Author: Enestina GhanaMPs

The Minority in Parliament is demanding policy clarification from the first gentleman of the land, H. E. President John Dramani Mahama on the appointment of Colonel Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Special envoy to the Alliance of Sahelian states which is against Ghana’s foreign policy of non-alliance.

According to the Minority, Ghana is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a very important member as such which Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have opted out of.

Hon Patrick Yaw Boamah addressing a press conference on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, the question, “are we changing some aspects of our foreign policy programme which has been in existence since late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, our first President’s time?

We want to find out from the president what this envoy will be doing in case of the ECOWAS protocol and other treaties we have established”.

Again, Ghana is non-aligned; we want to understand our new foreign policy from the president. We do not want backlash from some of our multilateral partners who are against military rule.

“We know ECOWAS is in discussion with the three Sahel countries before the previous administration of the NPP exited, Ghana was in some talks with our Sahel brothers; has this shifted as a first major policy?” He queried.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minister-designate for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs, and Member of Parliament for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim, has pledged his readiness to convert the Institute of Local Government Studies into a full-fledged university.

He was confident that the institute when converted into a university will not only add to the existing public universities in the country but also create additional enrollment space for the numerous senior high school graduates who may want to further their education to the tertiary level.

Ahmed Ibrahim, who made this known when he met appointments committee today also lauded his predecessors for taking initial steps to convert the institute and called for collaboration to expedite action on the bill in parliament to ensure that the institute eventually becomes a university.

“If given the nod we are all going to team up together and looking at the number of SHS students knocking on the doors of the few universities that we have in the country, we need more universities and therefore it is one area that we are going to pursue”, he stated.

Ahmed Ibrahim was nominated by President John Dramani Mahama to serve as Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.

His name was included in a list of 12 newly appointed minister-designates submitted to parliament, through the Speaker, to serve as regional and sector Ministers.

Ghanadistricts.com

Minister designates for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Ahmed Ibrahim has said the procurement of the District Road Improvement Programme equipment was not done with the Local Government Ministry then, but was rather done from the presidency.

According to him it is a laudable initiative conceived through the Local Government Committee, the sector Ministry and the District Assemblies Common Fund.

During his vetting on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, he noted that workers in the Ministry will bear with him that they do not have records of any agreement of the DRIP project and they do not have programme inventory of all the DRIP machines.
Again, there is no management contract, there are no spare parts, there are no committee established to take care of DRIP machines.

When the Immediate past sector Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Martin Korsah asked a question about the DRIP equipment, the Minister designate noted that as a House they need to work together to get the best of the DRIP machines and put them to good use so that the money pumped into it will not go to waste.

“We should have proper structure, proper agreement, proper monitoring, and proper system to ensure that we make good use of the machines that were procured. I hope I can count on the former Local Government Ministers here; we have the men from both sides if we can come together we can solve Ghana’s problems”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is heading to the Foreign Affairs Ministry in President Mahama’s latest ministerial appointments.

Ablakwa currently chairs the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) set up by the president in his quest to get back state assets in individual hands or illegally acquired.

Like previous nominees, Ablakwa has been the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the 8th Parliament and his competence in that field is not in doubt.

Others on the list are Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah for Defence, Samuel Nartey George for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, and Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak for the Interior Ministry.

Below is the full list as contained in the release:
Ghanamps.com

The Minister designate for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim has served notice of working together with relevant stakeholders to improve the economy of the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

Responding to question at his vetting, the Minister designate stated that the property rate collection would be one of the fastest and easiest ways to help drive the finances of MMDAs to champion development.

He noted that since 2009 when he entered parliament successive ministers of the sector have had reason to complain about property rate, and tour of about 154 MMDAs by the Committee of Local Government in Parliament identified property rate as one critical area, “ the low hanging fruits” to look at to improve the funding of the MMDAs.

He expressed delight that the centralized system adopted of the previous administration which then give back just a portion to the MMDAs has been reversed since the practice was seen to be ineffective.

As such when given the node, “it is an area to focus on with the involvement of chiefs, Members of Parliament, and practitioners to help achieve a better revenue for the assemblies to carry out their developments.

The Minister designate who admits that one of the core functions of the MMDAS is the development of the local economy also stated that he would work with previous ministers of the sector to come up with strategies and policies to support vision of the President to improve upon the local economy of in every district using comparative natural advantages of the various districts.

“We will work together to improve the local economic development of the MMDAs, and I said based on their economic comparative resource endowed advantages.”

Ghanamps.com

The Minority leader, Mr Alexander Afenyo Markin has accused the President of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama of not following the acceptable means of communicating to Parliament and that amounts to a breach of Parliamentary procedure.

He explained that, the letter which was sent to Parliament introducing the three ministerial nominees for Finance, Energy and Attorney General and Minister for justice failed to follow the official procedure and therefore see such communication as problematic.

Mr Afenyo Markin made these comments when the Appointment Committee was about to engage the first nominee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson for vetting.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanaps.com

The list of the first batch of President John Dramani Mahama’s Ministers designate has been announced by the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin on the floor of the House on Thursday, January 9, 2025.

All three nominees coincidentally happen to be members of parliament and their expertise in the various portfolios they have been assigned to is not in doubt.

They include Majority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister designate for finance, Dr. Dominic Ayini; Minister designate for Attorney General and Minister for Justice; and John Jinapor, Minister designate for Energy.

These appointees are not new to these ministries having once served as deputies in those Ministries under the previous Mahama administration.

Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson is currently the Majority Leader in Parliament having led his side as the Minority Leader in the 8th Parliament.

Hon. Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson is an Economist, Chartered Accountant, and Tax Practitioner with extensive experience in public finance, macroeconomics, fiscal policy, tax policy, and business management.

A five-term lawmaker, Dr Forson holds a PhD in Finance from the Kwame Nkrumah.

The Speaker has thus referred the nominees to the Appointment Committee for consideration and to report back to the House.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

At the second sitting of the first meeting of the first session of the ninth parliament, a lot of Members of Parliament were confused on the entrance to use to get to their seats in the chamber.

On Wednesday, January 8, 2025 most of the MPs on the Majority side of the House who not long ago where in the Minority in the 8th were still using the Minority entrance.

When Ghanamps.com caught up with most of the Majority MPs, it came out that they were using the wrong entrance and they pointed out that having used the entrance for the past eight years that was bound to happen.

The situation was not different from the now Minority MPs who used to be in the Majority in the 8th Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Rt. Hon Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin on his part announced to the MPs that with the current configured Parliament, the bio of MPs are captured to address issue of absenteeism, a departure from the previous 8th Parliament where they had to register in an attendance book.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo Markin has taken objection to Speaker Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin calling his side “Micro-Minority” and pointed out it has no space in their Standing Orders.

“Our caucus protests that description and it is sad that when we are on our feet, our colleagues from the Majority are cutting our microphone off”.

Again from today, no one should describe us as Micro-Minority and Mr. Speaker we are saying you should protect us because we voted for you to become Speaker and our side were promoting you to be re-elected, he said.

When MPs from the Majority side wanted to respond to that the Rt. Hon Speaker noted that it is not open for debate, and the rules do not allow that and it is the Minority Leader who misled him.

“But do you say, Speaker should not use Micro- Minority but your leaders can use it?”, He teased.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority Chief Whip Frank Annoh Dompreh has appealed to his colleagues to be a little more patient especially those who did not see their names on the first three committees constituted in the 9th Parliament, including Appointment, Business and Selection Committees.

According to him, usually whips from both sides of the House come under attack and pressure when colleagues do not see their names. “We become punching bags; thankfully the report says the Rt. Hon. Speaker chairs the Committee on selection”.

He commended the House for the prompt response in the composition of the first three committees to kick start composition of the other committees.

This is just the binging; there are more committees to be composed, we have to appeal to our colleagues that it is too early in the day. This is just three out of the lot, they are to set the tone for all the other committees to be composed for work to go ahead; there is no course for worry, he stated.

“If you do not see your name among the three committees, do not worry, your names will find expression, bearing in mind that the standing orders makes it clear that every member should belong to one select and standing committee and it is also important because the whips are working on other matters we consider very important matters.”

He noted that office allocations which are very critical, as well as where MPs will lay their heads, and we will expect the Majority leader to show leadership in this matters; our back benchers and members need a place to lay their heads, he emphasized.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com