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The House has been recalled from recess for an emergency sitting today, Tuesday, September 3, 2024 where members of Parliament are expected to deal with some urgent business of the House after the Majority of the House triggered the meeting.

According to a communiqué issued by the Speaker of the House, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin on Wednesday, August 7, the decision follows a petition from the Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin.

On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin adjourned the House Sine Die but the Majority leader was disappointed in the way and manner it was done without allowing the leadership of the House to speak.

In his letter to Speaker Bagbin dated Wednesday, July 31, Afenyo-Markin underscored the necessity of reconvening Parliament to address urgent government business.
The agenda for the emergency sitting includes discussions on the Financing Agreement between the Government of Ghana and the International Development Association, requests for tax exemptions for beneficiaries under the One District, One Factory Programme, matters concerning the Ghana Financial Stability Fund, and the consideration of several bills.

“Mr Speaker will recall that Parliament adjourned sine die on Tuesday, 30 July 2014, at which time the aforementioned items had been duly advertised and scheduled for consideration. The urgency of these matters necessitates our reconvening to fulfil our constitutional mandate and serve the interests of the Ghanaian people.”
“We wish to emphasise that this requisition is made in the utmost good faith and in the national interest, to enable the Government to discharge its constitutional and democratic obligations to the people of Ghana.”

“The matters outlined herein are of pressing importance and require the urgent attention of Parliament,” he said.
The emergency sitting would be held at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre as the main chamber of the House undergoes retrofitting.
Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon Rita Naa Odoley Sowah has expressed worry over the absence of dredging of the Kpeshie Lagoon for the past four years pointing out that it’s the cause of flooding that they experience.

In an interview she pointed out that she posed question to the then Minister for Works and Housing in June 2021 and currently in 2024 but nothing has happened.

Hence as a member of the Government Assurance Committee she asked a question on it when the sector minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah appeared before the Committee.

“We experience flooding when it rains and as we speak there has been a lot of encroachment along the Lagoon which will make working very difficult for them. Three years down the line entering the fourth year, where I had to bring up some concerns of my constituents, there are some projects they fast tracked; they go through the procurement system hurriedly”.

And I do not agree with the Minister and the ministry at the pace at which they are working. They talked about a committee doing this, they are very slow on it, they might not get access to the Lagoon to dredge as we have encroachment ongoing; they should speed up, she added.

She noted that, “in 2021, then Minister when I ask the question said they are looking forward for the bridge to be constructed before they carry out the dredging, but it has taken forever and the bridge has not been completed and the Ministry of Roads should also fast truck the road construction which we are told is delaying”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has made some donations to Winneba model health Center.

On Wednesday, August 28, 2924, the MP made the donation to the center located near the UEW’s South Campus.

The donated items include drugs, non-drugs (weighing scale, HB strips, etc), a generator, a deep freezer, 3 refrigerators, 6 foldable tables, 30 plastic chairs, dustbins, mobs, and laminator and toners.

The ceiling of the center has also been repaired.

There is also an ongoing construction of washrooms and other facilities at the centre.

Ghanamps.com

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, James Klutse Avedzi, has directed the Central Gonja District Assembly to pay its workers the daily minimum wage.

This directive was issued during the Committee’s public sittings in Tamale, which commenced on Monday.

Over the next two days, the Committee will review the Auditor-General’s reports for the fiscal year ending 31st December 2023.

The report indicated that the Central Gonja District Assembly has been employing contract workers and paying them as little as 100 Ghana Cedis per month, while also being in arrears for the past year.

Responding to the concerns raised, the District Chief Executive, Iddrisu Salia, assured that the Assembly has fully complied with the Auditor-General’s recommendations by recruiting permanent staff and ensuring that they are paid the daily minimum wage.

The zonal public sittings of the PAC will also review infractions cited in the Auditor-General’s report, including unearned salaries, unsupported payments, and uncollected rents from workers and institutions.

These institutions include Senior High Schools, Technical Universities, Colleges of Education, and Polytechnics located in the Northern, North East, Upper West, and Upper East Regions.

Ghanamps.com

Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Obuasi West Constituency, has donated 1000 desks to the Municipal Education Directorate for onward distribution to 12 public schools in dire need of furniture.

Procured from his share of the Common Fund for Members of Parliament (MPs), the expectation is that the desk would enhance quality teaching and learning in the beneficiary schools.

At a short ceremony to hand over the desks, Mr. Kwarteng said he had always supported schools in the constituency with furniture in his quest to address furniture deficit in schools.

He said the presentation of the 1000 desks was in response to a request by the Director of Education to fix the furniture challenges facing some public schools in the constituency.

“I have always put a premium on education, so, I had to respond quickly to the request of the directorate on the lack of furniture in some schools. We will continue to supply furniture to schools to ensure our children are comfortable in their classrooms,” the Obuasi West MP stressed.

Mr. Kwarteng seized the opportunity to highlight key interventions he had provided in the education sector, indicating that quality education was the most integral component of development in any society, and pledged to put premium on quality education delivery in the area.

He mentioned the rehabilitation of the Apitikooko School where a computer lab and staff common room had been provided, the provision of WASH facilities at Kokoteasua School and the Obuasi Complex Schools as well as the provision of classroom blocks at Nhyieso School as some of the key projects he has undertaken over the years.

The Former Deputy Minister of Finance said he would not relent in committing more investment into improving the quality of education in schools in the Municipality.

Receiving the desks on behalf of the schools, the Obuasi Municipal Director of Education, Mr. George Alfred Koomson commended the MP for the quick response to the request.

Mr. Koomson assured that he would liaise with heads of the beneficiary schools to ensure that the furniture was properly maintained.

Ms. Jacqueline Asante, Headmistress of Kwabena Fori Primary School lauded Mr. Kwarteng for the various educational interventions he had rolled out over the years.

She said the donation was a welcome relief to the heads of the beneficiary schools who had been saddled with the challenges of inadequate furniture in their schools.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa Central, Mrs Naana Eyiah Quansah, has presented 15 motorbikes to Okada riders in the constituency on work and pay basis as part of efforts to empower them financially to improve on their livelihoods.

The MP also presented GHC200.00 each to the recipients as start-up capital to buy fuel to commence their operations.

She also presented driving licenses to 100 taxi drivers who had financial difficulties acquiring a license from the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

Addressing the riders and party supporters, Mrs Naana Eyiah who is also the Deputy Interior Minister said the prevailing employment for many school leavers in Gomoa Central constituency was the driving profession.

According to the MP, she gave the motorbikes to the riders at reduced cost to enable them pay as they worked since it was difficult for them to purchase them outright.

The MP renewed promises by the government to create more job opportunities for the youth to avert economic hardship currently facing them.

She urged the youth to rally support for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win the December 7, polls to continue its good policies and programmes.

The Deputy Minister called on the electorates in Gomoa Central constituency to vote massively to maintain her as MP and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the upcoming December elections.

Mrs Eyiah Quansah further explained the reasons to maintain her candidature as MP to enable her to do more to help improve the quality living of the electorates.

The Deputy Minister appealed to the chiefs and people in the Gomoa Central constituency to support the government and ignore propaganda campaigns by the opposition NDC since they had nothing good to offer Ghanaians.

Mr. Benjamin Kojo Otoo, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa Central, urged the recipients to well maintain the bikes.

The DCE urged the people in the Constituency to rally support for the party and government to continue rollout good policies and programmes to enhance quality living standards.

The beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the MP and pledged to support her and Dr Bawumia to win the elections.

The public hearing of Government Assurance Committee on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, had to be halted and pushed to Wednesday, August 28, 2024, due to a thick smoke that engulfed the first floor of Job 600.

Officials of the Ministry of Works and Housing were in Committee room 1&2, and administration block when the fire alarms went off.

The Committee could not have its public hearing. Despite an initial communications to the media that the hearing will come on later in the day, a later communication had it that it had been pushed to Wednesday.

It took personnel from the Ghana Fire Serve stationed in parliament and re-enforcement team almost an hour to put the smoke and fire under control.

Meanwhile, investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the fire.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority has taken a swipe at government for owing suppliers of various items like food, stationery and tablets to the tune of six billion Ghana cedis to senior high schools yet at the launch of its manifesto, the ruling party boasted that it had distributed nine hundred tablets to senior high schools as part of the Free Senior High School programme.

According to the Ranking on Educational Committee Peter Nortue, the brouhaha surrounding the distribution is confusing, because some other person quoted the distribution to the tune of ninety thousand, “so I do not know which is which”.

At a press conference on Thursday, August 22, 2024, he noted that, “we in the Minority in our release said we support it very much, but when you are not prepared for it you do not have a budget allocation for it and you go into it you create problem for the supplies”.

Again, we know that one million three hundred and fifty thousand tablet were procured and the supplier has to look for a loan in dollars equivalent to cedis that means that anytime going to pay the loan back they would calculate the rate if it is eighteen cedis to the dollar, that is what they have to pay, and have been denied payment for a long time now and we do not know why government is refusing to pay.

According to him, when the issue came up on the floor during the approval of the formula for Ghana Education Trust Fund, the government was going to shift the payment to GETFund “and we resisted as the Committee on Education recommended that the finance and education ministries take up those payments”.

Speaker Bagbin, wrote to the finance ministry to take up the payment of nine hundred tablet and this has not been done.

“So our concern here is that why is the government refusing to pay for the tablet such that you are killing the business of the supplier; and how many schools have the tablet so far and the number of students who have the tablet so far?”

“You cannot be making noise about distributing tablets, when schools in my constituency have not received these tablets”, he added.
Minority accuses government of killing businesses of tablet suppliers

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Last Saturday, the Member of Parliament for Akyem Oda Constituency, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, held an important engagement with faith-based Christian leaders in the Akyem Oda Constituency.

The meeting was aimed to discuss various issues concerning the constituency, and an opportunity for the MP to be abreast with concerns from the clergy given the influential role these religious leaders play in guiding the masses.

During the session, Mr Acquah shared the challenges he has encountered in his role, while emphasizing the progress being made through God’s guidance.

He also articulated his vision for the constituency, highlighting forthcoming projects and initiatives that will benefit the church, its members, and the wider Akyem Oda community.

This dialogue, instituted by the MP serves as a platform for addressing the concerns of the clergy and reaffirms his commitment to the continued development and well-being of the people of Akyem Oda.

Present at the meeting was the Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Joyce Adjoa Aggeiwaa, NPP constituency chairman, Hon. Kwadwo Ampaabeng, Mrs Heneritta Acquah and executives of the NPP in Akyem Oda constituency.

Ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Government Assurance Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is on the hills of the government to release the full list of state lands.

Mr Ablakwa challenged the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government under President Nana Akufo-Addo to produce the list of state lands stating that there is a state capture for the past eight years under the current administration compelling the Minority to demand for the full list of state lands; but that has not been provided.

“We have evidence to the effect that there is state capture and there is massive land grab going on all over the Country and field visit has revealed that”, he said at a press conference in Parliament House.

He further condemned the inability of the government to produce the list of public lands; adding that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor was throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians that there is no state capture of lands.

He affirmed that Article 257 clause 1 of the 1992 constitution states that the President shall hold the state land in trust of Ghanaians; “we want to know how much of the States lands that is left, it’s our right, our constitutional right; we have to ask and there are faceless elements who are grabbing. It has been more than two years since we invited the sector Minister, he could not produce the list and said it’s a lot of work; we have come to the conclusion that Akuffo Addo and Dr Bawumia are refusing to disclose because they are deep neck involved in the state capture more than two years they have not been able to disclose this when we requested”.

Chairman Ablakwa, further challenged that, government officials cannot tell us how many state bungalows we have, but all they know is to connive with private developers to sell state bungalows.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com