Author: Kwaku GhanaMPs

Former ranking member on Roads and Highways Committee of Parliament, Governs Kwame Agbodza has taken a jab at the Roads and Highways Minister, Francis Asenso- Boakye describing him as not being serious following the Minister’s call for new roads to be tolled.

According to him the current sector Minister was part of cabinet when a decision was taken to stop collection of tolls that brought in the E-Levy policy.

He affirmed that the Speaker and the Minority drew the attention of government it was wrong for them to suspend the collection of road tolls, “they told the Speaker to go to the toll booth and collect the tolls himself if he likes. It is a testament of a government that is wayward, lost touch and do not know what they want. Cabinet took a decision to stop collecting tolls as propaganda to force E-levy down the neck of Ghanaians”, he lamented.

“Again, we are paying E-Levy; today they want to take more money from you. They are coming back to condemn each other, we should condemn the entire government; they cannot choose who is upright in it. We have been consistent saying there was no need to suspend the taking of road tolls; Ghanaians can see which of the political divide can be trusted and consistent with policy in this country and obviously not the NPP.”

He noted that the record of the NPP is nothing good, “we in the NDC have been straight with Ghanaians, the NPP has disrespected Ghanaians all the time. I wish them well in an attempt to show which of them is not serious, the current or past road minister; it’s the whole team that is not serious with government business”, he added

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Ranking member on the Committee of Health, Kwabena Minta Akandoh is advocating for government to either go for total or partial absorption of cost of dialysis of Ghanaians instead of the populist six-month approach.

He has taken a swipe at the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for not having knowledge about the whole dialysis debate but is out there in the public space that government has absorbed cost of dialysis of people from age eighteen (18) and below and sixty (60) and above.

Rather the age bracket mentioned by government form only twenty (20) percent of patients with dialysis in Ghana, while the huge population are from age nineteen (19) to fifty-nine (59).

Again, “when the National Health Insurance brought its formula for approval in 2024, we insisted that a provision be made for the treatment of dialysis; so this proposal never came from the Executive, vice president has no knowledge of this proposal.

It was suggested at the committee level, and we pushed it at the floor of the House and it was a condition before we approved the formula. So, MPs insisted that some allocation should be made so the provision of about two million Ghana cedis was made for dialysis.”

The is therefore a deception out there as the Vice president said government has absorbed the dialysis cost for people below the ages of 18 and above 60, Akandoh added.

“If you read the statement put up by the National Health Insurance Authority, it is clear that the plan is for six months; what happens after the six month? We need a sustainable and well-thought through plan to be able to absorb the cost of dialysis not this populist approach. I do not know where suddenly the vice president has found his voice on the issue of the cost of dialysis in this country.”

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has appealed to Ghanaian businessmen/women not to rush to change their cedis into dollars as government is doing its best to stem the depreciation of the cedis.

According to him instead of changing the cedis into dollars Ghanaian businessmen and women should rather buy treasury bills or have fix deposit and save in cedis; adding that by so doing they will not find themselves in difficulty in the near future when the government’s efforts finally yield results.

The Effutu lawmaker noted at a press conference that, the exchange rate will be coming down when it happens, as was the case in 2022 where people lost money because people who were responding to the pessimisms of the Minority NDC at the time that the Ghanaian economy was collapsing and there was no future for the economy and went to change their dollar at the rate of one Ghana cedis to fourteen and fifteen dollars when the rate drop to eight dollars, “here we were they have lost huge amount.”

“I would encourage Ghanaians business person not to rush to change cedis to dollars, they should be optimistic the government has a plan in place, we had the rate going high but through prudent management it dropped. Ghanaians should have confidence in the economy and not change cedis to dollars if you do not have immediate need for it”.

Majority leader further pointed out that the Minority is throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaian and confusing people that local contracts and agreement of multi-year value cannot come under Article 181 clause 5.

“As a businessman myself, I know the effect of the pronouncement of the Minority, its effect on industry which at the long round will affect the economy. We know the situation with our cedis, if a politician who does not understand business will come out for the sake of politics and just makes any pronouncement, the market would respond as a result of unreasonable comment that seems to be affecting the business environment”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamen Afenyo-Markin has taken a swipe at the Minority caucus in Ghana’s Parliament to stop obstructing government business and scaring investors away which is affecting the economy.

According to him the press conference held by the Minority which they pointed out that the Public Financial Management Act section 33 is being breach is not true.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, as part of the Majority putting up the fact series which is aimed at ensuring the right information is put out in the Ghanaian public space, he noted
“We are doing this to ensure, the NDC Minority does not take advantage of spreading falsehood, more especially when we know we are approaching a general election in December 2024”.

Again, the PFM Act section 33 of the said law and compared it to the constitution Article 181 requires that such contract should come to Parliament; and we need to remind them that they do not have to make parliament a busy body putting its nose at things that are not part of its mandate. Our job as Parliament is provided for in the constitution, he indicated.

“By their act they are obstructing government business and scaring investors and that affects the economy. If businesses are hearing such news, they are not going to give off their best. Basically people will keep their money and that would affect the good people of Ghana.

They quoted the law mischievously for their political purpose. Act 921 section 33 states, “a covered entity shall not enter into any agreement with the financial commitment that binds the government for more than one financial year or that result in a contingent liability except where the financial contingent is with prior approval of the Minister authoritised by parliament in accordance with article 181 of the constitution”

So, the question is what does article 181 says? For this purpose, its clause 5 says this articles with the necessary modification by parliament apply to an international business to economic business to which government is a party as it applies to a loan.

So, the contract in reference must be an international transaction that is where our colleagues should pay attention to. It does not mean every contract with multi year contract should come to parliament and they should stop misleading the public, he added

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Achiase Constituency, hon. Ahenkorah Marfo has broken ground for the construction of two school blocks to help improve educational infrastructure in the constituency.

They include one six-unit classroom block at Ahuntam and another four-unit classroom block at Apamso.

The projects are expected to provide accessible and conducive learning environment for the children in the communities.

It will also improve the quality of education and reduce the dropout rate due to difficulty in accessibility.

Ghanamps.com