Month: April 2021

Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Rt. Hon Alban K. Sumana Bagbin has said Cuba remains one of the main supporters of Ghana’s health delivery system and continues to make major difference in the health system.

According to him Ghana’s doctor to patient ratio remain abysmally low making it even more imperative and touched on Ghanaian medical professionals who continuously train in Cuba.

 

And commended Cuba’s Parliament for having fifty-two (52) percent female representation and pledged to facilitate a visit by selected female MPs from Ghana’s Parliament to learn from the Cuban experience.

In attendance were the First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu, Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo Markin, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa Ranking on Foreign Affairs Committee together with the Parliamentary staffs.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim has said he would have to ensure that the dust settles in his constituency before embarking on a thank you tour to thank his constituents, for their hard work in ensuring that he retained his Parliamentary seat.

According to him what happened during election 2020, his constituents went through a lot of trauma especially with the military attack on his constituents and he needs to allow them some space before making any move.

He revealed that some people lost their lives, and again the Muslims among them are fasting and in the middle of next month would be the appropriate time to embark on his thank you tour as being done by most of his colleagues as the House is on recess.

“If I am able to get certain things put in place my constituents would forget about the trauma, as they would see it as me being able to rise to their expectation, so their labour does not go in vain, otherwise going on a thank you tour now would be an exercise in futility, and with my proposal their pain would come down”.

In an interview when ask to throw more light on what he was trying to put across, he noted that, his constituency is a deprived place, and he has implemented major policies that the state has not even started doing.

“As far back as 2011 I started implementing Free Junior High School (JHS) in his constituency, as the focus was on education and there was nobody who completed JHS without passing, Ghana Education Service can bear me out. I do not go the way other MPs are going”.

He revealed that in the next four years his focus is to implement Free apprenticeship and that is where he is falling short, a policy he learnt from John Mahama, where fees are paid  for young people and asked to go into apprenticeship training like dress making, carpentry among others.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Cuban Ambassador to Ghana His Excellency, Pedro Luis Despaigne Gonzalez has appealed to Ghana’s Parliament to help in negotiating with the Government of the United States of America to end the US trade embargo on Cuba.

Mr Pedro Gonzalez who made the call when he paid a courtesy call on Speaker Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 also made a point that the blockade which has existed since the 1960s continue to have negative effect on trade in Cuba despite its support to various countries around the world.

H.E. Gonzalez announced that Cuba is at phase three (3) of the trials in developing vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that his country has already deployed doctors to over forty (40) countries to help fight the raging pandemic.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

One of the topical issues that confronts every government under the fourth Republic of Ghana is the fight against corruption, and it is mostly used during political campaigns, as was the case in the build-up to the 2016 presidential election, when then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo used corruption as a major campaign tool against the ruling government.

But the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu has taken a swipe at the President Nana Akufo-Addo saying; he does not have the political will to fight corruption. And questioned if it matters to the president who becomes the next Special Prosecutor, “he has lost the corruption fight?”

He further pointed out that, the president’s reputation as a person is in tatters, as observed by Professor Gyimah–Boadi of the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) and as rightly described by the former SP.

“President Nana Akufo-Addo is the mother serpent of all corruption, it does not matter to me who he appoints as SP, he is doom to fail and has failed because the president does not have the political will to fight corruption” .

Mr. Iddrisu was reacting to the news on the nomination of a new Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

On the former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, he noted that in terms of his experience and reputation, the new nominated yet to come before the Appointment Committee, does not come close to the former.

“We need men of integrity to fight corruption like Martin, because the new nominated SP would not get the cooperation he needs to fight corruption from government, look at how they shamefully sack the former Auditor General.”

He again noted that apart from investigating and covering his own appointees, the journalists in Ghana should show him any of his appointees he has hauled before the courts for corruption or a matter relating to corruption and abuse of office, “it is zero”.

“Akufo-Addo is not capable of making corruption high rate risk activity in Ghana, again our record internationally is worrying and disincentive to attract international investors into the country”.

Also public officials are not being held accountable for abuse of public office and gave an example of illegal mining. “Galamsey, you recover excavators and you are asked to return it. “Is that how to fight corruption?” He queried.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Parliament of Ghana on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 held a requiem for the late Deputy Clerk in charge of Legislative Management, Robert Ageya Apodolla.

Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin was joined by the 6^th Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Edward K. Doe Adjaho and former Clerk Emmanuel Kwasi Anyimadu and the current Clerk Cyril Kwabena Nsiah to mourn as a start of the funeral rites of the late Robert Ageya Apodolla.

Leadership of both the Majority, Minority and Parliamentary staff were in attendance at the forecourt of Parliament House to mark this occasion.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority in Parliament has given government 10-point recommendations to help the government resolve the current energy crisis – “Dumsor”.

The Minority caucus, at a press conference on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, accused the government of engaging in “unnecessary politics” with the energy sector.

Ranking Member on Energy, John Jinapor, who addressed the press conference, among other things, cited executive interference in the power sector, as part of the reasons state transmitter Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has been reluctant in issuing a load-shedding schedule.

According to him, the Akufo-Addo-led government “consistently made losses for the past four years” in the energy sector as compared to the Mahama era of profits in the sector.

In his view, “the energy sector is bleeding”, and said,  “From the foregoing, it is obvious that the current load-shedding, popularly known as ‘dumsor’ being inflicted on Ghanaians, is a direct result of mismanagement and unnecessary political interference by the Akufo-Addo-led government as far as the management of the sector is concerned”.

They, therefore, hold President Akufo-Addo and his government directly responsible for this avoidable, embarrassing spectacle that we’ve had to witness today,” he added.

And further outlined the Minority caucus’s 10-point recommendation in dealing with the energy issues which has seen a lot of power interruption.

1. The Energy sector players must be proactive and inform (Publish a schedule) electricity consumers who will be affected by these outages in advance so that affected customers can take remedial steps to mitigate the effect of such outages.
2. Government must cut down on wasteful expenditure and Inject the much needed capital into the power sector especially GRIDCo to make up for the impaired cash flow of these utilities.
3. Government must desist from political interference in the management of the Energy sector. Consequently, Government must refrain from engaging in political appointments especially within middle management levels when vacancies are declared.
4. 
5. Government and its communicators must desist from engaging in the propaganda on excess capacity and come out with a formula for absorbing capacity charges as part of operating cost.
6. Power sector managers must ensure that they pursue Long term planning to ensure fuel security for generating assets at the least cost possible.
7. Government must allow Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to take the responsibility for their fuel supply requirements.
8. Immediate steps must be taken to aggressively address ECG’s spiralling technical and commercial losses currently estimated by its worker unions at 34%
9. The Ministry of Energy must conduct a comprehensive reconciliation of the total indebtedness of all players including government and its SOEs including (GNPC, GNGC, VRA, GRIDCo, CENIT, ECG, NEDCo) in a transparent manner.
10. The Ministry of finance must take steps to utilize the $1 billion sovereign bond borrowed in 2020 to address the financial challenges of the Energy sector.
11. Government must ensure that Energy sector SOEs Publish details of their financial statements including details and ageing of their indebtedness as well as debts owed to them on time.

The Minority in Parliament therefore called on government to “come clean on the current power crisis as a matter of urgency and desist from engaging in blame games. Shifting blame and providing conflicting information only goes to exacerbate the crisis which is threatening lives and businesses across the country”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has said laws alone cannot fight corruption, and as a student of governance he knows Ghana has enough legislation on corruption and we should acknowledge, that in bribery both the giver and the taker are both guilty.

According to him building evidence is difficult and one needs special efforts and commitment to be able to combat corruption.

“Why was Ghana black listed by the European? Illicit financial services, today what people are doing is over invoicing. We need as a country to criminalise unexplained wealth, former chief executive officers of public agencies are having millions of money in their accounts. Can they account for it and explain the source? In other jurisdictions it is criminalized.

In an interview on the fight against corruption, he pointed out the need for Ghana to review and reform assert declaration, as people have wealth that cannot be justified with their incomes.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has bemoaned the high attrition rate in Parliament and pointed out that the constitutions of the two major political parties in Ghana; the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not helping.

According to him the development is not helping to enrich Ghana’s democracy, and is a development that should be addressed.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Parliamentary Service Board on Tuesday, April 27, he called on the Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin to ensure that the political parties are engaged to address the high attrition rate.

“Let us not kid ourselves, the Executive arm of government would be happy with a weak Legislature, we need to strengthen parliament going forward as we have impose statutory and constitutional burden on ourselves”.

Mr. Osei-Kyei further noted that Parliament’s Committee system is the best vehicle to use to achieve its oversight function; “how strong are our committee systems to achieve this?” he queried.

Additionally, he called for liberation of the Committees to work proactively and make parliament relevant, as it stands now it is difficult for the Committees to work and with experience of the Speaker, he believes the new board should be able to address most of the difficulties that is confronting Parliament.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

A member of the Parliamentary Service Board and Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has said that though there are reliable workforces within the service, there should be a concerted effort to improve their morale, to ensure they give off their best for improved productivity in Ghana’s Parliament.

This follows the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin’s expression of dissatisfaction with the role played by some category of Parliamentary staff during the inauguration of the Parliamentary Service Board of the 8^th Parliament on Tuesday, April 27, 20221.

The Minority Leader who said he is not new to the role of the board having performed same in the 7^th Parliament also underscored the need to work with the Speaker to secure a parliamentary enclave on how to modernize Parliament, and how his senior colleagues who are members of the board; Abraham Osei Aidoo, former Majority leader and Johnson Aseidu Nketia for Deputy Agriculture Minister would enrich the board.

“We need and work with you on the board, assiduously to make this parliament more responsive, accountable and more transparent to the needs of the Ghanaian people. Again, we need to work together to improve our oversight responsibility to improve greater oversight and accountability in the Executive power and authority.”

Mr. Iddrisu, further noted the board will deal with gains made by the immediate past Speaker, Professor Michael Aaron Oquaye in promoting, private members bill and encourage his colleagues to promote and sponsor similar bills for the good of Parliament.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Many beneficiaries of the “Eye Clinic Programme” in the Ketu South Constituency have hailed the exercise and called for it to be organized regularly.

The Eye Clinic Exercise organized by the Member of Parliament for Ketu South Constituency, Abla Dzifa Gomashie in collaboration with the office of the former District Chief Executive for Ketu North, Mr. Kofi Lawnson and Lifetime Wells Vision International has benefited over a thousand people.

The four day exercise which was undertaken in communities namely Adina, Atoklokope, Ativuta, Wudoaba and Teshie – Avedzi respectively was aimed at screening, giving medication and sight glasses to people with eye problems.

It was also meant to identify individuals with sight problems that needs to be fixed and cured through surgery.

Some participants begun to see clearly as foreign materials such as dirt, dry mucus, among others were removed from their eyes, and this saved them from eventually suffering from damages in the future that may only be resolved through surgery.

Most participants were very happy with the program and believe if such medical outreach programs are organized regularly for them in the Constituency, it would benefit more people and will go a long way to improve and help solve many eye challenges that confronts the people.

They also believe that conscientising them on issues affecting the health of the eye is also in the right direction since the “check-up culture” is not usually their thing.

Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie in response to the demands of the people made it clear that the exercise is part of her duty to her Constituents, and would not hesitate to bring back the team for another session if there is the need for it.

Meanwhile, participants who were selected for surgery will undergo the operation at no cost of theirs. And just as the screening exercise, the medication and receiving of eye glasses were also free.

This would not be the first time as last year in October, there was a similar eye surgery exercise at the Ketu South Municipal Hospital in which a good number of people benefited at no cost to the beneficiaries.

Francis Vorsah/Ghanamps.com