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Minister for Health Kwaku Agyeman Manu has told Parliament funds have been secured through budgetary allocation by the Government of Ghana to ensure that the Builsa South District Hospital under Agenda 111 is constructed.

According to him provisions have been made to ensure Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) that will be raised for payment in the course of the project are honored assuredly.

The contractor has completed five (5) out of the 8 hospitals under this project, the  training for the assigned clinical and non-clinical staff was  undertaken from 31% May, 2021 to 12″ July, 2021, the Technical; Handing Over was carried out on the 5″ August, 2021.

The Ghana staff and the Health Service have subsequently deployed Operationalization of the Hospital commenced on the 1st September, 2021 benefitting the people of Tain District and it, environs.

Dr. Clement A. Apaak Member of Parliament for Builsa South wanted to know if funding has been secured for the proposed Builsa South District Hospital under the Agenda 111 and when work would commence.

Ghanamps.com

Members of Parliament on the Minority side of the House from the Upper West Region have expressed concerns about withdrawal of the military personnel assigned to protect the Rt. Hon Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin.

Former Deputy Majority Leader, Dr. Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 noted that providing security for the three arms of Government should not be compromised, but “in the case of the Speaker all these security tenets were breached”.

“This inspires our deep concern about the apparent inaction by Government to address the issue despite some worries expressed variously by the public on the withdrawal of the Military security from the official security set up of the Speaker”.

He assets that like any of the leaders of the three arms of Government, it is their  belief that the security of the Speaker is of paramount concern to the people of Ghana and requires the Government to rise to the responsibility of adequately addressing the present lapse.

“The lack of sufficient response by the government to the present situation is generating worry and compelling this briefing. We seek to urge the Government to give adequate response to the worry expressed by the myriads of public opinions expressed and to satisfy the complete security needs of the Speaker.

It is our expectation that matters of security must be handled expeditiously with adequate consultation and discussion away from public concerns”.

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Leader of Government Business, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on the passage of the E-Levy has said his side stands with the Republic to ensure “revitalization of the economy, if people want to see the collapse of the economy so be it, we would want to stand with the Republic”.

His comment is in response to the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu when he said they want to stand with the public to reject the E-Levy with emphasis.

He further explained to the House that when he presented the business statement for last week Friday, January, 28, 2022 there was no indications that the E-Levy would be taken, but subsequently to that there was some engagement between leadership of the two caucuses.

“It was determined that the E-Levy would be introduce last week Friday, at the speakers conclave,    this discussion was had so it is not a matter of surprise,  when I came to present the business statement I said if we were able to conclude the discussion it would be introduced in the House on Friday. And if we could not finish it, it would come this week in the cause of this discussion to facilitate its introduction to the House, we could not make much progress last week Friday.

“That is why I said if we could not do it, would come this week, and even before walking in here, the minority leader who is the ranking member of the business committee ask about the status and I told him that we would come to some determination despite the fact that it has been advertised for tomorrow in the provisional order paper. Even that I told him we need to confer on that because we may not be able to do it to all intent and purposes”.

 “He asked whether that was an assurance and I said that is double assurance, that it would not come off tomorrow certainly we would determine when together, so it is not as if anybody want to spring any surprise”, the Majority Leader explained.

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Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has demanded that Leader of Government Business, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu makes it clear to the House as to when the Electronic Transfer Bill 2021 would be introduce to the House and in which form.

According to him they do not want any surprises and are not happy with the uncertainty surrounding introduction of the Bill to be taken through the various stages a bill goes through in the House.

“The second reading, in what form should we expect it, we cannot continue with this uncertainty, Friday January, 28, 2022 you try introducing it, is it Tuesday today or tomorrow Wednesday,  when do we subject the E-Levy thorough debate of its principles and we walk through it thoroughly  consideration to third reading we stand for its rejection”.

Mr. Iddrisu sought this clarifications on the floor of the House before it started sitting on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, and urged the chairman of the Business Committee to do what it appropriate within their standing orders and carry them along as is required under order 160 and article 106.

The Ghanaian economy and fiscal consolidation is very important and it is the function of the Business Committee under Order 53 to determine the business of each sitting and the order in which it shall be taken.

“We need to know earlier, when we adopted the business statement we were told the E-Levy would be introduced tomorrow. Today I do not see anything relating to the E-Levy on this important matter, there cannot be surprises. Indicate to us when the bill would come to parliament and what form”

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In the wake of the military coup in Burkina Faso, Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah,  lawmaker at the fifth Community Parliament said these developments attest to the fact that citizens in the various members states are fed-up with the elite democratic establishment.

According to him when citizens elect political actors into office in the sub-region they forget those who elected them and the happenings within the sub-region should serve as a lesson.

Mr. Bedzrah recounted that a security expect with the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Institute in the wake of the coup in Guinea pointed out that by the need of 2021 he was expecting four more coups in the West African sub-region.

“They are what we call early warning signals. Has anyone gotten in touch with him? No, and his statements are all over the place, what have we done about early warning signals?”

Responding to whether the lawmakers cannot play any role in acting on early warning signs as they did in the fourth legislature, he said, “we do not have enhanced powers as it is being said, our powers are limited, we debate and write reports to Authority of Heads of States; they are supposed to implement them, we are not the implementers”.

And if they do not implement them that is how far they can go as a Legislature and added that they as lawmakers can go in and have dialogue with parties with the early warning signals, “what about the Heads of States who have one of their own engaging in some of these illegalities? In Guinea the man changed the constitution to allow him run for a third term”, he lamented.

“And you are not asking the military junta to give time table to hand over, when you were there and the man was doing all those things you could not sanction him; this clearly shows it is a club and when you enter as Head of State your peers would protect you”

He further questioned what the peer review mechanism is all about if Heads of States within the Sub-region cannot do such assessment, “we better close down ECOWAS and give it to the African Union to run it”.

“Our president Nana Akufo-Addo has not helped us at all; under his leadership three coups have occurred within the Community, it shows he is not up to the task it should be given to someone else this would not happen under late former president Jerry John Rawlings or Olusegun Obasanjo. We need strong men who can move in as soon as you have these Intel; Burkina Faso has been there for all these time”.

He added that 2022 is a new year and he hopes the Burkina coup would be the last to be heard of in the sub region, “the Ghanaians president being chair of ECOWAS and its unfortunate that during his chairmanship one term one coup, I call for a quick assessment of his ability to be able to stir affairs”.

The last Ordinary Session in Abuja-Nigeria, Community lawmakers raised issues with the treat to the sub-regional democracy and added that it is not new his former colleagues from Burkina Faso affirm that there has been insurgency in their country, Heads of States were written to and nothing has been done; it shows there is failure by leadership”.

“We have an adage in our part of the world that if a fish would rot, it would start from the head, if Ghana we chair and all these going on it means there is something wrong. The ECOWAS Heads of States went to Mali to prevail on the Junta to stick to the time table and return to democratic time table; what happened? Citizens rose up against them?”

 The citizens of Mali indicated that they, prefer the military junta than a democratic rule, same in Guinea when the chairman went with the Ivorian Leader.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

A member of Ghana’s delegation to the fifth Community Parliament, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah is convinced that the time is now appropriate for ECOWAS to have a standing army to deal with the numerous coups the sub-region is witnessing.

According to him the Authority of Heads of States and Government have already been overtaken by events of coups in the West African sub-region.

“They are left with nothing but to bury their heads in shame; they have not helped issues at all, I do not think they would be able to do things to help the sub-region”.

 Mr. Bedzrah further added that the Heads of States and Government of ECOWAS should not be waiting for issues of coup to happen before they think of assessing the situation. “Look at what is happening between NATO, Russia and Ukraine, the whole of Europe has moved in and the Americans have joined just to avert destruction there”.

Again, he pointed out that Community lawmakers have been agitating for the return of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) West Africa army and this suggestion was made to the ECOWAS Commissioner of Security to move should there be coup.

He indicated that in the European Union, they have a standing army, why is it that ECOWAS doesn’t have a standing army for countries within the sub-region to contribute their army which should be stationed in Nigeria or somewhere close so that in case they are needed, they can move in, “it is time to re-think this whole business of ECOWAS”, he added.

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Deputy Minority Leader Dr. James Klutse Avedzi said the Majority side led by its Leader Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu sense danger and made a U-turn when they wanted the E-Levy taken on Friday, January 28, 2022 night despite assurance that it would be taken this week.

According to him it is known that the Dome/Kwabenya lawmaker Sarah Adowa Safo is not in the country to shore up their numbers to 138, and 137 to 137 per Article 104 means the motion would be lost.

“That would be the end unless they reintroduce it, which is what they are trying to avoid.”

“If you look at the business statement, E-Levy is for business next week, Wednesday, February 2, 2022. Most of us were surprised when the majority leader came back and said there is negotiation ongoing that we should do the E-Levy,  “ Friday evening for some of us what happened last year we do not want that to happen”.

 So we prefer that Speaker himself sit in the chair; ones he is there we can debate the motion very well and take a vote.

When he said we should take it, as minority we were prepared, we had our numbers in the chamber, we wanted to debate full and take a vote. I do not know what they saw to change their mind so they are the party in government and control the business on the floor, he stated.

“We want the finance Minister to come to zero percent so 1.5 is nothing; we are against the principle in the first place, if we accept it then we can be talking about the rate, and our position is the rate should be zero”.

“Speaker is having his medical treatment and he should not at the peril of his life wait for what is happening, we should give him the benefit of doubt, he should get treatment, we need him.”

And if he travels this weekend he would not be available this week. My advice to the majority side on E-Levy is that they should wait till Speaker comes “we want the speaker to preside then we would vote on the matter”.

Again when that is done, the end result would be a decision of the House whether the motion would be lost or pass; we want the Speaker to be there, he said in an interview with members of the Parliamentary press corps.

“We do not want any of the deputy speakers to be in the chair so that what happened in 2021 resulting in fighting among MPs to happen again”.

Dr. Avedzi disagreed with the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta that there would be a disaster should the E-Levy fail to pass stating that as nine million Ghanaians earn income by law they are supposed to pay tax.

“So if currently two point four million Ghanaians are paying tax, the remaining six point six million Ghanaians should be worked at; systems should be put in place, people earn income and pay the right tax on it. That would bring more money to government.”

The former chairman of the Finance Committee pointed out that ”the lazy way of collecting revenue for government is to sit in your office even when you are drinking beer you are laughing because someone is making transfer somewhere and it is coming to the consolidated fund”.

In addition, he noted that the Auditor General’s report should be looked at to prevent the country from losing and save money, and talked about the exemption being granted. He stated that with the One District One factory programme, a lot of money can be saved there; “that is the way to go and not the lazy way of being in the office and expecting people to transfer money”.

He said the E-levy is something like pick-pocketing; picking money from our pocket illegally.

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Deputy Majority Leader Mr. Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has said his side, the Majority caucus and Finance Ministers engagement with stakeholders on the E-Levy so far has been positive.

According to him despite the fact that  consultations with the various stakeholders on the E-Levy  Bill has not reached its possible conclusions, there has been a lot of positive news so far and assured Ghanaians that, leadership of the majority caucus and government would continue the discussions over the weekend in order to get the bill passed possibly this week.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin noted that, even though both the majority and government needs the E-Levy Bill passed, it has to be done in a very peaceful manner between the Majority and Minority in Parliament without generating any controversy or chaos as it happened on December 20, 2021.

At a media briefing, he pointed out that his side of the House deployed the Majority caucus across the country to engage so that Ghanaians would understand their position and where they are coming from.

Mr. Afenyo further said the passage of the E-Levy is a key factor to government for the country’s development, especially for the construction and maintenance of our road sector and also job creation for the youth during this era where COVID-19 has crippled almost every economy across the world.

“We cannot continue to allow our youth to walk the streets after completing school, so this are major steeps that government want to take to deal with two major problems in our county; roads and supporting the youth to create their business”.

And this needs engagement with stakeholders and that is what they are doing. They are getting somewhere and he believes this week they would have gotten somewhere, and getting the Bill passed would not be much of a problem.

“We have passed the budget and appropriation, and all of these were by consensus. What is left is the revenue to deal with the expenditure”.

Again, he said what you can achieve is to get their cooperation in disagreement when somebody disagrees and cooperate then it is all about nation Ghana “so we would get somewhere, whether we are able to reach consensus or respect their position to disagree with us, but cooperate within the remit of the process we would be able to determine this week”, he said.

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Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro Dorcas Affo-Toffey over the weekend in the company of her colleagues of the NDC Minority caucus from the Western Region in Parliament over the weekend visited Apeatse-Bogoso to sysmpathise with the inhabitants of the Community.

According to her twitter post they visited the Community which has almost turned into a “ghost town” and made some donations to the victims of the explosion which occurred on January 20, 2022.

They were led by Mr. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah who is the Western Regional caucus chair, and Eric Afful secretary to show solidarity with their colleague MP for the area, Wisdom Cudjoe, of Prestea Huni valley.

The team later met with the disaster management committee of the district headed by the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the area for deliberation on the tragedy that occurred after which they moved to the new camp and fraternised with the victims.

“It is my prayer that God will protect the soul of the departed, strengthen and speedily heal the victims of the reunion event”.

Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for the Mfantseman Constituency in the Central region had paid glowing tribute to the late Brigadier-General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, Ghana’s first female brigadier general, who tragically passed away on Monday, January 24, 2022.

Mrs.  Ophelia Mensah who is also the Vice Chairperson of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, presenting a statement on the floor of the House on the demise of the late brigadier general described her as a trailblazer who served her country with distinction and left an indelible mark which shall never be erased.

According her, the late brigadier-general’s achievements as the first woman to be appointed as Deputy Military Adviser of the Permanent Mission in the New York from 2013 to 2016, her appointment in 1999 as the Commanding Officer of the Forces Pay Regiment, which made her the first female Commanding Officer in the history of the Ghana Armed Forces, and progressing through the ranks to become the first female Brigadier-General of the Ghana Armed Forces on March 1, 2016, as well as the 2019 UN appointed as the Deputy Force Commander in the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) where she served with distinction are no small feats, and a testament that the nation has lost a great servant in her.

BRIEF PROFILE

The late Brigadier-General was born on March 5, 1960, in Vane Avatime in the Volta Region. She was raised up in Tamale and attended the Kamina Barracks Primary and Armed Forces Experimental School in Kumasi before attending Wesley Girls’ Senior High School in Cape Coast to study for her O’ and A-Levels. She enlisted into the Ghana Armed Forces as one of two females in 1978, when she was 18 years old. After 18 months of training at the Ghana Military Academy, she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on April 25, 1980, as the only female in her batch to successfully complete her training. She was consequently awarded the Most Prestigious Resilient Officer award in her graduating class.

Her father, as well as two of her brothers also served in the military and this imbibed in her a strong sense of civic responsibility. This was demonstrated by her great career in the Ghana Armed Forces, where she progressed through the ranks to become the country’s first female Brigadier-General. She became a role model for women in the Ghana Armed Forces and the country at large.

The late Brigadier-General later graduated from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration with a Diploma in Public Administration (GIMPA). Additionally, she had her Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice from Ecole Superieure de Gestion in Paris, France. Subsequently, she obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from GIMPA.

Brigadier General Edjeani-Afenu also participated in various UN peacekeeping operations. She served as part of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1994 and 1998, the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) in 2007, and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2009.

She made history when she progressed through the ranks to become the first female Brigadier-General of the Ghana Armed Forces on March 1, 2016. Her appointment was confirmed in March 2017 when the Chief of Defence stalf (CDS) Major – General Obed Boamah Akwa, conferred the rank on her. The CDS, whiles congratulating her, labeled her exploits as a beacon for females in the Armed Forces.

Ghanamps.com