Month: September 2017

 

A former Deputy Minister of Education in-charge of Tertiary and Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency in the Volta region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has stated that over 5000 re-engagement Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) graduates would not benefit from government’s free Senior High School (SHS) policy for the 2017/18 academic year.

The re-engaged students he said are those who have qualified in previous academic years but did not have opportunity for placements due to various reasons.

According to him, the implementation of the Free SHS policy by the NPP government has been made possible due to the good foundation laid by the erstwhile NDC administration.

He explained that the previous NDC administration expended about GHC 700 million to expand access which include the construction of new E-SHS Blocks across the country.

Christian Kpesese/Ghanamps.com

 

Residents of the Dome Kwabenya constituency, comprising of Ashongman, Dome, Taifa, Atomic, Kwabenya and its environs, have sent a cautionary message to their Member of Parliament, Hon Adwoa Safo to attend to the infrastructural needs; with specific reference to the deplorable state of roads, within her constituency or get kicked out of parliament in 2020.

According to them, the Honorable Member deceived them into believing that there would be a positive turn around within the constituency should she retain her parliamentary seat.

In their words, “There is no good road within our noble constituency.

“The only area which permits a vehicle to move smoothly without a bump is the atomic roundabout area and all efforts to reach our MP, who is supposed to be our mouthpiece at the legislature, after the elections have proved futile. The conditions of roads within our constituency have been the same for 12 years and only continue to deteriorate as the years go by. We recently spotted some tractors around the atomic-Taifa Bankyease roads but it was all a decoy into making us believe that our issue had been considered.”

Speaking further to Nana Yaa Asabea on the Nyansapo Community watch programme on AgooTV last Friday, the visibly angry constituents scheduled between the 30th of September and early next year (2018) as deadline for the MP to set the needed measures in place or lose her parliamentary seat in 2020.

 

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has reversed the ban it places on the Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah.

According to the Assembly, it was going to give an opportunity to the Tema West law maker to explain the alleged action that led to his initial six month suspension since the decision was taken without his presence.

TMA took this decision despite, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah not showing up on the invitation extended to him by the Assembly.

The MP was expected to appear before the Assembly to apologize before the suspension could be lifted, but he blatantly ignored the Assembly, and yet his suspension was lifted.

The decision to suspend Mr. Ahenkorah was taken by the Public Relations and Complaints Committee (PRCC) of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly chaired by the presiding member of the Assembly, Richard Fiadomor earlier last week.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

A member of the Public Account Committee (PAC) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton Mohammed Hardi Tuferu said the committee cannot cause the arrest of public officers who misappropriate public funds and appear before the committee, unless there is enactment of law to that effect.

Ghanaians want to see a police, attach to the committee who will effect immediate arrest of those found to have misappropriated public funds, he said.

That is not the way the law works, for us we do not arrest or prosecute, what we do is to bring issues that the Auditor General raised, officers’ attention are drawn to it andare allowed to pay back with interest, he said.

“If this is what we want and think will with good governance, we should make the appropriate recommendation for a constitutional review in that direction”.

According to the Nanton legislature, until we make such a change, “our work is limited, we only make recommendation for recovery of funds”, he lamented.

“Laws are there to ensure prudent financial management to serve as a deterrent, but unfortunately the problems keep occurring as human institutions we should expect this, we were thinking that judging from what happened in the sixth Parliament we will have less work but the work before us is a lot”, he added.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Frank Annor Dompreh has indicated in strong terms that callous treatment minted out to Ghanaians who seek greener pastures abroad, especially in Arab Countries will be addressed by the committee.

Barely assuming chairmanship of the committee two months ago, he has indicated that the leadership, of the committee will be a proactive one.

According to the Nsawam –Adoagyiri legislator, the committee is concerned and has it on their agenda to address callous treatment being minted out to Ghanaians abroad.

Again the committee earlier touched base with the ambassador for the United States of America, to hear their side of the story on Ghanaians detainees who were deported in chains.

“We have records and contact numbers of those Ghanaians, we will get in touch with them to hear their side of the story and take the issue up”, he said. Courtesy

As part of consolidating and building stronger ties between Ghana and other countries, the committee will embark on visitation to some embassies, first on the agenda will be a courtesy call on the Chines Ambassador.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

 

The Deputy Northern Regional Minister and MP for Bunkpurugu constituency, Solomon Boar at the School Feeding Program Workshop held at GNAT Hall in Tamale, underscored the need for women to strive for greater heights.

A conference was staged to aid the applicants across the region to teach and strengthen their collective power in cooking for the school children and also actively participate in their own development and the development of their communities, region and country at large.

Speaking at the Conference, Mr Boar was enthused about the level of participation by the women lauded their efforts for standing up to be part of the development process and encouraged them not to relent on their efforts but continue to strive to add value to whatever jobs or activities they are engaged in.
He also urged them to be bold to take up leadership positions as that is another sure way to getting their numerous demands heard and addressed.

The MP also reiterated the importance Nana Akuffo Addo’s government places on women and listed out a number of interventions government is taking to ease challenges faced by women including the implementing of the Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking and Disability Acts, and apportioning 30% of available public office positions to women among others.

He added that he would add his voice to ensure that 50% of MASLOC funds are set aside for female applicants to support their craft enterprises in the region.

He commended the efforts the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection,Otiko Djaba is doing for mother Ghana under the school feeding program in the region and country and encouraged everyone to continue to assist government’s efforts in bringing development to the people.

Alice Abubakari/ ghanamps.com

 

Member of Parliament for Nsawam–Adoagyiri, Frank Anno Dompreh says President Nana Akufo-Addo does not have a position on Togo’s crises neither will he meddle in a sovereign countries internal issues.

He further pointed out that what Ghana can do behind the scene is to diplomatically appeal to the authorities in Togo to follow the rule of law.

And added that the committee has visited the Togolese embassy to show concern and appeal to the President of that country through the embassy to ensure that, they do what they ought to do more especially to avoid death being recorded.

“Leadership should always know that it is people who make them leaders, if there is a strong concern that there is a change in arrangement, it is only fair for leadership to listen”.

We appreciate the geographic proximity of the two Countries and appreciate that we have families in Ghana who have grandparents in Togo and the other way round. But notwithstanding, Togo is an independent republic, there should be respect for the rule of law, he said.

We have had issues like this before in 1992 issues with the Military, we did not hear the Togo administration coming to state their position, I agree that it is a necessary issue to deal with because it has its own ramification for the sub region.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

 

Chairman of the committee on Foreign Affairs, Frank Anno Dompreh is calling on bodies like the African Union and Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) to help address, the crises that neighboring country Togo is grappling with.

He noted that, AU and ECOWAS should adopt diplomacy in finding a lasting peace tothe crises unfolding in Togo.

Togo is a sovereign country, ECOWAS and the AU cannot use force in addressing the unfolding situation.
Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters took to the street in several cities across Togo to demand for constitutional reforms.

Opposition party leader Jean-Pierre Fabre has describe the demonstrations as “unprecedented”.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

 

Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton and a member of the Public Account Committee (PAC) Mohammed Hardi Tuferu has revealed that recoveries being made by the committee will be made known to Ghanaians before the end of the year.

PAC is having its third public sitting on Monday 11th September 2017, to continue with public hearing on public boards and corporations.

According to the Nanton MP, recoveries made by the current PAC, will be made known to
Ghanaians through the plenary sitting of the House.

“We cannot have public sittings and that ends it, without informing Ghanaians recoveries that have been made during our public hearing”.

He further revealed that prior to the public hearing, a lot of offenders rush to pay monies before thepublic hearing starts, hence improvement in the recoveries of funds.

Again we have compiled list of funds recovered from offenders, especially those with interest paid and the other way round he said.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

 

Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ben Abdallah Banda has hinted in an interview that the 2018 budget will make provisions for Office of the Special Prosecutor.

The committee will meet stakeholders in Parliament next week and embark on trips abroad to understudy best practices from Countries like Canada, Singapore and South Africa.

Creation of the Special Prosecutor is part of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s agenda to fight corruption as he promised during the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

According to the Chairman of the Committee and a ranking member, Inusah Fuseini, in a separate interview gave assurance that by October ending this year, the Bill should passed by House.

The Chairman further explain that this is to enable provisions for the office to run to be provided in the 2018 budget which will be presented on the floor of the House in November this year.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com