Author: Akumaa GhanaMPs

Residents of Glefe, a community in the Ablekuma West constituency of the Greater Accra region, are calling on city authorities, to as a matter of urgency, desilt the Glefe lagoon in order to end flooding in the area.

According to the residents, each time it rains, the area gets so flooded that life virtually comes to a standstill. The Glefe Lagoon, which previously provided fish for consumption has now been turned into a refuse dump, a situation, residents say has made life uncomfortable for them.

They claim that, not even destruction caused by regular flooding in the area anytime it rains has changed the heart of those behind these unfortunate developments. The residents bemoaned the sorry state of the lagoon, blaming the activities of individuals who turned the lagoon into a refuse dump.

Meanwhile, the people complained bitterly about neglect, saying there are no social amenities in the area, adding that the MP who should be their voice for development is never available for them to discuss their plight.

They are thus calling on the Assembly and the central government to come to their aid to help improve their livelihood.

Ghanamps.com

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There was mad rush for free fuel for some commercial drivers in Akyem Oda when Member of Parliament for the area, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, decided to dash 103 gallons of fuel ahead of the official opening of his newly established radio station, “the Community Radio.”

The Community Radio (103.3), the newest among the businessman cum MP’s empire of businesses and located at Akyem Oda is expected to start full operation on Thursday September, 1st 2022.

Ahead of the official opening tomorrow, the MP who also owns other businesses in both Accra and Oda doled out 103 gallons of petrol and diesel at some pump stations in the area.

Speaking in an interview with radio show host Kofi Appiah Kubi, Mr Akwasi Acquah, commended residents of the area, especially commercial drivers in the area for embracing the new station prior to its official opening.

He, however, debunked assertions that the free fuel is being shared to only known drivers, but said that it was being shared randomly to all taxi drivers in the area.

He revealed that efforts are being put in place to ensure that each and every taxi driver receives a fair share of the fuel.

“Kofi let me clarify something, all the calls I have received so far are people who are expressing their appreciation for the free fuel, no one complained of biased distribution or whatsoever. We have for this reason decided to share even more in the coming days. We will share 40 more gallons today”, the MP noted.

Some drivers who spoke in interview could not hide their joy over the free fuel distribution.

According to them, the distribution has relieved them of the financial burden of buying fuel at exorbitant prices considering the recent hike in fuel prices in Ghana due to some external factors.

“Petrol is currently sold for GHs 50 per gallon, so the MP’s free fuel has really helped our work this week”, a taxi driver said.

“I want to thank Honorable Akwasi Acquah for the fuel and also considering us (taxi drivers) ahead of the opening of his new FM station, God richly bless him” another beneficiary driver noted.

Meanwhile, Management of the new Community Radio says the station will begin full operation from September, 1, 2022.

Programmes expected to be aired include; political talk shows, drive time, newspaper review, religious programmes among others.

Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah has delivered on his promise to drivers in the constituency as he gives out one hundred and three gallons of fuel to the drivers in his bid to showing appreciation to his listeners on his new radio station – “Community FM”.

According to sources, he is using one week to share the fuel which started on August 29 to 2nd September 2022.

Each driver who benefits is entitled to two gallons each.

Listeners are advised to keep listening so they will know which filling station will be the next to dash out the fuel. Some of the driver’s show their kind gesture to the Member of Parliament for the effort.
Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Mr Alexander Akwasi Acquah, says he is optimistic that the Electronic Transaction levy (E-levy), will help the government rake in more revenue to finance its numerous social intervention programmes and projects.

According to him, the e-levy is expected to increase the country’s tax revenue by at least GHs 6.9 billion which will go a long way to help reduce the government’s budget deficit.

The Akufo-Addo led government is projecting to rake in tax revenue of about GHs 6.96 billion which is equivalent to US 1.1 billion in 2022 alone, and about GHs 26.90 billion (US 4.5 billion) from 2023 to 2025 after a successful approval of the E-levy bill.

Presenting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on the floor of Parliament last Wednesday, President Nana Akufo-Addo applauded members of August House for approving the E-levy, adding that revenue that will be generated from the E-levy will to make significant contribution to Ghana’s development.

“Mr. Speaker, despite the protracted and sometimes acrimonious nature of proceedings, I am happy that the House has, finally, found it possible to pass the E-levy Bill. I believe the levy is going to make a significant contribution to revenue mobilization and the management of the national economy, and I want to thank Members of the House for making this possible”, the President stated.

Meanwhile, contributing to a panel discussion on Original TV’s “Adwene Pa” morning show programme today, the MP noted that the government targeted the digital space to maximize its tax base after study had shown that most Ghanaians now prefer to conduct and do their businesses using various electronic platforms, especially mobile money.

He stated that the E-levy, which seeks to ensure a tax regime that reaches almost all citizens, will help the government generate enough revenue to finance its numerous projects without looking for external supports or funding.

He therefore called on all Ghanaians, especially his colleagues from the other political divide, to throw their weight behind the new levy in order to achieve its purpose.

Ghanamps.com

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..

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The debate on the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy continues with mostly members of the Minority side in the House opposing to it and describing it as a killer budget; pointing out that there are introduction of taxes that would burden Ghanaians and impoverish them further.

But Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr. John Kumah said the Nana Akufo-Addo led government is setting aside ten billion Ghana cedis for the next three years in the 2022 budget to address issue of training and capacity building for young people and would help them through creativity and innovation to create their business.

According to him existing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can apply for funds to scale up their businesses as well as the ‘YouStart’ programme which is going to be implemented, as government is not going to introduce any new structure but going to implement it through the old structures.

In a zoom meeting organised by the Finance Ministry, he pointed out that, “We are going to create an endowment fund for students to be able to apply whiles in school and get a working capital; these are good interventions. The E-Levy would make this possible for government to address a number of concerns in our country”, he said in his open remarks.

On the issue of debt sustainability, he explained that government is doing all to address the problems of debt sustainability which people have problem with. “If you check the 2022 budget Ghana is looking forward for a positive primary balance.”

“We are also reducing our Euro bond borrowing amount in 2021, we did three billion dollars, we are reducing it to seven hundred and fifty million dollars that should tell you gradually we want to reduce the level of browning”.

He further explained that all these would be possible if the measures government is putting in the budget to get revenue are implemented; and these would need to be communicated to Ghanaians.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Bryan Acheampong said his advice to the National security Minister, Kan Dapaah is to keep some information with respect to President’s travels secret.

He further explained that, President Nana Akuffo-Addo is in hurry which usually makes him travel a lot and anytime he travels, he return with goodies which includes money, COVID-19 vaccines and others, so therefore his traveling has really yielded Ghana a lot of good.

He again explained that, in his capacity as MP and someone with security knowledge, he would advise the sector Minister to keep some information from the public and the world at large in order to keep our President safe at all times.

He argued that such information are vital and cannot be played with for political benefit when he granted interview to some sections of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) after debating the 2022 budget on the floor of the House on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.

“Do you know what it costs to protect Ghanaians, the sovereignty of the state putting the military at our borders?” And the president, you cannot say these are hard times therefore the president should take ‘trotro’.

“If anybody in the security set up would listen, they should re-classify if they have not done so already. These information are top secrets, which means you and I cannot have access to it and at a certain time we can declassify it. But for now so that it is not a matter that anybody can play and toy with when we continue to do that people actually continue to believe in it. I am worried and the people propagating it are people who should know better”.

The security of the state is another matter that is why in other jurisdictions, before you serve on the intelligence committee beyond your oath of secrecy and oath to the state, security checks is done so that you can have access to some information and keep them.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

With the Ghanaian economy facing chronic difficulty of not being able to bridge the gap between revenue and expenditure, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Kwaku Kwarteng, referenced a statement former President Mahama made in 2013 when he came to Parliament and told Members that, “The meat was now down to the bone”, a statement he noted, would be the opposite when the 2022 Budget was approved.

The 2022 Budget, he added, has outlined some measures to deal with the rising expenditure rate against revenue mobilization.

For example, he said Government has in the budget, initiated a measure which seeks to move the country away from sole sourcing to more competitive tendering contracts as well as improving efficiency of public sector project financing by tackling the value for money regime of government projects in accordance with the law.

“This is an expenditure control intervention that we support”, he added.

That notwithstanding, the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament said Government again was seeking to apply GIFMIX to cut down unauthorized commitments as well as cut back on the exemptions they give in order to mobilize more revenue to meet its expenditure.

In concluding, he urged Parliament as a House to also lead by example and move away from sole sourcing contracts it has been awarding over the years.

“I wish the leadership of Parliament can cut cost as Ghana seeks to bridge the gap between our revenues and expenditures. Parliament should not just oversight the Executive, we must lead by example”.

Ghanamps.com

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiamah Amoako presiding over proceedings on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 has directed the issues of tidal waves devastation and matters arising in the coastal belt of the Volta Region to the Committee of Works and Housing.

He has directed the committee to visit the affected areas and report to the house appropriately as soon as practicable.

The Speaker’s directive follows statement presented on the floor of the house by the Minority MPs from the Volta Region led by Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzra, Member of Parliament for Ho West drawing the House’s attention to the happenings along the coastal belt of the region with respect to tidal waves devastation, and the inactions from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), and government.

The MPs from the affected constituencies, Madam Dzifa Gomashie MP for Ketu South, and Kwame Dzudzorli Gakpey, MP for Keta both contended that no official from government or the NADMO office had visited the area, and nothing was presented to the people in a form of relief items.

The Keta MP said currently, some of the over 3000 affected persons are housed in schools and churches.

The House in commiserating with the people agreed that there is an urgent need for government’s intervention and called on the Finance Minister to release funds to NADMO to be able to respond quickly to the needs of these people.

Mr. Annoh Dompreh, MP for Nsawam Adoagyiri said the issue is a national concern, and the majority side sympathizes with the hundreds of people affected by the situation.

In a rather surprising turned of events, the two caucuses in parliament turned a clarion call for immediate assistance to be extended to the over 3000 victims of the tidal wave devastation into a political fight.

What was to be an innocuous appeal turned into a political struggle between the two major political parties with each trying to prove to have done more for the people in respect of dealing with the tidal wave devastation.

The MP for Keta who out of frustration during his submission asked a rhetorical question if “the affected people are not Ghanaians” as the government seems not to have responded swiftly was not taken lightly by the Majority Caucus.

Mr. Annoh Dompreh in trying to correct the impression that government was sideling the people said the first phase of the project was started in 2019 and duly completed, a sign that the government cared about the people. But his choice of date would be challenged when he was called to order by the Minority, correcting that the project was actually started in 2015 and rather completed in 2019.

Mr. Dompreh also stated that a lot is being done to start the second phase which is the Blekusu Coastal Protection Project, and allayed the fear of the people that government would repond appropriately to them as officials are assessing the situation for a proper appraisal.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com