Member of Parliament for Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Andrew Dari Chiwetey has dismissed assertion that the Minority side of the House is deliberately frustrating government business on the floor of the House by citing issues of quorum the whole of last week.
“Where are the Majority MPs for us to take a decision on the floor of the House? It’s clear that they do not come to the chamber; you can see that the members present in the chamber, we would go strictly the constitution ones we need 138 members to take a major decision”.
In an interview, the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba lawmaker insisted that it cannot be said that the Minority is frustrating government business, no; “ we are always present to work if you go into the chamber now and count the members present in the chamber those on our side are far more than their side”.
As to whether their crusade would force the Majority MPs to come to the House to help take decision, he said “we think they should be there to do business, we are not forcing them but we think they should be there to do business. If it happens we have to take a major decision and we do not have the numbers we do not care”.
“We would insist we have the 138 and we must go by the constitution Article 102 and 104 must work that is all”.
The Chief Justice of Ghana, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has said the mandate of the Ghanaian court is very clear and has been properly spelt out by the 1992 Republican Constitution as the Ghanaian courts operates within its municipal systems.
According to him the ECOWAS Court of Justice operates at the sub-regional level hence both courts are not in competition
“The ECOWAS court is not an appellate court over the courts of member states. There is the need for room for collaboration of our different mandate, the protocols of ECOWAS Court has a provision of onward referrals by national courts of member states to the ECOWAS Court and given member states national courts the responsibility of the enforcement of the judgment of the Community Court of Justice”.
Justice Anin-Yeboah made this remarks when he gave a welcome address on Monday, March 21, 2022 as Ghana host the ECOWAS Court external court session for the first time in Accra for the next two weeks.
“It is a step in the right direction to bring the courts closer to the citizens and foster close relation between the Community court and the judiciary of Ghana and also create awareness of the court. Ghana is a key player in the affairs of the West African sub- region and the court has to facilitate the integration process”, he stated.
He commended the Community Court for discharging its human rights duties with distinction and has established bold authoritative and globally acclaimed human rights mechanism.
He further called for the review of the decision that reduced the number of judges from seven (7) to five (5) as he believe the court requires adequate number of judges to discharge its functions effectively, and also it would be necessary to review the four years nonrenewable tenure of the members of the court to enable the community derive maximum benefit from their vast experience.
As the court session in Ghana would provide members of the Ghanaian bar the opportunity to observe and international court in session and to learn more of their practice and procedure of the community court of justice.
Chairman of the Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism Committee of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior has touted the democratic progress made by the West African sub-region despite few challenges.
According to him the West African sub-region has made some progress in democratic consolidation, regional cooperation, and economic growth over the year. However, the region has been in the global spotlight in recent times due to persistent insecurity and accompanying humanitarian crises.
ECOWAS Parliament delegation at 144th IPU
“Indeed, the current peace and security climate in West Africa is brimming with existing and emerging threats that are national, regional, and global in character. The threats are occasioned by incidents of terrorism, violent extremism, election violence, inter-communal violence, ethnic violence, farmer-herder conflicts, transnational organized crime, and climate change, among others”.
He was addressing gathering of all Parliamentary Associations in the world which is having its 144th Assembly under way in Bali, Indonesia from March 20 to 24, 2022, and speaking on the topic “Rethinking and reframing the approach to peace progress with a view to fostering lasting peace and International Security”.
And further pointed out that, in an effort to find a long lasting solution to previous security problems that confronts the region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in 2008, adopted the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF), to serve as strategic framework for improving conflict prevention and human security.
The adoption of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework is an addition to several initiatives which includes key protocols and conventions that are aimed to build a stable West Africa as prerequisite for social, political and economic development.
Whiles some of the earlier initiatives by ECOWAS to promote stability in the region include but not limited to; the Protocol on Non-Aggression (1978), the Protocol on Mutual Assistance on Defense (1982); ECOWAS Revised Treaty (1993); the Protocol Relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security (hereafter the Mechanism); Declaration of Political Principles (1991); and the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001). Over the years, with the mandate provided by virtue of these protocols, ECOWAS has made significant contribution to the promotion of peace and security in Côte d’Ivoire (2010), Guinea Bissau (2012), Liberia (1990), and Sierra Leone (2002), where violent conflicts took place.
The overall aim of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework is to strengthen the human security architecture in West Africa, the intermediate purpose is to create cooperative interaction within the region and with external partners to push conflict prevention and peace-building up the political agenda of Member States in a manner that will trigger timely and targeted multi-actor and multi-dimensional action to defuse or eliminate potential and real threats to human security in a predictable and institutional manner.
Again, despite the Protocols in place to tackle the insecurity within the region, recently, there has been decline in the democratic landscape in West Africa with implications on peace, development and security of its people.
Notable trends include the re-emergence of military coup d’état and overthrow of democratic governments as can be observed in Mali (2021), Guinea (2021) and in Burkina Faso (2022) most recently, to include the failed coup in Guinea Bissau (2022). Of note is that in the case of Guinea, the tension generated by the incumbent administrations aspiration for a 3rd term was one of the root causes of the 2021 coup d’état.
These have not only thwarted democracies, but also led to political uncertainties in the affected countries. The case of Guinea is not an isolated incident but the trajectory of incumbent’s administration’s efforts towards constitutional amendment in relation to Presidential term limits and tenure elongation as also recently witnessed in Togo and Cote d’Ivoire with growing fears of attempts by other Member States adopting this trend.
This has further undermined governance leading to fractured civic space, social in cohesion, manipulation of the electoral processes and violent dissensions between citizens and political actors. Member States were unanimous in demanding during the extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government of September 16, 2021, for the President of the Commission to initiate the process of reviewing the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy & Good Governance.
S G ECOWAS Parliament
Hence this call was received with enthusiasm by all stakeholders, including the ECOWAS Parliament. The call was also seen as an effort to regain ECOWAS dwindling political relevance amongst its citizens and also shore up a renewed wave of democratic stability in the region. Also, it meant to address critical aspects of the above mentioned Protocol to respond effectively the declining democratic governance in the region, including the issue of presidential term limits and tenure elongation.
Senator Snowe Junior, further pointed out that ECOWAS has found useful the deployment of special mediators and members of the Council of the Wise (a group of eminent personalities, including former heads of state, ministers, diplomats, and other high level personalities) in fact finding, facilitation, mediation and negotiation missions in areas of potential conflict.
In addition, ECOWAS Heads of State also apply methods such as peer review, peer pressure and consensus building to resolve lingering crises, behind the scenes and often to good effect, Parliament and as enshrined in relevant Articles of its established Supplementary Act, the Parliament has been able through its activities to create for itself an enviable record of peace keeping and mediation. Parliament, as a matter of parliamentary diplomacy, was involved in the search for peace in the Mano River Union (MRU) in 2002, where Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia had fragile peace.
Similarly the Parliament also initiated peace talks between the Liberian United Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels and the Liberian Government.
And mediated the 2018 dispute in the Sierra Leonean Parliament where the leadership of the Parliament was in an impasse with their membership, there were many others. Parliament regularly conducts Fact- Finding pre-election missions to ensure a level playing field and subsequently dispatches observers to verify the fairness of the votes during elections.
This is a framework which the Parliament practiced recently in Cabo Verde and the Gambia (2021).
Notwithstanding these achievements, they are fully aware and agree that the direct elections of members into the Parliament will confer new competences on the Parliament and would transform the Parliament into a truly independent and democratic body, and all efforts are being directed towards achieving that.
“Whiles, we work towards the realization of this democratic legacy, we take pride in the work we do, as a Parliament, to keep our region peaceful and secure. ECOWAS is already taking steps towards rethinking and reframing the approach to peace processes in reaction to the emerging political upheaval”.
Additionally, it is their belief that if ECOWAS can put in more responsive and reactive measures, this would engender lasting peace and development in the region.
“As the representatives of the people, we are here to listen and learn from experiences of other regions and Member States in relation to rethinking & reframing the approach to peace processes with a view to fostering lasting peace the world over”.
First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu had expressed worry over the practice where Members of Parliament move to the chamber, write their names and leave the chamber.
The Deputy Minister had reason to direct the table office to write names of only members present in the chamber unless they were seen involving in proceeding before leaving for other parliamentary businesses.
The House last week suffered a number of adjournments for lack of quorum usually raised by the Minority side of the House.
According to the First Deputy Speaker, it is difficult to justify the adjournment of proceedings occasioned by lack of quorum, and yet the following day, in the votes and proceedings, there are more than necessary numbers of lawmakers to take decisions.
He stated that he was not oblivious of the fact that some lawmakers attend Committee meetings at a point in time, but there are procedures to doing that.
“That is why, the rules says ring the bell for ten minutes, there is nowhere in the presence of this parliament that you cannot walk into the chamber within ten minutes if indeed we have people at the committee meetings. We have enough time to ask them to come to the chamber so that business of the House can go on. I find it inconsistent business is truncated because a quorum is raised and the numbers are not sufficient”.
And charge leadership of the House to do something about this development and it has occurred throughout the whole of last week; proceedings have been halted, “because at a point someone counts and noticed that there are not sufficient members in the House for it to proceed, yet the following morning our report indicated that we have more members”.
So, if anybody takes the report and compare with the votes and proceedings “what happened, it would be difficult to reconcile how come we have two hundred and fifty of you present yet you could not take a decision; we have to do something about this reporting”, he emphasized..
Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has told Parliament President Nana Akufo-Addo is not be blamed for the delay in him coming to deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) which is a constitutional mandate.
According to him it’s the duty of the Rt. Hon Speaker and leadership of the House to agree and programme him to come and deliver when the date is communicated to him.
This came to light last week Friday, March 18, 2022 when the Member of Parliament for Adaklu Governs Kwame Agbodza wanted to know when the President would fulfill the constitutional mandate of presenting SONA.
Earlier in the previous two weeks the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle also raise same issue on the floor of the House.
Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has pointed out that to be fair to the Minority, there has been a number of occasions they have supported them to pass a number of agreement and motions on the floor of the House.
According to him for some time now both the Majority and Minority have been trying to engage each other and it has been quite productive and clearly Ghanaians have imposed a parliament on them to see them work together.
“We in the majority have been doing, I should be fair here there has been a number of occasions the Minority has supported us to pass a number of agreements and motions. To that extent I want to commend them, they have been quite cooperative”.
He was however; quick to point out in an interview that there are some unusual surprises sometimes with regards to approvals and other businesses by their counterparts.
“I guess we have to do our homework well, I do not want to spill the beans, we have to do our homework well; do not forget it is a competition they are playing such a way that they would have an advantage over us, a matter of they trying to obstruct government business the conclusion is for you to draw”.
He made this known in an interview, when questioned if he believes the Minority is doing all they can to frustrate government business as noticed in the past week.
The Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has thrown a challenge to his colleagues in the Minority to allow them pass the E-levy and face the consequences. “If the much talked E-Levy (Electronic Transfer Bill) is bad a policy as the Minority has told Ghanaians, they should allow us pass it and suffer the consequences thereafter.
“Ask them, if they care more about the Ghanaian people and they want to come to power and we bring a policy that is so bad, they should rather help us to pass the Electronic Transfer Bill 2021 and surfer the political fortunes against us”.
In an interview, He noted further in an interview that the Minority is aware that the E-Levy would innure to their benefit and the huge revenue which would come in to be the game changer and the narrative would change.
“Bottom line is that we should put our house in order as majority, the cue is clear to us, we have drawn our lessons what has happen the last weeks, we have to put our house together and get our business done simple as that”.
Parliament has refuted allegation over the Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin requesting a fifty thousand dollars from it a week after his trip to Dubai for a routine check-up.
“We would like to state categorically that the Rt. Hon Speaker has not, at any point in time, made direct cash request from Parliament. The condition of service of public employees, including political office holders cover medical care, both local and foreign, the specific details of each category of public employees is covered by law”.
In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs Madam Kate Addo pointed out that in the case of Parliamentarians and Speakers, the Presidential Commission on emoluments details out the main areas of coverage, for sitting and former Speakers.
“The current Speaker has no authority and has not made any attempts to, in anyway amend or alter what has been in existence before he came into office”.
“Parliament is fully aware of the dire times they are in as a country and mindful to avoid any profligate spending, the 8th Parliament right from its inception has sought to put the interest and wellbeing of the taxpayer at the fore of all its considerations and deliberations for the enactment of laws and the formulation of polices.
Hence Parliament would like to remind the media that they are partners in the development of the country’s democracy and incumbent on practitioners, while remaining independent and adhering to house styles, to be fair and temperate in their reportage for the overall development of our country’s participatory democracy”.
Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has said with the global challenges around the world in the wake of Russia invading Ukraine pushing petroleum prices up and Ghanaians feeling the effect, government is putting in some measures to deal with the challenges the country is confronted with.
According to him if there is anything like worse performance the current President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration’s performance is better than the best performance of the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) statistics and data available are not far fetch.
He was responding to former Deputy Energy Minister in the John Mahama administration, John Jinapor who has called on the president to dissolve the current economic management team led by the Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia for its abysmal performance.
“You recall that growth was around five (5) percept one of their growth performance was around three (3) percept, among the difficulties we have at the ex-pump price of fuel exchange rate between the cedi and the dollar and its effect on the economy and the people this facts cannot be contested our five percept is far better than their three percept”.
Mr. Dompreh again pointed out that their always difficulties which must be confronted. He said President Mahama went through difficulties and “we criticized him, and we came to power on the hills of those criticisms. “The fact be told, those difficulties were self-imposed. The difficulties that President Mahama went through and the evidence were not far-fetched. Currently we have Russia evasion of Ukraine which is affecting the entire glob; we have COVID-19 which no country can absolve itself; we know the support and intervention that government gave”.
Scanning through West African sub-region, he further pointed out that no government was feeding its citizens as the Ghanaian government did; utilities were almost free for a period of time.
“So our challenge is not self-imposed, the difficulties we are going through are real global challenges which is having its effect on the country and the people. Again, I remember when they were having those difficulties which were self-imposed they run with their tail in between their legs to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without COVID-19 and Russia invasion of Ukraine they run for policy credibility they were proud of their economic management team nobody called for its dissolution; why would you want to call for the current economic management team that has been honest and confronted with this global problems?”.
“I think its cheap political point they want to achieve” and they cannot pretend that all is well, government has been frank and honest with the challenges as the President has said on many occasions that “times are hard”.
And the policies that government introduced are all tailed through reducing the hardship that Ghanaians are going through so there is a clear distinction a government that you can trust and that has come over serious global difficulties and compare to someone who imposed difficulties on themselves, he said.
“We are confident that we would find home grown solutions to the difficulties that we are having, we do not want a situation where we would be told by the IMF they would look into our face and say public sector recruitment has to be halted for you to instil discipline into the economic management”.
In addition, he noted that they are confident they would be able to raise the needed revenue within, and for a long time a third world country has not been able to do that. Ghana is setting a very good example as a country like Greece when they were facing harsh economic difficulties they run to the IMF.
”Rwanda and few African countries have said they want to bit the bullet, and face the reality and deal with it. I am proud the president has not pretended about it and have said they would do all they can to get over the fleeting challenges that we are facing as a country. We want to appeal to Ghanaians that this is a government we trust we are not pretending about the challenges that we are having; Europe and industrialized countries are facing same ex-pump price challenges”.
Again, in the UK people are queening to get fuel. He acknowledged and accepted that Ghana is in difficult times and the NDC Minority should not take advantage of this because of politics, and throw dust into the eyes of the people “our worse is their best”.
“To the extent that we should run to the IMF, we have not done that even after a global pandemic the serious difficulties being imposed on us they should not come and lectures us on our economy”.
Government through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, has on Friday, 18th March, 2022 inaugurated a Sole Inquirer to investigate the circumstances surrounding the true ownership of some parcel of Land in dispute between the Bulgarian Embassy and a private developer.
In a brief background to this move, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor said his Ministry’s attention was drawn to media reports about the demolishing of the Bulgarian Embassy by some private individuals, which received immediate action of sending out a team led by his Deputy Minister in charge of Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu-Bio who acting on instructions, halted all activities on the land until further notice.
The Minister firmly and clearly stated that government has no hand in the said demolition exercise, stressing that the President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who has previously served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs would be the last person to authorise any act that affects diplomatic relations or the country’s obligations under international law.
Mr. Samuel Jinapor said to enable him in the capacity as the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources take the necessary consequential actions, there is the need to commission a full investigation into the circumstances leading to the alleged demolition and the development of the property.
He said the terms of reference for the Sole Inquirer are to;
Undertake a full and impartial inquiry into the alleged encroachment and/or demolishing of property on the land being used as the Bulgarian Embassy,
Make appropriate recommendations relating to the land being used as the Bulgarian Embassy
Inquire into the nature of interest in any land held or occupied by Diplomatic Missions in Ghana
Inquire into any matter relating to land in which Diplomatic Missions in Ghana have an interest whatsoever
Make recommendations to Government.
Due to the urgency of the issue relating to the Bulgarian Embassy, the Minister gave the Sole Inquirer an ultimatum of seven (7) days to present a Report on his Terms of Reference (1) and (2) above, and a period of one (1) month to present a full Report on Terms of Reference (3) to (5).
Mr. Samuel A. Jinapor declared that Government is committed to maintaining the cordial relations it keeps with all diplomatic Missions and will by no means allow this issue to mar the long standing relationship that exists between Ghana and Bulgaria.
He noted that with the expertise and experience of the Sole Inquirer, he is absolutely confident that the Sole Inquirer will provide the Ministry with the full facts and directions to enable him act on them decisively and comprehensively.
The Sole Inquirer, Justice Retired Kwasi Anto Ofori-Atta, a retired Justice of the High Court and a one-time Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Lands Commission in his response said he is grateful to Government and the Minister for the confidence reposed in him.
He assured the Minister that he will do all in his capacity as the Inquirer to fully investigate the matter as per his Terms of Reference.
“I wish to assure you and the whole of Ghana to do my very best to put this matter to rest. Thank you for the opportunity.”
“The ECOWAS court is not an appellate court over the courts of member states. There is the need for room for collaboration of our different mandate, the protocols of ECOWAS Court has a provision of onward referrals by national courts of member states to the ECOWAS Court and given member states national courts the responsibility of the enforcement of the judgment of the Community Court of Justice”.
Again, despite the Protocols in place to tackle the insecurity within the region, recently, there has been decline in the democratic landscape in West Africa with implications on peace, development and security of its people.
He was however; quick to point out in an interview that there are some unusual surprises sometimes with regards to approvals and other businesses by their counterparts.
Mr. Dompreh again pointed out that their always difficulties which must be confronted. He said President Mahama went through difficulties and “we criticized him, and we came to power on the hills of those criticisms. “The fact be told, those difficulties were self-imposed. The difficulties that President Mahama went through and the evidence were not far-fetched. Currently we have Russia evasion of Ukraine which is affecting the entire glob; we have COVID-19 which no country can absolve itself; we know the support and intervention that government gave”.
In a brief background to this move, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor said his Ministry’s attention was drawn to media reports about the demolishing of the Bulgarian Embassy by some private individuals, which received immediate action of sending out a team led by his Deputy Minister in charge of Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu-Bio who acting on instructions, halted all activities on the land until further notice.
Mr. Samuel Jinapor said to enable him in the capacity as the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources take the necessary consequential actions, there is the need to commission a full investigation into the circumstances leading to the alleged demolition and the development of the property.
Mr. Samuel A. Jinapor declared that Government is committed to maintaining the cordial relations it keeps with all diplomatic Missions and will by no means allow this issue to mar the long standing relationship that exists between Ghana and Bulgaria.