Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu advocated that the media should be allowed to sit in the committee of the whole meeting for the first time.

According to the Minority since the issue in question is provision of Ghana card and is a public interest issue the media should be allowed to sit in.

This is the first time that a case had been made on behalf of the media to sit in committee of the whole.
First Deputy Speaker of Parliament who was in the chair, the standing orders of the House gives the speaker the discretion to allow visits to sit in.

Mr. Joseph Osei Owusu allowed the application of the Minority Leader to hold, by allowing the media to stay in to observe proceedings of the committee of the whole.

Deputy Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation and MP for Dormaa East William Kwasi Sabi led officials of the NIA to have their presentation done on Tuesday 12th of June 2018.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency in the Greater Accra region, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko has urged all stakeholders to as a matter of urgency join efforts aimed at curbing the deadly effects of the plastics in the country.

He emphasised the need for all to resolve and take action for lifestyle changes as far as the plastic waste menace is concerned.

The lawmaker proposed new and innovative ways as key to solve plastic challenge that has bedeviled the country.

He made the proposal in a statement on the floor of Parliament to commemorate the 2018 World Sanitation day.

He revealed that five hundred trillion tonnes of plastic is generates yearly according to a research. The world he said uses over 500 billion plastic bags with 8 million tonnes of that ends up in the ocean annually.

Plastic according to the statement constitutes about 10% of waste generated in Ghana.

Mr Agyarko said most worrisome of the challenge is that, only two percent of about 1.7 million plastic generated annually is recycled according to a research conducted by the UNDP.

The MP urged all to consider plastic as a resource rather than waste.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com.

A former deputy for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Bernice Adiku Heloo has urged the urgent need for all households in the country to practice waste segregation.

She observed that the fight against plastic waste especially sachet has bedeviled the country for a long time hence the need for immediate action.

According to her, the Ministry in 2015 proposed the addition of biodegradable chemicals to plastic products in the country to help control its effects but that is yet to be adhered to.

Dr Adiku Hello is also the Member of Parliament for Hohoe is advocating “the time for action is now” for all citizens to join the fight against filth.

The MP also urged the need for consistent public education backed with the location of waste at vantage points to prevent littering.

The lawmaker laments that Ghana is losing a lot of revenue with regards to tourism, since dirty beaches are not attracting patronage.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle constituency in the Greater Accra region, Dr Zanetor Agyemang-Rawlings is advocating the inclusion of the Department of Parks and Gardens in roads construction plans to help in landscaping and proper demarcation of walkways and floral decorations to help control road traffic accidents.

Contributing to a statement on the floor of Parliament, the MP also proposed that Zebra crossings on major roads in cities and towns be very visible whiles ensuring that compulsory maintenance of all roads in the country are enshrined in the plans.

Dr Agyemang-Rawlings also urged the need for conscious driving by drivers to help curb road crashes.

Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

Ranking Member on the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, Kwame Governs Agbodza has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for failing to add a single stretch of road since assuming the reign of governance for the past sixteen month.

He expressed concern that the reduced budgetary allocation to the Roads and Highways Ministry has not helped in the fulfillment of its mandate.

Making a contribution to a statement on the carnage on the country’s roads on the floor of Parliament, the Adaklu Member of Parliament said the development is not helping to control road accidents.

According to him, most vehicles on the roads are not road worthy while drivers and vehicle owners fail to do regular maintenance of their vehicles.

He stated that only qualified drivers should be allowed to drive even as the Police help control the situation by ensuring that unqualified drivers are not behind the wheels.

The lawmaker also urged the need for parents who drive to be responsible enough in ensuring that their children are properly scrapped in moving vehicles.

Mr Agbodza advocates proposed new regulations to help address the challenge.

Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, Samuel Ayeh-Paye has bemoaned the general lack of maintenance in the country and is urging all citizens to develop a culture of maintenance to help maintain the roads.

He expressed displeasure about how Road Fund accruals have been disbursed over the years without recourse to the law establishing it.

Since the fund is meant for the maintenance of roads in the country, Mr Ayeh-Paye who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ayensuano constituency in the Eastern region emphasized the need for it to be used as such rather than for new projects.

The MP urged the need for constant maintenance of roads since the rain is an enemy of roads. He also advocate the building of capacity of road engineers in the country to effectively discharge their duties whiles urging constant monitoring of road projects to ensure quality and longevity.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com.

Minister of State responsible for Public Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Sarfo has called for the need for the country to adopt innovative means in the fight against the menace of plastic waste.

According to her the challenge is not about introducing new regulations but how to ensure attitudinal change towards the responsible use of plastics.

The deputy Majority leader said there is the need for Ghana to adopt transformative use of plastic in order to solve other challenges facing the country.

Ghana she said should adopt the Singaporean example and make use of more paper bags rather than plastic bags as the way to go.

The Dome Kwabenya MP also advocates strict and punitive measures against abuse the use of plastics for the ultimate benefit of the country.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com.

Member of Parliament for Kumbungu has alleged that the National Identification Authority exercise ongoing to produce Ghana card is politically motivated.

According to the Kumbungu lawmaker per his political calculation, after the Accra registration exercise, the next place the exercise should go is the Ashanti Region.

Instead, the exercise would move to the strongholds of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) the Volta, Northern, Upper East and West Regions.

They would move to Brong Ahafo before coming to the Ashanti Region, “they are using this whole exercise for politics, they tell us that there are better facilities in Accra one would expect that the next place would be Ashanti Region”, he said.

“Per our calculations what they want to do, is when they get information from places that are not their strong holds they can pack people in their strong hold and register foreigners. So far they have not convince us that they would not be capturing foreigners they have to explain”.

Again Ghana is not Accra and Kumasi, people in the big cities like Kumasi and Accra cannot represent Ghana, if you put the population of people in the rural areas together they are more than the people in the big cities, he lamented.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com