Category: Uncategorized

Dr. Clement Apaak, Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament has lauded the various pre-tertiary teacher unions for giving listening ears to the National Labour Commission (NLC) reading their strike.

According to him, it is a good signal that the Teacher Unions have agreed to convey the outcome of their dialogue with the Ministry of Education to their members, adding that this gives a ray of hope that we could be seeing a resolution of the reasons that precipitated their strike action.

The Deputy Ranking Member speaking on TV3’s New Day program on Wednesday opined that teachers by nature would have to be pushed beyond what they can tolerate to decide to lay down their tools, “and so when teachers decide to take the kind of action that the teacher unions in the pre-tertiary educational sector took, it was because they didn’t find avenues and they didn’t get the needed audience as they said in terms of the employer engaging with them and giving them serious assurances in terms of addressing their grievances”.

Three pre-tertiary teacher unions, including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana (CCT-GH) laid down their tools indefinitely on March 20th demanding from the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) better condition of service.

They demanded among other things:
1) that the Ministry and for that matter the Ghana Education Service release the laptops for which 30 percent of the cost have been deducted from their salary be given to about a 100 thousand of their colleagues who are yet to receive theirs.

2) again issues about a lack of a service scheme interns of a document that will lay out the rules and regulations or guidelines about their movements within the parameters, in terms of moving from one level to another , how appointments are made and what to expect.

These relieves the deputy Ranking Member said are legitimate, adding that he is even ashamed that his committee (Educational Committee) has not been forceful in holding duty bearers accountable as far as the Educational sector is concerned.

Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has directed the Teacher Unions to return to the classroom and subject themselves to the negotiation table with the relevant institutions.

Ghanamps.com

Leader of Government Business in Ghana’s Parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has taken a swipe at the Minority in Parliament in their attitude of ‘see no evil, say no evil’.

The Majority Leader was not happy that the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin adjourned the House sine die without giving leadership of both sides the opportunity to speak after he raised a disagreement on a letter emanating from the presidency on the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill passed by the House which seeks to prevent the Clerk of Parliament from submitting the Bill to the President for his assent until the determination of a case at the Supreme Case.

According to him the conduct of the Minority leaves a lot of questions not answered as to whether they were aware of the action the Speaker was going to take on the floor of the House on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

“Again, is it the case that, they are in support of this action to disrupt government business? They should remember that the people of Ghana are watching, we have ministers who are supposed to manage ministries and conduct public business for the benefit of the people of Ghana; what the Minority has done today shows they are not on the side of democracy”

Addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 just after adjournment, he pointed out that the Minority want government business to come to a halt through their conduct. “They were not even ready to get us to engage Mr. Speaker but they were ready to pack and move into their cars and go home. Obviously, it is a political journey they are on; they want to explore the situation to their advantage. We believe that the good people of Ghana would know that we as NPP in government stand for the betterment, progress and development in government”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu has accused the Office of the President of hindering the work of Parliament.

This follows an official letter to Parliament, requesting the House to refrain from transmitting the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, commonly referred to as the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, to President Akufo-Addo for his assent.

Addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, Mr. Iddrisu stressed that the letter, which seeks to prevent Parliament from performing its duties, reflects President Akufo-Addo’s “quest for predominance” over other organs of state including the legislature.

“That is unacceptable and must be fought by all persons who love democracy and cherish the principles and values of the 1992 Constitution. This is a monumental threat to Ghana’s democracy and a monumental threat to Parliament as an institution. By Article 93 we are clothed with legislative authority and mandate,” he said.

The former Minority Leader also called for the letter signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, to be disregarded for failing to follow Parliament’s standing orders.

“Politically, what power does the President’s secretary have writing to the Clerk of Parliament and not the President himself writing directly to the Speaker as is required of our Standing Orders, so that officially it can be read as communication from the President?” Mr Iddrisu asked.

So ideally this paper means nothing and should be ignored by the Clerk because the President must sign communication to Parliament addressed to the Speaker, he noted.

On Monday, March 18, a letter addressed to Parliament and signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, had requested Parliament to refrain from sending the anti-gay bill to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his assent.

The decision, according to Nana Bediatuo Asante, stems from the acknowledgment of two pending applications for an order of interlocutory injunction before the Supreme Court.

The letter emphasized that it would be improper for Parliament to proceed with transmitting the Bill to President Akufo-Addo for any action until the matters before the court are addressed.

Furthermore, it was disclosed that the Attorney-General has advised the President against taking any action regarding the Bill until the issues raised in the legal suits are resolved by the Supreme Court.

However, the Tamale South MP insists that an attempt to seek an injunction to prevent the passing of the bill is not the same thing as an injunction granted.

“But more importantly, Parliament cannot be injuncted not to perform its lawful function as the legislature of Ghana,” he explained.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Chairman of the Health Committee of Ghana’s parliament Dr. Nana Ayew Afriye would have none of John Mahama’s attack on the Agenda 111hospital project initiated by the ruling government new Patriotic Part.

According to him, the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Mahama should rather let his boys and the Minority members in parliament do those kinds of politics but not him the leader of the opposition NDC.

“What makes building 111hospitals over ambitious when the NDC in 2020 promised 88 district hospitals? He is being disingenuous and inconsistent; Ghanaians do not have short memories as he has always said”.

Ghanaians are clear of the principles that every district must have hospital for universal health coverage; and to be able to attain it there should be fair access for everyone.

Addressing members of the Parliamentary Press (PPC) on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, he noted that fifty percent of the Agenda 111 hospitals have passed sixty percent completion. “Do you mean this is not realistic? Under the NDC, under 8 years they were able to complete 6 hospital all the new ones uncompleted or repacked and seeing completion”.

It will therefore be phenomenal under the forth republic should the NPP government complete twenty hospitals (20) by December 2024, adding that under former President John Kufour’s reign he did not complete 8 hospitals; “and I have always use 8 hospitals as the indicator and bench mark for success for any government.”

Dr. Ayew further back his point by pointing out that, in the NDC manifesto of 2020 page 64 item Q, John Mahama asked Ghanaians to vote for him and he would ensure he would provide district hospitals in all districts where there is none. “We have passed that time in Ghana where you just speak and go free. The Ghanaian is now very cautious and you should be mindful of the words you bring out.

The difference between his agenda 88 and 111; commonsensically, there are new regions and they are six. For the principle of equity you need to put one hospital in each region that would make 88 plus 6 then you add two psychiatric hospitals in the southern zone.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Former Minority Chief Whip Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has cautioned the leadership of Parliament not to overload them with work as the Business Statement presented on the floor of the House looks light.

His comment follows the fact that the House will go on recess on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, and with his experience he knows more work would be added.

According to him as MPs they are going through a lot of stress and that is what is killing most of his colleague sitting lawmakers; “let us plan things well”, he added.

According to him, it is a common practice that towards the end of the sitting, they are overloaded with work; they close very late in the night.

Monday, March 18, 2024 the House would meet to do business as it prepares to go on recess on Wednesday, March, 20, 2024.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin is strongly advocating for enactment of law to take care of the welfare of lawmakers as it exist in other arms of government.

Mr. Afenyo MArkin, responding to a statement on the floor of the House bemoaned the sorry nature of their former colleagues who left office because they do not have any support.

According to him the job is full of depression as they go through a lot and are often left on their own. He thus admonished that they should not wait for someone to die and then come to the floor of the House to make beautiful statements which amounts to nothing.

He further backed his point by saying in the constitution of the Republic of Ghana it is only the President and the Vice President who seem to be recognized upon retirement. “So, I call on my colleagues as we go on recess ,we should have a proper thinking of this matter now that we have, ways and means committee, that committee must have that responsibility of enacting a proposal which would look at this things critically; that is our welfare for same to be debated and we must resolve and make it mandatory for the state to take care of us. It cannot be that you come into public service, you leave and an MP is seen in public and wearing sleepers”.

Again, people say we are corrupt meanwhile you do not have anything, your salary is next to nothing.

“I was better off in private practice; many people in this chamber who are professional are suffering, they were better off in private practice, but they are serving the nation. We should get the narrative right, we should get the people to know that this is our right, so that it would not be that if you are asking for it, it’s at the expense of the state, or it is too much, why are you asking for it?”

He also blamed the kind of politics they churn out as partly responsible for their predicaments and called for change, otherwise they give the Ghanaian the impression that, every MP is corrupt then, so “when you are asking for medical support they would say you have already stolen from the state, that is where we have a problem even our gratuity we have a problem defending it”.

Again, you have your constituents coming to you for, school fees and funeral donations that are more that your salary. Festival support to chiefs, electricity and water bill, in the case of some constituents their wives have given birth and in the hospital you have to pay.

HE cited the case of a colleague former Central Regional Minister under Kufuor, Edumazi who has to solicit support from his colleagues at the car park; a man the media projected as very rich while in office.

“We have so many colleagues in the same situation; this House should take this thing up. I call on leadership of the House to initiate it now because the statement would not go just like that.

We should enact a law for the welfare of the House, let us nominate five from each side of the House as a committee to investigate the welfare issue, enact a law and let it be part of the conditions of service of this house; enough is enough, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Ranking Member on the Health Committee of FC Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has called for caution in dealing with the indebtedness of public hospitals to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Mr Akandoh responding to threat by the electricity distributor to go after these public health facilities said the situation is dire as the country is battling with hospitals that are sick.

“As I speak with you now, we even have sick hospitals: hospitals that are sick, the places that you are supposed to go and get treatment, they are already sick.We have situations that we don’t even have basic medical equipment for the hospitals; we have situations where our ambulance service, that is the emergency health care system is coming to its knees. You remember we bought not less than 300 ambulances and as I speak with you now, out of the 300 more than 100 have been grounded.”

According to him there are hospitals in the country that pose as death traps because we still have a situation where patients have to sleep on the floor, some have to sit on benches for treatment, “so we have a challenge already, we should not attempt to worsen the already precarious circumstances we find ourselves in the health sector.

Mr. Akandoh who was speaking on the Ghana Tonight Show on TV3 on Wednesday also intimated that the country even failed to improve access in the sector for sometime now, even though the attempt was made in the previous regime to add more than 6000 beds. It therefore becomes very difficult and unpleasant when people travel many kilometers to the hospitals only to be tuned away for lack of electricity. The implications therefore is death of such patients.

Ghanamps.com

The announcement by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to take action against some 91 hospitals mostly public hospitals following their indebtedness to the power distributor does not sink well with the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and he has called for restraints in that regard.

He asserts that these hospitals render essential social services and so we must be thinking more about the welfare of the people rather than breaking even and making profit.

It is the reason government had some subversions to take care of utilities in the various hospitals. Unfortunately, government at a point announced the scrapping of those subversions, thus putting pressure on the hospitals to raise money to take care of their utilities. But because the utilities were very high, even at the time government was responsible for these bills “you know how they were struggling; not to talk about withdrawing these interventions.

Once you withdraw these interventions it would have a dire consequences on the health care delivery in the country.”
He said it is time we reflect on these things and investigate whether those utilities have been abused or properly so used for health delivery.

“If indeed these consumptions are for proper health care delivery, then I think government must reflect on it again to pay to set those utilities off their books. Government must pay.”

According to him, if the situation is not properly handled it would worsen the already weak health care sector we have as a country.

“We have to be very careful; this is about the lives of the people in the country and think through it. If indeed the system has not been abused , we don’t have a situation where people are doing commercial activities with the consumption of electricity in the various hospitals and the consumptions are properly so-called for health delivery, then I think we have to relook at it and bring back those subversions to take care of these utilities”, he emphasized.

The ECG has given some 91 hospitals mostly public 72 hours to pay their debts owed it or show commitment to paying these debts or risk disconnection following some 261million Ghana cedis debt from these facilities.

But Mr. Akandoh thinks the situation cannot be treated as an ordinary one on the basis that ECG has to run so they can just disconnect these facilities because if the hospitals don’t operate there would be dire consequences, “so if there should be that agreement between government and the Electricity Company of Ghana, we have to look at it”

He said though these hospitals also have internally generated funds, they pay some portion to a central point: and that also calls for another investigation to ascertain if they generate enough to be able to offset their bills but are abusing the money.

He made these submissions on the Ghana Tonight Show on TV3 on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

Ghanamps.com

The Deputy Minister designate for Health Alexander Akwasi Acquah said climate change has a lot to do with malaria control and dispel the notion held by many that as a developing country climate change does not relate to us.

According to him as a member of the Health Committee of Ghana’s Parliament that embarked on a visit to Chicago in America for a tropical medicine meeting, they learnt a lot and his take away from the conference was that climate change is close to the third world country than we think.

He made the disclosure at his vetting on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 when his colleague Gifty Twum Apofoh wanted to know his take away as a member of the Health Committee that visited Chicago on a conference on tropical medicine.

Again, we noticed that, “for us to control malaria very well we need to focus on climate change to make it easier for us to study the agent of malaria which is the mosquito. Climate change has a lot to do with it, since I came I have been doing a lot of reading around it”.

The nominee further pointed out that as someone who is in the private health care business he would advice his Minister when approved for government to do more to encourage the private sector to move into private health care delivery.

And pointed out that in the develop world the concentration is on tertiary health care and one requires a lot of capital to secure primary health care.

He called for more private participation and the private people coming on board more especially to ensure Community ownership.

“ Also with my experience it become easier to look at policies and advice my minister to get more people to invest in private health care, so far so good the health insurance has given ability for a lot of people to come into private health care’, he emphasized.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda constituency Mr Alexander Akwasi has cut sod for the asphalting of 1km inner roads in the Akim Aboabo Township.

The contractor Joe Mint Constructions who will be in charge of the project is expected to construct drain and road in the area to improve the quality of existing roads.

The contractor is expected to start work and complete the project within two months.

The MP said at the sod cutting ceremony that he is not only representing the voice of his constituents but also advocating for the progress and development of his constituency.

On his part the chief of Akim Aboabo, Nana Ampomah Kubra Yeboah III during the ceremony affirmed his commitment to Aboabo development and expressed gratitude to the Member of Parliament for his support and acknowledgement.

Ghanamps.com