Author: Enestina GhanaMPs

Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation Samuel Nartey George has hinted that sixty-three radio stations would have their frequencies suspended of which six have had theirs suspended.

According to him, unlike the immediate past government they would not revoke the licenses of the radio stations and with the first six to have their frequencies suspended, he would come before Parliament to brief the House.

Addressing the Parliamentary Press Corps he noted that he is already engaging the Ghana Independent Broadcast Association and the Media Foundation for West Africa, as they are already in line with the process being undertaken.
“We cannot have a situation where media house would default the regulations and say that because of press freedom the condition of their licenses would not be met”.

And further added that, President Mahama has intervened and ask that they wave all those finds; some are four million Ghana cedis, “we are waving and giving them a time frame to remedy their situation.”

The Communications Minister affirmed that he has authorized the revocation of radio licenses by the NCC of only one radio station, Gooma FM, “and I did that on the national security consideration. I did not just wake up and do that, I got the request from the Ministry of Interior on behalf of National Security that there were commentaries on that frequency that have huge security implications in Bawku and I wrote back to the Ministry of the Interior telling them I do not take instructions on the shut down or revocation from national security, that I would only take that action if I saw a layer of process that was done and so Interior Ministry went back to local government and had the regional minister convene regional security decision and the minute of which they met took their decision through the Local Government Minister to the Interior”.

According to him, another letter was done and sent to the Communications Ministry, “before I wrote to the NCA ten days from the original date given to the day when I gave the authorization. Unfortunately during that period seven people were killed. So when people say I acted anyhow, no, I followed the process through and when I am acting on the basis of national security”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Minister for Communications Samuel Nartey George on Monday, March 24, 2025, revealed that he has inherited a very deeply troubled Ministry that calls for a lot of re-engineering legislative wise and financially.

According to him the legislation on the sector is over twenty-two years old and gave example of the Ghana Telecom Act, 2003, Law on Post and Currier Regulative Commission Act 2003, Law on Data Protection Act 2012, Electronic Transition Act 2008 and Electronic Communications Act 2008.

“The sector’s legislation is supposed to be in the museum not in the ministry; so we are planning in the next four months to bring fresh legislations for all the agencies under the ministry to re-structure it”, he said at a media brief after addressing the House.

Hon Samuel George further revealed that the ministry is debt ridden; the National Communications Authority (NCA) which used to be very buoyant institution that everybody looked up to has been rendered a pale shadow of itself.

Again, NITA has twenty-five Ghana cedis, eighty pesewas as its bank balance at the Bank of Ghana, whiles the agency owes eight hundred and thirteen million, four hundred and eighty six thousand, five hundred and five Ghana cedis eighty-nine pesewas; this is the ministry that we took over.

NITA has a certain contract arrangement with a third party vendor, “I have summoned the third party vendor to appear before me today, I do not understand why all the revenue coming to NITA, the previous administration signed the contract that has taken all of that fund, the revenue that comes and given it to a third party. So, NITA is not getting any money; almost everything at the ministry goes to a third party. Just January this year, services that are run using NITAs infrastructure, that I was supposed to approve to a third party company was almost four million Ghana cedis”.

“I have refused to sign it and it has been referred to the Attorney General and Minister for Justice; I would not sign until I understand why NITA is not getting any money and a private sector player is using NITAs infrastructure earning in excess of almost four million Ghana cedis and all the debt in NITAs book and revenue going to the private sector. The Ministry is a true definition of state capture; and I would take my time to come before the House and brief the House extensively on the rot in the Ministry.”

On staff rationalization ongoing at the ministry, the Minister showing frustration on his face questioned, “if you are a minister and you take over a ministry that has three thousand one hundred and seventeen staffs in the ministry and its agencies and you notice that almost 600 were employed after Saturday December 7, 2024”, basically, you cannot expect me to come and inherit such a mess and continue with it. So the rationalization is ongoing; today I have authorized the termination of a few more at Ghana Post, almost a hundred that were done post December 7, 2024.

“We would continue this rationalization; I would clean up the Ministry and make sure its lean and efficient and carries out its work, and I would be counting on you the media”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority is calling on the John Dramani Mahama led government to follow due process to arrange former appointees of the Nana Akufo-Addo before court if they have any case against them than raiding their residence like they did in the case of the immediate past Governor Dr. Ernest Addison and several former appointees.

Addressing the media on Monday, March 24, 2025, Jerry Ahmed called on the media to advocate against such backward behavior as Ghana is progress and moving forward.

When questioned on his view about appointees of John Mahama in his first administration where appointees suffered the same fate in 2016 when there was change of government, he said, “It may be me today, it maybe you tomorrow you would not know which position you would be occupying, let people allow the structures to work. As the chief legal adviser to the people and to government, what you must do is to adhere to the very principles of the constitution”.

“Again, we should stop the conversation that happened previously. Why are we in government; are we in government to always think of retribution, are we in government to always be using state power to just empower ourselves to the detriment and neglect of people? There is a need for us to have genuine conversations about the way forward.

Allow the state structures to work; let us not make state structures partisan, all we are saying is that this is becoming persistent and consistent and if this is the way to go that is not what we are looking for”.

Jerry Ahmed s added that he does not think the president had this overwhelming vote by Ghanaians to come and perpetuate this illegality. “Ghanaians voted for you because they needed a change and that change should resonate in the way and life style of the people in your action”.

In addition, why would I vote for you when you promise to do better in addressing galamsey and it is becoming worse? We voted for better standard of living and there is increase in transport fairs, we should have the mentality of Ghana first and change from our old ways of doing things, he affirmed.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Ministry of Defence is facing a significant debt crisis, as food suppliers threatened to withdraw their services over outstanding payments.

The government owes these suppliers GH¢275 million, an amount accumulated over 17 months, raising concerns about the sustenance of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Beyond food supplies, the Ministry’s total liabilities have surged to GH¢3.7 billion, covering various financial obligations, including the supply and repair of equipment, as well as the procurement of essential machinery.

The scale of the debt has prompted urgent discussions on how to stabilize the Ministry’s financial standing.

Sector Minister Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah on the floor of the House on Friday, March 22, 2025, revealed that the Finance Ministry is actively working to clear the arrears.

The Minister recognized the gravity of the situation, and stressed the need for immediate intervention to prevent disruptions within the Ghana Armed Forces.

“It must be placed on record that the outstanding indebtedness in terms of claims is almost GH¢3.7 billion, and this includes debt owed to food suppliers, costs related to equipment supply and repair, and the provision of machinery,” Dr Boamah stated.

He further highlighted the food suppliers’ warning, emphasising, “Mr Speaker, we all know soldiers should not and must not march on empty stomachs.

However, food suppliers have threatened to halt supplies due to the government’s indebtedness, which dates to August 2023.”

Despite these financial challenges, Dr Boamah assured Parliament that efforts are underway to resolve the crisis.
He expressed confidence in the Finance Minister’s commitment to keeping up with current financial obligations while implementing measures to gradually settle the substantial arrears.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

As the former Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya Sarah Adwoa Safo speaks out on issues she has bottled up for which is being hauled to the disciplinary committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), a colleague of hers, the Mpraso MP extended his apology to her on X.

Having listened to the ordeals of the former MP, The Mpreaso MP, Davis Ansah Opoku wrote “No MP faced more criticism in the 8th Parliament than Adwoa Safo. I was among those who judged her harshly—without knowing her full story. Today, I say: we were wrong.

Let’s not punish her for speaking up. Let’s seek understanding, not alienation. If we’re truly a family, let’s act like it. Let’s be better. Let’s do better”.

Adwoa Safo is alleged to have been prevailed upon to halt her interview on one of the radio stations in Accra on Friday as she continued to voice out what is seen to be injustice meted out to her and he family by the party.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

In a bid to bolster bilateral relations, Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister, H.E. Bruno Rodriguez Parilla, led a delegation to Ghana’s Parliament.

The visit aimed to explore avenues for strengthening parliamentary and bilateral cooperations between the two nations.

In his remarks the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, commended Cuba’s commitment to providing quality healthcare globally.

He commended Cuba’s simplicity, humility, and maintenance culture, assuring his support for the growth of solidarity between the two countries.

The Speaker expressed confidence that subsequent engagements with the Cuban Ambassador to Ghana would further enhance the relationship.

Ghanamps.com

Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said he is confident in government’s ability to fill the $156 million financing gap created because of closure of the operations of the United States for International Development (USAID) globally.

He said, as part of the resources that will be made available as a result of the uncapping of the National Health Insurance Levy, part of it would be used to close the gap created following the suspension of the USAID funding.

According to him an amount of GHC100 million cedis has been allocated in the goods and services component of this year’s budget to be used for procurement of vaccines since most of USAID funding went towards health sector interventions.

Dr. Forson, the Member of Parliament for Ajumaku-Enyan-Essiam made this known on the floor of the House on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, when he took his turn to answer questions.

“By uncapping the National Health Insurance Levy, Ghana will raise enough revenue to meet the funding gap. An amount of GH¢9.9 billion has been allocated to the National Health Insurance Authority for the 2025 financial year with GH¢4.2 billion projected to be added to the Levy due to uncapping”.

The finance minister on Thursday, March 13 presented for first reading the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment (Amendment) Bill, 2025 in his commitment to uncap the health insurance and GETFund levies announced in the 2025 Budget and Economic Policy Statement.

Meanwhile, Dr. Forson has defended the slow rate of depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi which has witnessed stability since February 19 this year. The Cedi saw a reduction in depreciation by 0.4% between March this year and the same period last year. He noted, the Ghana Cedi experienced a depreciation of 5.3% against the US Dollar at an exchange rate of GH¢15.53 to the dollar as of March 14 this year. This compared to 5.7%

depreciation over the same period in 2024 at a cedi-dollar exchange rate of 12.6 to the dollar.

Therefore, “to maintain this exchange rate stability that we have seen relatively from February 19th, the Ministry of Finance working with the Central Bank has outlined a number of policies” including the establishment of the Ghana Gold Board to “enhance the generation of foreign currency to help the central bank accumulate enough forex and to intervene as and when they are supposed to intervene.”

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The Effutu Member of Parliament and Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo Markin has questioned the age of the New Inspector General of Police (IGP), COP Christian Tetteh Yuhono, indicating that steps would be taken to dig his age further.

He referenced the statement issued by the Minister of Government Communications announcing the IGP’s appointment when the Minister of the Interior, Muntaka Mubarak was on the floor of the House to answer an urgent question and was accompanied by the new IGP to the chamber to brief the house on some urgent matters.

The Minority Leader indicated in his statement that the new IGP had served in the Ghana Police Service for forty years.
The Effutu legislator was interested to know at what age the IGP entered the Ghana Police Service based on that information.

The new IGP, who is said to be sixty years old, took over from COP George Akuffo Dampare who’s 55 years old and had a few more years to retire.

The Minister in his answer took the opportunity to introduce the new IGP.

“I want to congratulate him on his appointment” Afenyo-Markin said.

“Suffice it to say that in the statement from the Minister responsible for Government Communications, he told the country that the new IGP has spent forty years in the service. 40 years as a police officer, so at the right time we will calculate, whether he entered at age 20, 19 or 18, his age and all.

“That is just, by the way, I wish him well; I am only doing the mathematics as to whether the IGP is going to retire very soon. But Mr Speaker, that’s beside the point”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin had reason to question why the President of the Republic has still not released the list of the remaining deputy ministers, despite his (President) promise to announce the names this week during the swearing-in of the newly approved deputy ministers.

“The President should keep his promise he made; we do not have message from the president but the remaining lists to make sixty ministers has kept long”, he stated.

This was after the first deputy Speaker, Bernard Ahiafor presiding over proceedings on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, disclosed that there were no message from the President and the Rt. Hon Speaker.

Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga on his part noted that the Minority Leader has been long in the House and should understand the process; stating that if the Minority Leader desires a message from the president, he should say it.

“If he wants appointment from the President, he should tell me privately, I know he has never been a minister when his government was in power, they never considered him for a minister, he laboured for them for years but they never considered him for a minister”.

Again, his inability to become a minister has become a problem, since this house started every day, he is worried who becomes a minister. “We are very accommodating, if you want to become one of the 60 ministers”.

“We would welcome you this is a government that want to unite the country; we do not mind appointing the Minority Leader as a deputy minister. The President would send his list when he is ready; you are not the one who asks him to send the earlier ones”, Mr Ayariga stated.

According to him, the Minority Leader was bringing commitment made outside the House, stating that it has nothing to do with this House. “I do not recall the President making a statement like that, that the list of the deputy ministers would be in this week”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin has added his voice to the need to improve security measures around the Parliamentary enclave when the Minority Leader Alexander Kwamen Afenyo Markin raised issues of security at the inauguration of the Parliamentary Service Board of the ninth Parliament on Monday, March 17, 2025.

According to him there is a growing threat posed by intruders that undermine the safety of lawmakers which has resulted in the loss of life of some MPs and the loss of life of staff because of health care, unfortunately the staff could have been saved.

And pointed out that the issue raises by the Minority Leader on the need for Parliament to have its own hospital would be discussed into details and a decision would be taken which would inure to the benefit of every Ghanaian.

Speaker Bagbin further indicated that Parliament is a large community larger than some districts and that he has taken into account as their numbers grow to upgrade their facilities.

“We should provide sufficient facility to deliver to the growing numbers; this should be a responsive parliament as we lead the African continent. Africans are now close to their televisions and watching what MPs do. I was surprised that the President of Liberia was quoting statements that MPs in Ghana made on the floor and they told him how they see him conducting the affairs of the House”.

Again, we are not only working for Ghana, we are working for Africa and the whole world, we should do what is right, what is just, fair and democratic.

“We need to focus issue of governance in this ninth Parliament, if we get our governance correct, we would get all the other sectors right; whether it is the economy, health, or education, they all depend on leadership which is in political governance”, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com