Month: March 2023

After two months of vigorous deliberations and workings of the House, Parliament has adjourned sine die for Easter break on Friday, March 31st 2023.

This followed the passage of three revenue bills presented to the house by the government seeking to boost domestic revenue mobilisation.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, presenting his closing remarks to the house urged the MPs to do away with inexplicable decisions that could mar activities of the house in the next meeting.

Mr. Bagbin said, “In spite of the shock we had during this meeting, I urge all to still continue to give thanks to almighty God because that is his will.”

“We have really endeared ourselves particularly the leaders, my deputies to try and build more consensus. But we have had some rather sometimes inexplicable U-turns. And that sometimes saddens me. I hope we will not go through this experience in the next meeting. You have shown that Friday you all came prepared to work hard, so are some of the ministers,” he said.

The Speaker expressed his appreciation to the leadership of both sides and the clerks.

“My gratitude goes to the two deputy speakers for always stepping in to preside anytime I’m not around. And my appreciation goes to the leadership of both sides we tried many times to come to a consensus before Parliament starts. Sometimes we will not be able to carry through. But I pray and hope that we will improve on it. I want to thank the clerk and his deputies and all MPs for what we have achieved so far,” he said.

“I wish you travelling mercies as you go to your constituencies. What happened on Friday was an accident. Value yourselves so make sure that we all come back to meet in great hope. I declare Parliament adjourned sine die,” the Speaker stated.

Parliament on Friday, March 31, passed the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.

The financial bills presented to Parliament by the government seek to rake in about 4 billion Ghana Cedis annually as part of domestic revenue mobilisation.

The bills are also crucial to aid the government’s quest to facilitate the Board Approval for the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme staff-level agreement.

Ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi has said the Committees report has been laid on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

According to him majority of Ghanaians do not understand the process for which a Bill of this kind is supposed to go through, therefore, it makes them believe that, the Bill has been delayed.

In an interview he explained that, the committee needs to take its time to work on the Bill due to its controversial nature in order to engage all groups and individuals that submitted a memorandum to the committee.

He further added that, the enforcement of this LGBTQI+ law would be very difficult even after it is passed since people who engage themselves into those LGBTQ+ activities do so in secrecy, therefore getting an evidence to back a case to prosecute a person wouldn’t be so easy.

The Bill is yet to be taken through the second reading where principles of bill would be looked at; the chairman of the Committee revealed.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The third Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Trade Facilitation Committee meeting has commenced in the capital of Ghana – Accra which brought together stakeholders in the trade sector from the West Africa sub-region both from government and private sector.

In a speech read on her behalf ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture Massandje Toure-Litse by acting director of trade Kolawole A. Sofola he  noted that trade facilitation is not an option but imperative in the wake of the world experiencing unprecedented levels of instability including public health, geopolitical tensions, trade protectionism as well as other external shocks.

With severely disrupted international supply chain that had lead to among others inflation, food insecurity, unemployment its therefore important to point out the importance trade facilitation in deed trade facilitation appear to be one of the solutions mitigate some of these threats.

She recall the importance of the WTO trade facilitation agreement which aims to improve the movement of goods across borders by ensuring transparency, flexibility, simplification and of harmonisation of cross border trade transaction, as well as digitalisation and automation of clearing process at the borders, as the meeting is a continuation of their previous meetings, which pursue the operationalisation for the committee to play its role to deepen regional integration, boost inter regional trade in line with ECOWAS vision 2050.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The House in a vote today has approved the appointment of six Ministerial nominees presented by the Appointment Committee in accordance with Article 79(1) of the 1992 Constitution.

Out of the 275 Members of Parliament eligible to vote, three were absent while the remaining 272 Members successfully cast their ballots.

The approved Ministers include Hon. K.T Hammond as Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Bryan Acheampong as Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng as Minister of Religious Affairs and Chieftaincy, Hon. Mohammed Amin Adams as Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Osei Bonsu Amoah as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, and Hon. Stephen Amoah as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.

On Thursday, the Appointments Committee presented their report on the nominees to Parliament, which was followed by a vote that occurred today, March 24th, 2023. These appointments were made to fill vacancies that were created by the resignations of three previous Ministers.

Ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM); of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. has said on conflict resolution the West African sub-region has a success story to share with the rest of the world.

According to him he is delighted that ahead of the five days high level ECOWAS training and experience sharing in the Hague Netherlands from March 27 to 31, 2023 on exploring negotiation and mediation as instrument for conflict resolution, “We have our own experience we can share about the West Africa sub-region we have had situations in our region that through dialogue we have been able to mediate, ECOMOG is an example of some the things that we have achieved over the years”.

In a telephone interview he recounted that the sub-region has troops in Guinea Bissau and in the Gambia, as well as continuous dialogue in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, “as well do not forget Europe NATO does have an ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia dialogue should have been a proper way to go.

But they could not reach a dialogue and there has been full scale war that has lasted over a year, despite the fact that the sub-region has its own ups and downs, likewise Europe, and the sub-region would be sharing their own views and experience on some of the things that they have been able to work on over the years.

He further pointed out that there has been tension in the West Africa sub-region over the years, there has been problem with the close of the border between Benin and Nigeria, likewise tension within member states.

“We have been able to resolve them and even in the just ended Nigerian general elections, there are aggrieved parties we were able to speak to them that the way out is going through the legal process”.

Leader of the Liberian delegation to the Community Parliament believes the sub-region has done a lot with a lot of experience to share to the rest of the World, and something to learn from the upcoming training on Monday, March 27, 2023 and build upon their short comings.

The aim of the programme is to further strengthen negotiation and mediation skills and to facilitate the exchange of experiences of representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, Member States and Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com