Month: April 2021

Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin has welcomed the initiative to set up a Ghana-Lebanon Parliamentary Friendship Association, which would serve as a foundation for a joint Parliamentary chamber.

This was when the Lebanese Ambassador to Ghana, H. E. Meher Kheir paid a courtesy call on the Speaker and proposed a joint collaboration between both parliaments to deepen their parliamentary relations

In the light of that, he announced that his country’s Speaker Rt. Hon Nabih Berri had delegated some members of their parliament to engage with their Ghanaian counterparts to discuss modalities for this proposal.

Ambassador Kheir was in Parliament for a courtesy call on Speaker Bagbin, and commended Ghana for the role it has played in restoring peace in Southern Lebanon during the UNIFIL peace keeping mission since 1978.

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Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has called for investment and trade cooperation between Ghana and the Republic of India.

He made this call when the India High Commissioner to Ghana, His Excellency Sugandh Rajaram paid a courtesy call on him at his office.

The Rt. Hon Speaker lamented over the activities of illegal miners popularly called “galamsey” as he noted that it poses a serious threat to the country’s survival.

He urged the Indian businesses to share their innovation and creativity to support Ghanaian entrepreneurs to develop their own capacities.

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The Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, His Excellency Sugandh Rajaram has pledged his country’s support to Ghana in the areas of automobile.

According to him this would go a long way to serve as a major catalyst for growth when he paid a courtesy call on Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin.

He noted that India’s success story cannot be told without the contribution of the automobile industry, and commended Ghana’s Parliament for working hard to deepen cooperation between Ghana and India.

He further, assured Ghana of India’s continuous support to develop initiatives in the areas of Health, Education, ICT and Agriculture.

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First Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim has taken a swipe at President Nana Akufo-Addo, for appointing Francis Asenso-Boakye as Minister of Works and Housing, and Samuel Abu Jinapor as sector Minister for Lands and Natural Resources.

According to him their appointments is a difficult task that the President has given himself. “He claims to be fighting galamsey, he could not fight, he would make Accra the cleanest he was unable to do and to check flooding, same”.

He noted in an interview that he has appointed his boys who were two Deputy chiefs of staff, one to be in charge of galamsey. “If there is still galamsey, it means the president has sent him to go and do that, it is a test case”.

Again with the perennial flooding and beautification of Nima, all of these he noted that is a test he has given himself, “we are giving ourselves sometime to watch them”.

 

Mr. Ahmed who was reacting to the appointment of a number of youth to key positions in the current government said, “In all these we would find out if it is a cabal the President has formed. The one in charge of Inter-ministerial task force was caught on tape, joynews documentary expose illegal mining under military guide, and these are issues our eyes are going to follow”.

He questioned if this reporter has forgotten about the case of the former chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah who among the two hundred and seventy five (275) MPs, would be counted among the top five financial gurus.

And he was doing most of the financial bills, “he lost his seat and cannot come back to Parliament in the 8^th Parliament. “He did not lose because of incompetence, he lost because he did not have money. You send someone to be in charge of Free Zones gets money to unseat the former Finance Committee chair”.

“Where Fredrick Opare-Ansah, in terms of Communications, the whole parliament nobody, where is he, he did not lose because of competent he lost because of money.  A house divided against itself cannot stand, this Ministers nominees for this second term is not a team that can outsmart the NDC, this is an inspiration to us that one’s government is divided against itself 2024 is a done deal for NDC”.

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Member of Parliament for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim has said President Nana Akufo-Addo did not think through his appointment very well before nominating Deputy Ministers.

According to him, he is not surprised about the difficulties he had in announcing the list of his Deputy Minister nominees, until he appointed an adviser to advise him to be able to bring out their names.

“We heard names making rounds in social media, until Yaw Osafo Marfo was appointed senior presidential  advisor two days after the names came count, meaning the President was encountering serious difficulties, I don’t think he thought through before bringing the names out”.

The Banda MP speaking in an interview pointed out that with the kind of hung parliament the country has, the president has appointed sixteen Regional Ministers and his policy is that he is not going to appoint Deputy Regional Ministers.

“You have given two of your 137 MPs Regional Ministers without deputies, how do you expect the regions to function. Can you imagine a serious debate going on in Parliament, it means the people of the Western Region are going to be deprived of their Regional Minister for some days?”

He backed his point by quoting Standing Order 16 (1), “A Member shall not absent himself during meetings for more than fifteen sittings days without the permission in writing of the Speaker. Any Member infringing this Order shall have his conduct referred to the Privileges Committee”.

Again, MPs Regional Ministers without deputies, would be heading their Regional Security meetings, they have to be there physically, how do you expect them to perform in a Parliament of 137:137?

Mr. Ibrahim further noted that, Ashanti Region with forty-seven constituencies without deputy ministers how is the region going to function as the region with most problems, you cannot operate the region without deputies.

Deputy ministers were in charge of political activities and organisations, who is going to do that work as the Minister is in charge of linking the regions, how can one person be visiting all the forty-four districts?, he queried

Greater Accra, the Minister has a lot on his hands, chieftaincy disputes, no deputy, he is an MP, and he should have been given a sector Ministry. “If you want to give out regional minister without deputy, then it should go to someone who is not an MP”.

He was however with the view that Kwabena Okyere Darko should have been made a sector minister having performed well previously as a Western Regional Minister. “Give him a sector Minister and appoint a noon MP as a Regional Minister since your policy is that you are not going to appoint Deputy Regional Ministers”.

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Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and a member of the Community Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, is calling on the Government of Ghana to open its land borders between Burkina Faso and Togo.

According to him his constituency borders Burkina Faso and also not too far from Togo and the closure of the borders is affecting commerce and livelihoods of his constituents.

In an interview he noted that his call is purely constituency related, and he has been making these calls for sometimes now. “If government feels the threat of COVID-19 infection is so high, equal mechanism for testing should be put in place like it is done at the airports”.

“It is discriminatory to open the airports and continue to close the land borders. When aircraft is a means of transport, those who can afford to travel by air come into the country, but those who cannot afford to travel by air cannot come into the country?”

He added that with the advent of technology people should be given the options, so that those who can afford to pay for testing at the borders to cross into Ghana and other neighboring countries to do so.

Again, he emphasised that ECOWAS member states should engage bilaterally with their neigbours to see what mechanism can be put in place to ensure their citizens would be able to cross their land borders.

Mr. Ayariga noted that what is happening now is more dangerous, since borders within the sub-region are porous and if borders are closed ECOWAS citizens are not stopped from crossing from one side to the other.

As trying hard to monitor crossing over the borders is not an easy task. “I know what I am talking about I live there in Bawku Central and if anyone want to cross from Burkina Faso and Togo they can do so whether you open the border or not”.

Also it is only those who want to do legitimate traveling carrying goods and services, normally get frustrated and those who really must cross, can just walk across unapproved routes.

In addition he noted that the infrastructure needed to monitor the entire border relative to the infrastructure needed to be put at the borders is more expensive, because there are two hundred unapproved routes within hundred kilometers radius per border.

Unless you are able to marshal over three hundred security personnel to cover the entire area. Look at what happened in the case of Togo and Ghana, where government of Ghana said they have moved all those troops there, to prevent people crossing because of COVID-19.

“So you can imagine the cost of keeping troops at the border, relative to setting up a COVID-19 testing centre and even subsidizing it, doing it at a lower cost for citizens who want to travel, your life could be easier than the cost of putting troops there to monitor individuals crossing. You put troops there and still not be able to monitor the people crossing”.

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Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram has said the just ended “thank you tour” of the constituency afforded him the opportunity to thank his constituents and account to them the leadership position they have entrusted to him.

According to him he embarked on a town hall meeting where he thanked his constituents for voting for him and the 2020 flagbearer John Dramani Mahama.

He further pointed out in an interview that he had the opportunity to address his constituents, on work done in Parliament in the first meeting before the House went on recess.

In addition he also educated them on what the position of the budget and how relevant it would be to their issues. “It was a fantastic engagement something lawmakers would do anytime we go on recess to get connected with our constituents”, he said.

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A member of Ghana’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mahama Ayariga has indicated that, Nigeria’s unilateral decision to close its land borders would be revisited next month in Abuja when lawmakers converge for their May Session.

According to him the issue would be revisited as to why Nigeria closed its borders to the rest of the sub-region. “It would come up strongly, we have our next Session in Abuja Nigeria”, he said in an interview.

Community lawmakers before the end of the lifespan of the fourth Legislature, expressed strong reservation as to why Nigeria had closed its borders with Benin Republic and Niger, despite the fact that ECOWAS was preaching free movement of people, goods and services.

But the Nigerian delegation’s defense was that, rice was being smuggled into their country killing the industry, and at the same time, weapons were being illegally smuggled into the country.

Before the official closure of land borders within the sub-region, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria took a unilateral decisions to close its borders, and Mahama Ayariga in a July interview last year noted that the decision was not the best.

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President Nana Akufo-Addo has received praises from a number of people for giving opportunity to a number of Young Parliamentarians to serve in his second, with the nomination of the Deputy Ministers designate.

But the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram is not so much enthused saying; it is not about appointing young persons to serve in government, but rather the quality the young people bring to the table and standing up to be good ambassadors of the youth should be looked at.

“Do we have that quality in the appointment now? We would see that at their impending vetting, we would see the in-depth or how deep they are”.

Speaking in an interview, he pointed out that one cannot be judged by their names, but was quick to point out that some of the nominees have known track records when they served as Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of some state institutions.

And their track record can be questioned, as well as their vetting would bring the substance they bring to the table.

“It is always good to see young people given an opportunity to serve, I am also a young person who was given the opportunity to serve former President John Dramani Mahama”.

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Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has toured communities in his constituency and thank them for the opportunity given him to serve them as Parliament is on recess.

The MP who was not detracted by the heavy downpour which sometimes threatens the tour visited a number of communities including Kenu and BAttor and assured them of better days ahead as he puts into fruition programmes and projects aimed at improving the living conditions of people in the constituency.

According to him the thank you tour gives him the opportunity to get closer to the people and allows him to take stock, and in addition helps them to identify and agree on most pressing and unique challenges of each community and how they can collectively address them.

In the month of Ramadan, he took the opportunity to visit Muslim Clerics at Juapong in his constituency and was happy with the warm welcome.

He called for unity among the people as they work together to address their challenges, adding; “May Allah continue to bless our beautiful peaceful and progressive coexistence”.

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