Month: June 2015

Government says it is pursuing the development and adoption of coal as a long-term solution to Ghana’s energy crisis.

Power Minister, Kwabena Donkor who announced this on the floor of parliament said coal compared to other sources of energy including, thermal, hydro and nuclear is cheap and easy to generate power for domestic and industrial use.

He says Ghana has the responsibility to remain competitive and the only way to do this is to improve the power sector.

Dr Donkor, however believes that this cannot be done if the country relies on hydro energy alone.

He is optimistic the adoption of coal will bring to a permanent end crisis in the energy sector.

The Power Minister also reiterated that the current load shedding will end by the end of this year due to the plans and interventions initiated by government.

With the measures being put in place, Dr Donkor believes that load shedding once it ends will not return.

Ghana has for the past three years been grappling with a terrible power supply system.

The situation has been blamed on the low levels of water in the Akosombo Dam and the irregular supply of gas from Nigeria.

Several businesses have collapsed, many have lost their jobs and individuals are having a hard time living normal lives as a result of the dumsor.

Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho has said a final decision will soon be taken on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Talensi, Robert Nachinab Mosoore who has been enskinned as a Chief.

The MP has not formally informed Parliament of his new position and has not also resigned his seat, a month after being enskinned as Paramount Chief of Talesi Traditional Area at a colourful ceremony.

Majority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mohammed about a fortnight ago on the floor of Parliament moved a motion asking the MP to do the honourable thing by resigning and vacating his seat because his enskinnment as Chief bars him from active politics.

However the Minority then challenged the call describing it as misplaced since there is no evidence that Hon. Robert Nachinab Doaneng Mosoore has been enskinned.

They argued that per the constitution, until an enskinment or enstoolment is gazetted, one cannot be recognized as a chief.

During Friday’s sitting, the issue once again came up for discussion with the Majority side forcefully arguing their case for the Talensi seat to be declared vacant.

Rt. Hon. Speaker Doe Adjaho who presided over proceedings stated that a ruling will be made on the matter next week hopefully by which time Parliament would have received an official communication from the MP.

Per Article 276 of the constitution; (1) A chief shall not take part in active party politics; and any chief wishing to do so and seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his stool or skin.”

In the event that he resigns a by-election will have to be held in the constituency to elect a successor to occupy the Talensi seat.

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Members of Parliament (MPs) have made an urgent appeal to deal with the perennial flooding of the capital and associated disasters which often lead to fatalities and damage to properties running into millions.

A deluge and an explosion at the Goil Fuel Station near the GCB Bank Limited Towers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra claimed the lives of a number of people.

The victims included commuters who had taken refuge at the fuel station and passengers in some commercial vehicles that had parked to refuel or waiting for the rains to subside.

The disaster, believed to be one of the worst to hit the country, is said to have claimed the lives of more than 150 people, including a woman and her toddler.

To back their call with action, the members including the Speaker visited some of the affected areas and the scene of the explosion.

Before the visit, the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, asked the House to observe a minute’s silence in memory of the victims after a statement by the Majority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, at its sitting yesterday.

In his statement, Mr Muntaka, who is also the MP for Asawase, expressed the condolences of the House to the bereaved families and described the incident as one of the most horrific and the highest death toll in the country’s history if the figure confirmed.

Alhaji Mubarak called on the members to handle the incident dispassionately without any political colouration and come up with an antidote to the recurrence and abatement of the impact of such disasters.

He expressed worry about the attitude of the people, especially towards proper planning and waste disposal, which had contributed immensely to worsen flooding and other avoidable disasters in the country.

He also asked the people to see the incident as a wake-up call to review their attitude towards health and safety which have been the country’s major challenges.

The Majority Chief Whip cited Trinidad and Tobago as one of the countries which had inculcated in their citizenry the essence of safety and advised Ghanaians to emulate the example.

The First Deputy Minority Whip, Mrs Irene Naa Torshie Addo and MP for Tema West, stressed the need for unity to address such challenges holistically.

She said apart from sensitising people to the need for safety measures for the prevention of such disasters, it was time for the country’s planners, engineers and road contractors to ensure that their work did not compromise the safety of the people.

The Chairman of the Committee of Defence and the Interior and MP for Ablekuma South, Mr Fritz Baffour, recounted a similar experience in 1995 during which 25 lives were lost and said ‘’we should not allow impunity to rule this country”.

He commended the security agencies and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) for the manner they handled the situation and said the House had the responsibility to stop the people from inflicting avoidable disasters on themselves.

The Minority Leader and MP for Suame, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said since the challenge had been an annual occurrence, it should be treated as a national emergency to prevent or abate its effects.

He said it was time people entrusted with the execution and management of certain vital functions were held accountable to save the people from avoidable and preventable disasters.

Nominee to the Supreme Court of Ghana, Mr Gabriel Pwamang has proposed that the schedule of the Electoral Commission (EC) in an election year be openly published and gazetted for all political parties to follow.

He is certain that when the EC implements such a move it will go a long way to eliminate suspicions and agitation by the political parties as they will also draw their programmes according to the schedule of the EC.

Lawyer Gabriel Pwamang who made the suggestion while answering questions at his vetting in Parliament House on Wednesday stated that currently there is too much discretion for the EC to decide at will, what programmes it wants to undertake in an election year, without the input of the parties.

He said in the past the EC has undertaken several activities during an election year, a situation that always created tension among themselves and the political parties.

“During the last election year, the EC undertook so many activities such as demarcating of new constituencies, gazetting them, and opening of nominations among other programemes which created problems for them. He noted”

Nearly a month ago, the political parties who raised red flags for not being consulted by the EC prior to the opening of registration for persons who had turned eighteen years, forced the EC to suspend the exercise.

Touching on how to expedite election petition hearing in the future, Lawyer Gabriel Pwamang who is also the former General Secretary of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), proposed the amendment of the constitution to set a time limit for the hearing and determination of an election petition which has been filed.

He asserted this will ensure that the Judges at the Supreme Court work with a specific time in mind to enable them speedily adjudicate on the matter and give their ruling.

The December 2012 election petition case filed by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in January 2013 took eight months to be decided by the Supreme Court, a period during which anxiety greeted the entire country and slowed foreign investments into the country in the process.

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Parliament has summon the Minister for Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, to appear before the House on Thursday to answer an urgent question on the persisting power crisis which continues to adversely affected almost the entire economy of the country.

The question stands in the name of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who wants to find out from the minister what measures the Ministry of Power has initiated to end the crisis and also what are the definite timelines for a total end to the power crisis.

Government has in the past given numerous promises and dates to end the power crisis which has persisted for the past three (3), years however those assurances have not been fulfilled which has led to the loss of lives, jobs, closure of businesses and also affected the lifestyles of citizens.

Power barges which were expected to arrive in the country from Turkey in April to salvage the power crisis are now expected in by September 2015.

Sections of the public are of the view that the government is not doing much to see the end of the power crisis popularly known as “dumsor” and it is expected that the Minister of Power’s answers in Parliament on Thursday will give Ghanaians some hope.

Hon. Dr Kwabena Donkor’s appearance in Parliament promises to be exciting and full of fireworks as the minority is anticipated to pin him down with several probing questions.

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The Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Committee of Parliament has expressed concern about the excessively wide range of exemption provisions on information not to be disclosed under the Right to Information Bill.

It noted that the purpose of the Bill is to allow for transparency and accountability in governance; hence too many exemptions would erode whatever benefits the law intends to achieve.

The Right to Information Bill is intended to give substance to Article 21(1) (f) of the constitution by providing for the access to official information held by government agencies and private entity performing public function; and the qualification and conditions under which the access would be obtained.

Civil Society Organizations have raised concerns severally over the delay in amending the Bill and passing it into law after it was drafted in 2002 and laid before parliament in 2013, describing the process of laying the Bill as one that has been shrouded in secrecy.

However, Parliament has initiated steps to have the Bill passed, hence the committee deliberation on the Bill.

The Committee furthermore in its report observed that the Bill is applicable to only information held by government agencies. It sees it to be too restrictive and therefore the coverage must be widened to cover to private bodies that perform public functions with public funds.

“The Committee is therefore of the view that the public should be able to have the right of access to information in the custody of private bodies or agencies especially if the disclosure is in the public interest. It is therefore important to widen the scope to cover private bodies which perform public functions with public funds” the report noted.

Consequently the committee proposed that the term “government body” running through the Bill be deleted and the words “public institution “inserted.

This according to the report is applicable to both South Africa and Liberia, where in both jurisdictions the right to private entities that receive public resources and benefits or engage in public functions or provides public services, particularly in respect of information relating to the public resources, benefits or services.

In addition, the Committee has proposed the establishment of an independent commission which will have oversight responsibility for the implementation of the law.

GhanaMPs.gov.gh