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Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has pointed out that former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu as a lawyer has done the right thing by petitioning Mr. Speaker on the issue of three Members of Parliament contesting 2024 parliamentary elections as independent candidates as well as the only independent MP contesting on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Even before the House will resume, the Tamale South Lawmaker Haruna Iddrisu indicated that the Minority will become Majority in case the three seats in the Majority side should be declared vacant.

The Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin has noted that the statement of public concern raised by the Minority leader Dr. Ato Forson is not the right way to go and rather should learn from the lawyer former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu.

Meanwhile, the Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin has gone to the Supreme court against the intention of the Tamale South MP seeking for four seats to be declared vacant.

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Despite the short span of the fifth meeting of the eighth parliament, the Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has indicated that there are urgent Government Businesses that need the attention of the House.

Speaking at the opening of the House on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the Majority Leader, said the following six critical Bills need the attention of the House as well as others.

They are;

• Environmental Protection Agency Bill, 2024

• Social Protection Bill, 2023

• Customs (Amendment) Bill, 2024

• Budget Bill, 2023

• Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 2023

• Intestate Succession Bill, 2022

Welcoming his colleagues, he noted that, the country is gearing up for another General Elections come December 7th, 2024 and he is not oblivious of the huge responsibilities that this has placed on the Members seeking another mandate from our people.

These and other similar important Bills before the House need to be considered before the House proceeds on recess. There are a number of Questions that are before the House that calls for the Sector Ministers to avail themselves to respond, he added.

“Mr Speaker, one issue that caught the attention of the nation during the recess period was the issue of illegal artisanal mining popularly known as “galamsey” in our local parlance. Although artisanal mining has been part of our local economy for decades, the devastation to our water bodies, forest and ecological reserves calls for the need to re-visit the issue of artisanal mining in recent times.

The President’s decision to deploy the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) through ‘Operation Halt’ in the early years of his presidency aimed to combat the threat of illegal mining, which was wreaking deliberate havoc on the nation’s water bodies and forest reserves.

While the operation achieved some successes, various challenges arose that undermined the efforts to fully eradicate the menace. We all in this Chamber must acknowledge the President for taking a bold decision to fight the menace of galamsey”.

Mr Speaker, the President in a statement released by the Presidency has reinforced the operational and tactical capacity of the ‘Operation Halt’ by directing the Minister for Defence to deploy additional military personnel to intensify the ongoing ‘Operation Halt’ across the country, he informed the House.

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The Member of Parliament (MP) for Amenfi Central Yaw Peter Kwakye-Ackah has confirmed to Ghanamps.com that he is indeed contesting as an independent candidate in the December 7, 2024 parliamentary election.

He said what has been reported in the media and on social media about his independent candidature is true, but refused to give any further details on his decision.

Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson made a statement of public concern on the floor of the House on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, when the House resumed from recess in relation to the former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu’s petition to the Speaker in an attempt to get the Speaker to declare some four seats vacant.

The four MPs, three from the Majority side and one from the Minority have filed to contest as independent candidates in the coming 2024 elections; and the former Minority leader thought it was time their seats are declared vacant having come to the eighth parliament on the ticket of political parties.

Former Majority Leader Cletus Avoka on his part contributing to the statement noted that, if you are elected by the people to represent them in Parliament and you have to leave to join another party or go independent in election, it is seen as a principle of not contacting the sovereign will of the people and you have betrayed them because they had agreement to come and support a political party.

“So, if three or four months for their turner to come to an end, you betray that course, you no longer belong to that party, the day you file nominations you stop belonging to that party”, he lamented.

He said Article 97 comes to play, to prevent a practice we have in our Republic and other jurisdiction, where people were elected on a party ticket, they came to parliament and because of their personal interest and because of hope of advantage, inducement and corruption, they jump to another party without reference to the people who brought them to the august Parliament.

And the commonsense aspect of it is this, before you go to fill your nomination with the electoral commission, you should have a letter from the political parties. The question is, “those going independent which party did they get letters to go and file?”

So can a party file two candidates? No, so you have filed as an independent candidate, you do not belong to the party that brought you to parliament. “Commonsense is those who left our parties and are going independent if we are meeting as a caucus to strategically win seats, will we invited those going independent, will we invite them to our meetings? No”, he added.

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Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson has said the nation is under the plague of unprecedented spate of illicit, illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated mining activities.

According to him the nation is on the precipice of a self-inflicted environmental genocide.

He made these remarks at the fifth meeting of the fourth session of the fourth Republic on of the eighth Parliament on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, when the House resumed from recess as part of his opening remarks.

“Our beautiful country, once called the Gold Coast to underscore the rich mineral deposits God has bestowed on us is fast becoming a pale shadow of itself. Our lands with all their rich flora and fauna are being destroyed by the day”, he lamented.

And further pointed out that, our once pristine rivers and water bodies are now looking as brown as coffee, having been poisoned to satisfy the insatiable greed of an unscrupulous few.

Again, many farmlands including cocoa farms have been destroyed and in their place are unattended pits and gullies from uncontrolled mining activities.

According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), it may take up to 300 years to restore the quality of soil damaged by illegal mining.

“Rt. Hon. Speaker, it appears we are at war against ourselves, and the destructive effects are frightening and far-reaching. The reckless and criminal discharges of heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cyanide into our waterbodies and lands have already begun to have dire consequences on our health”.

He opined that medical experts have delivered a scary verdict on babies being born with various deformities such as the absence of limbs, eyes and other vital body parts we are at crises point. At the heart of this crisis are leadership failure, official complicity and lack of political will by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government.

This House must rise to the occasion and bring the necessary pressure to bear on government to act, he affirmed.

The Minority leader also urged government to guard against the temptation to spend what it does not have as the country gears up for another election cycle, adding that such reckless fiscal indiscipline is what has landed our country in a debt hole and brought untold hardship on Ghanaians.

“I am reliably informed that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government intends to dole out about GHS3, 000 per person and other assorted election-driven handouts to some 800,000 so-called farmers in the name of drought relief”.

It is obvious that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government has not learned any useful lessons from the misuse of Covid-19 funds and borrowed funds on reckless consumption-driven expenditure.

This NPP government must be reminded that Ghana’s economy which they have badly mismanaged is still not out of the woods. Hence, strict adherence to fiscal responsibility rules must be upheld even in an election year, he emphasised.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Majority leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo has filed an injunction at the Supreme Court against the decision of Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu to declare four seats in Parliament vacant.

Mr. Afenyo Markin who disclosed this explained that, he received a copy of a memo written by Mr Haruna Iddrisu to Mr Speaker to declare three seats of the majority including Kwadwo Assnte of Suhum constituency, Cynthia Maamle Morrison of Agona West and Andrew Amoako Asiamah of Fomena as well as Mr Peter Ackah of Amenfi central on the minority side vacant.

Mr Afenyo Markin further said, he has sent the matter to court to place an injunction on the Parliament to the process of declaring any seat vacant until the Supreme Court itself comes out with its interpretation.

The leader made this known today when the leadership of Parliament met with the Parliamentary Press corps to outline some of the programs the House would be dealing with within the next three or four weeks.

Ghanamps.com

The Parliament of Ghana resumes today, October 15, 2024 for the fifth meeting of the eighth parliament.

The legislature would conduct their business at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) as a temporal location following ongoing renovation works at the main chamber.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin earlier in September notified the Members of Parliament of the official reconvening, thus they were prepared for this even though most of them have been busy campaigning for the upcoming elections.

Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George has called for a collective responsibility in the illegal mining fight.

He is therefore urging politicians, chiefs, and all stakeholders to unite in the fight against illegal mining.

Speaking on Metro TV on Wednesday (Oct 9, 2024), he compared the galamsey crisis to a potential global conflict over water, a resource increasingly under threat.

He warned of dire consequences for future generations if the issue is not addressed immediately. “Water survival is critical,” he stated, adding that even those in power would feel the effects of polluted water. “The water you bathe with is beginning to seep into your skin. It will get into your bloodstream.”

He likened the organisation of illegal mining in Ghana to the operations of drug cartels, urging the government to adopt stronger measures. “Galamsey is Ghana’s drug crisis,” he said, explaining that illegal mining in forests and around water bodies mirrors the way criminal cartels operate.

The MP expressed deep concern over the severe pollution of water resources caused by illegal mining, warning that Ghana risks depleting its fresh water. “It is predicted that the next global war will be fought over fresh water,” George said. “We have it, and we are destroying it.”

Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Akwatia Henry Yiadom Boakye said politicising illegal mining “Galamsey” in Ghana which is leading to the pollution of major water bodies in the Country is not in the interest of any political party.

According to him Ghanaians need to stand firm in their fight against galamsey, adding that he is coming from an area where mining has been done for years in West Africa, “we have GCBL, that is consolidated Diamon limited which is situated in my constituency and in the past years what I have experienced”.

Mr Boakye stated that he was once a stakeholder in the industry, “I was in the industry before I became a politician; we did not have such challenges as we are seeing today with galamsey in my constituency. What we had was contributors’ association”.

This, he explained to mean that when the big companies fished mining out, their site is given to the indigenes (small scale mining companies) of the constituency to work on under the same license that the big company worked, thus it cannot be described as illegal mining because “it’s a mine out area that has been given to the indigenes to work on to have a livelihood and survive”, he pointed out in an interview.

Hon. Henry Boakye Yiadom, a member of the Government Assurance Committee further added that he is not impressed with the answers given by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Minerals Commission Mr. Martin Ayisi when he appeared before the Committee on Monday, October 7, 2024, in Parliament House.

He added that figures given by the CEO of the Minerals Commission with regard to license on mining activities is not clear and they do not have a report of the thirteen regions that mining activities take place.

He was confused about government’s intransigent posture as it continuous to issue more mining licenses despite the public uproar following the level of pollution of our major water bodies.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Ho West Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah has indicated that he is prepared to participate in Business of the House as the House resumes from recess on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.

According to him he is prepared to meet anywhere if it is under a tree as the House will be meeting at the Dome, with work on the chamber still underway. and not completed yet and express joy, returning to the House.

The MP who in an interview expressed delight over the return of the House also pointed out that he knows it is an election year and a lot of his colleagues will be busy campaigning.

Again, those who decided not to come back to the House and those who lost their primaries will be a bit free whiles others will be campaigning for their presidential candidate as well.

“I have witnessed such a situation before, I have been in the House for the past four terms and I have seen that of 2012, 2016 and 2020 and so you will be surprised that you will get to Parliament and you have only two or three people there and the rest are campaigning in their various constituencies.

As we all know, no one plays around election and election year and you cannot predict how things will go, so you need to put your house in order and make sure you are ready for it despite being in Lome – Togo here on ECOWAS Parliament assignment”.

“I rush to the constituency to go and campaign; we have just ended the third Extraordinary meeting, of the ECOWAS Parliament, I am prepared to get back to the constituency and hit the ground running before October 15 and rush back to the Ghanaian Parliament”, he said.

He said representing his constituents is a social contract that he signed with my constituents to serve them both at the national and outside the national parliament, stating that the election period is more of assessment by the very people you represent to see if you are fit to be sent back or not.

“It is my prayer that my party and our flagbearer John Dramani Mahama emerge victorious to move Ghana forward, we have moved two steps back in the last eight years, and this is an opportunity to reset Ghana”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.co/Lome Togo

Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Majority side of the House on the Government Assurance Committee on Monday, October 7, 2024, did not show up for the public hearing of the Minerals Commission when they appeared before the Committee.

According to Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Yiadom Henry Boakye he was a bit taken aback when he noticed that not a single member of the Majority side of MPs showed up at the Committee’s public hearing.

Previously the Majority side of the House chaired the Government Assurance Committee until the new Standing Order came into implementation, which has now reverted to the Minority side chairing the Committee and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is the new chairman of the Committee.

“I ask the chairman of the Committee same question, and Hon Samule Okudzeto Ablakwa said the clerk posted the meeting over the weekend with the hope that members will be at the committee meeting. So, chairman will be in the best position to answer this question whether he was called that they cannot make it and have taken permission”, he stated.

When Ghanamps.com contacted the chairman of the Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, he indicated that his colleagues on the Majority side on the Committee, did not give any indication that they will not be coming, and he was expecting that they will show up for them to do their work as a committee.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com