Month: February 2021

Minister-designate for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah has said if children are engaged in the production of cocoa in Ghana it can lead to consumers being forced to reject cocoa from Ghana.

According to him he is aware of a study commissioned by the United States Department for Labour on child labour situation in Ghana and Ivory Coast in the area of cocoa production. So far four different surveys had been conducted.

He noted that the first survey was conducted in 2008, the second in 2013, third in 2014 and the last one in 2018, and as a result of that most of Ghana’s cocoa growing areas more children are engaged in cocoa production.

“If we are not careful, the implication is that consumers would be forced to reject cocoa from Ghana, and I agree with MPs that this is an important issue that needs urgent attention”.

On Thursday, February 17, 2021 while before the Appointment Committee, he revealed that the nation has developed a national plan of action which it inherited from the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, which expired in 2018.

“We have developed another one subsequently to combat child labour. We have been able to bring all child labour interest groups together, within one environment,  we meet and discuss and coordinate their activities and monitor them to find out what they are doing to help eradicate child labour”.

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The Minister-designate for Employment and Labour Relations Ignatius Baffour Awuah has said President Nana Akufo-Addo led government has created over three million jobs within the four years of its first year in office.

Responding to questions during his vetting on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, Mr. Awuah explained that, the three million jobs created is a combination of both formal and private sector within the first four years term of President Akufo-Addo’s government.

He went on to clarify that not all the employees are paid from the controller and accountant general, but others were also placed on contract basis which more or less had their employment as government contract.

The nominee gave these explanations when the Member of Parliament for Bodi, Sampson Ahi together with the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu delved into employment statistics from documents supplied to the committee by the Minister-designates to ascertain how the said three million jobs were created.

In response, Mr.  Baffour insisted on the three million figure and assured the Committee he will produce details if the committee requested for it and he is giving time to do so.

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Minister-designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection Sarah Adwoa Safo had said she would engage relevant stakeholders like Gender Committee of Ghana’s Parliament in find lasting solution to outlawing kayaye.

Kayaye in a practice where young girls generally between the ages of fourteen and sixteen migrates from the rural areas of northern Ghana to the south Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi and work as head load carriers.

According to the Minister-designate she would not come before the Appointment Committee of Parliament and in a hasty manner say kayaye should be outlawed, but when given the nod she would engage to find a lasting solution to the problem.

The Minister-designate was responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who wanted to know if she would consider outlawing the dehumanizing kayaye practice, and giving the young girls engage in this practice an alternative livelihood.

In a related development, when questioned on the problems that had bedeviled women who engage in preparing meals under the school feeding programme what would be done to solve the annual problem of delay in payment, she said, “When I get to the Ministry, I would look at the payment issues when the Committee and the House approves me. I would see how the system can be streamlined and ensure that the programme is made better”.

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Minister-designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Sarah Adwoa Safo has pointed out that Ghana’s criminal code and culture prohibits activities of gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT).

“Mr. Chair, the issue of LGBT is an issue that when mentioned, it creates some controversy but what I want to say is that our laws are clear on such practice. It makes it criminal. Section 104 of the Criminal Code prohibits one from having unnatural carnal knowledge with another person. So, on the issue of its criminality, it is non-negotiable”.

“On the issue of our cultural acceptance and norms, these practices are also frowned upon. So, for me, these are two distinct clarities on the matter and that is what I strongly stand for,” she explained.

She made this remarks on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 when she took her turn at the Appointment Committee, and Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Mahama Ayariga posed a question on the LGBT which is building up in recent times in the Country with some foreign support.

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Minister designate for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta has told the Appointment Committee of the 8^th Parliament that there is a deliberate policy targeted at improving road networks in all the sixteen regions.

According to him it stands to reason that Accra being the capital most roads would be improved, then to the second city Kumasi, then Takoradi and the others.

He further pointed out that priority should also be given to other regional networks that would produce economic benefit to the nation. “We would not have food if roads to the food basket regions are not improved and cocoa growing areas”.

The Minister-designate who was responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis Xavier Kojo Sosu who wanted to know if there is a deliberate policy to improve the road networks in Accra, also stated that, “I can assure this Committee that we have to work hand in hand to improve road networks in all part of the country”.

The Minister told the vetting Committee that there has been a lot of improvement in road networks in Accra, and all cannot be done at the same time, but was quick to assure the Committee that roads in the country would continue to see improvement.

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Member of Parliament for Ashiaman, Ernest Norgbey has said prior to the three weeks suspension of Ghana’s Parliament, he had made attempts to apologies to Minister-designate for Communications and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.

 The apology, he noted, was in respect of the scuffle that ensued in parliament on Thursday, January 7, 2021, during the inauguration of the 8^th Parliament and election of the Speaker, when prior to the commencement of proceedings, he pulled the chair on which she was sitting leading to her falling on the ground.

According to him he had spoken to the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh Dompreh, Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Kwabena Afenyo Markin and Yaw Patrick Boamah to help facilitate an opportunity for both parties to meet and iron out their difference.

“If there is an apology to be rendered, it would be done at that level, but unfortunately it could not be done before we went on the long suspension, so the individuals  I have mentioned are aware I have made effort to meet Ursula Owusu-Ekuful”, he said in an interview.

Mrs. Ekuful when she appeared before the Appointment Committee described development on the said date as unfortunate, and a dent on the image of the 8^th parliament. She, however, said she had apologized to her colleague Collins Dauda who she pushed with provocation during the incident.

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Member of Parliament for Garu Albert Akuka Alalzuuga has embark on an education campaign to educate his constituents on keeping safe, and measures they have to take against contracting COVID-19.

According to him he is on radio station back in his constituency alerting constituents that the novel coronavirus is real, “not an imagination or someone is peddling untruth”.

In an interview, he pointed out that he has lost relatives in recent times to COVID-19 one in Accra and the other at Wa.

He further pointed out that, the paramount chief of Kusasi Traditional Area has also come out to ban funerals, until next year.

Mr. Alalzuuga also indicated that he would travel back home to meet with the Assembly and the various stakeholders in the various districts and the traditional authorities as well as religious leaders to wage a crusade against COVID-19.

“COVID-19 does not discriminate and the second wave of it is no respecter of age, whether you are old or young. We would engage constituents through phone and video calls with the hope that COVID-19 would go down”, he emphasised.

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Minister-designate for Local Government and Rural Development, Dan Kwaku Botwe has said there should not be a turf war between the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and the Ministry he is yet to occupy when approved by Parliament on who should control waste management in the districts.

According to him the two Ministries should be able to work together to tackle waste management at the various local Assemblies.

Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, a former Ranking member of the Local Government Committee during the vetting of Dan Botwe on Monday, February 15, 2021 pointed out that, “Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry is creating problem with environmental sanitation at the Assembly level”, and wanted to know if the Minister-designate would ask the President to re-visit the issue putting sanitation under Local Government because of the gap it has created?”

But Mr. Botwe said Ministries should exist to help the president formulate policies, and at the end of the day he pointed out that they have to work together, despite pointing out that the Sanitation Ministry might not have desk in the Regions and districts.

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Minister of Communications and digitization, Ursula Owusu Ekuful has said the unfortunate incident that happened on Thursday, January 7, 2021 during the swearing in of the 8th Parliament is a blot on the 8^th Parliament and unfortunate.

According to her she has apologized to Collins Dauda who she mistakenly pushed when the Ashiaman lawmaker Ernest Norgbey in the company of other male colleagues pulled the chair on which she was sitting and currently sitting on during her vetting.

She further told the Appointment Committee on Monday, February 15, 2021 that when she entered the chamber on Thursday, January 7, 2021 there was no name tag on any chair, a development that was unusual to her as a third-term Member of Parliament, so she felt she could seat anywhere.

“Mr. Collins Dauda kept saying, get up and leave this place what do you want here, and I replied I would not go anywhere since no one’s name is written on any chair, it is free for all. Hence when I was pushed and fell I thought Collins Dauda was in link with the Ashiaman MP for that to be done to me and my reaction when I got up”.

The Minister-designate made this remarks when Member of on the Minority side Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare  brought the issue up on the floor of the House and pointed out that five minutes to entering the chamber where the vetting was taking place, “Collins Dauda told her the Minister-designate has not apologized”.

Mr. Joseph Osei-Owusu however intervened and asked the nomine not to answer the questions challenging her for not apologizing to Collins Dauda since the MP asking the question was not party to the issue.

Again, she put on record that she is yet to receive apologies from the Ashiaman MP who pulled a chair under her that day.

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