Month: May 2021

Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon Alban S.K. Bagbin has urged members of the Joint Steering Committee of the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lipke and Lolobi (SALL) Traditional Areas to properly invoke the jurisdiction of Parliament to thoroughly address the non-representation of the SALL people in the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

He said although he presides over the house as Speaker, he had no voting rights and therefore did not participate in the decisions making process on the floor of the House, hence his advice for the delegation to officially petition Parliament.

“I can only advise that you may have to come through the proper procedure to invoke the jurisdiction of the House to go into this matter in detail,” he said.

The Speaker was addressing the joint steering committee of the SALL Traditional Areas when the delegation paid a courtesy call on him in Parliament on Monday, May, 17 2021.

He explained that the situation needed to be addressed in details to help preserve the country’s budding democracy.

Dr Joe Addae, the leader of the delegation said the visit was to brief the Speaker on the absence of a legislative representative for the people of the SALL traditional areas in the current Parliament.

It would be recalled that the Electoral Commission (EC) through a release issued on the eve of the 2020 elections caused the exclusion of SALL to vote and elect a member of parliament.

Although voters in the SALL traditional areas were allowed to vote in the Buem Constituency for the Presidential elections, they were directed by the EC not to participate in the Parliamentary elections.

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The Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Rt. Hon.  Dr. Mohamed Sidie Tunis on Tuesday, 17 May, 2021 joined colleagues at the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone (Committee on Appointment and the Public Service) to vet nine presidential nominees including, the proposed Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Abu Bakarr Karim, Permanent Representative to the United Nations New York Fanday Turay, Rupert Davies Sierra Leone High Commissioner, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This comes a day ahead of the, State Opening of the Fourth Session of the Fifth Parliament of Sierra Leone and delivery of the State of the Nation Address by President Julius Maada Bio on Tuesday, 18 May, 2021 in the Chamber of Parliament, Tower Hill, Freetown Western Area Urban, Sierra Leone.

Dr. Tunis is a ranking member of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and Member of Parliament (MP), representing constituency 101, Pujehun District which borders with Liberia.

He is serving his fourth consecutive term and was the former Leader of Government Business, who chaired the Committee on Appointment and the Public Service that vets the President’s appointees for public service jobs.

During the fourteenth Sitting of the Committee on Appointment and the Public Service in the Conference Hall of the New Administrative Building, Parliament on Monday, May 17, 2021, Dr. Tunis was observed to be highly attentive and interactive with the Leaders of the National Assembly and other MPs from across the political divide and, also seen perusing documents offline but also keeping fingers on his smartphone.

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Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe, Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah, has revealed that land to build school for children in the Wiaboman Community is now ready.

According to her, the First Lady in her previous visit to the constituency “promised to build us school for children in the community, when she witnessed how children had to travel far to go to school”.

“Now that we have found a site, I would let the office of the first lady Rebeca Akufo-Addo know, I believe she would send her people down here for the project to start”.

The Weija-Gbawe lawmaker made this known on Monday, May 17, 2021 when she handed over documents to a contractor to start the construction of a new Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound for the Wiaboman Community.

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Chief Director at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA), Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darkoh has said he was disappointed that on the proposal to elect Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), there was no consensus among the NPP and NDC parliamentarians of the immediate past parliament.

According to him all the work that was done actually came to nothing because, the two top “dogs” could not agree on how it should be done, and President Nana Akufo-Addo literally had to withdraw the bill.

And further pointed out that, looking at the thresh hold of a referendum was very high a year into the 2020 elections, one would not want to risk going into a referendum that was going to be problematic.

“As a political scientist, if I were the one advising the president I would have advice him to withdraw at that time that we could not build consensus among the MPs in Parliament”.

In an interview on the subject matter he noted that going forward, it is an issue that should engage the attention of all of us. “We want participation in our democracy, but at what level do we want our people to participate, and it is an opportunity?”

He further noted that, election of MMDCEs would broaden participation and makes it easier, hence the need to revisit the issue ones again.

Dr. Aggrey-Darkoh was quick to point out that with the current composition of the 8^th parliament, even if the idea is floated there should be building of consensus among the MPs, “mind you the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs does not have the numbers to play with and you would not want to burn your fingers”.

And revisiting the subject matter should come with consensus building among critical actors in this particular case NPP and NDC. He emphasised that we need it but the politicians would have to decide on that, “we can join the debate, these are the kind of discussions going forward”.

As it would offer the smaller political parties the opportunity to be part of governance, so that as a country we do not reduce the smaller parties into election machines that would become relevant only during elections, and after elections they go into hibernation and surface during elections, he said.

They should have a role to play in our governance process from day to day, that was one thing he suggested and added that the election of MMDCEs would be reactivated, when they touch on the constitutional conference that the Ministry is thinking about.

“So that too much power is not put in the hands of the Central government or a ruling party’s, this is a potential area that can deal with the winner takes all politics we have”.

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The Member of Parliament for Ketu South, Abla Dzifa Gomashie has asked teachers to among other things support children in any way necessary and give every child the same opportunity to learn, study and explore.

Addressing the 6th GNAT Quadrennial District Delegates Conference at Aflao in the Ketu South Municipality, the MP remarked that encouragement from her parents, teachers, and her regular patronage of the library as a child played a significant role in who she has become.

As such she extended a passionate call to teachers in the Municipality to inculcate the habit of reading in their pupils, adding that “making good use of the books in libraries does change people”.

Library, she said, fills the gap between the teacher, parents and the world at large in the life of a pupil.

“If Kofi in Aflao is privileged to read the same story book Sam is reading in another country, or continent of the world, thanks to the Library sited in the Municipality of which he visited, then to say that Kofi can comfortably compete with Sam, would not be far-fetched”, she stated

She observed that menaces such as teenage pregnancy and drug abuse are on the rise, but pleaded with the teachers not to be discouraged.

“Parents should not forget their duties, roles, and responsibilities in the lives of their children; and should assist teachers to bring our children back to the classrooms and encourage them to further their education.

The Quadrennial Conference was on the theme “GNAT at 90: Surviving as a Reliable and Vibrant Teacher Union in the Twenty-First (21st) Century:………Empowering the Young Teacher for Brighter Future”.

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Former Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has been honoured at the Ghana Ministers of State Excellence with a citation for his achievements as a former Minister of Energy and Petroleum.

The awards scheme was instituted to recognize Ministers of State who had served the state diligently and distinguished themselves in the course of their duty to advance the development of Ghana.

Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah, who was honoured alongside other former and current Ministers of State served as a Minister of Energy and Petroleum from 2013 to 2016.

He is credited to have played a key role in the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Act 815, Petroleum Local Content and Local Participation Regulations, 2013, L.I. 2204, the establishment of the Petroleum Commission among others, which have become the bedrock of Ghana’s Petroleum Industry.

The four-time Member of Parliament for the Ellembele Constituency and currently the ranking member of Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee of Parliament, while accepting the award said he will continue to do his best for mother Ghana in all endeavors whenever given the opportunity to serve.

“It energizes me to continue to work so hard for our country Ghana that we love so much. This serves as a morale booster and motivation for the course I have chosen as an MP. I believe that when given the opportunity to serve, you must serve with honesty, humility and loyalty to mother Ghana which I will always work hard to achieve”, he said.

The former Energy and Petroleum Minister also used the occasion to acknowledge persons who played a role in his Ministerial performance and his constituent.

“Thanks to the late President J.E.A. Mills for appointing me as the Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum from 2009-2012 and to the former President John Dramani Mahama for promoting me as the substantive Minister of Energy and Petroleum as well as the team at the Ministries.

It’s very humbling to be celebrated today for our hard work that saw key transformational policies like the passage of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act, 919, the development and production of 3 major oil fields thus Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa which are today the key sources of government revenue. The fete being celebrated today cannot go without the mention of the establishment of Ghana Gas Company that brought Ghana to indigenous gas production and curtailed the long LPG lines and the additions of new power projects like Karpowership, Cenpower, Amandi etc to address the power crisis and our efforts to bring sanity in the downstream petroleum sector such as the price deregulation and the privatization of the BOST storage facilities to curtail annual fuel losses.”

“I dedicate this award to the good people of Ellembele and those who perished or got injured in the 2020 election. You have stood by me and trusted me to represent you for 4 terms totaling 16 years in Ghana’s Parliament and I don’t take that for granted at all”, he added.

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The Chief Director of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA), Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darkoh has given the indication of the Ministry deepening its relationship with Parliament, as the 8^th Parliament kick starts its second meeting of the first session on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.

According to him this would be to the mutual benefit of both institutions, as there is a country to govern and at any point in time a group of people would be in charge, and there is the need for the contribution of a group that is not in charge.

“Those who are not in charge, their contribution is to critic and identify weakness in any legislation proposal with the view of coming out with recommendations that would enhance and strengthen of a law or a piece of legislation. To see if the implementation would have a ripple effect on the citizenry, that is what we are looking at, what we did in the last four years, we have high regard for Parliament and the institution itself has a lot of respect for things that we do”

Dr. Aggrey pointed out that parliament has found it extremely useful their programmes which are held outside the House and have participated in their numbers both the majority and minority, “so we do not anticipate a different story this year. We hoping that as they come, we would start engaging the core leadership and later the committees”.

As to what MoPA can do to support the sector Minister considering the numerical strengthen of both the NPP and the NDC, he noted that there is a balancing perspective and goodwill from both sides of the House.

And was quick to point out that, MoPA operates within a certain budgetary constraints, it is not an open ended budget, but they are well positioned to play their role as they reconfigure their scope in terms of strengthening the human capital base and improve on the quality of what they do for mutual benefit.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Residents of Wiaboman in the Weija-Gbawe Constituency would start benefiting from a health facility by the end of May next year, as Member of Parliament for the Constituency, Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah in the company of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) on May 17, 2021 handed over documents to a contractor for works to start on the project.

According to the deputy Health Minister designate, the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound is the fourth she has brought to the constituency, as there are others in Gbawe, Weija and Tettegu.

And further pointed out in an interview that she has brought a lot of projects to her constituency like schools, including a senior high school (SHS), and junior high school (JSH) at St. Jude; roads and bridges to link communities.

Madam Tina Mensah in addition noted that the chps compound when completed would serve a good purpose, especially looking at the dense population, as they have to travel as far as Dansoman and McCarthy Hill to assess health delivery.

“Imagen if something happens to someone here, you have to travel far, and the roads are not motorable in this community; they have to go through Pambross, but they would not allow them to go through and they have to go round, round, it’s so bad”.

Again, she noted that since it is a government project, there should be accessible road to the facility like asphalt.

As to her relationship with the Assembly to ensure they have their fair share of development, she emphasized that she works with the Assembly, and every project she lobbies for she has to rout it through the Assembly and she collaborates with the MCE so that she can get her projects done.

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Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana has said he does not mind if their common fund is scraped, adding that by that singular act, Ghanaians would know nothing comes to them, and then nobody comes to ask for anything.

According to him there is the need for some kind of education as to what the responsibility of the Member of Parliament is, but other school of thought thinks when the MPs Common fund is scraped people would even come to their MPs.

“The little we get is not enough and we have to add our personal monies to solve the small, small problems, which is the debate”.

Responding to the debate on whether MPs are development agents, he pointed out that Ghanaians should be educated to know that they would be the end beneficiaries if they concentrate their demand for development from the Central government and the various Assemblies.

Again, there are some MPs who are well to do, and admitted that, once a while, they exhibit their wealth and it draws out comparison and gave an example with the MP for North Tongu and that of Sawla-Tuna-Kalba.

“Ablakwa is doing A, B and C, why is Sawla-Tuna-Kalba not doing same? That is also another problem. Again, the constituency do have different characteristics and people do not appreciate all these things. My constituency is very vast, and the people may not need ambulance. Their focus may be basic needs like water, if I focus on providing water and someone else goes to provide ambulance then you want to compare us?”

These are the problems, adding that he thinks MPs too must be focused to listen to their people, and provide what they can provide to meet what their people are asking; but damping anything on them is not the best. “If you have ten cedis you spend it in a manner that would benefit the people”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghananps.com