The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joseph Osei Owusu has stated that, the Rt. Hon Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin does not interfere in his job whenever he is presiding over Parliamentary proceedings as a Speaker.
He said, the Rt. Hon Speaker has absolute confidence in him in discharge of his mandate as a Speaker and does not instruct neither does he direct him in any way as to how to handle issues on floor.
Mr. Osei- Owusu did accept that, the Rt. Hon Speaker of Parliament, Bagbin has a special way of correcting him, should he go wrong during proceedings, same as the first Deputy Speaker can correct the Rt. Hon Speaker, whenever he also get it wrong during proceedings.
He made this known in an interview and justified his comments that he is not “the Speaker”, which had generated some controversies on the floor of the House when, the minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu questioned his legitimacy for allowing himself to be counted among MPs when the issues of quorum arose during the approval of the 2022 annual budget estimate.
Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson has announced that the government of Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo is doing everything possible to overcome the yellow card warning issued to Ghana by the European Union (EU).
She explained that, the yellow card warning came as a result of some negative activities which have been happening on the Ghanaian sea by the fishermen, including light fishing and the use of chemical (Poisoning the fishes) and others.
And further said, government through her Ministry is seriously implementing all the measures which Ghana has been ordered to follow by the European Union (EU) in order not to attract any international sanctions.
Madam Koomson added that, government has given an approval for her Ministry to purchase patrol boats and research vessel to assist in patrolling on the sea and land to stop fishermen from such illegal fishing activities.
The Minister made this remarks on the floor of the House on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 in response to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo Markin’s question on measures being put in place to overcome the yellow card warning issued by the E.U.
The Western and Central regions are yet to benefit from government intervention under the fishing input support scheme.
According to the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Hawa Koomson when she came to the floor of the House on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 to answer question in the name of her Ministry.
Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten lawmaker from Tema East wanted to know what economic impact mitigation measures are available for peasant or artisanal fisher folks for the 2021 closed fishing season which is imminent.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry during the implementation of the 2021 Closed Season supported fishers across the four (4) Coastal Regions namely; Greater Accra, Volta, Central and Western Regions respectively with some relief items including 15,000 bags of rice and 6,250 cartons of cooking oil. The Ministry has also initiated the distribution of approved fishing nets to artisanal fisher folks in the Volta and Central Regions respectively.
Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has indicated that it would investigate shortage of premix fuel in Salaga South as reported by the lawmaker from that constituency, as asked by Zuwera Mohamed Ibrahimah.
According to the sector Minister Hawa Koomson the Ministry has not received reports of any shortage of premix fuel at landing beaches within the Salaga South Constituency.
She further told the House that, reports indicate that, the supply of premix fuel to the five (5) landing beach committees at Salaga South namely ‘Makango Main, Makango Lower, Kejewu Battor, Kafaba and Mataheko have been regular, adequate and without any major challenge so far this year.
The same persists at various landing beaches across the country. Some reforms introduced have denied unauthorized persons from assessing the subsidized product and diverting for other activities.
“We would however, direct the newly Constituted National Premix Fuel Committee to investigate the report”.
Sector Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hawa Koomson has said the sector has over the years been dominated by the marine sub-sector.
The over dependency on the subsector has greatly contributed to the overexploitation of marine fisheries resources and to address the situation, the Ministry is promoting aquaculture development with the objective of growing the aquaculture subsector to increase its contribution to domestic fish production and reduce the over dependency on marine fisheries resources.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Denkyira East wanted to know the measures the Ministry is taking to secure Ghana’s marine fish stock which has seen rapid decline in the past decade.
The Ministry has also reviewed the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy developed in 2008 as part of the steps towards the revision of the existing Fisheries Act, 2002.
The revised policy has extensively outlined measures for management of marine fisheries such as regular assessment of status of fish stocks, establishment of marine protected areas and climate smart fisheries.
As a result, Plans are advanced to procure four (4) patrol boats and a research vessel for the sector to enhance surveillance operations at sea and provide evidence for policy directives.
Mr. Speaker, the marine subsector accounts for the bulk of domestic fish production and fisher population in Ghana, sustaining the subsector in therefore, key to the fisheries sector and the livelihoods of the over 186 fishing communities along the coast.
Accordingly, the Ministry has put in place measures to protect and sustain marine fisheries resources including:
– The implementation of the all Fleets Closed Season aimed at recovery of overexploited fish stocks and rebuilding of depleted fish stocks;
– Intensified fisheries law enforcement through at sea and land patrols as well as inspections;
– Deployment of observer on board all industrial vessels,
– Installation of Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) electronically monitor the activities of the vessels at sea.
The artisanal fishers, who constitute the majority of the marine fisher population, are also being provided with authorized fishing inputs such as approved fishing nets to address the proliferation of illegal fishing nets which has been observed to be a major cause of illegal fishing in the artisanal subsector.
Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hawa Koomson has told Parliament government through her Ministry is leading the campaign to wage war against operators engaged in illegal fishing practices including saiko through collaboration and engagements with stakeholders for voluntary compliance.
In addition, a new National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported Fishing (NPOA-IUU), (2021-2025) is being implemented.
Actions taken by the Ministry as part of implementing the NPOA include:
– Observers placed on all industrial vessels during fishing expeditions.
– Electronic monitoring of vessels at sea.
– Intensified at sea inspections and beach combing operations to strictly monitor compliance of fisheries laws and regulations.
– Arrests and prosecution of offenders for infractions.
When Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North asked the sector Minister steps being taken to end the illegal practice of trans-shipment at sea.
A former Member of the Ghanaian delegation to the Community Parliament, Clement Kofi Humado has said the proposed January 1, 2022 reopening of all land boarders within the sub-region is achievable.
ECOWAS sectorial ministers, in collaboration with the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), took the decision at a virtual meeting coordinated from Abuja, Nigeria this week.
Among the factors informing the decision, the ministers took into consideration the fact that their economies lost $50 billion in value or 6.7 per cent of their cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2020 and 2021.
Also the report and recommendations of the meeting will be presented to the ECOWAS Council of Ministers meeting, scheduled for Abuja, Nigeria, tomorrow and Friday and subsequently submitted to the Heads of State and Government, the highest decision-making body, for adoption.
A communiqué issued by ECOWAS after the meeting said more than 50 people took part in the meeting, including ECOWAS sectorial ministers in charge of the Interior, Health, Finance, Trade and Transport, alongside their experts.
In an interview, Clement Humado pointed out that the o original date for the opening of the land boarders was July, 31, 2021 which has passed and this is also another attempt to implement the decision that was taken earlier.
“Now almost every country has realised that their economies are going down people are not able to do business along the corridors from Lagos to Cote d’lvoire and has resulted in loss of income and livelihood for a lot of people”
Again, he pointed out that farmers are not able to send their produce across the brooders and thinks now there is compelling evidence that the boarders must be re- open.
Now that they have brought in West African Health Organisation (WAHO), “if they provide the adequate funds of them they can coordinate the COVID-19 protocols implementation across the boarders and as I said some time ago WAHO needs money funding to be able to do this job and I hope the funds would be release by the Commission”.
Member of Parliament for Ho West, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah as part of Ghana joining the rest of the world to commemorate world anti-corruption day noted that data available from the African Union (AU) indicates that, Ghana and other African countries lose an estimated corruption cost of about US$140 billion annually.
An amount that is enough, according to Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) to provide power 24 hours a day to every citizen in the continent for the next three years.
“Mr. Speaker, according to another report presented by Transparency International in January this year, sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest performing region on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) with an average score of 32 showing little improvement from previous years and underscoring a need for urgent action.
Referring to the same report by the global movement, Ghana’s current score is at 43 out of a 100 indicating a perception of failure in our anticorruption fight. Transparency International further noted that 43% of Africans are living in poverty while over $50 billion worth of stolen assets flows out of Africa every year.”
He added that the impact of corruption cannot be underestimated, as it is a major root of poverty, deprivation and underdevelopment. In the particular case of Ghana, the high prevalence of corruption has blighted the hopes of many, given rise to poor service delivery and lack of access to basic necessities of life and continues to threaten Ghana’s developmental aspirations.
In a statement on the floor of the House on Thursday, December 9, 2021 he noted that 2021 Anti-Corruption and Transparency Week is an effort at tackling one of the foundational issues of corruption and integrity. And call for concerted effort and commitment of all colleague Members of Parliament in the August House, to win the fight against corruption, to increase “our fortunes and that of Africa and to create prosperity for all”.
Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah told Parliament on Thursday, December 9, 2021 that next year’s budget has made provision to provide new water supply facilities to eight communities in the Wulensi constituency.
According to her, her Ministry would carry out project through the Community Water and Sanitation Agency.
The minister further noted that six out of the eight communities namely; Kukuo, Garikpe, Padual, Kpayanis, and Chichayi have been provided with boreholes facilities. Again in accordance with the policy direction at her time, the facilities were handed over to the District Assembly for management by the Water and Sanitation Management team.
“Mr. Speaker, over time, some of the systems have broken down, due to failure to maintain those water supply facilities, and in view of population growth the functional water facilities cannot meet the current water demand.
She was answering a question from the Member of Parliament for Wulensi lawmaker Abukari Dawuni wanted to know measures taken to address the perennial water affecting
A member of Ghana’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah said it does not lie in the mouth of the Cape Verde lawmakers to say they would withdraw their services from the Parliament.
According to him there are various member states which form ECOWAS, and such withdrawal should be decided at the level of Authority of Heads of States and Government, since they came together to form a common union.
Again, the formation of the Union is to see to the welfare of citizens within member states and added that the vision 2050 of ECOWAS which was presented last week Saturday, December 4. 2021 in Abuja is geared towards that.
“One of the things we were looking at is the Community of people as a theme, and we were looking at full integration of the citizens; opening of our boarders; issues on our monetary zone, as such no one country who has appended their signature to be part of the Community would decide that they would just walk away”.
The final sitting of the 39 member adhoc committee on the consideration of the draft consolidated community budget for the year 2022 was delayed by over four hours due to severe protest by the Portuguese speaking Parliamentarians who threatened to withdraw from every engagements of ECOWAS.
Plenary Session at Abuja
The Portuguese speaking member states’ agitation came as a result of being omitted during the distribution of translated working documents during the final sitting of the committee in Abuja.
Expressing the worries to the adhoc committee, one of the Portuguese speaking parliamentarians, Gabriela Alfredo Fernandes said the act of them being marginalized or excluded most of the times in the affairs of ECOWAS is a recurring event which must be stopped.
She insisted that henceforth they will never allow themselves to be treated as a second fiddle in the affairs of the parliament.
The situation which the committee condemned in strong term was however, brought under control by the parliamentarians.
The Chairman of the adhoc committee, Senator Ali Ndume who shared the pains of his colleagues said strong recommendation would be made to the leadership of ECOWAS Parliament to forestall future occurrence.
Mr. Emmanuel Bedzrah in an interview again pointed out that parliament is just one of the institutions of ECOWAS, and Cape Verde having issues with parliament is not enough ground to opt out of the community bloc.
“Let me place on record that the staffs in parliament need to do more, I witnessed the incident in question in one of our committee meetings, and at the plenary, where the budget from the Commission was presented to the parliament and that for the Portuguese colleagues were not part”.
He emphasised that the issue came up at the plenary and added that if it’s an issue having interpreters, the Community Parliament need to get them and pay them to work so that the needed materials can be worked on.
“We are members of equals from the community; it would not be fair that English and French speaking countries to have their documents, whiles the Portuguese speaking countries do not have theirs. It’s not fair if we claim that we are all equal of the community”.
Also the report and recommendations of the meeting will be presented to the ECOWAS Council of Ministers meeting, scheduled for Abuja, Nigeria, tomorrow and Friday and subsequently submitted to the Heads of State and Government, the highest decision-making body, for adoption.
In an interview, Clement Humado pointed out that the o original date for the opening of the land boarders was July, 31, 2021 which has passed and this is also another attempt to implement the decision that was taken earlier.
