Category: General

The Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta said the 2019 Economic policy and Budget statement is on the theme: “a stronger Economy for Jobs and Prosperity” as he presents same to Parliament.

The budget he said is expected to “accelerate the programme of growing the economy, protecting the vulnerable, and creating jobs and prosperity for the Ghanaian people over the next financial year”.

According to the Minister, the seeds sewed today will achieve sustainable results by putting Ghana on an irreversible path of enviable empowerment.

He also intimated that the President is delivering on his social contract with Ghanaians.

“With all the humility I can muster, Mr. Speaker, permit me to say that I am proud to say that the Akufo-Addo government is delivering on this four-year resounding mandate that the people of Ghana has given us. This is evident in the impressive strides the nation has made in the past 22 months” he stated.

Christian Kpesese/ghanamps.com

The Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta has told Parliament that the New Patriotic Party Government has paid 80% of the troubled DKM customers.

“I would like to inform the country that out of the 99,858 claims, 79,708 (80 percent) have

been settled and depositors have been paid” he stated as he present the 2019 Budget statement to the lawmakers.

The situation he said has significantly changed under the current Government as steps are being taken to settle almost all claims of DKM customers since the previous administration failed to resolve the challenge.

Mr. Speaker, you would recall that DKM Diamond Microfinance Limited had its license revoked in February 2016 with considerable suffering imposed on depositors, without any meaningful response from the previous government.

He noted that the official liquidator received 99,858 claims and the validated claims amounted to GH¢502 million as government has set aside funds at the Bank of Ghana to pay the remaining 20 percent of depositors upon validation.

The Minister disclosed that an additional 12,612 claims have been fully provided for, but the customers have not as yet been able to show proof of deposit.

Former President John Dramani Mahama recently urged DKM customers to force the Akufo-Addo government to repay their claims as promised during the 2016 electioneering campaign season.

By Christian Kpesese/Ghanamps.com

First Deputy Whip of the Majority side, Moses Anim had to plead with his colleagues on Thursday afternoon to prevent early adjournment of proceedings in the House when the new found practice adopted by the House was to call for quorum for the Speaker to adjourn proceedings.

According to the first Deputy whip the House had not gotten to its official mandate time of closing which is 2:00pm when the House was being called upon to adjourn because of quorum.

The quorum crusade started when it was mid-day after the Interior Minister Ambrose Dery had taken four (4) questions on the floor of the House.

“We all know the history behind the Right to Information (RTI) bill, if by two o’clock we want to adjourn within our limit it is okay. This citing of Standing Order 91 is not doing Parliament any good”, he lamented.

He then advocated for the House to work till 2:00pm then there could be adjournment when the issue of quorum came to play around twelve o’clock.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on Members of Parliament (MPs) and  Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to work together to create dignified, productive lives for Ghanaians.

According to the President the coming into force of the 4th Republic the nation has embarked on a path of gradual decentralization as a drive force for development.

And further added that the cooperation between MPs and MMDCEs is a condition for a successful journey.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Saturday, 10th November, 2018, when he addressed a joint workshop of MPs and MMDCEs from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

He further added that having been a three term Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, he has first-hand knowledge of the relationship, cordial or otherwise between MPs and MMDCEs and its impact on the well being of Ghanaians.

“Given that we have an urgent, pressing need to develop Ghana, we cannot entertain distractions occasioned by intractable conflicts between our MPs and MMDCEs,” he said.

The new paradigm of effective governance demand maximum cooperation between Chief Executives and Members of Parliament (MPs), the closer and more sincere will be the co-operation between the two principal actors the greater and more extensive will be for development, the President said.

Government’s policies such as “cedi equivalent for one million dollars per constituency per year, planting for Food and Job, one village one dam and one distort one factory”, requires maximum co-operation from MPs and MMDCEs for its effective implementation.

“The two groups of you must help device new ways of increasing the share of Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of the Assemblies to augment what the Central Government is able to provide. Government commits to evolve policy and law to create an enabling environment to facilitate these efforts,” the President added.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Parliament’s select Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture has asked the Normalisation Committee set up by FIFA following the investigative documentary, [Number 12] on Ghana football by journalist Anas Aremeyaw to furnish it with its detailed programme.

Chairman of the Youth, Sports and Culture committee, Alex Kofi Agyekum in an interview with www.ghanamps.com disclosed that the Normalisation Committee in a meeting said it will need GH?7.2m equivalent of US$1.5m for its activities and programmes.

“They told us they have a programme they are going to roll out and they told us they needed some amount of money of about GH?7.2m to organize some kind of competition, as a way of reviving the whole thing. We have asked them to present the details to us” Mr Agyekum stated.

According to him the normalization Committee said amount is expected to be raised from corporate bodies, government and other sources.

The Sports, Youth and Culture Committee he said is satisfied with the outcome and responses from the Normalisation committee members and are confident in their work to turn around Ghana’s football.

Chairman of the Normalisation Committee, Dr.KofiAmoah also expressed contentment with the outcome of the meeting stating that his outfit will be forthcoming for advice and counsel whenever it is necessary.

Football he said can become an appendage to Ghana’s economic infrastructure, stressing that the role it plays in entertaining, uniting were critical.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

Majority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has backed calls for the prosecution of culpable directors of collapsed local banks.

The comments by the leader who also Minister for Parliamentary Affairs follows a suit filed by receiver, PwC over the collapse of Capital Bank.

Pastor Mensa Otabil, the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) and 13 other shareholders and directors of the now-defunct Capital Bank, have been sued by Messrs Vish Ashiagbor and Eric Nana Nipah, both of accounting and auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, in connection with the collapse of the bank in 2017.

“The BoG has a unit [monitoring unit] and those of them who are seen to have compromised their positions will suffer. I am cocksure about that, we must begin from somewhere and sanitize the banks” Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said in an interview at Parliament House last week.

He stated that the prosecution of directors was the way to go and believes “if anyone is found to have breached the law, that person must certainly face the music”.

According to him the turbulence in the banking sector is one of the major reasons affecting the cost of foreign currency especially the dollar.

“You all know what occasioned the world financial meltdown, it was disturbances in some of the banks, starting with Lehman brothers and that really caused world turbulence and the cedi at the time depreciated, the dollar suffered, now today we have a similar thing playing locally in our system”.

The Suame Member of Parliament urged Ghanaians to demonstrate goodwill to ensure that sanity is brought to the banking system which will ultimately help grow the economy.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

Minister for Transport, Kwaku  Ofori Asiamah is expected to brief Parliament this week on what measures are being instituted to curb road accidents especially on the George Walker Bush highway and the Madina-Adentan to the Aburi stretch.

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Bekwai in the Ashanti region Joseph Osei-Owusu issued a two (2) week ultimatum to the Transport Minister to appear before the lawmakers and brief them on pragmatic measures outlined to curb the growing spate of accidents and knock-downs on our roads.

The Speaker’s directive comes at the back of wild lamentations by Members of Parliaments on the alarming rate of road crashes on major roads within short periods resulting in several deaths and injuries.

Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku Dr Bernard Okoe Boye in a statement last week on the floor of Parliament on road accidents demanded the prosecution of reckless drivers to deter others.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Adentan constituency, Yaw Buaben Asamoa has blamed the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for failing to add finishing touches to the footbridges projects on the Madina- Adentan highways.

The inaction of the previous administration he noted was a contributing factor to the deaths being registered in recent times as a result of pedestrian knockdowns.

Contributing to a statement on avoidable road crashes on the floor of parliament, Mr Buaben who is also the Director of Communication for the New Patriotic Party said the NDC rather fixed substandard street-lights along the road for political gains in the run-up to the 2016 general elections.

The Adentan lawmaker however assured that the NPP government is poised on fixing all abandoned foot-bridges on the Adentan-Madina road which has claimed several innocent lives.

By Christian Kpesese/ ghanamps.com

First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu who chaired affairs of the House on Wednesday cautioned Members of Parliament (MPs) not to make inflammatory comment contributing to statement made on Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

“I would take any one off who makes comments that would degenerate into heated debate on the floor of the House”.

The first Deputy Speaker made this remarks when Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram Samuel Nartey George made a statement on the current impasses on KNUST campus.

He noted that the statement made by the Ningo-Prampram lawmaker was one of the good statement made on the floor of the House.

Mr. Samuel Nartey George noted that it is worrying how a policy aimed at increasing female intake has ended up reducing the number of males in traditionally male halls.

“Increased of female enrollment must not come at the cost of several decades of tradition, there are several novel ways by which this issue can be addressed the tradition also preserved, he lamented.

The first Deputy Speaker from time to time had to draw MPs attention to the caution he gave when they were drifting from the statement made.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Ranking member on Roads and Transport, Kwame Agbodza has taken a swipe at government for making it a deliberate policy not to address issues of road and its related issues in the country.

According to the Adaklu Member of Parliament (MP) because of the Sinohydro agreement between government of Ghana and China government, government has neglected the needed attention on roads and its related issues in the county.

“They do not want to put any funds on road and pushing all funds towards their flagship programme Free Senior High School”.

He made this remark in an interview in the wake of a vehicle knocking down a lady students of the West African Senior High School leading to block of road on the Adenta Madina stretch of the road.

“What happened to one of our sisters is so unfortunate, this accident could have been prevented even as this is not the first time that we are losing life”, he lamented.

It is becoming very frequent, “we are told government in a hurry has gotten three Ministries together are wanting to award contract for a pedestrian bridge to be finish up, why do we scarifies life this  way”.

According to him, there is a need to get government to focus and pay attention to this problem and get it addressed once and for all, he emphasised.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com