Month: July 2021

Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Daniel Kwaku Botwe, has told Parliament the Ministry is in the process of elevating the Jasikan District into a Municipality, and the House would be notified in due course of further progress.

According to him the Ministry received a final Executive Instrument (E.I) from the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice on 9^th November last year for onward submission to the president for his signature.

As the president has signed the E.I for the elevation of Jasikan District into a Municipality, the Minister told the House the elevation is yet to be done as per a letter dated October 21, 2020, he submitted a draft E. I for the upgrade of the district into a Municipality.

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Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Abas Apaak is advocating for a constitutional amendment to enable the Public Account Committee (PAC) by itself to have the powers to course arrest and prosecute public officials who cannot explain and justify utilization of public funds.

According to him when it comes to prosecution and arrest, they have to seek the Speakers approval, and as a committee, they have to do that through him, while the Speaker also has to rely on law enforcement agencies which are under the Executive. “Ours is not a clear cut”.

“What Ghanaians have to understand is that, unlike other parts of the continent like Uganda and Rwanda where the PAC is cloth with powers to act on its own, for us we continue to be the Speaker’s committee, and within the contest of our set up we report to the Speaker”.

In an interview as to why PAC is unable to cause the arrest of public officials who cause infractions, he noted that the powers of PAC are limited and they would need guidance of the Speaker, so that his is aware of whatever they do and they should not surprise him.

Again, he pointed out that what is more painful is that in some instances the same officers superintend over same infractions year in, year out; it is like they do not take the whole work of PAC seriously.

And if there is an infraction that date back four or five years ago, they expect that before anyone appears before the Committee, even if they do not have resolution, they should provide cogent logical and sensible explanation as to what they have done and where the challenges are.

“You do not come before the PAC and speak in general terms, and when you are queried, you try to make excuses. I truly think PAC if properly empowered, we can truly help to save the public purse”.

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Member of Parliament (MP) for North Dayi, Joycelyn Tetteh, over the weekend visited uncompleted clinic and a nurse bungalow at Wadamaxe in the Anfoega Traditional Area.

According to the MP the project when completed would serve the people of Wadamaxe and its environs.

And added that a new contractor has been deployed to complete the project as soon as possible, which would provide accommodation for the health service providers.

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The Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Frank Annor-Dompreh is optimistic that the final year senior high school students will perform well this year judging from the level of energy they have channeled towards preparations for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The MP had earlier paid for extra classes for the students, and is hopeful that will be enough if they put much efforts.

Mr.  Annor-Dompreh visited the students today, July 5, 2021 to check on their progress and assured them of his support to ensure that they come out successful in the examinations.

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The Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul has told Parliament, his ministry has apologized to the good people of Wa and the great Chief of Wa, Wa-Naa, over the unfortunate military molestation which happened on Thursday, July 2,2021.

He explained, the Defence Ministry and National Security Ministry have constituted a joint Committee to investigate into the matter to establish the facts leading to the unfortunate incident to guide the nation, going forward.

Mr.  Nitiwul further said, his ministry has identified all the victims involved in the incident and would take care of them till they are fully recovered and those military personnel who acted unprofessionally in yesterday’s incident are going to be punished accordingly.

The minister’s explanation came at the plenary in a form of briefing with respect to the unfortunate military molestation incident which happened in Wa.

And further pointed out that it is not a military culture to move to town to molest people and the investigation into the matter would bring out the fact, and the incident would not be swept under the carpet.

“Mr. Speaker I do not have a problem with the House tasking the Defense and Interior Committee to go into the incident, but the military has established a joint committee which is already going into the matter”.

And pleaded with his colleagues to be guided in their utterances on the matter, “we are building a society and a democracy, the military is part of it.

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The deputy majority leader and Member of Parliament for Efutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo Markin has urged the Executive arm of government, members of Parliament, the judiciary, chiefs and the rest of the country to come together and protect the peace of the country.

He explained that, there may be some few security challenges in some parts of the country but that does not give the basis for people to declare the country as insecure, since such comments would not take us anywhere as a country.

Mr.  Afenyo Markin further said, every Ghanaian citizen has the right to freedom of speech and also freedom to demonstrate and nothing should be done to frustrate the exercise of such people but must be done in a manner not to create or destroy the peace we all are enjoying.

The deputy majority leader advised every citizen to be mindful of how we react towards issues in our homes and body politics so that this country remain peaceful.

He made these remarks when he was contributing to a statement made by the member of Parliament for Klottey Korle, Dr Zanetor Agyemang-Rawlings on the rising levels of insecurity and violet crime in Ghana.

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Member of Parliament for Ahanta West, Ebenezer Kojo Kum said for some reason there seems to be lack of definition on the role of MP and MMDCEs.

He was reacting to the never-ending debate on the distinguished roles of a Member of Parliament, and that of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) with particular respect to development.

According to him, most Ghanaians are unclear in their mind on the role of these two constitutional creatures, and the process of getting MMDCEs elected even raises more confusing issues.

, as the outcome is known to Ghanaians.

In an interview, he pointed out that in his first term as an MP, he got a call from his constituents, because the lights had gone off in the constituency so he had to call the district director of ECG to deal with the problem.

“So clearly the individual who called feels his interface with the MP is more than that of the MMDCEs despite the fact that the MMDCEs are in the constituency or district. These are some of the things we need to talk about”.

He further pointed out that the way MPs campaign is part of the problem. “We are legislators first and we are not precluded from going to lobby for things for our constituencies”.

In addition, when it comes to the day-to-day butter issue in the constituencies, he noted that they are purely under the jurisdiction of the MMDCEs, “but most of the times our campaign we create the impression that some of these responsibilities are part of our legislative work”.

And added that there is the need to do a little more education, and as a country there should be an understanding that ones the country starts electing MMDCEs, then the issue of development would take root in the various Assemblies.

 Also, a second look at the 1992 Republican Constitution, on whether MPs should become Ministers as it has its own good and bad sides, the Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs noted that as a country we should come to the table and take a decision on this matter.

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