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The Member of Parliament for Mpraeso Davis Opoku Ansah has chastised the Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George for violating the independence of the National Communications Authority by his directive to the Director General to close down some radio stations.

He stated that the Minister does not poses the legal authority to direct the National Communications Authority to regulate enforcement of actions under section 3 (1) of NCA Act, 2008 (Act 769).

The MP in a statement on the floor of the House pointed out that “except as otherwise provided in the Act, the Authority shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority in performing its functions.
Whiles similarly the electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) reinforces this independence in section 2(4), broadcasting service require frequency authorisation by the NCA and section 9 (1) spectrum usage requires NCA authorisation.

In Section 58 (1) the NCA controls, plans, administers and licenses the radio frequency spectrum”, he said.
Mr Opoku Davis further noted that the Minister’s directive to close certain broadcasting stations directly contravenes these provisions and if allowed to remain in effect, could set a dangerous precedent for political interference in independent institutions potentially extending beyond the NCA to the Electoral Commission, the judiciary and other democratic entities.

“Mr. Speaker, the Minister’s role is confined to policy direction not enforcement. Section 97 (1) of Act 775 states, “The Minister may, on the advice of the Authority by legislative instrument, make regulations generally to give effect to the provisions of this Act”.

And section 41 and Act 775 similarly limits the Minister’s power to policy directives, not operational decisions. The directive issued in the media advisory oversteps legal boundaries and constitutes executive overreach.
Again, due process was ignored even if the affected stations encounter licensing issues; the law specifies a procedure for addressing such matters.

Section 9 of Act 775 required formal notification of the alleged breach, a reasonable timeframe must be provided for rectification and the station must be allowed to appeal before enforcement action is taken, he added.

He said the directive is not merely regulatory overreach, it constitutes an assault to press freedom, as article 21 (1) (a) of the 1992 constitution assures freedom of expression including media freedom. Government directed shutdowns without due process convey a chilling message to journalists and media organisations that their operations are subject to political approval.

“A free press is vital for democratic accountability and this unconstitutional interference must not be tolerated”.
He urged the House to act swiftly to prevent any further abuse of power and have submitted a half-hour motion summoning the Minister to appear before parliament to explain this unlawful directive.

“Summon the Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation to clarify their unlawful directive to the NCA, instruct the NCA to suspend all enforcement actions related to the Minister’s directive until due process is confirmed. Charge the Committee on Communications and Constitutional and Legal Affairs with investigation whether the Minister acted unilaterally or under political influence”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The flyer with the above headline is fake and does not reflect what the Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu has said during a recent interview with Ghanamps.com.

During an exclusive interview with Ghanamps.com reporter, the MP DID NOT at any point in the conversation expressed her inability to handle the constituency.

The public is therefore advised to disregard the flyer making rounds as it is the hand work of some faceless individuals to tarnish the image of the MP.

Attached is the link to the original story:

https://ghanamps.com/dome-kwabenya-mp-advocates-for-a-split-of-the-constituency/

Editor’s  Bench
Ghanamps.com

The ninth parliament of the fourth republic of Ghana, has once again failed to attain the 30 percent female representation, a target many were hoping to see.

But the Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu said there is the need for political parties to strive to meet this target.

The call for ensuring more women to have access to the legislature has been an agenda many groups have tried to actualize; and the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament have not relented in pushing for the thirty percent female representation in the various national parliaments.

Out of the two hundred and seventy-five (275) constituencies declared by Ghana’s Electoral Commission for the ninth parliament, with one outstanding constituency yet to be declared, only forty (40) are females representing 14.55 percent.

And the MP said the situation is worrying, saying, “Women are in the majority, if you look at the Ghanaian population, our representation in parliament should be more”

She noted that the perception about women in politics is something that women are still struggling with even with the passage of the Affirmative Action Act, 2024.

“I think we should be able to bridge the gap, the current representation is worrying, and we need deliberate efforts to get a lot of representation of women”, she emphasised.

As to whether the political parties in Ghana can play a key role in this direction, she noted that it depends on the individuals and the kind of support from their spouses, so even if the parties give the push, family support is also important.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

In the spirit of transparency, accountability and in line with her social contract with her constituents, the Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu is to replicate the state of the Nation Address in her constituency dubbed ‘State of the Constituency Address (SOCA).

This novelty, she stated is hoped to promote inclusive governance to carry the people along the path of development.

According to her just as Presidents of Ghana are mandated by the constitution to give Message of the State of the Nation Address (SONA), she is going to be accountable to her constituents every year and that will push her to work harder, “because at the end of the year, I need to go and face my constituents, and they will question me and give me advice as governance is not for one person. We have to come together as a community when you go to various communities, they will have various problems and they will let you know what they want you to address first”, she said in an interview with Ghanamps.com.

She emphasised the importance of consulting the constituents especially when one is taking development projects to the various communities, as she recounted her experience working with World Vision, stating that at some point “when we went to a village, we did not consult with the people over there, children move from one village to another to draw water; we were thinking they needed borehole without consulting them.

Then we dug a borehole for them. We came back to assess how the borehole provided to the community was going, but we noted that the children continued to go somewhere else to draw water”.

“We had to go and sit down with people in the Community as to why they were not using the borehole. When we did, we noticed that when you get to the village, there is only one room that the parents and children shared. In the morning, the parents will intentionally ask the children to go and draw water; they go far by the time they come back whatever the father and mother have to do will be done before the children come back. So, the borehole we built rather went in there to destabilize the way they do their things”.

This has therefore been her experience over the years and has given her reason to always engage people and get their priorities as to what they want first.

Meanwhile, she affirmed that SOCA would be done alongside regular Town Hall meetings.

The MP who was speaking on her vision for the Dome/Kwabenya constituency also noted that safety and security will be given attention as she pointed out that last week Monday, she toured the whole constituency to ascertain the state of things currently. And as part of her observation, it came out that the lightening system is poor, so she has taken it upon herself to lighten up the constituency.

Again, the constituency does not have a fire tender in case of fire outbreak, so a call has to be placed for a fire tender station at either Madina or Amasaman and it’s a worrying development.

In the area of job creation, she said she will explore various avenues to create job opportunities to the youth including training about thousand constituents in skills in artificial intelligence (AI), among other scholarship opportunities.

Also, she disclosed that they will be tapping into the President’s free TVET agenda as well as take advantage of local contents in terms of infrastructure developments in the constituency.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

There is heavy presence of Police in the precinct of Parliament House, as vetting of Deputy Ministers designates kick starts.

National Service Personnel and staff of Parliament have been directed to displace their Identity Cards without which they will not be allowed entering the precinct of Parliament.

As early as 7:00am ahead of the start time of 10:00am, there was a VIP bus full people parked in Parliament when Ghanamps.com entered the House but occupants of the bus could not get off the bus as the Committee Room 1 & 2 cannot take them.

Nominees are allowed to invite only ten of their supporters and visitors as at the time of filling this story the marshal was very strict in not allowing those who are not supposed to be in the Committee Room to be there and move around the corridors of the vetting Room.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

A member of the Appointment Committee in the ninth Parliament, Umar Alhassan, and Member of Parliament for Zabzugu has expressed confidence that the vetting of Deputy Ministers designate starting today, Monday, 24 February 2025, will not result in any physical fight.

“We do not expect what happened the last time to happen; if it does then it will be unfortunate”, said in an interview.
According to him things have been planned such that today, Monday, 24 February 2025, only three of the deputy Ministers designate will come before the Committee, unlike the vetting of then Ministerial Nominees in which a day was missed hence a day had to be added on which brought a lot of pressure resulting in the chaos.

He further pointed out that instead of the Minority on the Committee asking questions related to portfolio of the nominees, “they were asking trivial questions and personal questions. “I do not know if they were trying to prove issues of credibility”.

Again, if they have evidence on anything, they should put it before the person and we have standards for this kind of work; and there will always be an opportunity for opinion, as to whether we should follow what is done in the United States of America.

“Why can’t it be the Ghanaian or African way as a benchmark? This time round, we should not follow whatever is done in the US and look up to it as the standard. In the case of the US you are talking about, they are given minutes to ask their questions; you have your clock before you for that purpose. And if you do not have questions, you pass your minutes to whoever is prepared for the kill of the day; we do not have it here in Ghana they tell you three questions whiles one person has unlimited questions. Ranking has unlimited questions that is not how it is done”, he stated.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Appointment Committee of Ghana’s Parliament would start vetting the first batch of President John Mahama’s Deputy Ministers designate today, Monday, 24 February 2025.

Minister designates for Public sector Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba will be the first to appear before the Committee, followed by Thomas Nyarko Ampem deputy finance minister designate.

Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi deputy designate for the Interior and deputy Trade, Agribusiness and Industry designate Sampson Ahi would be last for the day.

Investigation conducted by Ghanamps.com revealed that security would be very tight at the precinct of Parliament following the chaos that happened during the vetting of then Ministers designate where unauthorised members of the public besieged the Committee Room 1 and 2.

The nominees have been admonished to invite only ten visitors to the Committee Room and the number of media personnel to be allowed to the Committee Room has also been limited.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin said he has not defied the directive given by the leadership of the New Patriotic Party, NPP to boycott all Media General platforms.

He said the decision to call into TV3’s KeyPoints program on Saturday, February 22, 2025, was not to speak on behalf of or for the NPP.

According to him what happened was that, the Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, alleged that he was using 50 military personnel as convoy.

This, he noted was a direct attack on him (Afenyo-Markin) and not the party, NPP. Thus, it necessitated his intervention to challenge Dafeamekpor and to set the records straight, which he did.

Hon Dafeamekpor, following Afenyo-Markin’s intervention, withdrew his statement and apologized for same.

Under this circumstance, I couldn’t have been accused of defying the directive of the party’s leadership. I couldn’t have allowed such lies and misinformation to be peddled by Dafeamekpor to go unchallenged, he stated.

He thus urged the general public to disregard any news item or information that goes contrary to the explanation given.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Jirapa, Cletus Seidu Dapilah has a different view on the debate regarding the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

He said the conversation should rather be about making the Assemblies independent before bringing in the conversation of how MMDCEs are chosen.

“Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) should not be elected; rather the Assemblies should be made independent and well resourced”.

He affirmed that the first step should be to amend the constitution to make the Assemblies independent and also ensure that they generate their own funds and also involve themselves in business ventures to keep the Assemblies working.

Again, the Assemblies should be able to contract loans and have investments of their own, “before we think of conducting elections for MMDCEs”.

In an interview with Ghanamps.com the former District Chief Executive of Jirapa further revealed that MMDCEs are under Article 71 holders and the President is supposed to appoint them.

Additionally, the Assemblies are to write proposals and get the support of government to contract loans.

“What are the criteria in electing the MMDCEs? Are you going to open it up for whoever qualifies to contest, like the way people can contest Assembly elections same with parliamentary elections?” He queried.

Let us look at the law and review it; the Local Government Act, does not allow Assemblies to contract loans so they are not independent. “Many of their challenges hinges on inadequate funding, the MMDCAs are not financially sound, and rely on the benevolence of Central government, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya, Faustina Elikplim Akurugu has resurrected the call for her constituency to be divided.

She said the size of her constituency is like five or six other constituencies put together, thus making it one of the largest constituencies in the country.

With constituents numbering about Two hundred and eighty-five thousand, she said it was difficult and tough during the campaign, adding that it also affects how quickly they are able to attend to the needs of the people because when resources/slots are being allocated to constituencies, they will not say Dome/Kwabenya should have more because of its size, “so you can imagine the kind of efforts that goes into meeting the needs of the constituency.”

The MP who was speaking in an interview with Ghanamps.com asserts that even though it lies in the domain of the Local Government Minister and the Electoral Commission to decide either or not to create a new constituency, she will be advocating for this to happen at Dome/Kwabenya; saying, “I prefer it is divided to the benefit of the constituents, so that they can get their fair share and have opportunities”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com