s to serve as conduits for the propagation of the Disability Act by including disability related agenda’s in their development initiatives.

He also suggested the capitalization of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled to strengthen it\’s organisational and institutional culture.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities falls on December 3, every year aimed at promoting an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.

It also seeks to create awareness of gains to be derived from integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

Ghana’s Disability Law, 2006 (Act 715) was passed in 2006 aimed at ending the discrimination that faces people with disabilities. But till date, most of the provisions of the Act have not been met.

GNA