Category: General

Ranking member on Local Government and Rural Development, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye has given indication that the Committee is worried with the flooding situation in the nation’s capital, and this week there is expected statement on the floor of the House.

According to him he expect that the Rt. Hon Speaker would give some directives as to what should be done with the annual situation, in line with directives given by President Nana Akufo-Addo, for some dredging to be done.

In an interview, he pointed out that he is very optimistic and certain that certain decisions would be taken by the Regional Coordinating Council.

Whiles at that he further pointed out that but for the Regional Officers’ election by the NPP over the weekend that would get his colleagues in the Majority occupied, the Committee which has oversight responsibility over the Local Government Ministry, would have gone round to see for themselves how the flooding has affected people within the capital.

“Our hope is that we would not have only talks, action would follow the talk so that we minimise the effect of the flooding”.

In addition he noted that he is worried that with the current flooding, authorities would go out there to conduct demolishing of peoples buildings; it is not right more especially when local authorities have allowed them to build on water ways, they cannot just get up and go and demolish, they need a court order to do that.

“And when demolishing is done what about those who have been affected by the floods now and lost their properties; what are we going to do to them. If we are not careful we would end up causing a lot of social disruptions, the homes to be demolished they are also going to become homeless.”

He emphasized that there is going to be consequences on every action that one takes, but was quick to add that there is the need to take a very decisive decision to move buildings in water ways.

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The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has served notice to the Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei Mensah Bonsu to stop going on air to counter everything he says on the chair. Mr. Bagbin on Friday May 27, 2022 while presiding responded to some comments made by the Majority Leader on air when he sought to downplay the Speaker’s earlier assertion that parliament is ‘broke’.

“I will not take the majority Leader always going on air to counter what I say particularly when I say it on the chair, I will not take that; I am in control here, and I will continue to be in control until my tern of office ends or you decide otherwise as members to remove me as the Speaker of the House by the votes of three-quarters of members of the House. Please this is the last time I would refer to it, and this is enough notice to whoever thinks that he has the same authority as the Speaker”.

According to the Speaker, in response to what he said yesterday, the government proceeded to release money quickly to the House to enable the house function. “There is evidence to that, and that is on record”. Explaining the composition on the leadership of parliament he said leaders of the House support the Speaker who is the leader of parliament not just of the House. “And parliament goes beyond the House, it is an institution and an arm of government; and the spokesperson of parliament is the Speaker.

The Majority leader speaks for the House which is made up of the members of parliament. Parliament includes the parliamentary service and the supporting institutions like health, police serve, fire service national security and all other state institutions that render services to parliament”. He said in the UK, parliament is made up of the Queen, the House of Lords, House of Commons, that is the institution of parliament, and that is why it is sovereign. “The Prime Minister is part of House of Commons and so is part of parliament that is why it is supreme.

In Ghana, Parliament is not supreme, it is subject to the constitution and so it is important that when the Speaker speaks from the chair, the leader of the House; that is the leader of members of parliament is not seen to be the one countering what the spokesperson of the arm of government says.” And if they want us to give documentary evidence about the non-funding of the House for this year, we would provide them. “So when I heard that the Leader of the House has gone on air to say that what I said is not true, it saddens me”, he stated.

Ghanamps.com

 Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has given indication that Parliament would pass the Affirmative Action Bill despite the fact that the Executive arm of government has a look warm attitude bringing the draft Bill to the House.

According to him the House would go ahead and to take the draft Bill, refine it, and pass since it has been in the pipeline for the past ten years and has not shown up on the floor of the House.

He said the situation is not good enough, adding that we have fallen far behind compared to how some of the neighbouring African countries respond to issue of gender empowerment and equality.

He made these remarks on Thursday, May 26, 2022 when a delegation from the Canadian Senate led by the Senator and Co- Chair of Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, Hon. Amina Gerba,  paid a courtesy call to Parliament to understand the delicate situation in which Ghana’s Parliament finds itself.

Other members of the delegation were Hon. René Cormier, Senator Yves Perron, M.P. Doug Shipley, M.P. Rémi Bourgault, Association Secretary and were accompanied by the High Commissioner of Canada to Ghana, H. E. Kati Csaba,

He pointed out that on Tuesday, the Speaker of Zambia called on him and it came out that they have forty-eight (48)  percent women representation in Parliament with their Speaker being a female, whiles Ghana has fourteen point five (14.5) percent women representation in parliament.

Again, Ghana cannot follow the US and the UK, their records are also not good as Rwanda is the highest now with female representation at fifty (50) something percent and about fifteen African countries have gone beyond the thirty (30) percent mark according to the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) statistics.

Mr Bagbin also indicated that he understands that there are proposals for the reconstitution of Ghana’s Parliament Committees and despite the female numbers are not encouraging, they want to bring in a number of things and some key positions of leadership would go to the women.

Interestingly in the current 8^th Parliament there are twenty (20) females from each side of the House and five of them should come up to Leadership positions of the various Committees.

“They say, if you want to know the level of development of any country look at the state of the women that is a strong indicator as to whether the country is developed developing or under develop. Ghana has been one of the countries that have been taunted with very high democratic credentials, in spite of that i think on affirmative action is down side with our democracy”.

The former Majority Leader told his visitors that in Ghana it is not easy to contest and win; one need a lot of support, and political discussions are not decent and civil words are not used, stating that more women would want to contest to serve their people but for the above mentioned challenges..

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The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, is unhappy at the delay in releasing funds to the legislature to enable it to function properly.

According to him, the delay has led to the House being broke and in need of adequate funds to run its operations.

Staring affairs over proceedings in the chair on Thursday, May 26, 2022, the Speaker lamented the dire financial constraints Parliament has been plunged into and cautioned the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta against treating Parliament like a Ministry or a District Assembly.

“It’s not easy. So, sometimes we see your requests for me to approve for you to do some things, I had declined. It’s not because I love declining your requests; it’s because we don’t have the wherewithal to fund those operations. I think the Minister of Finance should not treat Parliament like a Ministry or MMDA – I will emphasise this again,” he said.

The Speaker also added that the situation if not checked and addressed immediately will halt activities of the House.

“This is an arm of government; we are not part of the MMDAs. We have even been written to, to reduce our budget in some areas, by 50% and so if they want Parliament to run aground, they should let us know. The Speaker is not ready and prepared to be blamed for the inability to get Parliament work going on just because we are not getting the necessary funds. Others will have some hesitation saying this; I don’t have,” he added.

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Mozambican President H.E.  Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, has revealed that the regional integration of Africa and its economic liberation remain high on the agenda of leaders at various fora.

Addressing Ghana’s Parliament, Mr Nyusi who is on a four-day official visit to Ghana said the political liberation of the continent would mean nothing if it continue to tie it’s development apron to external aid.

“The struggle for the liberation of Africa of which Ghana was one of its leaders was not only for political liberation, the call  by Kwame Nkrumah that African must unite in his book ‘Africa Unite’ were based on the wisdom and vision that our political independence will be nothing if we remain independent under external aid”

The   economic liberation, the regional integration of Africa remains a central topic and is a topic of priorities of our cooperation at bilateral and regional levels such as South African Development Community, Economic Community of West African States, the East Africa Community, and at the continental level at the African Union (AU), he stated.

Mr Nyusi’s assurances come on the day the continent was observing the AU Day; a day set aside by the Union to commemorate the formation of the foundation of the  Organisation of Africa Unity, now AU.

The organisation was intended to champion the liberation of Africa which was largely under colonial rule and to ultimately unite the continent.

It was in the context of this commitment that President Nyusi said he signed various cooperation agreements with Ghana on the first day of his visit.

The agreements, President Nyusi said, have strong component of cooperation in different sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry, trade, tourism, mineral resources, and science and technology.

Ghana, he said, has valuable experience in putting appropriate legal frameworks to regulate its extractive industry, an experience he said the South African country would want to tap into.

“We will like to benefit from the good experience of Ghana in establishing favorable legal framework that will allow us a sustainable management of resources like gold, oil and gas, and how to maximize the local content to empower our private sector,” he said.

Commending President Nyusi, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin said unity of purpose among African countries holds the key to propelling the continent to a greater height.

 “For Africa to develop, this is the way to go. We need to look within ourselves, acknowledge and appreciate our values, work together and market those values to the good people of the world”, Mr Bagbin entreated.

Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, on behalf of the Minority said the visit should rekindle the need for African countries to begin to put in place mechanisms to trade more within themselves.

“We as African people must learn to trade more within because it is the only way our independence will be meaningful. So long as we continue to rely on only political independence and not being able to liberate ourselves economically, the challenges that confront us today will continue to face us,” Alhaji Muntaka, MP, Asawase said.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on his part said there would be the need for exchange of valuable lessons between the two countries in the areas of cotton production, poultry farming, cashew nut and sugarcane farming; areas Mozambique is doing well.

“In industry Mozambique produces food beverages, fertilizers, soap, textiles, cement, glass, and tobacco. Our textile industry today is gone. Mozambique is closer to China and in terms of dumping industrial products, their domestic production could be more at risk than Ghana, yet they have developed internal mechanisms to forestall it. How have they done that? How have they managed to protect their local industries? There are useful lesson there to be learnt,” Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu observed.

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The Speaker of Zambian Parliament Rt. Hon Ms Nelly Mutti is leading n 8-member delegation to Ghana on a benchmarking tour. As the chair of the Committee she is Ghana with seven other Committee members and a member of Parliament herself.

The delegation is made up of Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane MP, Finance Minister, Mr. Stafford Mulusa MP, Majority chief whip, Mr. Brian Mundubile MP Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Stephen Kampyongo MP, Mr. Nickson Chilangwa MP, Mrs Jacqueline Sabao MP and five other Parliamentary staffs.

Rt. Hon Nelly in her remarks recounted that Ghana and Zambia have a very good relations that is mutual which benefits both countries and are in Ghana so that both parliaments can learn from each other.

She further pointed out that their constitution takes issue of gender very serious in that when you have a male Speaker, the first Deputy Speaker should be a female and vice versa. Lawmakers, she indicated have the opportunity to be in the media to have discussions on what parliament is doing to bring the House closer to the door steps of the people.

The delegation which called on the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 is in for eight (8) working days.

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Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has set the record straight by saying he never said he disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling as alluded to by the Majority Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu in his remarks.

According to him, he said; “we may disagree with the ruling of the Supreme Court but we are bound by their decision. We have to comply and obey them, a platform is being provided is not to interrogate the ruling of the Supreme Court”.

And added that Parliament cannot review its Standing Orders alone but need to hold a forum where inputs from their partners from civil society, academia to have discussion on the implications and effects of the ruling.

In speakers communication to the House, he noted that Parliament will dedicate more attention on its oversight function, whiles  they  continue to put in all legal efforts and processes to consolidate the strengthening of the Institution of Parliament and the empowerment of members to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively and responsively, in this second session, and  take further vigorous steps to strengthen the hand of the House to hold government and state institutions accountable to the people for the power, trust, resources and hope reposed in them.

The Executive President, assisted by the cabinet and state institutions, shall be called upon to account for the stewardship of the country.

Parliament itself must be open, transparent and accountable to the people. As the saying goes, “Charity begins at home”, the constitutional and legal head of the institution of Parliament, the spokesperson, the arbitrator and guarantor of its authority, independence and privileges, “I pledge to lead this effort by example”.

The Speaker urged Committees to comply with the provisions of the Standing Orders and report to the House, the reason for the delay in submitting a number of reports on referrals pending before them. Committees such as Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Privileges, Subsidiary Legislation and some sector Committees, Land and Forestry, among others are breaching the rules. The Standing Orders Committee may be compelled to take action against such Committees, he stated.

Additionally, he called on the Business Committee as well as leadership of the caucuses to dialogue more often, using the well-known usual channels of communication in the conduct of the business of the House.

“We must eschew excessive partisanship, demonstrate concern for the plight of the ordinary citizen and chart the path that will help ameliorate the pain and suffering of Ghanaians”, the Speaker admonished.

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The Privileges Committee of Parliament is meeting today, May 25, 2022 to consider the Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Bagbin’s referral to the Committee at 11:00am this morning.
The following lawmakers pursuant to Article 97 (1) ( c ) would appear before the Committee.
Hon Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, Hon Henry Quartey and Hon Sarah Adwoa Sarfo.
A former MP for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, brought a petition in connection with the continued ab-sence from parliament of four MPs of the majority caucus.
The Committee has two weeks to present a report to the house.
The Ranking Member of the Committee, Mr Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, spoke to the media about it, and said; “On the 26th of May, we will meet with Henry Quartey, the 27th of May will be the turn of Adwoa Safo, and then on the 31st of May, we will meet with Kennedy Agyapong. We will discuss the modalities at today’s meeting.”
Mr Mubarak petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, to enforce Article 97(1)c of the 1992 Constitution by referring some four MPs to the Privileges Committee for absenting themselves for more than 15 days without permission.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Speaker of Ghana’s Legislature Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has said he does not believe in Majoritarian system of governance, where the Minority has its say and the Majority has its way.

According to him Ghana has gone beyond that, and is now deliberating on inclusive participatory and accountable governance, because the Majority depends on their strength in numbers and pushes anything they want to push through which is currently not the case in the present parliament.

According to him, the focus should always be on the national interest; and called for efforts to get more women into the legislature.

The Speaker made these remarks on Tuesday, May, 24, 2022 when the Speaker of the Zambian National Assembly Rt. Hon Ms Nelly Mutti paid a courtesy call on him.

The Zambia delegation is on an eight benchmarking tour in Ghana with its Standing Orders Committee made-up of the Rt. Hon Speaker Ms. Nelly Mutti, MP; Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane MP; Finance Minister, Mr Stafford Mulusa MP; Majority Chief Whip, Mr. Brain Mundubile, MP; Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Stephen Kampyongo, MP; Mr. Machila Jamba, MP; Mr. Nickson Chilangwa, MP; Mrs. Jacqueline Sabao, MP; and other staffs of the Parliament.

In his remarks he noted that the Ghanaian Standing Orders make room for Majority and Minority despite the fact that the current 8th parliament is a hang parliament of 137 – 137 with the independent doing business with the Majority.

“The Standing Order says the chairman of the Business Committee is the Majority Leader, but there could be a Majority Leader who might not be in government, that is our system, that is how come our party is in opposition but I am the Speaker”, he stated.

Again, “I have a lot of knocks from both sides of the House but I try to balance the equation. If I rule against my people, they came knocking at me that I am not showing I am part of them;  if I rule against the other side they say I am partisan; one and half years  I have been trying to manage, it has not been easy”, he emphasized.

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A member of the Liberian delegation, to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Stephen J. H. Zargo said the Speaker Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis’ flagship programme of ensuring the election of lawmakers is facing challenges.

According to him in Africa more often than not people look up to the leader, and he (Speaker) has the responsibility to ensure that his flagship programme materialised.

As to whether the whole vision of getting MPs elected is workable looking at the crusade for the election, he said “I hope so, but you should ask the Speaker this question directly, I think the Speaker has a challenge”, he said in an interview.

He further explained that under the administration of Speaker Dr. Tunis, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso have witnessed coups, and recently in Guinea-Bissau the president has dissolved the Parliament with his Executive power, “it is a bad omen”.

In an interview, he pointed out that another dimension of the matter is that there is too much emphasis on, “sovereignty’. We are just same people look at Togo and Ghana, Liberia and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, we have too much in common, let us do away with sovereignty”.

He prescribed regional solidarity which would help the West African Sub-region; and warned that if we continue with selfishness we would go nowhere.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com/Lome-Togo