Member of Parliament for Adaklu Kwame Agbodza has said he is vindicated by his call on the Speaker on Tuesday before the House was adjourned, if sitting was going to start 10:00am on Wednesday.

As at 10:17am on Wednesday only 8 MPs out of the 275 had reported to the chamber to do business on the floor.

According to the Adaklu legislator speaking in an interview noted that it is very “frustrating we cannot accept this that the Ghanaian does not do things on time”.

“You can see some school children in the public gallery, sometimes some of this children some are from the North they travel overnight because they are told to be here by 9:00am and some skip breakfast”.

Again to be here on time, it is unfair if we “Member of Parliament fail to come to work on time”, so the poor young kinds should wait in the gallery until 11:00am, he lamented.

If we the MPs cannot come to work on time, why do we blame a doctor for coming in late to work late, he asked

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Kwame Governors Agbodza, is advocating for sitting in the House to start exactly 10:00am whether leadership of both sides of the House are in the chamber or not.

According to the Adaklu lawmaker, Speaker Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye comes to the House on time, “there is no standing order which says leadership or MPs must be around before the Speaker enters the chamber”.

He noted that the only way to change this attitude is for the Speaker to enter the chamber at 10:00am to start business of the House, if we do not have the numbers around 10:00am the Speaker should “adjourn” the House.

Mr. Agbodza said the President said he is in a “hurry”, he should come and see if his Ministers are adhering to the same principle, “if they cared about what the President said they should have been here by now, look at the chamber empty Wednesday morning” he lamented.

“I would keep talking about this until there is a change, do you know how many times people tell me you would change,  where  did you get this strange idea from we would change you “but I refuse to be changed”.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Minister of the Interior Ambrose Dery has said government is in the process of getting helicopters, drones and vehicles for the Police Service to combat crime in the country.

He made this remarks in an interview after answering an urgent question on the floor of the House on Wednesday on the recent upsurge of crime most especially robbery in the capital.

“I want to assure you that we are containing the situation effectively, in the past it has been a general approach to crime and being reactive the law has provided that in terms of security matters, you can have sole sourcing we might have to do that quickly to get things in”.

The Police Service over the years has complained about lack of logistics to fight crime following armed robbery attacks on mobile money vendors and forex bureaus.

Two separate daylight robbery cases were recorded in Accra on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, one in North Kaneshie and the other one at Royal Motors in Accra.

In the case of Royal Motors, the robbers stormed the premises of the automobile company and made away with huge sums of money believed to be the company’s sales for the day.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Adda, has said destruction of major pipelines within the Lower Manya Krobo constituency is the cause of shortage of water.

According to the Minister, governments bid to improve the road network leading to road construction activities being undertaken within the enclave resulted in the destructions.

He further revealed that he is in touch with Road and Highways Ministry as well as the utility service providers anytime road construction work is being undertaken, to help avert occurrence of water supply being disrupted in the future.

The Minister made this remarks on the floor of Parliament when the Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi asked an urgent question wanting to know why his constituency which has the largest water treatment plant, is still experiencing water shortage and plans to end it.

Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has been specifically tasked to coordinate with road agencies to ensure that relocation of pipelines is undertaken to forestall future interruptions in the delivery of water supply to other communities and Lower Manya Krobo, he said.

In addition GWCL has made arrangements to provide tanker services to some areas in which the relocation is taking place and disruptions have occurred.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford S. Bagbin has expressed worry over the habitual lateness of Members of Parliament to the chamber.

According to the former Majority Leader, the Speaker Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye is always ready before 10:00am when business of the House usually starts, “it is not proper that he enters the chamber when it is empty”.

He noted that most of the time the chamber is empty but the Speaker is ready and advice member to be on time.

That was when the Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza wanted to know from the Second Deputy Speaker on Tuesday if proceedings of the House would start at 10:00am as he catalogued, number of weeks and days the House has always started late.

Leader of Government Business, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, revealed that the Speaker is always in the House early but most of the time the chamber would be empty. The point raised by the MP for Adaklu is “genuine concern”.

“The burden is on us as MPs to be in the chamber as early as possible for business of the House to start”.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, Mahama Ayariga has revealed that government is in the process of introducing two new bills that would reform legal education in the country.

According to the Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation, government has taken a “far reaching decision” which will address concerns raised about the General Legal Council (GLC) Legislative Instrument (LI) currently before the committee.

Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak and Alexander Afenyo-Markin are spearheading gathering of signatures from legislators, to throw away the GLC’s LI. Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation said they would need 2/3rd majority to carry out that action.

As the Committee lays its report on Wednesday, the GLC has reached an agreement to eliminate the interview session as an admission requirement at the Ghana Law School.

Since 2012, admission to the Law School was determined through entrance examination and interview sessions but the Supreme Court in 2017 ruled that it was illegal as the two are not in the Professional Law Course Regulations of 1984 (LI 1296) that regulates law education in Ghana. The Supreme Court therefore directed the GLC to take steps to legalise the process.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Afram Plains North, Betty Krosby Mensah has sponsored the operation of three blind siblings from Kronanka community in the Afram Plains North Community.

The three siblings aged 10, 7 and 5 years had been blind from birth as a result of cataract, which was operated on at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital.

The Honourable Member of Parliament expressed delight over the successful surgery carried out on the children and promised to do more to reduce the plight of needy children in her constituency.

According to the MP, some parents attribute sicknesses of their children or themselves to spiritual causes instead of going to the hospital for treatment and described such habit as unhelpful.

Madam Betty Krosby Mensah further advised parents not to delay in seeking medical care for their children anytime they are sick.

Dr Kennedy Opoku an Ophthalmologist at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital who performed the Surgery commended the MP for supporting the children to undergo the surgery.