Month: August 2020

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has called on government and the Bank of Ghana to provide transparency and accountability in the management, supervision and regulation of the collapsed financial institutions.

According to him his demand of transparency has to do with  eight banks (8) and over four hundred small and micro finance institutions (400) and some twenty three other savings and loans companies.

At a media briefing, he pointed out that in accordance with banks and specialized deposit institutions Act 930/section 130/1; “A receiver shall establish a new financial position for the bank or specialized deposit institution based on a determination of the liquidation values of the assets of the bank or specialized deposit taken institution”.

He further said, section 130/4 of the Act states that, the receiver shall within one month taken possession of a bank or specialized deposit taken institution and transmit a copy of the inventory report to the Bank of Ghana and demanded that the Bank of Ghana the regulator to produce the inventory report they received from the receiver of the collapsed banks.

Mr. Iddrisu  went further  to  ask the Bank of Ghana where  exactly,  they have published the inventory report as required by Act 930, section 130, and that, this country must be governed in accordance with law but not on the minds of the individual.

He further explained that, under the contract, the receiver is entitled to five percent of every asset recovered on auction of the assets of the collapsed financial institutions and seek to know how many percent was paid to the receiver in this regards. He believes the receiver might have been paid more than what has been stated in the contract.

The Minority Leader refreshed the memory of the journalists that government issues a sovereign bond in 2018 and added that it was dedicating an amount of four hundred and fifty million Ghana cedis to the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG) to finance the sectors bail out.

“We in the Minority demand to know who the owners of the CBG. We need to know because public funds is being invested in CBG. We want to know if the amount spent if it is a loan or equity, I do not have answers and I am demanding answers to this”.

The Tamale South lawmaker also pointed out that President Nana Akufo-Addo had said ninety-six of the depositors had been paid but pointed out that government is not being transparent and noted that the irony of the issue is that same depositors have not gotten their money.

Again, he demanded an audit on depositors who have been paid for the Minority to ascertain if they can rely on the presidents “so called ninety-six percent payment”.

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Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, Anthony Effah has categorically stated that the Consolidated Bank of Ghana is state owned bank and government of Ghana owns the fiver merged collapse banks.

According to him, the Minority should know this facts as he was reacting to the Minority Leader’s press briefing which sought to know the owner of CBG.

He added that government has paid a chunk of monies to depositors of the collapsed banks and financial institutions.

And further pointed out that the Finance Minister came to the House to report on how much the state has spent on paying depositors with the collapse of the banks and other financial institutions as twelve billion Ghana cedis has been provided.

Additionally, five billion Ghana cedis has been provided to the microfinance institutions adding up to ninety-two percent, and there was an additional three billion Ghana cedis provided during the mid year review for fund management company.

On the auditing demanded by the Minority Leader, he noted that the Security and Exchange Commission has started the process of liquidating and winding up and validating some of the claims.

He assured that the Auditor General would audit every single funds that has been released; saying that is the responsibility of the Auditor General. “When we get to the plenary and they have any issues, they can ask and even at the Committee level”.

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Minority Chief Whip, Mohamed Muntaka Mubarak is advocating for delinking of the constitutional requirement that two thirds of Ministers be selected among Members of Parliament to pave way for career lawmakers.

According to him there is the need to have a constitutional amendment after two and half decade journey of parliamentary democracy under the fourth Republican journey of the country as there are those who come to the lawmaking chamber with the ambition of becoming Ministers.

He alluded to the fact that there are qualified Ghanaians who can become lawmakers but due to the heavy moneytisation of the political  system they cannot come to the House, and added that if as at the time he was entering parliament, monetization was that high, he could not have made it to the House.

“When I first came to the House, I did not know how the committee system operated let alone which of the committees are lucrative.  As a whip, before elected MPs are sworn into the House people demand that they be put into certain committees which are juicy. All because some people think they have spent a lot of money, and they need to get their money back”.

The Minority whip further who made the remarks at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs forum that engaged the core leadership of the House, also pointed out that out of the two hundred and seventy-five lawmakers, less than one hundred of them do actual parliamentary work.

The forum was under the theme, “Nurturing career legislators in Ghana; prospects and challenges”.
The Asawase lawmaker lamented over the practice where there was less than eighty MPs on the floor the previous day but the following day more than hundred MPs have signed as present which does not speak well to the integrity of the House.

Again, he emphasized that the House is losing it because of the way MPs are elected. Unfortunately, those who want to stay and learn are being discourage, citing the recent NPP primaries as an example where twelve chairmen of different committees lost their seats because they had to stay back and take care of government business.

Those who don’t come to the chamber go out and get money to win their primaries; they are the people who you see coming back into the next eight parliament. “So who do you want to dedicate his or her time going to research to present committee reports?” he queried.

The Minority Chief Whip called for a second look into the conduct of Ministers who are MPs but do not make time for business on the floor of the House and lamented over the practice where other Ministers stand in for most of the absentee Ministers.

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In the wake of experience lawmakers, leaving the House with their years of knowledge, skills and experience without return to the House, Second Deputy Speaker, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin with twenty-eight years of in-depth knowledge working in the Ghanaian legislature, who is not coming back to the eight Parliament is calling for establishment of a second chamber.

He recounted that the country’s leaders at the early stage learnt from two different schools of parliamentary democracy; the American and the British system. While Dr. Nkrumah got training from the American system, Dr. J. B.  Danquah got his training from the United Kingdom.

He noted that the option of democracy we have chosen as a country, we have not taken time to learn it to understand it so there is so much ignorance couple with attitudinal   challenges which is making it so risky for one to opt to be in Parliament.

“We  need to look at that, when you raise this issues people just brush it aside they say we are  fight for ourselves  you do not go to parliament to talk about yourself,  you go to parliament to serve the people when you talk about service those who are practitioners  think you are coming from the moon”.

He made this remarks at a working dialogue organised by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on the theme, “Nurturing career legislators in Ghana prospects and challenges”.

He expressed disappointment when the Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu announced that after the next eight Parliament he was not going to contest his seat again, “like Moses crying in the wilderness who is listening to our cry for MPs to serve for long years if not today,   I hope the next generation would take up career MPs”.

“I take parliament as a career for twenty eight years, it is a significant period of my life it is a profession or occupation even if I say it is, what are the opportunities for progress, that is why we are talking about a career”, he added.

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Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonus presenting the business statement for this week noted that three Ministers would answer twelve questions this week.

They are Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu has seven questions tabled for his Ministry, Minister for Communication Ursula Owusu Ekufful has four question to attend to while Minister for Special Development Initiative, Hawa Common has a question to answer.

Leader of government business further indicated to the House that there would be a Committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 just after adjournment and charge all members to make it a point to be there as it is to take a decision on an outstanding pertinent issue.

The House would sit on Monday August 3, 2020 and again expected to sit beyond that statutory time 2:00pm as stipulated by order 40(2) to enable it complete work for the week.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com