Month: March 2014

Former Finance Minister, Dr. Anthony Akoto-Osei says government must consider suspending portions of the single spine pay policy (SSPP) as its full implementation cannot be sustained.

The policy takes about 70 percent of public spending; a situation, experts say could crush the economy if not checked.

At the Graphic-Fidelity Economic Dialogue held at the Alisa Hotel, Tuesday, Dr. Akoto-Osei said government must re-negotiate with organized labour.

“Everybody knows that our current wage bills are not sustainable. Mr. minister, I think that we should defer full implementation of the single spine salary policy now. the Other components that have not started must be deferred but negotiated. Two and three category allowances, cannot be sustained in the next two or three terms.

“There are arrears on the wage bill, even with the first part of implementation; the minister must sit with labour and tell them he cannot pay it all.

“We are looking for 2 billion cedis in savings in that area”, he insisted.

Additionally, Dr. Akoto-Osei noted that payments of pensions, gratuities and social security are in arrears and must be negotiated since the budget cannot contain them this year.

He was of the view that some negotiations for retrenchment must begin, adding, “I know government is in negotiations with labour. That wage bill of almost 9 billion cannot be sustained”.

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper agrees, the need for a review of the Single Spine Pay Policy cannot be over-emphasized. He says government is looking at budgetary constraints as against public sector wage bill, productivity and other gratuities and considering steps to address the situation.

Regarding calls for the presentation of a new budget to reflect current economic trends, Mr. Terkper explained that it might be early days yet.

The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has accused the Mahama led administration of sabotaging Ghanaian-owned businesses while pretending to be advocating for them.
“Government is using various strategies to sabotage businesses in Ghana including Tobinco. If government is advocating for promotion of businesses in Ghana, why is it determined to destroy some businesses in the country?,”he asked.
Kyei Mensah Bonsu also accused President Mahama of promoting locally made goods manufactured by persons who appear to be affiliated to the NDC.

According to the minority leader, an example of the government’s sabotage of local companies is evident in what government functionaries did to companies such as Tobinco recently.
“If you go behind the scenes, you realize that those sabotaging businesses in the country are all NDC supporters,” he added.
The minority leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu made the comments while welcoming Nana Addo to Kumasi.

Outspoken Member of Parliament for Assin Central Ken Ohene Agyepong has launched a scathing attack on Parliament for refusing to release funds to facilitate the work of various Parliamentary Committees.

According to him, the lack of funds has resulted in a situation where other agencies outside parliament sponsor activities of committees leaving the MPs compromised and sometimes ineffective in the performance of their duties.

The tough-talking MP was reacting to comments made by former Minority Leader Alban Bagbin who over the weekend alleged that there was evidence to show that some MPs take bribes to push the agenda of civil society groups and governments.

According to him, the practice had persisted due to the lack of laid-down rules and ethics for lobbying in the country. His comments has generated a lot of debate with Civil society organizations calling for investigations into the matter to ascertain the truth or otherwise of his statement.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem Tuesday Morning, Hon. Ken Ohene Agyepong threw his support behind Mr Bagbin’s for his comment and further called for further probing into the matter.

He wondered why Parliament unduly delays in releasing funds for committees to work when indeed budget has been approved in that regard.

“For instance the Communications Committee of Parliament of which I’m the Ranking Member most of the time is sponsored by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to most trips while our funds allocated to us sits in Parliament unreleased” he said.

“You have a committee meeting in Koforidua, Parliament does not release funds for you to undertake the trip, an organization bears the cost involved, pays your hotel bills, feeds you and gives cash as transportation, and their issues or a Bill the company is sponsoring comes before you in Parliament, would you not be biased as human as we are” Hon. Ken Agyepong quizzed?

He called for the strengthening of Parliament as the second estate of the realm to enable it effectively perform its constitutional duties while the MPs are treated with the dignity they deserve.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov,gh

New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Assin-Central in the Central region, Kennedy Agyapong, has said the president’s call on Ghanaians to patronise Ghana and made in Ghana goods can only be realised when local companies are given concessions like the foreign companies.

President John Mahama in his speech to mark Ghana’s 57th independence anniversary said Ghanaians should make every day a “made in Ghana day”.

He said that is the only way that Ghana can promote its own brand of products and through that, stop importing virtually everything from outside.

The president said supporting Ghanaian products will greatly help strengthen Ghana’s economy.

“We cannot allow our destiny to be determined by corporations, industries or individuals or exist beyond our national borders and that is precisely what we are doing when the majority of what we consume come from outside.”

But speaking on the floor of Parliament on the issue the NPP’s MP said even though the president’s idea is a noble one, he [President Mahama] has not empowered the local industries to make them competitive.

“What I am saying has nothing to do with NDC or NPP, what I am saying is about Ghana and what we can do to develop this country; I am suggesting to the president and this house that the only way we can help the local industries to compete effectively is also to give them concessions as they give to the foreign companies establishing businesses in this country,” he said.

He said before, we can support the president’s idea we need to address the issue of giving concessions to local companies, else the citizens of Ghana will continue to patronise foreign goods.

Mr. Agyapong said “the systems and policies put in place is not friendly to the local companies”.

Citifmonline.com

The NPP Member of Parliament for Okere Constituency in the Eastern Region has described the call for introspection to ascertain the cause of defeat in the last two general elections by certain individuals in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as an “insult to the party”.

According to Hon. Dan Kwaku Botwe, it would be wrong for some members of the biggest opposition party to assume whatever they say about the party must be sacrosanct because their position could be born out of ignorance.

“…Sometimes, for people to suggest that we don’t do any introspection, it is just painful. This is not just insulting but painful. We do it and it and we will continue to do it. And if we do it, we will put it in the public domain.

“Even after losing the 2008 elections, we went round the country and listened to everyone and had workshops all over the country to study the findings. We even have a group of people at the University of Cape Coast who studied every meeting and wrote very nice reports after every meeting,” he explained on NEAT FM .

The former Chief Scribe of the NPP made this disclosure after Dr. Kobina Arthur Kennedy chastised the leadership of the party for not really analyzing the causes of the party’s defeat in the last two presidential elections.

In the view of Dr. Arthur Kennedy, the party has not done a soul searching to find out the factors that contributed to the defeat in the 2008 and 2012 general elections and without that the party is likely to repeat its mistakes.

However, Hon. Dan Botwe deems that as an insult to the entire party because analysis of the reasons for which the party won or lost an election has been part of the party’s culture since 1992.

Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

The Minority Leader Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has said Member of Parliament for Nadowli/Kaleo Alban Bagbin may be summoned before the Privileges Committee of Parliament to substantiate his allegation of bribe taking made against some of his fellow MPs.

According to him, Hon. Bagbin who is a former Majority Leader will be made to further explain himself and provide prove of his claims, which has the potential of impugning the integrity of Legislators in the eyes of the general public .

Hon. Bagbin over the weekend alleged that there was evidence to show that some MPs take bribes to push the agenda of civil society groups and governments.

According to him, the practice had persisted due to the lack of laid-down rules and ethics for lobbying in the country.

However speaking on Adom FM on Monday, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu stated he was not aware that MPs take bribe as that is an offence under the laws of Ghana and it would be unpardonable for MPs who formulate laws to fall foul of the law.

He noted that he wouldn’t have been worried if Hon. Bagbin had said some MPs (CSOs) were lobbied by Civil Society Organizations for certain specific duties as lobbying is accepted worldwide, but alleging bribery on MPs was a serious statement.

Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu stated that Mr Bagbin will do himself and his reputation a lot of good if he provides evidence to back his allegations or withdraw his statement honourably.

He added that if the allegations are found to be correct, some interrogations would have to be carried out into the matter to establish the truth.

The Minority Leader averred that the rules governing the behaviour of MPs will be applied if Mr. Bagbin is found to have damaged the image of Ghana’s Legislature through his comments.

Ghanamps.gov.gh

Member of Parliament for Afram Plains South, Joseph Appiah Boateng committed to equip Bebuso Junior High School (JHS) with five “Better Ghana” Laptops and five solar lanterns latest by the month of April.
According to him this facilities will to a large extent facilitate and enhance the academic performance of the students in the area.

Hon. Joseph Appiah Boateng made the pledge in response to a request made by students of the school who engaged the MP after an excursion to Parliament House on Friday.

The students who expressed their desire to learn hard and become responsible adults to develop their area said their efforts will be complimented if they had the necessary tools to learn with.

The students with awe visibly written on their faces, listened to the MP when he narrated his life experience from a humble beginning in the same districts as the students, assuring them that with tenacity of purpose they can rise to become important personalities in life and achieve their dreams.

Hon. Appiah Boateng encouraged them not to be discouraged by the low level of development in their area but urged them to draw lessons from his life, where he started from a humble beginning in the same district as the student but has managed to rise very high on the social ladder by dint of hard work.

He further expressed his commitment to improve the level of education in the area, adding that education is a prerequisite for development.

Ghanamps.gov.gh

Mrs Freda Prempeh, Member of Parliament for Tano North Constituency, has called for an extension of maternity leave for mothers to regain their potentials.

She said the three months stipulated leave granted expectant and nursing mothers was not enough for them to recover well.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in a telephone interview on this years celebration of the International Women’s Day, Mrs Prempeh said all inclusive effort was needed to tackle cultural and traditional issues affecting women.

The International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8, is a day set aside by the United Nations (UN) to champion the course of women by highlighting the role they play in nation building.

Globally, the day is celebrated under the theme; Inspiring Change but Ghana has chosen the theme: Equality for Women is Programme for All through Total Inclusion.

Mrs Prempeh said: Child bearing is a responsibility women undertake on behalf of humanity and every woman deserve to take enough rest to recover and regain her full health and potentials and have more time for the baby.

She observed that though women constituted 52 per cent of the population, yet decisions affecting them were mostly taken without adequate input from women.

The MP said women played critical roles as effective peace advocates, managers of the family and intermediaries in conflict resolution but regretted that Ghana was making slow progress in recognising and ensuring the quality and representation of women in decision making.

She said in order to bridge the gender equality gab through affirmative action, the issues of quotas and reserved seat for women to contest ought to be addressed and it was important to identify and solve certain problems women faced in all endeavours.

Mrs Prempeh suggested that reserved seat at the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and Parliament ought to be created and competed for by only women and that the 50 per cent out of the 30 per cent government appointees at the MMDAs should also be reserved for women and supported by law.

She appealed to the Ministry of Women and Gender to expedite action on the Affirmative Action Bill.

Throwing more light on the International Women’s Day, Mrs Prempeh said an international conference of working women was held in Copenhagen in 1910 to discuss how to achieve social equality, equal rights and better condition of women around the world.

It was during this conference that the idea of holding the International Women’s Day to press on governments and stakeholders on women rights was put forward for the first time.

GNA

Member of Parliament for Berekum East, Dr. Twum Nuamah Thas called on his colleagues in Parliament to ensure that they are fluent in English before picking up forms to represent their constituencies.

Speaking on Oman FM, Dr. Twum Nuamah noted that English cannot be underrated during Parliamentary proceedings because all discussions and documents are in English.

Dr. Twum Nuamah was commenting on the recent slips by the Member of Parliament for Wa East, Hon. Aminu Salifu.

Hon. Aminu Salifu, addressing an issue in the House, is quoted to have said that under the leadership of President John Mahama, the government has been able to eradicate “schools of trees”.

Obviously, he wanted to say “schools under trees” and went further to make other slips, hence creating unbridled laughter in the House.

Dr Twum Nuamah noted that though English is not our mother tongue, it is however necessary that Members of Parliament (MPs) express themselves well in the usage of the language.

“How can you have oversight responsibility of the Executive and do what you are supposed to do (when you are deficient in English)? English is not our native language, but we have accepted it as our language, so, we have to be fluent speakers….Even though, there can be slips here and there but slips are slips. It shouldnt be your norm that you will always slip or else it will affect your duties,” Dr Twum Nuamah.

Peacefmonline.com