Author: Akumaa GhanaMPs

As part of efforts to make this year’s Eidl-Fitr enjoyable, the Member of Parliament for the Tano North Constituency, Hon. Freda Prempeh has donated food items and other essential materials to the Muslim community in her constituency.

The items worth GHs6000 include 40 bags of rice, 10 bags of sugar, 300 mats and 300 butars all of which are geared towards bringing the meaning of the celebration and its importance to humanity to bear.

Hon. Freda Prempeh also used the opportunity to urge Muslims to help pray for peace and togetherness in the country.

The MP has on several occasions donated to residents in the Tano North constituency; a means she believes was to make life enjoyable for them.

Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for the Gomoa Central in the Central Region, Ms Rachel Florence Appoh, has assured farmers in her constituency of support in their farming activities.

She said the major occupation of her constituents is farming and pledged to provide the necessary assistance to farmers to better their lot.

Ms Appoh, who is also the Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, gave the assurance in an interview after she had toured her constituency to distribute farm inputs to farmers.

She noted that the support would be in the form of free distribution of seedlings, fertilisers, weedicides and other farm inputs that farmers find it difficult to purchase due to its cost.

The MP distributed about 800 new machetes, 50 knapsack spraying machines and five mistblower cocoa spraying machines, all at a cost of GH¢30, 000.

As part of the tour, she visited 14 towns which included Gomoa Lome, Gomoa Asikuma, Dahom, Gyaman, Oboasi, Ofaso and Awhiafitamu. The rest are Akwamu, Kwame Adwer, Afransi, Beseadze and Fante Yamoah.

She also interacted with the chiefs and people of all the towns she visited before handing over the items to the farmers.

According to Ms Appoh, it was her goal to assist farmers to fend for their families and to improve their standard of living.

Ms Appoh indicated that as MP for the area for the next four years, she would use part of her common fund to support farmers as well as to encourage the youth to venture into agriculture.

She added that she would liaise with financial institutions to support farmers in their work.

She called for peace and unity to prevail in the constituency saying, “due to the emergence of various camps, such a trend may affect the chances of the party in future elections.”

She urged party supporters to support whoever would be appointed by the President as district chief executive for the Gomoa East District.

Nana Oguaman Ankomah X, Tufuhene of Gomoa Lome, lauded her for the items saying “such a gesture has never happened in the constituency.”

He wished the MP well and urged her to work hard to leave an indelible mark in the constituency and transform the district as well.

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Two communities under the Bunkpurugu district, in the Northern region including Kpentaung and Nanyiar have been considered to benefit from the construction of separate footbridges to enhance their road system.

Actual works on the project will kick start by 17th August 2013 for the two communities, which would be supervised and set under the ambit of the District works Department in the Assembly.

The Member of Parliament for the Bunkpurugu constituency, Boar Namlit Solomon is funding the project through his share of the MP’s Common Fund, he revealed in an interaction with Ghanamps.gov.gh.

He said implementation of the project forms myriads of project he is rolling out for constituents specifically this year.

Also, under education, the MP has collaborated with the Ghana Education Trust Fund(GETfund) to initiate moves towards alleviating the infrastructure deficit in the educational system of the district.

In the wake of this, it has jointly resolved to construct a 6 unit classroom block facility to Jagook community to boost the existing school blocks for the beneficiary school.

The MP indicated that the project was being pursued heartily to ensure that it will see the light of the day very soon so it could ease congestion in the classroom.

He said currently the project is being awarded for contract in the district.

Jonathan Jeffrey Adjei/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Member of Parliament for Tano North, Freda Prempeh has expressed her commitment to ensure extension of electricity to all parts of her constituency.

According to her, the provision of electricity to an area is essential to the growth of that community and that she’ll stop at nothing to ensure that her constituents have access to this all important utility.

In an interview she disclosed that even before she became an MP for the area, she took it upon herself to ensure electricity expansion to four communities’ namely Subriso, Krofuom, Sukumu 1&2 have lights.

She said she was working towards extending power to Nsuapem, Ohene Nwantabisa which is expected to be completed by December this year since the contractor working on the project has already been supplied with the materials.

Hon. Freda Prempeh was confident that this will improve the academic performance of the students in the areas as they would have the opportunity of studying in the night.

She urged her constituents to give her the needed support and cooperation to ensure that her vision for the constituency which is to help improve the living conditions of the people is achieved.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The long standing perception held many a Ghanaian that elected Members of Parliament (MP’s) give priority to the interest of their various political parties at the painful expense of the general good of the country, has been reinforced by a confession of the Minority Leader and Vice Chairman of the Special Budget Committee of Parliament, Honorable Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu.

Speaking at a workshop organized by Star-Ghana in Koforidua a fortnight ago Honorable Mensah Bonsu said “Party Politics is greatly undermining the ability of the Parliamentary Committees to exercise oversight responsibilities.”

According to him the hierarchy and discipline of the Political Parties prevent Members of Parliament from raising concerns on issues of National interests.

“The party leadership can command much loyalty of its Members and impose firm discipline, because, ultimately, members rely on their parties for their seat in Parliament”.

He said the situation is not “serving the country well since it is an impediment to the ability of a Parliamentary Committees to exercise its oversight functions effectively”.

Honorable Mensah Bonsu’s observation brings into sharp focus some actions and inactions that have occurred in Parliament which go to suggest that the decisions of Members are determined by their Political Parties colors and not necessarily the good of their country.

The CNTC loan, the Vodafone sale, the National Health Insurance Bill during the Kufuor regime, the STX Housing loan, Chinese loan, the boycott of the appointments committee sittings and even the recent tax hikes are all examples of the strength and influence of the political parties in parliament.

Even the Auditor General’s Reports and the Public Accounts Committee Reports which are left largely untouched is all because ruling parties sometimes think that a discussion on these will put them at a disadvantage. Everything is looked at with the lenses of the political parties and not the national interest. The only time MPs seem to agree is when the issues are about their welfare; car loans housing loans, salaries, allowances etc.

In that workshop where the Minority Leader spoke he also drew attention Order 38 of Parliament saying that even though the Majority Leader can be summoned under this Order it will not happen because majority of the members will not allow it even if it was justified.

The Minority leader stated that the flaw has been detected and now a special arrangement of de-facto chairmanship at the Special Budget Committee has been instituted to check it.

The Special Budget Committee is a Parliamentary Committee that is chaired by the Majority Leader with the Minority leader as Vice Chairman and comprises 19 other members.

The committee has the function of considering the budget of Parliament and other constitutionally independent bodies, including, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice , National Media Commission, Electoral Commission and National Commission for Civic Education.”

Last week the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) launched a report which said that an overwhelming 87 per cent of constituents do not have any access or contact with their Members of Parliament.

Even for Political Parties officials who are ordinarily assumed to be representatives of mass organizations, 87 per cent of respondents reported low contact with them.

The worst revelation of the CDD report is that members of the public (89 per cent) say they do not have any relationship or interactions with party officials or Members of Parliament.

The question that comes up then is on what basis do Members of Parliament make contributions on issues on the floor of Parliament?

Source: The Scandal

Member of Parliament for Adenta, Emmanuel Ashie Moore, has donated food items to Moslem communities in Ashaley Botwe which is within his constituency as they prepare to wind up their month long fasting.

The items worth several Cedis include bags of rice, cooking oil, Indomie noodles, bags of mineral waters and sugar.

Speaking to Ghanamps.gov.gh, Hon. Ashie Moore stated that his kind gesture to the Moslems is in appreciation of their spiritual service they render to the country during their fasting period as they intercede through prayer for the peace and development of Ghana.

He said he’s been doing this for the past two years even before he became the MP for the area and committed to sustaining this gesture for the years to come.

The beneficiaries who were very excited about the items presented expressed their gratitude to the MP and promised to give him all the support to make his tenure successful.

He advised the Zongo youth not to allow themselves to be used by unscrupulous persons, but rather channel their energies to building their communities and the country as a whole.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Member of Parliament for Mpohor in the Western Region, Alex Agyekum has urged examiners marking the scripts of candidates who sat for the 2013 BECE to be meticulous while marking the exams papers.

According to him, the system where markers are paid by the number of papers they have been able to mark, is creating a situation where some of them in anticipation of the fat monies they expect to make at the end of the marking session just rush through the scripts without paying detailed attention to what answers the candidates have written.

In an interview, Hon. Alex Agyekum stated that there was the need for the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to take a second look at the current system, to avoid a situation where the students are unduly marked down by the some examiners.

‘In some instances certain examiners waste no time in jettisoning answer sheets which appears not to have legible writings on it without trying to get the thoughts of the student, simply because that will waste their time and disallow them from marking more papers.

Hon. Alex Agyekum further called on WAEC to strengthen its security measures to avoid the leakage of examination papers which result in cancelation, adding that when this happens, asking the students to re-sit another paper amounts to infringing on the students right and further disorganizes the students.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Tema East Constituency of the Greater Accra Region, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to deal with perpetrators who destroyed government properties in protest over the president’s nomination of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

According to him, merely because the supporters disagree with president John Mahama on his nominations does not give them the right to cause destruction to properties funded by tax payers.

Latest to be hit with the agitations is the Nkwanta North District Assembly of the Volta Region, where five government cars and some properties were destroyed by irate youth of the ruling NDC.

They staged a protest on Thursday against a possible retention of the current DCE for the area, Paul Levin Gyato.

Mr. Titus-Glover stated on Badwam on Adom TV Friday, failure by the police to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators, could lead to mayhem in those areas. He said president has the sole prerogative to nominate MMDCE’s and this, he performs, in consultation with the party leadership.

The New Patriotic Party MP however said, the development gives backing for calls for MMDCEs to be elected instead of the president appointing them.

Meanwhile, NDC MP for Banda Constituency of the Bono Ahafo Region, Ibrahim Ahmed has stated, such agitations are most likely to send the governing into opposition and therefore cautioned his fellow members to exercise restraints.

He accused the committee that conducted the interviews to select the candidates, for not doing much with regard to consulting the party leadership before shortlisting them.