Category: General

The Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday, July 20, 2022  considered the Auditor General’s Report on the Public Accounts of Ghana: Public Boards, Corporations, and other Statutory Institutions for the period ended 31st December 2019.

The MP for Abuakwa North and Deputy Minister of Education led the Ministry of Education Departments, Agencies cited in the Auditor General’s Report to answer queries posed by the Committee. These include the following. Ghana Institute of Journalism ( GIJ), University of Development Studies( UDS), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration ( GIMPA) University of Education, Winneba( UEW), Ghana Science Association ( GSA) , Encyclopedia African Project ( NEP), Students Loan Trust Fund ( GTF ).

The University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) and Ghana Education Trust Fund (GET FUND failed to appear before the PAC today and has been rescheduled for tomorrow hearing.

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Seven Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars ($750,000,000.00) has been approved to Finance Capital and Growth Related Expenditures in the 2022 Budget. Parliament on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 approve the loan facility agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (Represented by the Ministry of Finance), and African Export-Import BanK (Afreximbank) in accordance Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 56 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) and Order 169 of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana.

The US$750 million Afrexim Facility would be used to finance the following projects;
• Ofankor-Nsawam Road – 200,000,000
• Ejisu – Konongo Road – 79,000,000
• Completion of Nsawam Apedwa Road Project – 10,000,000
• Suame Interchange and Local Road Network project – 47,000,000
• Completion of Flower Pot Interchange, Legon–Accra – 35,000,000
• Completion of Sofoline Interchanee – 35,000,000
• Construction of Kwabenya-Peduase Road Project – 10,000,000
• Completion of Eastern Corridor Lots 5 and 6 – 70,000,000
• Completion of Enkyikrom-Adawso Road Project – 98,000.000
• Purchase of Rolling Stock and Spare part – 30,000,000
• Construction of Stadia Infrastructure for all African Games – 140,000,000

Chairman of the Finance Committee, Kwaku Kwarteng presenting the Committee’s report for approval indicated that aside the loan being used to finance critical infrastructure projects in the 2022 budget, the “approval of the facility will also enable government meet its revenue projections in the budget and support government’s liability management and ensure exchange rate stability”.

The Finance Committee report asserts that the arrangement for this facility has become necessary because of the decision by Government not to use the capital market to raise financing until market conditions improve.

“Additionally, the increasing withdrawal of non-resident investors in Ghana’s domestic bond market with its implications for the level of reserves of the Bank of Grana and foreign exchange management generally requires the injection of additional foreign currency to shore-up the country’s reserve to enable it meet obligations when they fall due”.

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The Executive Director of The Death Penalty Project, a United Kingdom based organisation, Saul Lehrfreund, has pledged to assist Ghana’s Parliament to take death penalty off its statutory book when he led a delegation to call on the First Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.
According to him they had worked on Sierra Leone’s death penalty issues which were taken off their statutory books, and he was happy there are two private members bill to take off death penalty for ordinary offences. “We are delighted to learn this morning that those bills were gazetted on June 22, 2022 and the passage of legislation is now underway in Ghana. We are here to assist the process and give advice and answer any questions from our collective experience and years of working in this field”.

He further added that Ghana would join the majority of the world who has rejected capital punishment as an abuse of human right indicating that there are one hundred and twenty (120) countries globally who have rejected death penalty with just few countries left to do so.

Last year eighteen (18) countries around the world carried out judicial executions, and a vast majority of those executions were carried out in four (4) countries through death penalty, and majority of nations in the world who respect rule of law and human rights find the death penalty basically incompatible especially all democratic nations, he stated.

Mr. Saul Lehrfreund called on the First Deputy Speaker with Carulyn Hollhe from the Oxford University, Meg Govld, Death Penalty Project, Abdul-Razak Yakubu British High Commission and Hannah Crothers Australian High Commission.

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Acting Head of Corporate Affairs, of the National Identification Authority (NIA) Dr. Abudu Abdul Ganiyu has clarified that registration for the Ghana has no deadline as a section of Ghanaians perceive.

According to him they are an identity management organization, and theirs is to continue to build the data base for Ghanaians with the card, so that continuously Ghanaians would be using the Ghana card for the various services and institutions that need them.

And as the law requires various institutions want to rely on the Ghana card; and those institutions with their mandates can give deadlines, but as far as Ghana card is concerned, “you can wake up any day any time get to our regional or district offices and get registered for your card; no one is going to tell you registration is over”.

According to him, the best practice all over the world is to get eighty (80) percent of your national population on the nation identity register, otherwise it cannot be used for any purpose; it would mean that majority of the people would be cut out. And the reason why we embark on a mass registration system, so that they would successfully build that data base from the start, he added.

“We have gone through all the regions of our country, we even conducted a mop up exercise, we have more than 80 percent of Ghanaians who are 15 years and above on the register; for persons who have not registered, the opportunity has been given them to go to our 292 operational offices”.

Dr. Abudu Abdul in his engagement with members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) not that their challenge has been budgetary constraints and they are to come out with road map of registering Ghanaians who are zero to 14; “the modalities for that particular registration would be different from the adult population; they may be issued a card that is different from what we have given to the adult.

The NIA officials were in Parliament on Thursday, July 15, 2022 to brief Parliament on their operations, as members of Parliament pointed out the challenges being witnessed in their constituencies. And it’s the third time that the NIA has appeared before parliament Dr. Abudu Abdul noted, Some MPs have been concerned with the challenges that people face when they want to obtain their cards, “what we have done today is to attempt to address most of those questions, deal with the challenges and provide a clear indications of what they are going to do to ensure every Ghanaian is able to register for the card”.

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As military coup in the West African sub-region is becoming the order of the day, Chairman of the Community’s Parliament Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe J. believes the election of the Guinea Bissau President as chair of the Authority of Heads of States and Government, he would bring something new on board.

According to him Guinea Bissau is not an easy area, it’s a tough terrain President Umaro Embalo has survived the tough terrain and the attempted coup with the experience gather over the years and what he has done at his own level in terms of security, “that would transcend into  the governance of ECOWAS”.

In an interview he noted that, “I am sure we can learn a lot from them (Guinea Bissau) as we are lucky to have countries like,   Nigeria,  Ghana,  Senegal and Ivory Cost that have rich experience  that have agreed and are willing  to continue giving its technical know-how and security support to the function of the Community”.

As to how Guinea Bissau emerged as the chair of the Authority of Heads of States and Government, he noted that it is politics and he was privileged to attend the Council of Ministers meeting and follow their debate.

And briefed President of Liberia when he arrived in Ghana to participate in the Summit, he was very supportive of Guinea Bissau chairing ECOWAS and   President Umaro Embalo has a small network despite the old order may not have been in support of it.

“It is politics, negotiation, and lobbying and being able to convince your colleagues; and I think in ECOWAS, no country should be seen as small or weak; we should be able to empower member states since we are Community”.

Senator Snowe J. further pointed out that he is happy that, Guinea has emerged as head of Authority of Head of States, whiles Gambia has also taken up the chair of the Commission indicating that it is a new day in the dispensation of our political family; and congratulation to them.

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The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin has directed investigations into the activities of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, and The Ghana School Feeding Program following a matter of concern and of public interest as brought to his attention in the aftermath of the caterers of the School Feeding Programme’s recent protest and strike action.

The Speaker in his official communication to the Members of Parliament on Tuesday July 12, 2022 directs five Committees including;
1. Education
2. Gender, Children and Social Protection
3. Health
4. Food and Agriculture, and
5. Finance to jointly carry out the task and report to parliament findings and recommendations on the feasibility, sustainability of the two programs before the end of October this year.

Throwing light on the two institutions, the Speaker indicated that the caterers, who ceased operations in May of this year, are requesting that their grants be increased from 0.97 pesewas to GHC3.00 per child per meal. A number of them have also threatened to terminate their contracts entirely due to months of non-payment of arrears by the government. “I am aware of the extent to which the non-payment of these arrears is affecting school enrolment and attendance, particularly in rural communities”.
He further stated that the School Feeding Programme provides great potential to accelerate the nation’s progress towards the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on hunger, poverty and malnutrition. It is therefore critical that we address issues affecting the efficient implementation of the program as matters of national priority, whilst instituting realistic and sustainable measures to avert a possible recurrence in the future of the situation we find ourselves in today.

He said his visit to the two institutions as recent as 23rd of June 2022, as part of Parliament’s oversight responsibility gave him some insight into the happenings in these institutions. At the National Food Buffer Stock Company, the Chief Executive Officer, Alhaji Hannan Abdul Wahab, highlighted the company’s challenges in areas such as stocking for government use, recent price increases in food items, which have stalled the government’s initiative to roll out plans for price stabilization of goods and services, and the inability of the Company to stock at the peak of harvest, among others. He was also not happy the viability and efficacy of such laudable program are being affected by lack of funding, thus compelling management to assess funding from commercial sources such as ADB Ltd.

The National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Program, Mrs Gertrude Quashigah bemoaned the Ministry of Finance’s inability to pay the caterers on time, but forcefully insisted that the information in the public domain about the non-payment of caterers for a period of time was not accurate. “Indeed, in 2021, SEND GHANA monitored the GSFP, focusing on the tendering and procurement process of services and caterers. According to the survey, when it comes to challenges faced by caterers, the overwhelming majority cited persistent payment delays and inadequate grant value as major factors undermining the delivery of quality of service to the school children. The evidence of the presence and domination of party apparatchiks getting favors as caterers is overwhelming”.

This information, he noted contradicts the information given by the National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Program. This is unfortunate and unacceptable. “Let me also state that there exist obvious gaps between what the National Food Buffer Stock Company claim to supply and the realities that are unfolding in the education sector, particularly in relation to Senior High Schools. The response to a July 7, 2022 publication by the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in the Upper West Region, complained about the National Food Buffer Stock Company’s refusal to supply food items to Senior High Schools. I am aware that other regions face similar, if not worse, challenges”.

The Speaker said the situation is a “NO NO for a country that claims to prioritise human capacity development” And emphasised that the lives and proper development of these vulnerable and defenceless children are critical to the future of this country, and “we cannot stand by and do nothing as things deteriorate. We must be able to oversee government to set the priorities of this country right. Let it not be said that we are part of the generation of leaders who supported this indecisiveness in standing for the protection and development of the child. If we are committed to dispelling this notion, the counter-narrative to this must begin with us”, he emphasized.

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The Public Affairs Director of Parliament, Ms Kate Addo has emphasized the need to include social skills, negotiation, policy and effective communication in today’s educational structure, as requisite skills at the secondary level to adequately prepare students to meet tomorrow’s workforce.

Speaking at the launch of the 80th anniversary of Ebenezer Senior High School, Kate Addo underscored the challenges confronting today’s students and urged them to cooperate with their teachers and to learn outside school hours. She also underscored the importance of soft skills as a prerequisite for the world of work.

“Today’s students need education in social skills, negotiation, policy, effective communication and other soft skills if they are to be effective, relevant competitors in tomorrow’s workforce”. she stated.

As a past student of the school, she raised concerns about the poor access to ICT knowledge and further stressed the need to give precedence to ICT education as a means to enhance productivity and be abreast with the rest of the world. She called for deliberation and the construction of an ultra-modern ICT laboratory to improve computer literacy at every stage of learning towards preparing students for the future.

“ICT is a key ingredient for anyone pursuing any type of education. Now, in most learning institutions, work is done online. An ultra-Modern ICT lab for our school is imperative. Computer literacy and application must be a major requirement at every stage of learning since most of the information needed for knowledge acquisition in any subject can be found online. And it is a skill needed by our students for future work”.

Adding that, past students over the years have not done much in improving the image and physical structure of the school. She persuaded a communal effort ahead to uplift the image of the school.

The Ebenezer Senior High School was established in 1941 by RobertbTeiko Aryee with a current enrollment number of 2578. The school has seen the likes of Lawyer Ayikoi Otuo, Professor Jeffery Squire at Waterloo University in Canada, Prof Mills, and Ms Kate Addo among other distinguished personalities as past students.

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Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery has stated that the Police Administration has been liaising with the Regional Command and the Kpando Municipal Chief Executive to expedite action on the stalled Kpando District Police Headquarters project.

The Minister answering a question by Mrs. Della Sowah, Member of Parliament for Kpando on the floor of the House on when the project would be completed could not give any definite timeline but assured that the administration would do its best to have it completed.

He noted that the project is a single story started in 2014 by the Kpando Municipal Assembly with the intention of serving as a Municipal District Police Headquarters but unfortunately it has stalled probably due to lack of funds.

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Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery has told Parliament per available records sixty-two (62) police guards assigned to MPs are yet to be issued with pistols.

According to him this can be attributed to the fact that there has been exponential demand for the supply of arms from the armory of the police to the police personnel assigned as bodyguards for MPs, Judges of the Supreme Courts, Ministers of State and Senior Police Officers.

And efforts are, however, underway to procure additional arms and ammunition for the Ghana Police Service to enable them to cater for the remaining 62 bodyguards and others assigned to the Judges of the Supreme Courts, Ministries of State and Senior Police Officers.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Ejura-Sekyedumase Muhammad Bawah Braimah wanted to know from the sector Minister when bodyguards assigned to MPs would be properly equipped to carry out their mandate.

 Rt. Hon Speaker, said following his directive to the Police Administration to provide armed police guards for two hundred (200) Members of Parliament, the Police Administration established a Police Steering Committee to see to the implementation of the policy.

The Committee amongst others identified the logistical and accommodation needs of the personnel assigned as armed guards to MPs, the personnel were selected and taken through two weeks basic combat and weapon handling training at the Formed Police Unit (FPU).

 Upon completion of the training, most of the guards were provided with pistols and the necessary logistics required for the protection of the respective MPs.

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The Toll Workers Union on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 registered their displeasure about their living conditions since the cancellation of toll collection in November 2022.

Presenting a petition to parliament on Tuesday, Mr. Edward Duncan, Secretary to the Union said government has failed to deliver on its promises of reassigning members of the group, as well as paying their salaries until they secure new jobs.

According to him, government only paid two months’ salary to them – November and December, but failed to credit their accounts since January 2022 till date.

The situation, they contend is making life unbearable for the about eight hundred (800) of their members, thus the call on government to immediately pay their salary areas.

They asserts that the best solution to addressing the problem is for government to reintroduce the toll collection to enable them go back to work and contribute their quota to national development. This would enable government also improve on its revenue collection to aid development.

Mr. Duncan noted that the reasons adduced for the cancellation of the toll collection; one of which is the fact that the toll booth are the cause of vehicular congestion is not strong enough, adding that if government had engaged the workers they would have given them practical solutions.

Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, Deputy Majority Whip who jointly received the petition alongside her Minority counterpart, Ibrahim Ahmed expressed gratitude to the group for taking the path of democracy and deciding to convey their grievances to parliament instead of other tools to register their displeasure.

She assured the group that their concerns would be presented to the Speaker for swift response

Mr Ahmed Ibrahim on the other hand noted that as a country, whenever the two parties agree on something, there is success, but when they disagree the masses surfer.
It is in light of this that they were able as parliament in approving the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in which a portion (3%) was set aside for persons with disability.

He stated that the problem with the toll booth cancelation and the resultant challenges the workers are faced with is because they did not agree on it.

According to him, having presented a second petition, it would serve as a wakeup call for urgent action to address the problem and assured that they would do the needful to ensure the Speaker gets the petition and with the help of the leadership action is taken on it.

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