Month: February 2024

Reacting to the news on the reshuffle made by President Nana Akufo-Addo on the floor of the House, Deputy Minority Leader Kofi Armah Buah has noted that the move is dead on arrival.

According to him the reshuffle was long awaited after seven years the good people of Ghana have called on President Nana Akufo-Addo when it became evident that some of his Ministers were not performing.

According to him, not even a call from section of the Majority members to the president even yielded any result when it was most needed.

“You do not wait until the boat capsizes. It is clear this has come a little too late, ten month left, what would the ministers do, they would not have the opportunity to make any impact”, he said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Chief Whip Frank Annorh -Dompreh has taken a swipe at the Minority for saying the reshuffle is dead on arrival and too late in the day.

He was not pleased that the Minority thinks the President’s reshuffle should have done this long ago.

According to him his colleagues should rather help their presidential flag bearer to put a message together that would appeal to Ghanaians, “that is what you should be doing”.

“Your flag bearer was elected many months ahead of the NPP’s Dr. Bawumia and reshuffle of a cabinet ministers is in the bosom of the President so concentrate on your flag bearer’s message to Ghanaians and mind your own business”, he said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The only female on the Ghanaian delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Laadi Ayii Ayamba is advocating for the various member states national parliaments to ensure that they have enough female lawmakers which would then translate into increased female representatives in the sub-regional bloc.

This, he said would help ensure fair representation of females in the various Committees in the Community Parliament as such representations are really needed.

According to her the dominance of men is largely attributable to the very small percentage of women sent to the Community Parliament by the member states.

In an interview she pointed out that out of the one hundred and fifteen (115) lawmakers in the Community Parliament, there are only seventeen (17) women. Again, Nigeria with its population size and with thirty-five (35) slots has only two female representations in the fifth legislature.

Other member states like Ghana that has eight slots has one (1) female with other member states that has five (5) delegations also send a female each.

Hon Laadi Ayamba commended the Speaker of the fifth legislature of ECOWAS for championing the cause of female to the extent of the Parliament providing a budget for their activities.

In the year 2023 ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (Network) ECOFEPA was able to organize a summit in Abuja-Nigeria which brought together the largest gathering of females and youth around the sub-region to empower them and encourage them to take up leadership positions in the various member states.

She further commended, Sierra Leone which is hosting today’s summit for achieving the thirty percent representation in their national Assembly.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com/Sierra Leone

The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram who doubles as deputy ranking on Communications Committee of Parliament, Samuel Narttey George has stated clearly that, the Minister for Communications and Digitalization, Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful has no legal rights and power to sell AIRTEL/TIGO ( A.T ) Communication Network to any company without a Parliamentary approval.

He explained that, the laws of Ghana require that, all international agreements must have a Parliamentary approval to legalize such an agreement yet; the communication minister has not submitted anything of that kind to the House.

Mr Sam George further sound a word of caution to any foreign company that has interest in buying AIRTEL/TIGO to pull out since the NDC government would not consider such an agreement as the legal kind and would cancel it.

Ghanamps.com

The Minority leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has called on the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to immediately present a Bill to parliament to remove the said taxes he mentioned yesterday during his delivery off the books since he is still the chairman of the economic management team.

He explained that, the Vice President was in Parliament when the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta was presenting the Bill on E-levy, so he can’t say today that, he has no hands in it; therefore he would take it off when he becomes the President.

The leader further said, the General Secretary of the NPP and the minister for information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah sits in the cabinet meetings and all these people told Ghanaians that, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia played an instrumental role in preparing the E-levy Bill.

The Minority leader, who made the call today at a press conference in Parliament, believes Dr. Bawimia’s promise to take off the VAT on domestic electricity consumption and also scrap the E-Levy should not be postponed until 2025, and that the Vice President is in a good place now to ensure the removal of these taxes as he supervised their formulation.

Ghanamps.com

Ghana’s legislature will reconvene today Tuesday February 6, 2024 after the Christmas break to commence proceedings for the last year (session) of the 8th Parliament.

The Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin in a statement recalling the lawmakers said the commencement of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic shall commence at Ten o’clock in the forenoon of Tuesday, 6th February, 2024.”

The statememt said the Speaker of Parliament, by Clause (1) of Article 112 of the 1992 Constitution, appointed Parliament House, Accra, to be the place of meeting.

“Know Ye All Men that in the exercise of the powers conferred on the Speaker by Clause (1) of Article 112 of the Constitution, I, Rt Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, by this Constitutional Instrument, appoint Parliament House Accra to be the place….,” it said

The House adjourned sine die, on Thursday, December 22, 2023, to enables the lawamkers take a break for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

As the House officially resumes plenary today, the dynamics with regards to attendance to business in the chamber are expected to change significantly.

This is particular because of the number casualties recorded in the January 27, 2024 primaries of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), where a total of 28 sitting legislators lost their bid to regain the party’s ticket for the 2024 general elections.

The development if not managed properly by the party hierachy, may affect attendance to the chamber thereby negatively impacting government bussiness.

Sitting MPs who lost in the parliamentary primaries and have become bitter may have nothing to lose if they fail to be responsive to happenings in the chamber.

A number of outstanding Bills including the Affirmative Action Bill,2023, Social Protection Bill, 2023, Environmental Protection Agency amendment Bill among others are expected to receive much attention during the Meeting.

Some new Bills are also expected to be introduced to the lawmaking chamber.

These include the presidential transition amendment bill, the Advertising council bill, Consumer Protection bill, Ghana Roads Authority Bill, 2023 among others.