Category: General

Head of Akufo-Addo’s government Economic Management Team, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia would on 3rd April 2019 address Ghanaians on the state of the Ghanaian economy at a town hall meeting.

It is on the theme, “our progress, our status, our future”. The event is billed for the college of physicians and surgeons in Accra.

This is an initiative taken by the Ministry of Information, in the wake of the Minority wanting to hear from the Vice President Dr. Mahmud Bawumia as the Ghanaian cedi is facing challenges from the United States dollars and other currency of international trade.

Meanwhile, in a related development the Minority had set five questions for the Vice President to answer at their breakfast meeting to give their perspective of the true state of the Ghanaian economy.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

The Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic, Alban Bagbin has assured the august House that he will be fair and impartial in the discharge of his duties in his new role.

“I intend to live by the Oath I swore on the occasion of my election to this office, to respect, obey, and abide by the will of the House. I am fully committed to being fair and impartial. But I am also fully committed to being firm,” he stated.

Addressing the second sitting of the 8th parliament, Mr. Bagbin reiterated that there is no NPP Speaker or NDC Speaker; there is only a Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana.

“While past practice might lead some to think otherwise, the truth of the matter is that the Speakership is not a partisan-political office. Regardless of which party nominated or voted to elect him or her, and regardless of his or her previous political background, the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana occupies a nonpartisan, impartial office.”

Adding that the independence and impartiality of the Speaker is particularly evident from one line in the Speaker’s Oath, which cannot be found in the Presidential Oath, the Oath of Vice-President, the Oath for Ministers of State and Cabinet, or the Oath of a Member of Parliament; and reads: “And I will do right to all manner of persons in accordance with the Constitution and the laws and conventions of Parliament without fear or favor, affection or ill will.”

The speaker called on members to be respectful, and abide by his rulings and instructions. “When in disagreement, the Standing Orders of the House, has the answer. I will apply the authority of the House as symbolized by the Mace, to protect and defend the prerogatives, privileges, and immunities of Parliament, members, and staff as provided under the laws of the country”, he assured.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on Friday, 15 January, 2020 confirmed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus as the Majority group in Parliament.
Following a letter he received from the Independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Fomena, Andrew Asiamah Amoako.
The Fomena MP indicated in his letter to the Speaker, which was read out to the House, that he would do business with the NPP.
Speaker Bagbin noted that the outcome of the December polls in which the people denied both parties a single party control of the legislative branch is a call to chart a new path in the conduct of the business of Parliament.
He said, “the people of Ghana sent a loud and clear message to the political class when they voted to deny both the New Patriotic Party NPP for short and the National Democratic Congress, NDC single party control of the legislative branch.

“The score of 137 for NPP and 137 for NDC with 1 independent, the decision of no majority party and no minority party in parliament, is a call for us to chart a new path to embark on new ways of transacting Parliamentary business.”
Mr Bagbin however urged both sides of the house to work on any challenges that might prevent the smooth running of business during proceedings.
“I urge the leadership of both sides of the house to put their heads together to smoothen out any bottlenecks or challenges that may impede the conduct of business in the house. I am ever ready to assist in this direction.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

 

The jubilation from the New Patriotic Party caucus that greeted the declaration of the New Patriotic Party and the Independent Formena Member of Parliament as the Majority group on the first sitting of the 8th Parliament on Friday, January 15, 2021 was short-lived with further explanations from the Speaker.

The NPP caucus was seen in a jubilant mood with many of them waving white handkerchiefs to signify victory when the Speaker made the announcement.

However, before proceedings came to a halt for the day, Haruna Iddrisu, leader of the National Democratic Congress called the attention of the Speaker to clarify his position on his declaration with both parties having the same numerical strength.

This, the speaker clarified saying, “I haven’t said that the NPP has a majority in Parliament, I said with the Association of the independent candidate, they have a majority group. No part has a majority in Parliament.

He assured the house that time will tell and bring clarity to which side has the majority in the house, as some MPs would have to wait to know their full status with the cases at the courts.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has assured that the 8th Parliament would live to the true and core mandate and mission of Parliament.
He warned that he will not yield to pressure from any group or individual to make Parliament a ‘rubber stamp’ or obstructive body.
“As the foremost accountability institution in our constitutional system, Parliament’s role is to check-and-balance the Executive, not to obstruct or rubber stamp the Executive’s agenda. Parliament does its job, as it must, when it questions, investigates, reviews, and scrutinizes the Executive, its bills, its nominations, and its proposed agreements, and then proceeds to approve, to amend, or to reject them, as the case may be.”
Addressing the first sitting of the 8th Parliament on Friday, the speaker noted that there appears to be some amount of confusion and misunderstanding as to what the appropriate role of Parliament is in our constitutional system, particularly because of the winner-take-all politics.

That is to say that whenever Parliament is dominated by the same party that holds the Presidency and forms the Government, the common perception and expectation is that Parliament will automatically support the Government’s agenda, without regard to its merits, simply put, ” Government is entitled to have its way in Parliament.”
As such the current situation when neither of the parties has a majority nor minority in parliament is creating some uncertainty among the public with regards to their works.
However, “regardless of which party has the upper hand in the House, it would be wrong to see Parliament’s role as either obstructing or rubberstamping Government’s agenda. Parliament cannot discharge any one of its core mandates–deliberative, legislative, financial control, oversight, and representational–by being either obstructionist or a rubber stamp”, the Speaker noted.
The Speaker cited instances in the first parliament of the 4th Republic when Parliament played its role precisely despite not having a real opposition party. “Bills proposed by the Executive were not accorded routine, rubber-stamp treatment; they were subjected to close review, scrutiny, and modification, where necessary. A case in point is the bill that later became the law criminalizing “Causing Financial Loss to the State.” When it was introduced in the First Parliament, the bill as drafted had no “mens rea” requirement; it would have made “causing financial loss to the State” a strict liability offence. I recall, and the Hansard record will show, that the amendment to add the word “willfully” to the law came from the floor of the House.”
And added that with its almost total control of the House, the dominant Party at the time could have simply rubber-stamped the bill; but it did not.
Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com

President of the Community Court of Justice, Justice Edward Amoako Asante has said the institution had to invest significant portion of its resources in virtual technology with the first virtual session of the court held on Monday, June 22, 2020 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

According to him the initial disruption on the conduct of the court session affected sixty cases which had been scheduled for both hearing and judgment. It was imperative to migrate to virtual technology infrastructure in other to continue discharging their roles, he added.

And as part of the process for deploying the virtual technology, the Court had to align its Practice Direction with the new reality with the concomitant benefits of ensuring the safety of judges and staff.
In his goodwill message to the Second Extra Ordinary Session of the Community Parliament, he noted that although fallout of a pandemic, the deployment of the technology and the new practice direction had other benefits.

They had uninterrupted Court sessions and Court related operations despite the outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic; improvement in turnaround time for Court hearings; general improvement in the management of case files; recording of sittings and the speedy delivery of judgments.

This project enabled the Court to fully function in 2020 despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It helped saved legal costs consisting of travel air tickets of litigants, agents, lawyers and witnesses as well as logistics and hotel costs. Benefits of no personal contacts between the bench and the lawyers, agent’s litigants and witnesses with the attendant infectious risks.

President of the Community court further added that, the court undertook training of judges and key staff members, and invested three hundred and forty-five thousand one hundred and twenty-six dollars in the purchase and installation of video conference equipment, fourteen laptops and accessories including servers, routers, switches, backup solutions, wireless access point, installation of SOPHO S Firewall and anti-virus solutions, Microsoft 365 used by all ECOWAS intuitions and increased internet bandwidth.

One of the implications of the deployment of this technology was that the effective functioning of the Court was dependent of the quantum and quality of the IT support staff. Until recently, the Court had to rely on contract staff to provide the IT support for its activities whose appointments have thankfully been regularized.

However, leveraging the full potentials of the technology for the benefit of the Court, Member States and Community citizens will require reinforcing the inadequate IT capacity of the Court for the effective management of the substantial Community investment in the virtual technology infrastructure.

Since this session of Parliament is dedicated to among other things, the consideration of the budget of the Community as approved by the last Administration and Finance Commission meeting, “I am constrained to seek the understanding and support of our valued parliamentarians to the proposal by the Court to address this deficiency”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Activities of landguards continue to be the bane of development to the people of Apesika in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipality of the Eastern Region.

Like many other new sites in most parts of the Greater Accra Region, and other major cities in Ghana, gun-wielding thugs, continue to arrogate to themselves the right to lands and will not allow lawful owners to develop the lands or use it as an avenue to dupe people of their monies.

Not only are innocent individual landowners being chased from their lands, but the chief, the Abakomahene of Ketase, Nana Kwadwo Gyimah, who is supposed to be the custodian of the land was also not spared.

Felix Nii Ago Adjei Doku, a Ghanaian investor with some foreign partners has expressed worry he may not be able to achieve his goal following the threats from these arm wielding gangs who are not allowing anyone to work on their land and appropriated the lands to themselves.

Felix Doku who has established a basic school, from creche to the junior high level in the Samsam Community and has run it for free for the people for the past 10 years, said the new developments in the pipeline for which he has acquired the 34acres of land since 2016, if not implemented would greatly affect the socio-economic lives of the people negatively.

“My land is situated at Apesika near the new Accra Technical University at Samsam Mempehuasem, and the prospects of the area, I suspect might be the reason the litigation is happening.” The Technical University, he noted, without doubt, will lead to accelerated development of the area, so it is obvious there would be scrabbling for lands around this area, he stated.

“I have links with some catholic nuns who are coming to build schools, hospitals, and other facilities for the benefits of the people, but the current unfortunate incident paints a gloomy picture for the future.”

“I’m only trying to give back to society, particularly Ghana. I live in Austria as an artist, and write books about Africa and its culture just to project a good image of Africa, and if I decide to invest back my proceeds in my country for the greater good of our society, I think I should rather be applauded and not treated this way.”

He was also appalled that the development will drive a lot of investors away and tarnish the good image of Ghana as a preferred investment destination in West Africa.

According to Mr. Felix Doku, though the case has been reported to the police, not much has been done to stop the intrusion on the land by any of the parties involved. Instead, Alhaji Kwasi Graham who claimed to be the owner of the land, and the very person who brought in the armed thugs, has been allowed to grade the whole land destroying all pillars and ongoing developments on the land.

He indicated that Alhaji Kwasi Graham is known to have been exhibiting similar lawless behaviour, terrorizing residents in and around Fete Kakraba near Kasoa in the Gomoa East District. And with his close associate, one Borkorborkor, popularly known as ‘policeman’, they have invaded the Apesika, Samsam, and its environs and taken the peace of the area away.

Felix Doku can’t believe, the thugs are behaving like lords who are beyond reproach and assume so much power that they have no regard even for the law enforcement agencies, in this case, the police.

“The Police were here to carry out a composite search, which results in they promised to make available by January 12 this year, but while we await that report, the Alhaji Kwasi Graham guy has brought in bulldozers to destroy every pillar, and building materials on the land and the police did very little to stop him.”

He claimed to have documents, and I also have my documents but the chief doesn’t even know him, he added.

Mr. Felix Doku is thus calling on the police to stamp their authority and stop Alhaji Kwasi Graham from carrying out any activity on the disputed land pending the determination of the case. Moreso, he should be called upon to cease any destruction and move his armed wielding gangs from the place.

“If you bought a land legitimately, why would you bring about twenty armed wielding gangs to the land. Even if you have some challenges, do we not have appropriate means of resolving them, why to take the path of lawlessness and intimidation of innocent citizens? Felix queried.

He commended the Eastern Regional Land Commission, saying, “you cannot have two registrations for the same piece of land in the Eaten Region, hence they can attest to who owns the land”, he emphasized.

The Abakomahene of Ketase, Nana Kwadwo Gyimah, corroborated Mr. Felix Nii Ago Adjei Doku’s story and painted a harrowing scene in the area with the activities of the land guards.

He narrated how he was chased with weapons, and his house destroyed by the thugs, and how traumatized that has made him to the extent that he cannot step foot on the land because of the ever-presence of the thugs.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Ghanaian Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) has congratulated Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin on his election as the Speaker of the eighth (8th) Parliament of the fourth (4th) Republic of Ghana.

They acknowledged with great admiration the invaluable contribution of the Speaker Bagbin towards deepening Ghana’s Parliamentary Democracy since the advent of the fourth (4th) Republican Constitution of 1992.

In a statement issued by the Dean of PPC, Nana Agyeman Birikorang noted that, the current Speaker entered Parliament at the youthful age of thirty-five (35) and believed the Legislative arm of Government was the fulcrum of multiparty democracy, hence should be guided jealously and worked on assiduously to that effect.

“The former Nadowli – Kaleo MP, also believes the media has a critical role in consolidating the gains hence advocated for media freedom and supported capacity building for journalists to enhance Ghana’s fledgling democracy”.

He always avail himself as a resource person and has positively impacted parliamentary reporters with his vast experience and knowledge in order to deepen Ghana’s multiparty democracy.

The Speaker believes a well exposed Parliamentary Reporter is better positioned to educate the masses on Ghana’s democratic journey hence he single handedly sponsored selected members of the Press Corps to visit, learn and share best practices with their counterparts in the Parliament of Tanzania called ‘Bonge’.

PPC also, congratulates Hon Joseph Osei-Owusu on his re-election to serve as First Deputy Speaker of the 8th Parliament, Hon Andrews Amoako Asiamah on his historic election as Second Deputy Speaker of the House and all Members of Parliament for the 8th Parliament.

And also, congratulates the immediate past Speaker of the House, Prof Aaron Michael Oquaye for his invaluable service to mother Ghana.

“We are particularly grateful to him for supporting the Education Fund of the Corps and bequeathing us with an office space to enhance our work and wish him well in his retirement”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Former Member of Parliament for Nadowli/Kaleo Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has been elected Speaker of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.

In a dramatic election that lasted for more than five hours with uncertainty, the former Second Deputy Speaker polled 138 votes, whiles the former Speaker of the Seven Parliament pulled 135 with one spoilt ballot paper.
He made history in Ghana’s Parliamentary democratic journey as first to emerge as Speaker from the Opposition party.

The former First Deputy Speaker in the Seventh Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu retained his position as the First Deputy in the eighth Parliament.

The Independent candidate from Fomena, Andrew Asiamah was also elected by consensus as the Second Deputy Speaker for the current Parliament.

In his acceptance speech Speaker Bagbin thanked God for the opportunity and added that he was humbled for the opportunity given him to serve in the high office of the Speaker of the Eight Parliament.

And further thanked the Ghanaians, the Electoral Commission, Political parties, Civil Societies and the media and his political party the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for proposing him for the Speakership of the Eight Parliament.

“Members of Parliament elect, I must say I am so happy and grateful to all of those who voted for me and against me, I would submit myself to the will of the House and pledged to serve my dear country, I would serve you and serve all Ghanaians faithfully to the best of my ability and discharge my duty as the Speaker of this parliament”.

He further noted that, the store of knowledge and experience he has over the twenty-eight years as a member of the House, he would bring them to bear.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com