Month: October 2018

He pointed to the new Ambassador who called on the Speaker of Parliament on Wednesday that the traders do not intend to stay in China permanently.

“When they apply for visa to go and buy goods and come down here to trade please accord them the necessary respect, sometimes the treatment mated out to them is bad”, he lamented.

He further noted that the trade between Ghana and China stands at five point six billion dollars, whiles Ghana exports close to one point four billion dollars to China.

The former trade Minister noted that he was the first Minister to set up Ghana Trade Office in Ghana and added that “our bilateral relation remains warm and had to be deepened by strengthening the bond”.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu recounted the role China had played in Ghana by developing Ghana’s infrastructure, he gave example of the telecommunication sector, rural electrification support and the building of the Bui Dam as alluded to by the Speaker.

China can also help Ghana address the issues of unemployment by helping government address its flagship programme like one district, one factory and when it comes to the manufacturing sector they have a role to play.

The former communications Minister touched on fiber infrastructure to help Ghana’s Parliament have fast internet access as “China we know is on 5G Ghana is still on 4 Gh, MPs need speeding access to internet to do their work”, he said.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

According to the Ranking member on Education, government did not listen to the Minorities earlier advice, “we would not have been experiencing this whole double trucking system”.

“Why don’t you engage the private schools look at the facility they have whatever is being spent on every student in the public schools give them the same amount of money and sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and monitor their performance”.

He noted in an interview that  the response he got was that government does not provide free SHS to private institutions, this year you would see that the private schools are getting enough students, because a lot of parents are not happy with the double truck system.

Again, the semester system is keeping their children at home before going to school, those who can afford are sending their children to private schools and I mean good private schools.

“You see if you are thinking of quantity and not quality that is the result we would get, because we want everybody to go to school, we just want the numbers we are no preparing the necessary environment for them to learn” , he lamented.

Mr. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe pointed out that, the committee on education would soon be making some rounds to observe the double trucking system.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

President Akufo-Addo said “the dreamers who dreamt of a first round of victory in 2016 and said they in a conformable led are back again.  To in their dreams they are saying they are going to review the Free SHS policy. We all know that “review” to them simply means collapse and we are not going to all them to collapse Free SHS the policy is here to stay”

According to the North Tongu lawmaker it is trite knowledge that great countries of this world have been created by dreamers and pointed out that President has nothing to show for the over $8billion he had borrowed so far since he had not been dreaming.

He added that it is about time he sent President Akufo-Addo a cherished gift of famous pillow from Juapong textiles in his constituency which would help him dream

“Interestingly, I am reminded of President Akufo-Addo’s forebears who could not dream as Kwame Nkrumah did when he proclaimed Self-Government Now in opposition to the dreamless uninspiring Self-Government within the shortest possible time”.

We in the NDC won’t and can’t stop dreaming. I have a dream that on 7th January 2021, the NDC will return to power led by John Dreamer Mahama who will continue to implement his bold dreams for Ghana.

“It is possible to dream and do better than Rwanda on the continent, dream and bring relief to Ghanaians suffering under current worsening excruciating hardships, dream and eliminate poverty, dream and industrialize beyond what we initiated with the Komenda Sugar Factory and the Twyford Ceramics Factory that will create jobs for the youth and stabilize our currency”, he said.

And who knows; our dreams may just make Ghana the first African country to make a voyage to the moon – just as President John F. Kennedy dreamt in 1961 and it materializing 8 years after on July 20, 1969.

He further cataloged through the dreaming of the NDC what they have been able to achieve,   “we dreamt about Ghana deserving a world class airport and we made Terminal 3 happen, we dreamt about a public university for all regions in Ghana and we made University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho and University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani happen; in addition to passing an Act and securing funding for the University of Environment and Sustainable Development for the Eastern Region.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

According to the Adaklu legislator he sent some of the research assistant to the Human Resource of Parliament and the indication he is getting that they have seen their names on a list of paper, but their letters had not been given to them yet.

In an interview he said, “ I do not want to jam the gun by saying they have failed,  I want to wait till Friday  to see if those letters would be in the hands of the research assistant  it would be a step to improve the quality of MPs”.

As to whether MPs in their various fields are not well endowed with experience and knowledge, he noted that as an architect he does not have knowledge in everything.

Mr. Kwame Agbodza noted that research assistant is not supposed to be an expert in everything, but should be someone who should take up a subject and be able to dig out for information, that is why the person should have a masters, first class or second Upper in first degree.

He further gave instances where whiles in the chamber considering a document, MPs are served with other documents, adding he noted that, they would not have time to go through that document, research assistant would be able to do a quick summary which would help MPs a great deal.

And pointed out that in other jurisdictions MPs have as much as five research assistants and in addition, Ghana should also be looking at getting experts in areas like finance, health and other areas.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

According to the Bantama lawmaker the position of the IMF is contrary to views held by the Minority who had written to the IMF that the project which would see to major infrastructure was a loan.

“They took a letter to Washington in the United States of America, the letter had been brought back that it is not a loan, but some financial arrangement to get better roads and bridges”, he said.

Mr. Daniel Okyem Aboagye further added that the Minority should not throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians, I believe in the leadership of the Vice President Dr. Bawumia and the Finance Ministry.

As to whether Ghana would be able to set up the Bauxite factory with the three years, he responded in the affirmative and noted that China set up big factories within three months.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

He further lamented over the security system in Parliament and pointed out the breaches where anyone walks into Parliament without proper security check.

“We are only safe in this country just by the grace of God, people walk in and out you don’t know if they are construction people with the construction going on in Parliament we mingle with them and the security”.

Mr. Kwame Agbodza further pointed out that “We thank God that we have not heard any bad news, we might have had a wrong person getting in here then we would be in trouble”, he lamented.

On the issue of ongoing extension works to provide MPs without offices, he pointed out in the interview that, it was because he drew attention to the ongoing works and the Speaker mentioned it in his remarks at the opening of the emergency sitting.

The architect Kwame Agbodza expressed worry about health and safety with the on going expansion works, “we should take pre cessionary measures we can see heavy equipment moving around.

“Before we went on recess when they were digging foundation to pour concrete you could hear the whole chamber vibrating”.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Before President Mahama left office out of the two hundred 200 promised senior high school blocks, fifty were completed before 2016.

In an interview the ranking member on education pointed out that one of the problems with Ghana is when a government hands over power to another not of the same political persuasion, “we turn to abandon whatever project whether good or bad” he lamented.

He gave an example of a World Bank project that was started by former President Mahama and completed in Ofankor, but no student has been allocated to occupy it yet.

“I would ask the Minister of Education a question on this when the House return from recess on the 30th of October 2018”, he said.

He further said the committee would report back to the Speaker on their visit to the various location where there are e-blocks started and not completed and pointed out that the Ghana Education Trust funds  (GETFund) would make funds available, for that purpose.

Those uncompleted E-blocks are for mother Ghana, they do not belong to Mahama so if somebody have started a project which would benefit us all, why don’t you improve on all these facilities and put them to use? He queried.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com