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Month: August 2017

Road tow levy LI to receive Parliamentary modification- MP

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

Chairman of Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Ayensuano, Samuel Ayeh-Paye has expressed the hope that the contentious road towing policy may still happen in future in a new form.

This, he said, is however subject to parliamentary review of the Legislative Instrument (LI) on the road tow.

He debunked claims by section of the public that Parliament enacted a bad instrument for its citizens hence its rejection.

The Chairman explained that the LI was not prepared and passed by Parliament and emphasised that the Executive is responsible for introducing bills and LI into Parliament for consideration and possible approval if need be.

Parliament he said is obliged to listen to the public to make an informed decision hence has not erred in anyway.

The Chairman assured that the concerns raised by the public will inform the committee and Parliament to make the best laws for the country.

He called for stakeholder involvement in order to undertake public education for greater understanding on the levy.

Ghanaians he said would have appreciated the levy if the procedure was well explained and expressed optimism that the LI on the implementation of the levy would be re-laid before Parliament with the full embrace of all Ghanaians.

Per the suspended LI, Vehicle owners and motorcyclists were expected to pay compulsory annual fees, range from GHC 20 to GHC 200 tied to the acquisition of road worthy certificate, to cater for towing services.

This was to aid the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in partnership with the private sector to rid the country’s roads of broken down vehicles to curb incidents of road crashes.

Road Safety Management Limited (RSML), a subsidiary of the Jospong Group had been awarded the contract to carry out the exercise

By Christian Kpesese/ghanamps.com

Regulatory institutions must sit up- Dafeamekpor

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

Member of Parliament for the South Dayi constituency in the Volta region, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor has urged regulatory bodies in the country to sit up in the performance of their functions for greater outcomes.

He expressed worry about the apparent laxity on the part of some regulatory bodies that has resulted in lawlessness in the country.

According to him, Ghana would have been better off had its established regulatory and monitoring institutions perform their work efficiently.

“If regulatory institutions work, well, the country would be better off’’ Hon Dafeamekpor said.

The MP’s call came in the wake of a revelation during the Public Accounts Committee sitting of Parliament that most Telecommunication operators in that country have not renewed their licenses for many years running with the regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA) looking on helplessly.

Officials of NCA appeared before the committee to respond to queries raised by 2015 Auditor General`s report against the telecom sector regulator.

By Christian Kpesese/ghanamps.com

Nitiwul charged audit committee to retrieve lost cash

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

Minister for Defence and Member of Parliament for Bimbila in the Northern region, Dominic Nitiwul has charged the Ministry`s Audit Committee to retrieve some seven hundred thousand dollars lost through unexecuted projects.

He assured that the money will be retrieved from the military and reported back to Parliament accordingly.

The Minister said this when his outfit appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to respond to infractions raised against the Ministry by the 2015 Auditor General`s report.

According to the report four contractors were awarded contracts to perform and 700,00 dollars had been outstanding with them for no work done.

Mr Nitiwul assured the committee of his personal determination to ensure that that money is recovered as quickly as possible.

“They will use strategies to ensure that is done so we can report back to Parliament and say we have recovered that money“ he said.

The case, he said has been reported to the police, EOCO and all bodies that needed to be involved to help retrieve the money for the state.

The Ghana Armed Forces between 2006 and 2009 awarded the seven hundred thousand dollar contract to some 4 contractors who failed to execute the contracts. Several efforts to retrieve the contract sums have however proved futile.

By Christian Kpesese/ghanamps.com

Bring agro-chemicals closer to farmers- Asafu-Adjei

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

Chairman of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Nsuta-Kwamang Beposo, Kwame Asafu-Adjei has urged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to endevour to bring agro-chemicals and other farm inputs closer to farmers.

This, he said, will help in fighting the devastating effects of the fall-army worm that has destroyed farm produce.

The MP urged government to act as a matter of urgency and stated that the extent of damage by the armyworm invasion was not anticipated.

This came to light when Parliament Select Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs tours army worm infested communities in the Brong Ahafo and Central regions.

Over 13,000 farms have been affected by army worms destroying food crops.

By Christian Kpesese/ghanamps.com

Lawra MP calls for an increase of GETFUND to increase infrastructure

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lawra Constituency in the Upper West Region and Deputy Minister of roads and highways, Anthony Abayifaa Karbo has given an assurance of working hard to get Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) to increase the infrastructure in the Lawra Senior High School so that it can uplift the face of the school and be able to admit more student.

The MP, made this statement when he delivered his maiden address during the Lawra District Assembly’s first ordinary meeting in Lawra.

On other important issues affecting the district, the MP touched on roads stating that he was passionate about development hence he will ensure free movement of goods and services, and facilitate the face lifting of their market centers

According to him, he is liaising with the government to construct a two-hundred meter (200M) bridge across the Black Volta to facilitate trade between Ghana and Burkina Faso, adding, feasibility and costing has been finalized awaiting cabinet approval for construction to commence.

The Hon Deputy minister proceeded to add that, Ghana cannot construct the bridge whiles their counterparts in Burkina will not construct a road from the bridge to Bobodelaso, so discussion are still going on with their counterparts in Burkina Faso so that, the road from Boo through Dowine Eremong Zambo to Lawra Dikpe to Bobodelaso is declared an international Ecowas road so that, the African development Bank can step in to finance the project on the other side.

Alice Abubakari/Ghanadistricts.com

Prampram MP advocates National database on lands

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

The honorable Member of Parliament for the Ningo Prampram constituency in the Greater Accra region, Sam George Dzata is advocating a compilation of a comprehensive database directory on all lands in the country.

He expressed worry about the lack of register of Stool Lands by the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands which he said does not augur well for efficient and effective land administration in the country.

According to him, a register of Lands by the Administrator would serve as a necessary tool for the prevention and resolution of the numerous land disputes that has bedeviled the nation.

He noted for instance in the case of the Prampram area that the Watson Commission report has identified who the original owners of certain lands are hence the need for government to as a matter of urgency build a database of all lands to forestall cases of land disputes.

“Until and unless we prioritize the issues of Government as an institution owning the directorate of lands, we will always have land disputes’’ he observed.

The lawmaker made the call when officials from the Administrator of Stool Lands appeared before the Public Accounts to respond to queries raised by the 2015 Auditor General`s report.

Christian Kpesese /GhanaMps.com

Mediate Togo crises before it spills to Ghana – Okudzeto

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

President Akufo-Addo should mediate the political crises in Togo or Ghana will suffer the negative consequences of escalated tensions and violence that has gripped our neighbouring nation, Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Okudzeto Ablakwa, has urged.

“It will be good for President Akufo-Addo to begin to engage with his colleague and if he can play some mediatory role between President Faure and the opposition parties,” Mr. Ablakwa said on Monday, August 21.

His comments follow anti-Gnassingbe protests in Togo’s capital, Lome, on Saturday, August 19 with others in Sokode in Togo, and Ghana’s capital Accra.

The demonstrators were demanding the country’s return to its 1992 Constitution which allowed multi-party democracy with a limited Presidential term of office. However, the clash between security officials and the protesters led to multiple deaths and scores of injuries.

For Mr. Ablakwa, it will be in Ghana’s interest to have peace in Togo. In view of that, he has proposed “engagements because they [Togolese] are our immediate neighbours and we will bear the brunt.

Remember that in 2005 [there were] similar protests with a face off with authorities in Togo which led to at least 500 being killed and many people had to cross over into the Volta.”

He said it is the democratic right of citizens to protest or demonstrate and was unfortunate that it resulted in deaths.

“My initiate thoughts is that the situation is quite unfortunate,” he lamented in an interview with Joy FM.

Prioritize welfare of Parliamentary staff, not new chamber – Aowin MP

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs
Building a new Parliamentary Chamber is not a priority rather the focus should be on addressing the welfare of the Parliamentary staff, Kwame Mathias Ntow said in an interview with ghanamps.com.

He stated that looking at the salary levels of the staff, “they are only managing to exist, we work with them, they complain of their benefits all the time”.

“As I speak to you now, it is getting to 6:00pm, staffs are still in their offices working”.

According to the Aowin Member of Parliament (MP), it is better if the Speaker sets up a committee to look into the welfare of the workers, “as MPs and the House we cannot run without the workers everything is interrelated”.

As to whether he gets a lot of complains from the staff,  he responded in the affirmative and noted that when it gets to Friday if you move around Parliament you will hear some of the staff saying, “we are going for the weekend, if you have 50 or 20 Ghana you give it to the person”.

Some of the staff come to the House with prescription of their wards, school fees and we have been paying some of these things for some of the workers, he said.

“A person working at the Speaker’s secretariat and not taking home three thousand Ghana cedis (GH 3,000), the person will be working but do you think the person will be happy?”

According to him, the Hansard Department and clerks to committees are very important because if you need a report urgently for which reason they have to work extra hours to meet your deadline, they may be reluctant because there are no motivations for the person to want to sacrifice more to help you.

As to the 15% increase across board in salary announce by the Parliamentary Service Board, “If someone is taking (GH 1,500) what will change if you give him or her 15%”.

It is just like a drop of water in an ocean, it will boost them a little but then after a year 15% of their salary what will it do, is it going to be on the basic or the gross he remarked?

Speaker, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye announced that MPs should send to the Clerk their ideas of how they want a new chamber building to look like during the recess.

“We are all aware of what happened to the chamber block some time ago when the roof ripped off water was just pouring into the chamber.

If you look at the number of years that this building has spent, I think it has been a long time they have been doing refurbishment but may be not up to the top of the roof. It was not surprising the storm took off the roof and an inconvenience was created there are a lot of things that we need to do”, he remarked.

He noted that even if they are going to put up a structure what will be the mode of funding? Is it a loan, who is going to pay, is it Parliament that is going to pay or the government of the day we have been burdened with a lot of loans.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

our mandate despite tackling illegal mining -Deputy Minister

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Barbara Oteng Gaysi in an interview with Ghanamps.com said Ghanaians will renew the mandate of President Akufo Addo’s government and the party despite crusade to end illegal mining.

Contrary to views held by some Ghanaians and illegal miners that the current government will be punished in the next general elections for fighting to end illegal mining in the Country.

According to the Deputy Minister she is impressed with the stands taken by President to stop illegal mining and is of the firm believe Ghanaians will renew “our mandate for the good things for this country”.

She further noted that President Nana Akufo-Addo has been entrusted to rule this Nation by Ghanaians and there is a huge problem of illegal mining over the years, “if we do not stop it we are not going leave any heritage for the next generation”.

In addition she noted that the President is a leader who wants to make an impact by taking this courageous step putting his Presidency on the line.

As to whether she is deterred by comments made by those engaged in the illegal mining that they were going to vote against her in the next Parliamentary election, she said “not at all”, and quoted Matthew 21:42 to support her point; Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’’

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

We need serious government business in the House-Former Minister

Posted on by Akumaa GhanaMPs

Former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development under late President John Mills Joseph Yieleh Chireh is calling on government to bring serious business to the House when Members of Parliament return from recess in October.

He noted that business is slow in the House because there is no serious government business on the floor of the House.

If you appoint 110 Ministers they need to settle and find their levels in the Ministries more especially when majority of them are MPs, he remarked.

“We hope that when we return they will bring very meaningful arrangement to the House”.

According to the Wa West legislator expectations of Ghanaians are very high, otherwise we will all have understood President AkufoAddo’s government especially the promises they made during the election.

Again if they had started working on policies that require approval in Parliament either as legislation by now we will have done more work but they are now looking at the realities on the ground.

The Ghanaian economy has not been transformed “just by word of mouth no”, it takes practical action, all the economic operators will depend on concrete things and not what we are saying, the former Minister said.

“A government that is in a hurry, we were hoping they will be in a hurry to come with proposals and now specialized in loan taking, by now loan agreements will be coming in their numbers”.

Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh remarked that a government was shouting about a Chinese loan agreement, I was thinking by now the Chinese would have leverage their money against our natural resources.

“I can understand I have been in government before, every government requires some time and if only they stop being in their campaign mode sit down and look at the hard issues we will move forward”.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com