Month: November 2024

For the second  time since the four vacant seats saga in parliament which the Supreme Court has finally ruled on, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has appealed to the Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin to recall parliament.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin urged the Speaker to exercise his mandate under Order 57(3) and 58(4) to recall the House possibly on Thursday, 28th November, 2024 and Friday, 29th November, 2024 to consider some outstanding business which he stated are high priority business for the Government.

These businesses include the following

1. Request for Tax Exemptions for designated beneficiaries under the One District, One Factory Programme

2. Ghana Financial Statbility Fund, an International Development Association facility of Two Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars (&250,000,000).

3. Consideration of the President’s Nominations for Appointment as Justices of the Supreme Court.

4. Ratification of the Mining Lease Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (Represented by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources) and the Ashanti Bauxite Company Limited for the Mining of Bauxite in the Nyinahini Block 2 Area in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region.

5. Ratification of the Mining Lease Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (Represented by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources) and Barari DV Ghana Limited for the Exploitation of Lithium at Ewoyaa in the Central Region.
6. Bills:

i. Environmental Protection Agency Bill, 2024

ii. Social Protection BIll, 2023

iii. Customs (Amendment) Bill, 2024

iv. Budget Bill, 2023

v. Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 2023

vi. Intestate Succession Bill, 2022

vii. University of Mampong Bill, 2024

viii. Free Secondary Education Bill, 2024

ix. Pre-Tertiary Amendment Bill

x. Colleges of Applied Arts, Science and
Technology Bill, 2024

xi. Ghana Book Development Studies Bill, 2024

xii. University for Development Studies Bill, 2024

xiii. Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Bill, 2024

xiv. University of Health, Agriculture and Life Sciences (Kintampo) Bill, 2024

xv. J.B. Danquah University of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences (Bunso) Bill, 2024

xvi. University of Sports for Development Bill, 2024

xvii. University of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Ankrodie) Bill, 2024.

He opined that reconvening Parliament at this juncture would send a powerful message of national unity and institutional stability. “It would demonstrate that, even as we approach the peak of the electoral season, Parliament remains steadfast in its constitutional duties and committed to advancing the national interest through bipartisan cooperation.

Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has admonished the media especially Media General to investigate, why an independent candidate in the Effutu Constituency Louisa Buabeng was arrested instead of putting the blame on him.

Madam Louisa Buabeng, an employee of Challenging Heights, an NGO owned by the NDC parliamentary candidate for Effutu, is in the grips of the police.

“TV3 should investigate why the lady was arrested and stop misinforming the public through its respected media channel. Simply, go to the police and find out. She wasn’t arrested because she and her paymasters attempted to injunct the Effutu parliamentary elections”.

The independent parliamentary candidate in Effutu, Louisa Buabeng, filed an injunction against the conduct of the Effutu parliamentary elections in the December, 7, 2024.

But the High Court in Winneba dismissed the injunction application. Surprisingly, a lot of known NDC activists were with her. She contended that the election be postponed to December 10, 2024, to allow her time to campaign.

Ghanamps.com

Never in my more than six years coverage of the Community Parliament have I witnessed a budget session thrown into limbo, where Members of Parliament and ad hoc staffs remain uncertain over when the 2024 Second Ordinary Session of the parliament would be held.

On the calendar of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, statutorily, between November and December of every year there is a Second Ordinary Session which is normally held in Abuja Nigeria, known as the budget session.

This session is to consider and give Parliamentary opinion on the Community Budget proposal adopted by the Administration and Finance of the Commission (AFC) of ECOWAS. It is a session to examine the draft 2025 Consolidated Budget of the Community Parliament.

At the end of the third Extra Ordinary Session in Lome-Togo, the Rt. Hon Speaker,  Memounatou Ibrahima announced that the 2024 Second Ordinary Session will hold from November 18, 2024, to December 10, 2024. That date has passed few days ago and there was no session.

A week to the above date, when Members of Parliament had not received invitation letters to this effect it brought some confusion in the minds of the lawmakers who started asking questions as when the event would be held. While in Cairo Egypt attending the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum, I met with the Deputy Majority Leader of the Sierra Leone Parliament, Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina who happens to be a member of that country’s delegation to the current Community Parliament, also enquiring about the date for the session. Based on what I gathered as a journalist I told him, “the Session is in limbo; and from what I gathered it might not hold, there is no funds”, I explained.

The question that begs for answers however is, “how financially stable is the Community Parliament?”

During the consideration of the 2023 Draft Consolidated Budget of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Institutions, by the Community Parliament, the Parliamentarians, sitting in Plenary as part of its Second Ordinary Session for the year, debated among other issues, the non-payment of the Community levy by some Member States, on Wednesday, 30 November 2022, in Abuja.

The Parliamentarians frowned at the attitude of some countries that have not made any payments since the beginning of 2022. They condemned this situation, arguing that Countries that are up to date with their contribution cannot continue to pay for others.

A case in point is when Cape Verde in the 5th and 6th Legislatures were denied deputy speakership position in Niger and Nigeria respectively due to glitches in the payment of their levies which the longest serving community lawmaker and leader Dr.  Pereira Dias Orlando did not take kindly to. Back home in Cape Verde, Dr. Orlando has been crusading for his country to pay up its levies.

It is worth of note that the Community Parliament’s main source of income is the levies paid by member states. As such what becomes of it when member states fail to honour their financial obligation to the group?

Is it really the case that the ECOWAS is cash trapped?

Is it about time the Bureau of Parliament uses the mechanisms at its disposal to find a solution to the worrying situation of non-payment of levies as suggested by the Parliamentarians?

The Community levy is a 0.5% tax imposed on goods from non-ECOWAS Member States and constitutes between 70 and 90% of the ECOWAS budget.

I cannot agree more with a former member of Ghana’s delegation to the Community parliament, Hon Fredick Opare Ansah, who believe its high time the sub-regional bloc looked at alternative ways of funding the body to pave way for accelerated execution of program and policies in the sub-region.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu, Governs Kwame Agbodza insists that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) group in the 8th Parliament is currently the Majority in the House.

This is despite the Supreme Court’s declaration that Speaker Bagbin’s action in which he declared the four seats vacant was unconstitutional.

Mr. Agbodza made this known during a press conference in which the NDC disclosed that students at the Senior High School since 2023 have been feeding on expired repackaged rice.

When asked as to when the House will reconvene in the light of the ruling by the Supreme Court, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who addressed the conference responded that the decision is beyond him. “It’s beyond me, you can find out from the Speaker Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin”; adding that “our focus today is on the expired rice that has been repackaged for the consumption of our students in SHS”

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Amenfi Central, Peter Yaw Kwakye-Ackah has served notice of withdrawing as independent candidate in the upcoming election. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmaker had served notice of contesting the December 7, 2024 parliamentary election as an independent candidate. He was therefore one of the four MPs whose seats were declared vacant by the Speaker of Parliament that the Supreme Court eventually declared as unconstitutional.

In a release to announce his withdrawal, the MP stated, “Pursuant to the decision by the High Court and the Electoral Commission to clear the NDC’s parliamentary candidate for this year’s election, I believe that my reasons for filing to contest the election as an independent candidate are no longer tenable”, he said in a statement.

He added that, he would like to thank the Elders of the party and other leading members of the party for their invaluable counsel that has led to this decision in the supreme interest of the party.
“Long live the NDC, long live Amenfi Central, long live Ghana”, he added.
Ghanamps.com

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus in Parliament has challenged President Nana Akufo-Addo, his Vice Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, Education Minister Dr. Adutwum and his deputy Rev Ntim Fordjour to publicly consume the remaining samples of Moshosho rice from India.

According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa the contaminated rice has criminally and callously been re-barged, twenty-two thousand barges in 50kg and used to feed Senior High School (SHS) students across the country.

The act, he said was done by the National Food Buffer Stock Company and Lamens Africa Investment Ltd which have been at the center of the scandal from December 2023 to April 30, 2024, and further expressed worry that the Education Ministry is defending the company despite the company admitting culpability.

“We strongly condemn this irresponsible and reckless conduct of the Ministry of Education and the government; and the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government must provide answers to the following pertinent questions from the people we represent in this parliament”.

• Why has the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government failed to initiate an independent, impartial and credible investigation into this heart-wrenching matter and why has the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government become spokespersons for the notorious Lamens?

  • Again, why was Lamens not blacklisted in 2020 when the Auditor-General made damning findings against the company about other unwholesome food items it distributed to schools?

  • Why did NAFCO, led by Alhaji Hanan Abdul-Wahab and Nana Boakye permit their NAFCO storage facility in Kumasi to be used by Lamens for this criminal re-bagging?

  • Why did NAFCO enter into this callous and criminal conspiracy with Lamens to put the lives of our students at risk?

  • Did NAFCO not seek approval from the FDA for the dubious repackaging exercise. NAFCO failed to comply with the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) which requires that all NAFCO storage facilities across the country be registered?

  • As at today, NAFCO has failed to comply with utter impunity and continues to put the health of our children at great risk. Is the claim by the Education Ministry that the FDA extended the best before date from December 2023 to April 30, 2024, accurate?

  • If this claim is accurate, can the FDA explain to Ghanaians under what law and authority they extended the expiry date for Lamens as claimed by the Education Ministry. What are the FDA’s protocols for such strange extensions? How did Lamens manage to obtain this extension the same day it applied to the FDA?

  • Why has the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration not sanction any official involved in this grave matter? Who are the shadowy government actors who ensured the release of officials of Lamens after their arrest and who are the unpatriotic and dangerous government officials who put pressure on the FDA to change their position on this matter?

  • How did Lamens move from a culpable and fined company to a darling company of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government?

  • Have, the directors of Lamens escaped prosecution all these years?

“The NDC caucus asserts that President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia cannot remain silent on this grave matter which jeopardizes the health of millions of Ghanaian students. The nation is looking up to them to offer leadership, punish culprits who are largely their appointees and implement reforms to ensure the safety of our children. The NDC Caucus also demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of the directors of Lamens Investments Africa Limited”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Oda and a Deputy Minister for Health, Alexander Akwasi Acquah is rallying support for Vice President and flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s manifesto promise to adequately resource assembly members to aid them perform their core mandates in their respective Electoral Areas.

According to the MP, Assembly members play a very crucial role as far as nation building is concerned, and as such, it was imperative for every central government to adequately resource them in order to ease their work at the grass-root level.

Mr Akwasi Acquah, who reiterated this huge promise made by the flag bearer of the NPP, when speaking at the 22nd biennial national delegates’ conference of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) in Sunyani, lauded the move by the Vice President, stressing that such a move by any government could only foster development and better the living conditions of the ordinary citizenry, especially, in the hinterlands and deprived communities.

He noted that the proposed policy could as well go a long way to develop human resource capacity at grass-root level by enabling the citizenry to formulate development policies for socio-economic growth.

Touching on other benefits, the MP further opined that the policy also aims at ensuring that every assembly member becomes directly responsible for the overall development of the electoral area, as well as, ensuring the preparation and submission of development plan and budgets to receive central government support.

He therefore charged local authorities to champion the course by supporting what he described as a novelty in Ghana’s local governance and decentralization system; an action plan which seeks to empower assembly members to become directly accountable for the level of development in their localities.

Considering the fact that decision-making and consensus building is very essential in any policy framework, the proposed policy, he explained, would also afford the average citizen an opportunity to have a direct say in the kind of projects that meet their demands and challenges of the people.

Meanwhile, the two-day conference which took place at the Sunyani Technical University in the Bono Region was under the theme: “Empowering Local Governance: A New Dawn for Electoral Area Development.”

Emmanuel Frimpong/Ghanamps.com