Category: General

Member of Parliament for Upper West Akyem, Derek Ohene Bekoe has commended his predecessor Sallas Mensah for his appointment as National Treasure of the opposition party.

The former chairman of the Public Account Committee (PAC) is also the immediate past Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Public Procurement Authority.

Mr. Sallas Mensah was a law maker for Upper West Akyem from 1992 to 2008. According to the current MP the former MP is coming in to serve at a time that the party is in opposition fighting to take over power and called on party members to help him discharge his duty efficiently.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Speaker Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye has served notice to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s Ministers that they cannot dictate to the House when it starts its work.

According to the Speaker the time Parliament starts sitting is not the business of Ministers, but rather they should be in the House early to attend to business in the House.

Speaker made this remarks when Deputy Majority Leader, Sarah Adwoa Safo drew the attention of the Speaker that the House should give the Minister of Food and Agriculture Dr. Akoto Afriyie some time to come and answer an urgent question on the floor of the House.

Though the House started business on the floor of the House at 10:00am on Tuesday the 26th of February, the sector Minister was not on the floor of the House to answer questions.

Deputy Majority Leader indicated to the Speaker that she has been in communications with the sector Minister who indicated that he was on his way coming, “he gave assurance that he just left his Ministry and would be here in few minutes”.

“I believe Mr. Speaker has sent the right signal to the Ministers, that when we say we would start sitting at 10:00am we do, this indication would be communicated to Ministers”.

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Deputy Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo has said her side is doing all it can to ensure that Ministers in the President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government come to the floor to do business.

As representatives of the people the questions we ask on the floor are from our constituents, we owe it a duty to come to the floor to answer them, she added.

According to the Dome/Kwabenya lawmaker, Speaker Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye as a former diplomat understands the situation where Ministers have to balance their work in the Executive and come to the floor of the House to answer questions.

She made this remarks on the floor of the House in explaining that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kojo Kyeremanteng had communicated to the House that he is with the Vice President Dr. Bawumia on a Ghana-UK bilateral trade discussion.

He has thus given respect to the House, hence his question on scheduled for Tuesday February 26, should be rescheduled to Friday; by then he would be back from his trip.

The Deputy Majority Leader did not take kindly to the outburst of her colleague the Minority Chief Whip that the Trade and Industry Minister is not taking the House serious.

She quoted order 93 (2) to back her point, “it shall be out of order to use offensive, abusive, insulting, blasphemous or unbecoming words or to impute improper motives  to any other Member or to make personal allusions”.

“Mr. Speaker my emphasis here is the imputation of improper motive by the Minority Chief Whip”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Deputy Majority Leader Sarah Adjowa Safo has told Parliament that the video footage obtained from Parliament to identify, lawmakers who carried placards with the inscription “bloody widow” cited for contempt was not visible to identify culprits.

According to the Dome/Kwabenya legislator the first Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu made a ruling when the issue was brought to the floor of the House.

During the swearing in of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Member of Parliament, Lydia Alhassan Seyram, the Minority staged a walked-out and held a placards with the inscription “bloody widow” which received a lot of condemnation from the majority and section of the general public.

Commenting on the issue, the Deputy Majority Leader stated; “Information I picked up from the table office and the Clerk’s office is that they have the tape, which has been presented to the first Deputy Speaker, but the challenge is how to identify specific people”.

And further pointed out that, since there were media men and women in the chamber, the day the issue occurred they would be contacted for the footage.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Leader of Government Business, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has pointed out that in a Presidential system of government, there is nothing like a “shadow Minister”.

Speaker of Parliament Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye on his part argued that he is not talking law but convention and practice, and no matter the political party in power equal time should be given all, he recognizes “shadow Minister”.

“If a member refers to a shadow Minister to me is acceptable in Parliamentary practice”.

This argument came about on the floor of the House, when business statement for this week was presented and the second deputy Minority whip Ahmed Banda, argued that time allotted Ministers should be the same time allotted to the Ranking members of various committees who would be debating the State of the Nation Address presented by the President.

“Ranking members are, shadow Ministers, they should be allotted same time that would be given to Ministers to speak on the SONA debate”.

Leader of Government Business argued that it is in the Western Minister system of government that “shadow Ministers” are recognized and not the Presidential system. Most of the people who were spokes persons on various sectors almost invariably assumed that office when their party came to office.

Leader of Government Business, retorted to the Speaker that he is not arguing as he said he is doing, but when he entered Parliament years back, then Speaker in allocation of time called one person from the Minority and called two from the Majority side.

“The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the other parties number just amounted to a third the Speaker insisted, he would call one person from the Minority and two from the Majority”.

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The Dome/Kwabenya Constituency Chairman for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Isaac Nii   Lamptey has said the Executives still have work to do in educating party supports on how to vote.

According to the constituency chairman despite the education carried out on the subject, people still made mistakes and they recorded two (2) spoilt ballot papers and six rejected, in last weekend’s Presidential primary.

In an earlier interview before declaration of the results, the constituency chair pointed out that education on how to vote properly had gone on to ensure that there was no spoilt ballot paper.
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The Member of Parliament for Garu the constituency in the Upper East region, Albert Alalzuuga Akuka has provided small water systems to some selected communities in the area.

The gesture is to ease the plight of the people who are confronted with major challenge of water delivery almost every year.

Residents in the Garu district are the worse affected during the dry season despite the fact that boreholes are dotted in the area, since barely provide adequate water to serve the growing population.

Contaminated water with health threats from dams, dugouts, ponds and lakes mostly serve the people water during the dry season since there was no other option.

The MP in presenting the small water systems procured through his share of the MPs common Fund said the gesture is a means of accounting to constituents and urged the need for urgent action to curb the challenge of portable drinking water.

“Potable drinking water in the area is a major problem facing the people in the locality, which needs to be addressed urgently,” he stated.

Thirty communities across the district are earmarked for the construction of boreholes which are at various levels of completion. Eight communities have had their boreholes completed awaiting handing over.
These communities are Kpatibuarin, Kukbulug, Kpatua-No2, Atamidaboog, Pialug-Maalnateng, Gbanterago area, Zisieri area and Tengsung.

Communities, particularly in remote areas in the district, also lack basic training and capacity to maintain wells, hand pumps and other systems which the World Vision organization has provided.
He said efforts were being made to ensure that resources meant for development projects in the area were not diverted or misappropriated.

Mr. Akuka explained that it was not right for members of parliament to wait until election period to interact with electorates and find solutions to their developmental problems.

He noted that governance was a means of impacting on the lives of the people and must therefore not be seen as a business to amass wealth to the detriment of the citizenry.

The MP expressed gratitude to the traditional rulers in the area and the constituents but urged them to cooperate with him together with other NGOs for more development in the area.

Meanwhile, he has collaborated with the district health directorate to organise a health screening for the people on Hepatitis B, blood pressure levels and other illnesses.

The screening exercise was to ensure early detection of health problems amongst inhabitants across the district for early treatment.

The MP indicated that the local economy thrives on healthy people, hence the screening exercise will help improve on the health needs of the people in the district to boost productivity.

The MP has also organised two effective extra classes to help the youth improve on their education.  A total of 150 students in SHS and tertiary institutions have benefited from his share of the MP’s common fund and distributed 500 dual desks to various schools in the districts that are in dire need of furniture.

Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

Parliament has approved a tax waiver of 802,262.00 euros for the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) which is expected to increase revenue collection and ensure sustainable potable water services delivery throughout the country.

The waiver was granted after the finance committee presented a report on the request for waiver of import duties, import VAT/GETFund Levy, Import NHIL, ECOWAS Levy, EXIM Levy, Special Import levy amounting to Ghana cedi equivalent of eight hundred and two thousand, two hundred and sixty-two euros (€802,262.00) on project materials and equipment to be imported for the implementation of the services for the enhancement of nationwide water network management project by the Ghana Water Company Limited(GWCL).

Chairman of the committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah who presented the report outlined the rationale for the project which he states will support GWCL to develop a plan for systematic measurement and reduction of non-revenue water within the service area, develop an area map for flow control and the effective management of districts to the walk and cycle level.

The project is also expected to locate the strategic assets, conditions of the assets, develop applications and remotely manage these assets, increase revenue collection and ensure sustainable potable water services delivery.

It will enable GWCL to properly plan and maintain its systems, improve revenue collection, reduce non-revenue water and improve public relation support of the company.

Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayiribi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has commissioned an electrification project which hasconnected 32 communities in the area to the national grid.

These forms part of measures to expand electricity coverage and infrastructure to rural communities.
Beneficiary communities include Betenase, Bokor, Arkoh, Nkansah No.1, Amponsah, Sukuran, Pantinpa and Krofom.

The rest are Yaw Nkran, Paawudu, Ayeboafo No.1 and No. 2, Wawase, Nii Quaye and Boatemaa, among others.

The gesture the MP stated was in fulfillment of his campaign promise in the run up to the 2016 polls which is in line with President Akufo Addo’s vision.

“Our President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo is fulfilling his campaign promises to the good people of Ghana. And that is exactly what we are also doing here in the constituency. We promised to help these communities get electricity during our last election campaign and that promise has been fulfilled in two year,” he said.

The MP expressed excitement about the project which said will bring about development to the communities.

Mr Oppong Nhrumah is the Minister for Information was assisted by District Chief Executive for Akyemansa, Paul Asamoah, official of the Electricity Company and some NPP party Executives to perform the commissioning ceremony.

Officials of the electricity company used the occasion to educate the community on responsible use of power in order to cut cost.

Chrisitan Kpesese/ghanamps.com

The former deputy Minister for Power during the erstwhile John Mahama government, John Jinapor has expressed worry that happenings at Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) suggest that Ghana’s petrochemical industry is not safe under the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

According to him if ”previous allegations and investigations are anything to go by, then any discerning Ghanaian can come to a firm conclusion that the Akufo-Addo led administration cannot be trusted to conduct any transparent, unbiased and meaningful investigation into these scandalous and corruption-laden spectacle that has engulfed the GNPC”.

Mr Jinapor who is the Member of Parliament for the Yapei-Kusawwgu constituency in the Northern region in a statement issued in Accra is demanding a bi-partisan Parliamentary investigation into happenings at GNPC in order to establish the truth.

…“the only acceptable antidote to this canker of yet another national disgrace, this time at the GNPC, is for a bi-partisan Parliamentary enquiry to determine the underlying cause(s) of all these scandalous allegations and make appropriate recommendations in order to save the GNPC from collapse” he stated.

Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com