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The Deputy Minister of Health, Alexander Akwesi Acquah has urged his colleague politicians particularly Members of Parliament to desist from politicizing issues of health as that could hinder confidence in the health sector in the country.

Reacting to the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh’s visit to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital regarding the broken down elevators, Mr Acquah said the action of the Ranking Member smacks of someone with political motive than seeking to find genuine solution to the problem.

“My brother, health is health, we need to decouple health from our political issues”, he affirmed.

Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, he noted, is Ghana’s premier health facility that takes referrals from all other health facilities across the country, and anyone is likely to end there in search of health delivery. Therefore, it is not healthy to make the place look like a grave yard due to the negative image we give it, he said.

Mr. Acquah who was reacting on GhOne TV argued that instead of storming the place with cameras, Mr. Akandoh could have just called authorities at the facility to get briefing; and added that if the Ranking Member had done that, he would have been told that management was already working to solve the problem.

He asserts that that Korle Bu like any other institution has management that oversees the running of the facility and it was within their remits to find solution to the problem, and they were at it before Mr. Akandoh went to whip up public sentiment with the cameras that he sent there.

HE berates the action of the Ranking member saying it did not expose anything as the management was already aware and dealing with it.

“The Korle Bu administration knew about it and they’ve been working at it, Korle Bu has a CEO  who has underlying managers, it doesn’t take the Minister or the deputy to know that Korle Bu’s lift is not working; and they are working at it. This is a regular routine maintenance”.

He said the traffic alone that uses the lift at the facility is quite on the high side and these breakdowns are expected from time to time, and management would always step in to make them functional again. “And so if for a moment the lifts are spoilt and the technicians are working at it, it doesn’t have to take honourable Akandoh, to come there before it is fixed; no it has been fixed, they were working on it, they had fixed some and they were working on the remaining ones.

He said this attempt to always make government look bad, is not helping the sector as the Ministry’s mandate goes beyond just fixing elevators.

The Deputy Minister who revealed that he equally patronizes the services of the Korle Bu Hospital because he carries out all his health check-ups in Ghana said the lifts works all the time, and reiterates that the traffic on it accounts for why it breaks down from time to time because it is a gadget.

Ghanamps.com

The Parliament of Ghana at its third meeting of the eighth parliament passed some five bills consisting as indicated in the chart.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa Tahir Kobina Hammond has appealed to indigenes of Sege and Ada as well as their respective lawmakers to allow Electrochem Ghana Limited to develop the massive salt deposit at the Songor Lagoon.

“In the name of the Almighty God, let Electrochem develop this massive potential”, he said.

“In the name of the Almighty God to for ones allow ElectroChem Ghana Limited to mini the massive salt deposit in at the Songor Lagoon.

According to him it has a potential to benefit the people of Ada and where the mineral deposit is located and the whole nation.

And recounted that he knows the story of the salt deposit and the brouhaha that had surrounded even in his days back a student of the University of Ghana where Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin was his senior.

He made these remarks on Wednesday, September 4, 2024, when the House was in the process of adopting the report of the joint Committee on Mines, Energy, Lands and Forestry, whiles MPs within the enclave of the salt mine express serious reservations of ElectroChem’s operation.

According to him, various governments set up committees to investigate the brouhaha that had surrounded the mining of the salt, but it became impossible to develop the area. “We are hearing issues about the gods in the area are not feeling comfortable; we have the respect of traditional believes”.

“Mr. Speaker, the Songor Lagoon area has to be developed, the intransigence of some of the inhabitants has caused this country so much, the salt is next to the black gold and the area has numerous deposits of national resources.

Again, the whole world needs the resources from Ghana; what people do not appreciate is that the Songor area is about the only area in the whole of West Africa that is massively endowed with massive salt natural resources.”

“The whole of Africa is looking up to Ghana to develop the salt my information is that we have millions of dollars of salt deposit.”

The Trade and Industry Minister who spoke passionately further revealed that Ghana’s salt can be exported to Nigeria who has to go all the way to Brazil to get salt for the petroleum industry.

Salt, he said is so crucial in the petrochemical industry and to the world that Ghana is in the position to contribute massively. And further added that he hopes his colleagues on the Minority side will accept that it’s such a potential for employment and income, adding that through the company (ElectroChem) “we, are going to obtain billions on this particular investment.”

“We will not be doing ourselves good as a Country, I pray the people of Ada and Sege, allow the company to work to the glory of Ghana. We need the salt from the area; help us, we should not allow the gods to impede the salt development. If there is anything we need to sit down and settle it and take the gods out of this”, he said.

This came up on the floor of the House when Member of Parliament for Ada Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe indicated that ElectroChem has to hold their peace so that they can save their shrines, cemetery and some of the villages, so that there will be clear definition of what should be done so that no one is inconvenient.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Krachi West, Helen Adjoa Ntoso has described as unfortunate the emergency recall of the House at the behest of the Majority side three months into Ghana’s general elections when the House is on recess.

According to her Members of Parliament should be in their constituencies and they have been recalled back, but was quick to point out that if Parliamentary duty calls, they are compelled to come back to the House to do Business.

Speaking in an interview, she lamented that their allowance which they were entitled to had not been given to them but they have been called back and had to adjust to the dome meeting.

“Initially, we were communicated to that it will be a day’s meeting only for us to come and notice it is two days; we are not happy about it but we have to adapt to change when the need be”

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson has pointed out in his remarks at the emergency two days recall of Ghana’s Parliament that their position to kick against tax waivers being granted to companies has not changed.
According to him barely ninety four days (94) to the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the Majority NPP has recalled the House to enable them fast-track the rail-road tax giveaways to their crony businesses.

“We have always maintained that these tax exemptions are not in the best interest of the tax payer and our position has always been that until these exemptions are converted to tax credit or linked to equity shares as stipulated in the Tax Exemptions Act, we will not support giving away over $350 million to crony businesses in an opaque and nontransparent manner.

“Rt. Hon Speaker, giving away inordinate tax exemptions is not an urgent issue that should warrant a recall of this House. Ghana’s economy is still bleeding, cost of living continues to be high, and Ghanaians can simply not make ends meet. These are the real bread and butter issues that should concern any serious government and not the giveaway of much-needed tax revenue”, the Minority Leader stated.

The Minority Leader further pointed out that, COCOBOD has been shut out from borrowing from international banks, the International Banks are running away from Ghana COCOBOD and the cocoa sector is on its knees. Rt. Hon Speaker, the prevailing price of cocoa on the world market and the exchange rate means that COCOBOD will be selling a bag of cocoa at GHS9, 700. The cocoa farmer cannot be paid anything less than GHS6, 000 per bag. The payment of GHS6, 000 per bag of cocoa is critical because cocoa farmers deserve the benefit of their hard labour.

Again, the Electoral Commission has admitted that the Voter Register is riddled with irregularities and flaws and I dare say that the scale of these irregularities is such that somebody may have tempered with the Voter Register database.

“I am sorry Mr. Speaker; we cannot vouch for the integrity of the Voters Register as it stands and the details of the irregularities are so fertile and cannot be accepted. We therefore demand a forensic audit into the Voters Register database”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called on his colleague, the Minority Leader to desist from attacking the Electoral Commission since that would erode public confidence in the institution.

Mr. Afenyo- Markin who was reacting to the Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s comment suggesting that the EC’s register for the 2024 elections is not credible, reminded the House that the former President John Dramani Mahama and the Presidential candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2015 urged Ghanaians to have confidence in the EC and also urged us not to condemn state institutions that have been given constitutional mandates.

“I want to plead with my respected colleague on this matter”, in his remarks to an emergency sitting of the House for two days.

The Leader of government business who was making remarks at the two days emergency sitting of the House rather appealed that identified challenges should be pointed out for correction instead of attacking the EC and eroding the confidence Ghanaians have in the EC and our democracy.

“We can do all the criticism but we should ensure that we hold in fidelity the institution of state that has the responsibility to sheared this democracy”

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/EcowasNewsOnline.com

Leader of Government Business in Ghana’s parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has admonished politicians to be careful of the words they use, as extreme partisanship in their commentary stands to destroy the country’s economy.

According to him as representatives of Ghanaians, it is their duty to support Government, and so far the current eighth Parliament has done well despite the hang nature of the parliament, with one hundred and thirty-eight (138) Majority and one hundred and thirty-seven (137) Minority.

“We have enriched our democracy despite the challenges we face as a House and I am proud of that. With our recall we should be guided by the national interest”, he said in his open remarks on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, when the House was recalled for two days sitting.

Rt. Hon Speaker, I humbly submit that the application of the recall was well grounded in good faith in spite of the disagreement with some of the issues you raised on abuse of the recall, thanks to the staff and board for their guidance and seeing to it that parliament get to this point. I will have my own disagreement with some of the issues raised as the basis for the business to be considered for the meeting”.

According to him, he is very clear that the government of Nana Akufo-Addo has taken the country through challenges and study leadership, as the country was given hope in 2017 when it ambitiously introduced the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, an initiative that brought relief to parents and children who will have otherwise not have the benefit of secondary education.

Again, free vocational training programme was added to the free SHS so we have free TVT; the vulnerable persons in society who will have become a burden are also being educated.

He affirmed that the government is investing in the very resources that will be needed to develop the economy, adding that one point six million of Ghanaian youth are currently in secondary schools benefiting from free SHS, noting that despite the challenges with Covid-19 among others the programme has been sustained.

The government he said has been up and doing in keeping the economy afloat as there was no single day that lines were seen at filling station for fuel, the lights have been on despite the challenges and “I believe this economy will bounce back”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has expressed worry over the invocation of Article 112 clause (3) to recall the House.

According to him this should be of concern to Members of Parliament (MPs) since this is the second time it has been invoked.

“Whiles, the provisions are clear and unambiguous, we must consider the broader context in which they are intended to operate and legislate to set down the preconditions under which the Article could apply. Parliament recedes to focus more on its other functions of scrutiny, representation, advocacy, and diplomacy. It should be recalled when and only when an exceptional or urgent matter or business arise and requires Parliament’s immediate attention”.

Article 112 should not become a tool to keep Parliament in perpetual or continuous session, thereby preventing Parliament and Members from performing the other aforementioned constitutional functions and duties to the country and constituencies.

The Speaker added that, a frequent invocation of Article 112 (3), particularly in a House composed such as this eighth Parliament, could pose challenges to the governance of the country. The good intentions of the drafters of the Constitution could be turned into a horror movie.

For instance, frequent recalls can disrupt planned legislative annual budget and workflow, drain national resources, and affect the overall productivity of Parliament.

“Hon Members, I invite members to, at the appropriate time, deliberate on this matter to establish when it is appropriate to resort to the use of Article 112 (3)”.

Article 112 (3) of the Constitution states:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, fifteen percent of members of Parliament may request a meeting of Parliament and the Speaker shall, within seven days after the receipt of the request, summon Parliament.”

Similarly, Order 53 (1) of the Revised Standing Orders of Parliament echoes this provision with an additional demand. In the words of the Order:

“(1) Despite any other provision, fifteen per cent of Members of Parliament may request a meeting of Parliament and the Speaker shall, within seven days after the receipt of the request, summon Parliament.”
and

“(2) Parliament shall convene within seven days after the issuance of the notice of summons”

And we are also meeting here in this dome rather than our usual chamber because, during this recess, the decision of the Parliamentary Service Board to address structural defects and replace outdated audio and video equipment in the chamber was programmed to be implemented. This became an imperative to be done this time after an earlier attempt fell through during the May/ June recess. The implementation of the Board decision to replace and upgrade the facilities became compelling as a result of the frequent equipment failures and the structural defects that has, on many occasions, disrupted proceedings of the House.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Ranking member on the Committee of Defense and Interior James Agalga has alleged that the Government of Ghana under the leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo has a hidden agenda of deploying the military on Ghana’s borders in the Northern part of the country claiming their role is to prevent smuggling of cereals out of the Country due to the drought that affected the countries agriculture.

According to him the deployment of the military up Northern Ghana should have come with timelines if indeed it is related with the crises of drought.

“We back this by what happened at the run off to the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections, we were all in this country and some of us pointed out that the said attacks by some people to form an independent Country out of the Volta Region, was not true to warrant massive troops to the Volta Region and Oti Region”.

In an interview, he questioned what has been done to neutralize the secessionist treat? “So our suspicions are justified as far as there are no time lines, it means this government has a hidden agenda”.
“We will be watching with an eagle eye this time around, we will not allow anybody to use the military in our country to intimidate voters”, he emphasized.

Mr. Agalga further added that this whole scheme of deploying the military is to intimidate and harass eligible Ghanaian voters who are residence outside the borders of our country from entering our country to exercise their civic responsibility of voting.

We have Ghanaian residence in, Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire who want to cross the borders and vote. The fact that foreigners’ would infiltrate our country and vote is neither here nor there because we have the voters’ register. And before people were registered they went through an elaborate procedure to have their names captured, so the idea of closing borders and deploying military around our borders is an attempt to intimidate eligible Ghanaian voters who support the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC), he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Wa West Peter Lanchene Toobu said it is unfortunate for Ghana’s military to be reduced to being deployed to the borders in Northern region to prevent the export of grains outside the Country in the wake of drought that has hit the Northern Region.

According to him Ghana’s military has a mandate that is stipulated in the 1992 Republican constitution and it’s unfortunate to lower the standard of such a well-respected institution.

“The president is the commander -in -chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and chairman of the national Security Council; he is not the military, he acts on advice and whoever advised him to deploy the military to prevent the export of gains that particular person must bow his head in shame”.

I want to believe that, he, the commander in chief will listen more to his Chief of Defense Staff; I am not sure that the Chief of Defense Staff in the person that I know Lt. Oppong preprah will advise the president to deploy the military. That is the fundamental thing we are talking about if there are no hidden agenda that it is not the duty of the military, he added.

According to him, this is an election year and every Ghanaian should be interested in all that is happening around us. When we talk of electoral violence, it does not happen one day, if you see the buildup coming you will see the early warning signs.

“If you are a responsible patriotic Ghanaian do not be silent, we saw it in 2020 we were all silent but this time around we will talk about it as they intend to violate the right of people by unfortunately using the military at the end of the day it’s the image of the military that will suffer”.

“We, should stop it because the image of the military is standing tall anchoring our democracy, and any attempt by any politician to dent their image should be resisted by Ghanaians; it’s wrong today and will be wrong tomorrow”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ecowasnewsonline.com