Month: September 2018

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has hinted of government’s plans to restructure the country’s economy by issuing a $ 50billion century bond.

He expressed optimism that the century bond will continue to strengthen the falling cedi in an interview with journalists and added that government is exploring several means to stabilize the currency.

“For now, we are structuring what we call the century bond of $50 billion dollars and a successful century bond will then make everybody pretty, comfortable about the future of our needs infrastructure and the foreign exchange we need, so that we have more stability”.

Again as we begin to see the realization of industrialization that means that something like food, which we used to import about $2.4 billion a year, we will begin to cut down on that and it is a lot of savings.

He was positive that measures being implemented by the government will lead to the development of the economy in the coming months.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza has lamented that in the emergency recall for this week, Members of Parliament are chocked with loan agreements.

According to the Adaklu lawmaker a lot of questions are unanswered but government is burnt on pushing ahead with them and added that the controversial among them is the Sinohydro, but government would not budge.
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“They believe that is the only way out, so they would borrow until everybody stop giving them loans, it is a trouble for the economy” he lamented.

In an interview, as to what the government can do to develop the Ghanaians economy, he pointed out that before the current government came to power they said they could mobilize their own resources, currently that is not what is happening.

“From Tuesday 25th September 2018 to Friday 28th, we are going to be talking about loans the unborn generation are doing to be in trouble paying up those debts we are generating today”, he remarked worried.

As to how to generate funds internally, he added that it is a matter of priority, “I keep asking who ask you to pay my child’s school fees at the secondary school, I can pay, look for those who cannot pay”.

Again it is not my job to tell you who can pay or not, they brought this whole thing upon themselves, it is not necessary for an MP to say they cannot pay their kids school fees, free SHS

In addition you notice that resources are being taken away from the basic schools and are being brought to the secondary schools, this has made things difficult for them to create capital investment.

As to whether MPs would be able to do proper scrutiny of the financial agreements that would come before them in this emergency sitting, he responded, “hell no, history of this House had taught me so”.

“They are going to dump a lot of documents, force us to stay into the night pass them and go away when we are done, the public is going to notice that maybe we could have done a better job”, he remarked to the question of is MPs would do a good job.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Sky Team Ghana a Real Estate and Construction company over the weekend thrashed the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) to a five (5) nil defeat, in a football match to mark the birthday of Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

The encounter happened at the Asamoah Gyan Astro turf park at the Accra Academy Senior High School (SHS).

Daughter of Ghana’s first President and former Member of Parliament for Jomoro, Sammia Yaba Nkrumah and a full load Metro Transport of supporters of the Sky team from the Volta region came around to support their team.

The football much which started around 3:45pm saw players of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) hold their counterparts, Sky team to a goalless draw in the first half.

Whiles the PPC missed a lot of opportunities to pull out the lead goal in the first half including missing penalty, they looked more promising while the PPC team looked more old and out of form.

The more younger sky team in the second half realizing that the PPC team were exhausted in the second half of the match, did not miss opportunity that came their way, they started by scoring a penalty at the same position the PPC failed to utilized when they had the opportunity.

At an interval of between five to seven minutes the remaining four goals were move at the back of the net of the PPC team.

Supporters of Sky team who were unhappy with the referee Kofi Don Aggor with some of his decision forgot about their protest against the referee and turn the place into a jubilant mood in the second half.

At the end of the game after the Sky team thrashed the PPC with five (5) goals to nothing, each player in the winning team took home thousand Ghana cedis (GHc 1000) worth of shopping coupon.

Whiles the losing team PPC took home despite their heavy defeat five hundred Ghana cedis (GHc 500) worth of shopping coupons each to the players who played.

The PPC team was in a yellow outfit whiles the Sky team were in green jersey spots shit.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has said Ghana is not a “banana Republic” for the Police Criminal Investigations Department to be harassing a sitting MP Collins Dauda.

According to the Minority Leader President Nana Akufo-Addo, Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante Apeatu and Interior Minister Ambrose Derry should be called to order.

“We are a country govern by law and under pin by rule of law, no citizen including MPs are above the law of this land, but our immunities and privileges are constitutionally guaranteed”, he lamented.

He further expressed serious reservation about the police CID harassing and intimidating a senior sitting MP and a former Minister Collins Dauda both at his home in Accra and his constituency, looking for taggers’ or well built men.

And recounted that “we were in this country when NPP vigilantes attacked the court and chase away members of the peace council, the police should have gone after them and investigated them. We expect respect to be accorded an MP and do what is legally appropriate”, he said.

“We have never and ever said MPs are above the law or above criminal investigation, but to besiege the home of an MP with that with men in uniform it is intimidating and unacceptable for us”.

Again let them be reminded that, we are not cowards we would not be intimidated by some of these, “it must stop, we are very capable of responding to those threats, we are law abiding and we would continue to be”.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Cape-Cost south, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan has said as a politician he does not believe in corruption.

According to the former Central Regional Minister, he was misquoted recently when he said corruption has become endemic in the Ghanaians society and it is in every political party.

“We have to make sure we curb corruption, wherever we find it, I can put my hand up and tell you I am not corrupt because I do not believe in corruption it is like a ghost you know it is there but sometimes you cannot see it”, he pointed out.

Mr. Kweku Ricketts-Hagan emphasised the need to fight corruption otherwise Ghana would not go anywhere, whether contracts that are being overloaded discourage investors from coming in because you are asking them for unnecessary things and pocketing the countries money, he lamented.

“You are doing a disservice to your country, I came to public service to serve people I could have stayed in private life and make money, when you make money in private life no one would ask you questions. You can buy any car you want to sit in, but public service you are accountable to the people you must use the resources of the country judiciously”.

He pointed out that any time he get fed up with public life, I would go to private life and make money but when you are serving using the tax payers money use it for the best of ability and for the benefit of all, he said.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has called on African countries to show much concern in combating terrorism.

He made this call when he represented Parliament of Ghana at a workshop on Weapons of mass destruction in Tanzania.

Mr. Annoh-Dompreh further added that the threat of weapon of mass destruction such as biological weapons are more evident than ever as terrorists keep threatening the world.

African countries have been urged to unite and push for a review of structures of the UN Security Council to allow other less powerful countries to be part of the council as advocated by President Nana Akuffo- Addo at last year’s UN General Assembly Council.

He said Africans role cannot continue to be downgraded at the world stage hence the need for the UN to go beyond the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The structures of the UN security Council is out dated and does not reflect the realities of the times.

Security Council should reflect on the core principles of universality and democracy the Director of Peace and Democracy of Parliamentarians for Global Action Group (PGA) Peter Bacroft noted that the threat of terrorist getting hold on weapons of mass destruction is worrying, and therefore called for the implementation by countries of international treaties against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for the Ho West constituency, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah has expressed worry about the investiture of a new Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba which was attended by President Akufo Addo.

Speaking at the investiture of the new Vice Chancellor, Reverend Father Professor Anthony Afful-Broni, the President urged him to “use his full gifts” to promote the spirit of reconciliation in the University during his tenure of office because “it represents the surest route to success in the daunting task ahead.”

But according to the Ho Central MP, bridges cannot be built if justice is not served to those aggrieved.

Speaking during a newspaper review segment on GTV’s breakfast show, Mr Bedzrah noted the President should not have attended the investiture since there is a court suit in court.

The MP feared the removal of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mawutor Avoke on claims that he does not hail from the Central region might result in retaliation from elsewhere.

He believes posterity will be the best judge in all these happenings.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu in the Central region, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has stated the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education had already started providing job avenues to residents to ease the economic pressures even before his investiture.

He has therefore urged residents in the area to make good use of the opportunities being offered them as a result.

Afenyo-Markin justified the series of legal actions against former authorities of the school and indicated that his office will not stop the court processes until the Winneba community derives maximum benefits from the university.

The MP who was the legal counsel for the plaintiff Supi Kwayera whose actions led to the dismissal of the former Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mawutor Avoke and five other senior administrative staff, indicated that the court action was already yielding the necessary dividends for the local Winneba community whose interest the plaintiff and himself were seeking.

He also condemned critics who posited that the court action amounted to tribal-witch hunt emphasising that the Winneba community is a cosmopolitan one where tribal tendencies are eschewed because he himself has his roots from the Volta Region.

Mr Afenyo-Markin stated these at a durbar of chiefs and people of the area at Winneba as President Akufo Addo ends his four days tour of the Central Region.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com