Category: Uncategorized

Majority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has taken a swipe at the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) for not making the Free Senior High School (SHS) their priority.

According to him the Minority is not committed to the Free SHS and through their spokesperson on Education Peter Nortsu-Kotoe has given indication that they are opposed to it. “We want them to tell Ghanaians if Free SHS is not their priority as a responsible opposition”.

He further pointed out a quick press conference on Tuesday, June 25, 2024 that the Majority will want to enact a law to make free SHS mandatory. “We want to enact a law to make it mandatory; those provisions that talks about free in the constitution are very aspirational, so the way to go is to enact a law to regulate the policy, which is currently operational, but the NDC is opposed to it”.

He affirmed that the bill has received executive approval, and the sector minister is going to carry it to parliament as part of the engagement process. “We engage the Minority but they are adamant. The NDC is not ready for the free SHS bill; it is clear their spokesperson on Education has been very loud on it.”

The last time I wanted a response on the floor, he avoided talking on it and he stayed clear-off it and did not want to give a response, “so we know in parliament the caucus speaks though its spokespersons and they say they are opposed because there is some provision in the constitution; they should tell us where, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

A budget contains reviews of the state of the national economy, expenditure and revenue projections, strategies for revenue generation and policies relevant for the ensuing year.

The President is mandated by article(s) 179 and 180 of the 1992 Constitution to submit a budget to Parliament each year for approval. And the Finance Minister represents the President in presenting the budget in parliament.

Per Article 179, “the budget has to be prepared and laid before Parliament, at least one month before the end of the financial year.

Ghanamps.com/Shang Annang Papa Nii

Member of Parliament (MP) for Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro Matthew Sylvester Tetteh has taken a swipe at his colleagues in the Minority for doing all to thwart government business on the floor of the House by not showing up on Thursday, June 20, 2024, because the Minority Leader is in court over the ambulance trial.

According to him they are shirking their responsibility despite the fact that they were voted to come and serve the interest of their constituents.

He added that the action of the Minority also amount to trying to stand in the way of justice delivery and this is not the first time a Member of Parliament is appearing before a court.

“What has the Minority’s presence got to do in court? They have taken an oath to work for this country; Minority Leader cannot be going to court and that should stop parliamentary business. There are so many ways they can express solidarity. Let me be honest with you when you go to court today the MPs you find there would be less than ten, they are in their houses, offices working. They are not here, it is time for the Minority to be exposed”, he said in an interview.

We should be guided that whatever we are doing, Ghanaians are watching. It’s unfortunate we pledge to work for this country and look at what we are doing. There is no way Parliamentary business should not go on because the Minority Leader is in court, he stated.

As to what the way forward is, because since morning of Thursday, June 20, 2024, as at two in the afternoon no business has been carried out on the floor of the House, the Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro lawmaker noted that the Speaker of Parliament should insist on the 10am timeline for the House to commence meeting as it has been advertised in the order paper and leadership of the Majority should take up this matter.

He further added that, as lawmakers they have been told this third meeting is very short and it is sad that much work has not been done with the three weeks that the House came back from recess.

“As a deputy Information Minister, I have to leave the office and come to the House; there is no business on the floor of the House, I have to go back to the Ministry and come back as a Member of Parliament” he lamented.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Ranking member on the Health Committee of Parliament Kwabena Minta Akando has given indications that the Minority side would hit the street to demonstrate if medications locked-up at the port are not totally cleared.

According to him the Minority reasonable enough and would adhere to the two weeks request by the Health Minister to do the needful.

Addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps on Thursday, June 20, 2024, he pointed out that the Minority will not relent on its effort to ensure medications locked up at the port are totally cleared.

“We have heard the pleading of the Minister of Health that we should give him two weeks; it does not make sense for the Minister to ask for two weeks, for medical commodities that have been at the port for one year”.

Again, within the two weeks’ timeline, all containers containing the commodities should be cleared from the port; not some as they have been doing; clear few and go and sleep, we would not tolerate that, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minister for Energy Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh has told Parliament that as at the time an urgent question was filed to question if the country was going through load shedding, there was no load shedding as indicated by the Electricity Company of Ghana.

According to him he has been on the floor of the House on three occasions to answer the urgent question filed in the name of the Member of Parliament for Tamale North.

He further pointed out that per the reasons given by the ECG, there were outages due to a number of reasons and they were mostly localized outages.

He pointed out a perfect example to be East Legon which is a residential area but has some industries in the vicinity, leading to over loaded lines and transformers being over loaded, thus, transformers needed to be upgraded to contain the overload.

“There are power leakages which cause complete power shutdown, plan maintenance on Amandi power plant ongoing at the same time GRICo also requested a shutdown.

ECG said they were not load shedding because those outages were not planned so they could not have come out to say they were load shedding”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Hon Sarah Adwoa Safo Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya is the first female to ascend to the number 2 position as Deputy Majority Leader under the Fourth Republic in Ghana and was in the 7th Parliament of the Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana.

Sarah Adwoa Safo, a lawyer by profession, born on December 28, 1981 is a Ghanaian lawyer and politician. She is the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament (2013–2024) for the Dome Kwabenya Constituency of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

She obtained an L.L.B from the University of Ghana, B.L from the Ghana Law School and an L.L.M from George Washington University U.S.A.

Click here for more

The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has endorsed Tuesday’s June 18, 2024, demonstration dabbed “hands off our hotels”.

According to the Minority, the demonstration has been called to protest against the Akufo-Addo/Dr. Bawumia led government’s shady sale of state-owned hotels to a cabinet Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong.

In a statement signed by the Minority chief whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza pointed out that the deal which is a transfer of a profitable state-owned hotel to a cabinet minister further confirms the cronyism, official corruption and state capture which have become the hallmark of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

This adds to the long list of questionable arrangements which make Ghanaians wonder whether members of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government are committed to improving the lot of the people or only see political power as an avenue to enrich themselves by grabbing state-owned businesses and strategic state assets for themselves.

“We therefore want to use this opportunity to indicate the Minority’s strong opposition to the sale of these hotels to the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Bryan Acheampong, and urge the public to join Tuesday’s ‘Hands Off Our Hotels’ demonstration to send a strong signal to the government that the people of Ghana take exception to this shady deal, the Minority emphasized.

Ghanamps.com

Majority chief whip Frank Annoh Dompreh has commended his colleague the Minority chief whip Governs Kwame Agbodza for believing in Agenda 111 when he said the funds used for digging a big hole purported for the national cathedral could have been used for Agenda 111 policy of the NPP government to build one hundred and elven hospitals.

According to him it’s refreshing; and he urged him to convince his other colleagues to come on board in support of the Agenda 111 policy, since the policy is indeed practicable and it’s a critical project that would affect the health infrastructure of this country.

He further pointed out that the call for investigation into the ‘big hole’ dug for the national cathedral by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is a call in the right direction and the Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin should consider it.

He was however quick to point out that currently there is no motion before the floor of the House on the issue concerning the national cathedral and the Adaklu MP who is in support of the issues raised by his colleague is a member of the Business Committee and knows what to do.

“You either fill a question or you make your point as a member of the Business Committee so that this issue would be considered. But for now you are on your own; it’s not officially before the House. How do we investigate a matter that is not before us?” He queried.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority chief whip Governs Kwame Agbodza is advocating that Parliament set up a committee to investigate budget allocated to the National Health Insurance Authority on its ICT since the amount allocated is more than a budget for a lot of ministries.

According to him the NHIA ICT budget has always been in the hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis; and it is like the ICT infrastructure is replaced every year. Sometimes it is three hundred million Ghana cedis; other times two hundred million Ghana cedis.

“So, we should set up a committee to look into it; why NHIA spends so much of that amount, how can we justify that and ensure that money is not being wasted? The presiding chair indicated that it was viable proposal as a condition precedent. We were going to set up a committee since then we’ve not heard the leader setting up the committee”, Agbodza stated.

“Again, looking at the budget line since I have been in the House since 2013, members have had cause to complain about the budget size of the NHIA on ICT.”

Responding to the Minority chief whip as he presented the business statement on the floor of the House and the issue came up, Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin pointed out that the day the matter in question came up on the floor of the House he referred it to the chair presiding and he indicated that the matter was not properly before the House and that if a call is being made for an investigation, “we know what to do. It is not for me to act in a matter that is being described, let our colleagues use the proper channel and we will all support it”, he pointed out.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Ho West Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah has attributed wars and conflicts within the sub-region to boundaries that are not well demarcated, and used his constituency in Ghana that shares boundary with Togo as an example.

Mr Bedzrah who was contributing to a statement by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister to mark the fourteenth Africa Boarder Day also pointed out that there is a town in his constituency where citizens of both Ghana and Togo live together as one people. The only thing that divides the two towns is a boundary post and that still makes it difficult to know which side is Ghana and which side is Togo.

“I decided to build a school block there for them to learn English; half belongs to Togo and the other half to Ghana. The Ghana side people did not take it easy with me, they were of the view that I was taking over the land of Volta Akyem and Ashanti people”.

“They were thinking I was taking over the land completely. Even in the 2016 election, my opponent went to the town to create problem for me; when it comes to issue of elections it creates problem for us. At Haligba Togbe you cannot say this people belong to Ghana or Togo”, he emphasized.

Again, they have one chief who presides over both Ghana and Togo and our border demarcation should be done with this background at our mind that, if you have people at the border line deal with it carefully. There is one town at Agotime Ziope where the main road going to Akatsi North divides Ghana from Togo even that, he said.

More interesting is the fact that the Ghanaian electrical polls are cited in Togo land; you can buy food with either Ghana cedis or Togo CFA. These imaginary lines are creating problems for us in our sub-region. “The Minister and Boundary Commission should have a human face when it comes to the demarcation of our borders lines”.

According to the MP, “there is also another town called Hawluta, a border town; the immigration people were harassing my people in that community. They see them as Togolese, but they are Ghanaians. We should be careful that it does not get to election time and we start demarcating imaginary border towns, we will have problem with ourselves. We are all the same people, he cautioned.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com