Month: July 2024

The Minister for Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam told parliament during the mid-year fiscal policy review presentation that the country’s economy is rebounding stronger than anticipated.

He noted that over the last two years, Government has embarked on a number of decisive measures to get us back on the path of fiscal consolidation, economic stability and growth and was happy to note that these policies that have been implemented are yielding the expected results.

• Growth continues to exceed our expectations. The 4.7 percent growth rate reported by the Ghana Statistical Service for first quarter 2024 exceeds the revised target of 3.1 percent;

• Inflation is declining. End-June inflation rate of 22.8 percent, a reduction of 31 percentage points since December, 2022, confirms the target threshold of +/-2 of 15 percent by end 2024 is possible;

•Exchange rate has largely stabilised, compared to December, 2022, despite the recent pressures. The 18.6 percent depreciation rate to the US Dollar as of June 2024, represents an improvement over the 22.0 percent recorded for the same period last year; and

• Gross International Reserves reached 3.1 months of import as at end June 2024 against 2.5 months of imports in the same period last year.

These he said attest to the fact that the economy is on the right trajectory, saying, “the choices we have made and the policies we are implementing are yielding results. We have reversed the negative trends, all the indicators are looking better. I want to assure you that we will stay on this path and continue to make the right choices. Our economic recovery is fast and strong”, he affirmed.

Ghanamps.com

The Minister of Finance Dr. Amin Adams is expected to present this year’s mid-year budget review on the floor of House on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.

Deputy Majority Leader Patricial Appiagyie disclosed this when he presented the business statement for the ensuing week on the floor of the House.

She further urged Members of Parliament from both the Majority and Minority sides of the House to make it a point to be on time as proceedings would start at ten in the morning.

And further pointed out that Monday, July 22, 2024, in view of the work load the House would seat.

On the debate that would ensue after the presentation of the mid-year budget review, Majority and Minority leaders are supposed to speak for thirty minutes whiles committee chairs and rankings would have fifteen minutes and other members ten minutes.

There are seventy-seven questions of which eleven are of urgent nature.

Ghanamps.com

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensah appeared before Parliament on Friday, July 19, 2024, to brief members on several activities which have been carried out so far and yet to be done in making sure the December 7, 2024, general elections are conducted successfully.

She revealed some of the activities carried so far as follows:

• No new C.I would be laid before Parliament ahead of 2024 elections and as such the commission would rely on the current registration C.I (C.I 91) to conduct the voter registration exercise and also rely on current election C.I (C.I 127) to undertake the 2024 general elections.

• The proposal of pushing the election date forward to November would not be implemented in 2024 but rather consult the Attorney General on it for its implementation by 2028.

• In addition, the EC would continue to use the indelible ink for the 2024 elections.

• filing fees for 2020 would be maintained for this election as well; Gh100,000 charge for Presidential candidates and GH 10,000 charge for Parliamentary candidates.

• EC would waive 25 percent of the filing fees for women and persons with disability to help increase the number of women and disability in our elections.

• The EC would waive the filing fees for the media accreditation fees to help the media fill more of their personnel to serve as election observers.

ON ELECTION CALENDAR:

The EC said the elections’ calendar has been discussed extensively at the Inter Party Advisory Committee meeting (IPAC) and has received the inputs of the political parties and indeed the feedback from the parties has been fed into the final plan for the 2024 elections on May 7 to May 29; the revision of the voter register was conducted.

The commission extended voter registration exercise for 2 days due to feedback received from the political parties due to slow network they experienced for the first 2 days of the exercise.

And explained that, the registration exercise was carried in all their 268 District Offices across the country including Guan District in addition to 800 difficult to reach centers or 800 other locations made up of 775 difficult to access electoral areas and 25 public universities.

At the end of the 23-days exercise, a total of 778,447 new voters which exceeded the original target of the EC 622,000 were recorded.

Out of the total 778,447 persons registered, 63.68 percent used the GUARANTOR system, 36.28 percent used the GHANA CARD and finally, 0.34 used Passport to provide their citizenship and age.

Total number of females registered 408,332 constituting 52.45 percent; total male voters amounted to 370,115 constituting 47.55 percent of total registered people for 2024 registration exercise.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr.  has bemoaned the constant external factors in the fairs of Africa, which he blames as the main cause of violent extremism in the continent.

Leader of the Liberian delegation to the Community Parliament’s  attempting to answer the reason for the lingering terrorism, banditry, kidnapping in West Africa and the Sahel, despite every effort by the governments and multilateral institutions to nip the violent crisis in the bud said one thing that stands tall is the endemic influence from external factors.

“In Africa, we have African solidarity, but of late, we have been witnessing persistent interference from external forces. So, what is happening in Africa is that we need to work on very seriously and urgently the overbearing influence of external factor. The external factor is playing a major role in what is happening, be it security, slow pace of development or even the perennial poor economic outlook.”

He identified the fact that various countries in the continent have alliances with different countries from the western countries; and “the geo-politics has taken deep root into our African culture.”

“There are some African countries that are working with the United States, for example Liberia. There are some others that are working with France, example, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin Republic, and Senegal. There are a few others that are working with Russia – Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. We would not also forget the growing influence of China and its involvement in African Affairs”, he affirmed.

The geo-politics, he affirmed has penetrated the leadership as well, “because our leaders are relating with those powers that be and as they fight for space in the global sphere, it has a trickling down effect on our continent; particularly in our sub-region and it is affecting us severely. The sooner we realise that the better it will be for us”

Mr Snowe queried if the West is surreptitiously replicating the 1884/5 scramble for Africa in the 21th century? “It is not far from it”

He said African now has the sophistication to curb and correct this overbearing influence of our erstwhile colonial masters, but warned that “if we allow it to linger for so long, it might leave our hands and of course we will continue to suffer in the hands of Western powers.”

Ghanamps.com

The Legislative Instrument seeking to effect amendment to the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (LI 2180) has been withdrawn just days after it was laid on Friday, June 14, 2024.

The Ministry of Transport bowed to pressure from the public following the barrage of criticism that greeted the LI.
The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, formally withdrawn the L.I. on behalf of the Minister for Transport on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.

He said, “Mr. Speaker, I rise to move that the Road Traffic Regulation Amendment 2024, which was laid on Friday, June 14, 2024, be withdrawn. This has become necessary based on extensive engagement with leadership. Therefore, it is so withdrawn.”

The new Legislative Instrument had included provision granting certain public officials, including Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Head of the Judiciary Service, Ministers of State and the 275 Members of Parliament (MPs), who were not originally captured in those privileges as captured in the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (LI 2180); thus the privilege to use sirens on the road and not be liable for exceeding speed limits.

Many voices that were critical about the L.I. said government should rather focus its energy on addressing the economic challenges including high unemployment, depreciating cedi, food high food and fuel prices.

Ghanamps.com