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Training of mercenaries: Agalga wants gov’t to speak to the exposé

Ranking Member on the Defense and Interior Committee of Parliament, James Agalga is urging government to speak on the alleged training of mercenaries in the country; whether it’s true or not. He stated that a US-based Ghanaian journalist, Kelvin Taylor, in his exposé called “The Big Scandal” mentioned that some mercenaries have been brought into the country by the NPP government and are being trained at Asutsuare.

And he (Kelvin Taylor) cites DCOP Asare of the Jubilee House as the one responsible for the training of these mercenaries. The exposé also provided details of where the said mercenaries are being kept, including the Accra City Hotel. But Mr. Agalga speaking to the issue, said the development is very disturbing and referenced the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-election incident and the death of some 8 Ghanaians in the run up to the 2020 elections, and till now no investigation has been conducted to unravel the circumstances that led to the murder of those 8 persons.

According to the Builsa South Legislator, if these allegations are true then the government has election 2024 in mind and is preparing to disrupt the polls or tilt the outcome in favour of the NPP party. “The Minority takes very serious views of the exposé and would invite this government to say a word about the exposé. Is it true that mercenaries have been brought into this country and are being trained at Asutuare; they are taken by escort to Asutuare every morning by bus?”.

He queried about who the people are and want to know if they are part of the mainstream security. “If not are we not flouting the constitution; are we not raising a parallel armed force contrary to the dictates of our constitution?” He asked. He affirmed that it is important an independent probe is conducted into the matter “as it is worrying and we can’t just go to sleep”.

Mr. Agalga said it’s been 3 days since this was made public and was expecting the National security Minister, Interior Minister to speak to the issue. The deafening silence on the part of government is worrying and calls for an independent probe to ascertain the veracity of the allegations made by Ekow Kevin Taylor.

He also used the opportunity to invite the International community, African Union, ECOWAS and National Peace Council to take a serious view of this matter. They should not wait but speak up as these are dark clouds gathering over our political landscape, he stated.

Ghanamps.com

Get up and solve the deteriorating economic conditions – Krachi West MP urges gov’t

It is about time government sits-up to arrest the deteriorating economic conditions in the country because things are getting very though. This is according to the Member of Parliament for Krachi West, Helen Adjoa Ntoso. She said the frequent fuel price increases coupled with high food prices is making live unbearable for a lot of people, and this will get worse if nothing is done to arrest the situation.

The MP disclosed that she used to fuel her car with an amount of GHC500.00 to get to her constituency and still have the fuel gauge at quarter. But now with GHC1, 500.00, she still has to top up at Dambai to be able to get to her constituency.

She stated that as a representative of people who are mostly farmers and fishermen, there is always this relieve when farmers are harvesting their produce. The pressure of people coming to seek financial assistance from the MP for school and other thing reduces; but now because things are very difficult for them, the pressure of paying school fees, medical bills among other financial assistance is mostly pushed on them (MP).

And with the peculiar nature of her constituency; a resettlement community with many island communities doted all over which are only accessible by boat, the unavailability of premix fuel has also become a daunting task adding to their cost.

And because the MP cannot ignore the needs of these communities, she is compelled to visit these island communities at an exorbitant cost having to buy their own petrol and engine oil, mix the two to have their premix. And added that it would take her not less than GHc10,000 to embark on tour of the island communities with current state of affairs.

She said no one is spared the effect of the current economic turbulence in the country, but they, the representatives are not finding it easy at all as they have to always respond to the challenges of their constituents in many ways.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

“GNPC has become cash cow for each government”—PIAC Vice Chair

Vice chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Nasir Alfa Mohamed said the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has now become a “cash cow for each government”.

According to him Parliament should do more scrutiny when it comes to GNPC otherwise, “if you allow it, they would run us all down. It’s more or less a cash cow for each government, if any government comes to power”.

“If you allow GNPC freedom, it will become like the cash cow of the government so parliament will have to put in more stringent measures to ensure that GNPC is on the right course”.

He made this remark on Saturday, November 11, 2022 when PIAC had an engagement with the media to present its semi-annual report in Koforidua.

PIAC is an independent statutory body mandated to promote transparency and accountability in the management and use of petroleum revenue in Ghana.

Eric Keyman Defor

Chair of the Communications sub-Committee Eric Keyman Defor expressed shock when a member of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) pointed out that the books do not look good. He said it’s news to him because at the time of writing their report, the data provided by GNPC to them which they verify did not give them that indication.

“So I do not know what more parliament has seen but it is parliament  that approved the work plan of GNPC,  so when GNPC provide us with data on what they have received and how they are spending, we critic and when we make findings we advice parliament”, he said.

Participants at PIAC workshop

 And one of the things that they (PIAC) have observed is that GNPC in its revenue projection,  it project to recover loans it has given to other government agencies that is impeding their cash flow; they use that to support the projected revenue from the petroleum revenue holding  fund. Now,  when they get approval, it is turning in that, year in year out they are never able to make those loan  recoveries but because the budget is approved or let me say is balanced between projected revenue and expenditure.

Ones it is approved, it means the expenditure side has also been approved. They did not get the revenue, they take the discretion to spend on line items that they prefer, so they are advising parliament to look at that; the projections they make should be critically assessed, it should not be just accepted on the face value because GNPC has submitted before a three year recovery plan saying that, year one they would recover this, year two same and year three same.

They submit this to parliament but when they fail to recover, and then they change the recovery plan and come up with new structure meanwhile expenditures keep going on within the cash they receive.

Mr. Eric Keyman Defor further noted that to be more practical, if GNPC want to build a research center and the cost of the building is stated in it, they expect that if revenue falls, they must adjust their expenditure to meet the revenue on a pro rated bases, but they may chose to do the research centre or something else which they may find not to be a core activity of GNPC.

Again, you may find that because of this short falls they may go for loans to meet the core activities stead of relying on what they were allotted. If we do not embark on these our core activities which are urgent, it will affect us; meanwhile the resources have been applied to a non-urgent matter and now creating room to go and borrow.

He said these things happen because they see how they are practically getting free money on a regular basis; and then they end owing. “Now they are doing prospecting in the Volta basin, and should concentrate on that and stop giving loans to other state institutions”, he pointed out.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Cost of building toilet to beneficiaries of GAMA and GKMA remain the same— Eng. Aseidu

Despite hikes in the cost of building materials in recent times, Coordinator of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project, (GAMA SWP) and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project, (GKMA SWP), Engineer George Asiedu said beneficiaries can access toilet built for low income communities at initial subsidized price.

According to him the cost of poor sanitation cannot be over estimate, for this reason they do not play games with the need to access toilet.

So, despite the fact that prices of material are going high, they do not see the need to increase the contribution from the beneficiaries as this would deter them.

“And if we happen to fall sick or get into pandemic regime just as we had with COVID -19 you know the cost that government had to incur, so as a result of this what we are doing is to bear the additional cost and government is taking up the additional cost of materials so the subsidy contribution is  absorbing the extra cost  and the cost to the beneficiary remains the same”, he said in an interview with Ghanamps.com

No  additional cost has been added to the beneficiaries,  so if you need the stand alone it is still the thousand two hundred, (GHc 1,200)  if you need the digester with seat is still seven hundred Ghana (GHc 700),  if you have to get a large digester still eight hundred Ghana cedi (GHc 800).

“We would urge everybody to take steps to access these facilities; government is making it affordable and easy to access because we are dealing with low income populations”.

According to the GAMA Coordinator, when it comes to sanitation, the Ministry and the Minister have resolved “we should not increase the burden to the beneficiaries, they are paying that to the toilet builders and they are not having problem at all”.

Either than that, they would have been out of business, adding that they are still negotiating as the prices go up and “I am sure government is doing its best the cost of doing business and material and we would not want this to affect the project; and the project is going on as planned, and the cost of accessing the toilet remains the same. The project has strategist to some of the cost as subsidy and paying to the contractors”, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Lawmakers run from excruciating fuel price hikes

The Member of Parliament for Asuogyaman, Thomas Ampem Nyarko could no longer bear the brunt of the fuel price hikes on his pocket and that of his colleagues.

And the MP did not mince words when he expressed this sentiment on the floor of the House on Friday, 4th November, 2022 during the presentation of the Business Statement for the ensuing week.

According to him, the last time he went to fill his fuel tank, he spent GHC3000.00 and which he didn’t plan for, and it took the help of one of his colleagues to send him money to top up.

“So Mr. Speaker looking at the kind of business that we have, is it not possible to concentrate, we can stay for six hours a day instead of coming two hours we go back, drive here two hours we go back; pack the day even if it is eight (8) hours, we would be able to stay , do the business like two days and then… That way, we can save like GHC500 on fuel every week.

His suggestion he indicated is in line with the proposal by the former president John Mahama to organisations to allow those who can work from home to do so “because the fuel situation is killing us Mr. Speaker.

However, in a sharp rebuttal, the Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu described the call as an “apocalyptic declaration” from the Member of Parliament, and queried what the impact would be on national productivity, and the effect on GDP. “I think it is an unfortunate call on us that we should be working for just two days in a week”.

He asserts that it is in difficult times that we should work harder to get ourselves out of it.

It used to be the burden of car owners each time fuel prices go up, but now even commuters that patronize commercial vehicles are not spared.

Recent fuel price hikes have resulted in astronomical increases in transport fares, as it appears transport operators keep increasing their fares on daily basis.

Unlike the usual practice, the driver unions seems to have lost control of their members and are unable to regulate how fares are increased.

Ghanamps.com

“New standing orders to be introduced first meeting of third Session”—Majority Leader

Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has hinted that by his own estimation, work on reviewing of the New Standing Orders should be concluded by the Committee working on it and introduce to the House in the first meeting of the third session of the eighth Parliament.

According to him work is still ongoing in reviewing and they should be able to bring closure on it soon as there are few issue to be attended to. “I am not sure that it would too much pre occupy us; my own thinking is that into the first meeting of the third Session we should be able to finish up and introduce it to the House”.

He made this remarks on Thursday, November 4, 2022 in a leadership engagement with members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) to brief journalists on what to expect in this meeting.

 He added that the main issues have been sorted out, and there are a few matters that need decision to be taken on them.

When asked at which stage is the Affirmative Action Bill,  he noted that it has been advertised, and  is also one sensitive thing and if one looks at the agenda it is the first in this third meeting of the second session the bills for presentation.

 And further noted that, if they are not able to deal with it, in this meeting and it is introduced next year, it will not have the date 2022; it will be Affirmative Action Bill 2023.

“I know cabinet has been considering it and the Legal and Governance Committee of cabinet is still dealing with it, I have missed the last two meetings and I must confess I am not able to update you on where we are on that. The last time I was there it was about nearing conclusion. May be it could be introduced to the House for the relevant committee to start its consideration, but I am not too sure of where it is at cabinet level”, he said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Budget presentation may miss 15th November deadline

The 2023 Budget and fiscal policy of government may miss the November 15th deadline.
The Minister of parliamentary Affairs, and leader of government business, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told the media in parliament that though the Public Financial Management Act provides that the budget be provided to parliament latest by the 15th of November, the discussions that are ongoing with the IMF may affect the November 15th deadline.
According to him, his understanding is that the discussions will go into the first few days of next week around the 10th and the conclusions would have to be factored into the budget. It has to be present to cabinet for discussion all of which would take some time before it gets to parliament.

Finance Minister

“I believe it is going to be quite difficult to submit to the 15th deadline; I don’t know, I’m only conjecturing, but if you want to do a tidy work, may you require to have some space to be able to do a tidy work”.
Asserts that these are not normal times, and it is important to do a tidy job to reposition the country. “Nothing should be done which would eventually become wishy-washy; we want to have the best to be able to uplift us from where we are as a country”.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu however assured that it would not be in breach if it comes after the 15th of November as the constitution provides that the last date of presentation should be 30th of November.
Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

Call for removal of Finance Minister: Majority to investigate bribery allegation

Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has hinted that his side would be investigating the alleged bribery allegation in the call for the dismissal of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Responding to a question from the media during the press encounter with Leadership in parliament on Thursday, November 3, 2022, the Leader admitted that the issue has come to his attention and they are looking into it, investigate and see the next step to take.

“We would investigate if it is true; and if it is true to establish the motive of that person and then we can make a statement on it”.

He clarified that though the call for the removal of the Finance Minister was started by a group of eighty plus members of the Majority, the caucus meeting aligned with the perception of that group, “so it is no longer the course of that eighty plus group” and that it is the agenda of the entire caucus and they are having discussions on that.

“We would investigate if it is true; and if it is true to establish the motive of that person and then we can make a statement on it”.

Sections of the Majority Caucus, numbering over eighty (80) had cause to call on the President Nana  Akufo-Addo to ensure the Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry , Charles Adu-Boahen resign or be sacked.

The group which made the call on first day of the third meeting of the second session of the eight parliament also threatened not to participate in any government business on the floor including the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government.

The caucus would later issue a statement to allow the Finance Minister stay on, following the plea of the president but on the terms proposed by the president. This was after the caucus had discussion with the president on the matter.

Ghanamps.com

Minority wants gov’t to step in to cushion Ghanaians as fuel prices soar

The Minority in parliament is demanding the government steps in to cushion the citizenry as prices of petroleum products sour beyond the reach of most Ghanaians

In a press briefing on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, the Minority said Government is well placed to give some incentives to the citizens as it has made a lot of windfall from the sale of crude oil.

The Ranking on the Energy Committee, John Jinapor who addressed the media said “this country is making so much money from the Ukraine – Russian war.

In the 2022 budget government projected that it will receive a total amount of about 6bn cedis for the whole of 2022.

Today, as we speak, from the PIAC report, in less than three months (one quarter), government has received over 8bn cedis from our petroleum resources. This is more than it projected for the whole year, so government is making super normal profits”, he emphasised.

He stated that even with the price stabilization and recovery levy, which is supposed to subsidize fuel, government projected that in the first two quarters, it will receive 269m. “As we speak, from the ministry of finance own record, government has received about 800m. And so this notion that government is not making revenue is a fallacy, a complete falsehood. Government is making so much money from our petroleum resources”.

He called on government to think outside the box and “apply these huge super normal profits to cushion the ordinary Ghanaian” as the exorbitant fuel prices is having a cascading effect on food prices and the general cost of living.

“We (Minority) hold the view that government can do something about the fuel price increment. It must sit up and do something to cushion the ordinary Ghanaian. The people of Ghana are suffering and something must be done”.

“We have demonstrated to you that government got more than it required even in the first quarter. We have demonstrated to you that even with the price stabilization levy, instead of the 260m, they have got about 800m”.

They also urged government to ensure that the country’s oil refinery, the Tema Oil Refinery  (TOR ) as a matter of urgency processes Ghana’s domestic crude that can give us about 45,000 barrels of processed crude on a daily basis.

This, he stated would put a less of a burden on the need for forex.  ”This is not rocket science;  this is something we attempted doing by giving TOR 2m barrels of oil from the TEIN fields under President Mahama. This government took over and sold those barrels of oil” he Jinapor stated.

Ghanamps.com

More districts seek GKMA-SWP intervention — Coordinator

The Coordinator of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) Sanitation and Water Project (SWP), said his outfit is considering roping in more districts in the Ashanti region.

“We are exploring the possibility of bringing on board all the District Assemblies that share border with Greater Kumasi Municipal and Metropolitan Areas. We are indirectly bringing most of them on board to ensure that we cover them”, he stated.

Speaking in an interview with Ghanamps.com, the Coordinator said the project is well on course in the Greater Kumasi Area, adding that its success has been the reason more assemblies are lobbying to be included

The call, he noted, is significant because open defecation is measured taking into account the entire region and not only the Greater Kumasi area; and revealed that open defecation level in Ashanti Region has dropped to 6.1 following the interventions of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) Sanitation and Water Project (SWP).

As such the call by those assemblies that are not benefitting to be included is a good call since it would help widen the success rate in eradicating open defecation from the region, he stated.

According to him another interesting dimension is the show of interest and buying into the project by lawmakers in twelve constituencies which has also beef up a lot of demand outside project areas.

A minimum of 30,000 households within the project area are to be assisted to construct affordable toilet facilities by December 2024.

He recounted that following the success of that project in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Areas (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project,  the focus was to increase access to toilet facilities in the low income areas, and this would separate fecal matter and also to promote health consequences.

The project was suppose to provide twelve thousand one hundred toilet facilities but they ended up reaching out to over twenty-eight thousand five hundred households that give us over two hundred and fifty thousand beneficiaries. This we use the same funding to achieve. The project reached its target and even exceeded its target over 16 percent and to us it was a great achievement.

“The interesting thing was that we were able to get the people to change their behavior and attitude towards sanitation, we embarked on intense sensitization and various approaches were used with assistant of his behavior   and communication expects a lot of strategy was used. What it means is that they engage the people themselves they use the Municipal Assemblies that have the mandate and they ensure that the people who are supposed to enforce the law are the ones on the ground who are known by the people. They are the people they use to promote the project and provided them with the adequate logistics to be able to do exactly what they were supposed to do”.

 And this paid off very well. They realize that the people were at home and made the Municipal Assemblies one stop shop for accessing household toilets. It made it easy and sustainable.

And the success of GAMA gave birth to the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) Sanitation and Water Project (SWP).

Ing. Aseidu said though GKMA-SWP started in November, 2021 which is barely a year, “we have been able to achieve four thousand three hundred out of the target we set for ourselves. And this represents about 12 percent achievement. We are making significant progress and the way things are going, we should be able to reach our target; our progress is good but we think that we can do better”.

Ing. George Aseidu further noted that they are making efforts to be able to reach out to majority of the people and to make sure they get access to these toilet facilities. “We are doing well in Kumasi and getting the support of the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11. And anything he steps in, it becomes a success because the people of Kumasi have realized the need to ensure that people get toilet in their homes; and whenever you get the buy-in of the people the people are ready to change their attitude and behavior”.

 So once a neighbour gets access to a toilet, they want to ensure all their neighbours do same and also stop open deification and when you do the open deification, you may be put to shame or the people would ensure that you stop that behavior, he indicated.

Again, Kumasi is the garden city, the people know it well and they know what to do and so they love good life and that is what is prevailing now, he said.

“We are getting enough support and the way it is going is good; it is moving faster than we did in Accra, the only thing is that the target we set for ourselves in Greater Kumasi is  way above what was done in Accra. We are doing well but the target set is about thirty thousand households which we need to achieve and then we hope to achieve it within the project life which ends December 2024”, the Coordinator emphasised.

The Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) Sanitation and Water Project (SWP) received US $125m from the World Bank as the Government of Ghana acting through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to increase access to improved sanitation, water supply in low income communities.

The Project beneficiary Assemblies include eight Metropolitan/Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area, comprising Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Asokwa, Oforikrom, Old Tafo, Suame, Kwadaso, Ejisu and Asokore Mampong Municipal Assemblies.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com