Month: July 2018

Chairman for the Ghana-US Parliamentary Friendship Association, Emmanuel Kwesi Bedzrah has said the bilateral relation between the United States of America and Ghana has remained excellent.

He made this remarks at the two hundred and forty-two years independence celebration of the United States of America which falls on the 4th of July every year.

“Mr. Speaker relations between the two countries continue to foster development that has touched, changed and saved lives.”

Mr. Kwesi Bedzrah noted that the US had funded the building and renovation of over five hundred schools in Ghana in the last decade and in addition assisted thousands of Ghanaian students with scholarships to study and conduct research in the US through Marquee Fulbright Educational Exchange Programme.

They collaborated with the National Malaria control programme to increase the number of insecticide-treated nets available to the public. Whiles they have facilitated the Nkwanta South District Nutrition rehabilitation centre, which has become a beacon of hope in the Volta Region preventing malnourishment in children, he said.

Security knows no boundaries, hence our partnership with the United State of America, both countries exchange military training exercise in Ghana at the jungle warfare training school at Achiase military base.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Governs Kwame Agbodza has said, there is now a good and cordial working relation between the Minority and the Speaker Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye.

According to the Adaklu legislator if the cordiality continues this way, “we would be working closer and working as a team”, he said.

Mr. Kwame Agbodza further pointed out that the Speaker has given directives for research assistant of MPs who meet the criteria to be given their appointment letter, when he raised the issue on the floor of the House.

He made this remarks in an interview to show how the relationship between the Speaker and the Minority has improved, compare to the Minority taking the Speaker on, when he failed to recognize their leaders in the first meeting for the second session of the seventh Parliament of the fourth Republic.

“The inability of Parliament not to start proceedings early is not the fault of the Speaker, he has been an MP before, just that he had left the system for some time and the level of all of us having the same understanding is not the best”, he said.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Second Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim is demanding answers from leadership about why the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has not been attending to business on the floor of the House.

According to the Minority, the Finance Minister is one of the key Ministers in the Akufo-Addo led government, who had gain notoriety for avoiding doing business in the House, during the second meeting of the second session of the fourth Republic.

He further indicated that, most of the time the Deputy Minster’s of Finance lay documents on the floor of the House in this meeting, what the substantive Minister had done would not be up to ten percent.

This issue came up on the floor of the House when the sector Minister was not available to lay a paper for six million, five hundred and twenty thousand Euros to finance a Turnkey project, involving the expansion works on the University of Ghana Hospital, Legon, to be executed under an agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and Bank Hapoalim B. M of Israel.

Ordinarily, we in the Minority would not be raising issues with an agreement to expand a hospital, the Speakers leniency should not be taken as his weakness, “if not Deputy Majority Leader and Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation also do stand in for the Minister”, he lamented.

“He has to help the leaders of the House, we are in difficult times, and we have a tall order to deal with, Mr. Speaker, how do we help someone who is not prepared to help himself? By this statement we are sending a strong signal to the Finance Minister?

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta had indicated that there is no broken down bridge on the Binjai-Kidenji road.

Section of the road is however located in low-lying areas, the most critical being the stretch between km 18.00 -18.50.

According to the Minister there are some culverts within the stretch, the hydraulic capacities are inadequate in dealing with the perennial challenges of flooding within the section.

He further added that severe wash-outs had occurred over the years during rainy seasons, recent rains washed a section of the embankment away thereby cutting one stretch of the road from the other, he said.

And added that, the road has become impassable as the Department of Feeder Roads is treating the issue as an emergency.

“Mr. Speaker, the technical team has visited the site to access the situation and proposed the construction of series of box culverts of bigger hydraulics capacity to accommodate huge volumes of water that crosses the section of the road during the raining season.

This came to light when the Salaga North legislator Mumuni Alhassan asked of immediate measures being put in place to fix the broken bridge in Binjai-Kidenji road.

The Minister told the House, the Department of Feeder Roads is preparing the Bill of Quantities to facilitate early procurement for the work to go under a certificate of urgency.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa Central Naana Eyiah had indicated the Privileges Committee of Parliament would do a good job for Ghanaians to have faith in the committee.

She was among two other members of the committee who wrote to the committee to be allowed not to sit on the case of the chairman of the Central Regional caucus of her party, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong.

In an interview with ghanamps.com, Naana Eyiah indicated that three MPs from the Central Region on the Privileges committee not wanting to sit on the case of Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, would not take anything away from the committee from doing its work.

She noted that, taking into account what Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has done for the Region they cannot sit on his case, “we have not be pushed by anybody, I am not a kid neither my other colleagues”, she lamented.

When pushed further, she lamented and said, “Why is it that you do not want to take what I am telling, he is our caucus chairman and we do not want to sit on his case”, she lamented.

Asked if their action would not prolong the work of the committee, she responded not and further said, they do not regret the decision they have taken, but we would go there to listen to the workings of the committee.

“We are not fear Kennedy Ohene Agyapong as you want to put it, we are doing what we want to do he is our chairman of the Central Region, leadership would get a replacement for the three”, she said.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo Markin has expressed worry of recent practice when serious issues are referred to committees; its members talk to the media before their recommendations and findings find way to the floor of the House.

According to the Effutu lawmaker, it is worrying, and invited the speaker to rule on the matter since it is not a healthy development for the House.

He cited the case where the petitioner in the matter of the alleged contempt case brought by the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka against the Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, he (Muntaka) and Kumbungu legislator Ras Mubarak after the first meeting to the privileges committee meeting started granting interview to the media.

Speaker Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye on his part noted that upon advice if there are breaches that MPs goes ahead and speak to the media whiles the report of the committee is not before the House, they would know what to day.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com