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The Member of Parliament for Krachi West, Helen Adjoa Ntoso has expressed confident in her constituents retaining in the December 7, 2024, Parliamentary elections.

According to her she has sent a lot of projects to the constituency that proves her commitment to improving the welfare of the people.

Touching on the various projects carried out, she pointed out in an interview that fifty-one (51) boreholes have been sunk within six months and her constituents appreciate the move.

“My constituents are compelled to drink from the lake, and we realized that there are a lot of typhoid cases that are reported as a result of drinking water from the lake. And I have now moved into building pavilions because when it comes to issue of schools you cannot talk about it and the people are happy about that and small health posts – two rooms and a big hall where consultation can be done. This is what I am doing”.

Again, she pointed out that, government is not focusing on the needs of the people, and she is focusing on that hence she registered students who could not pass their WAEC to rewrite, a practice which is done every year. She noted that she has spent almost forty one thousands on children who will have to resist exams in November this year.

The MP stated that she pays a lot of school fees at the University level, teacher training colleagues, nursing training schools and she has presented a lot of items to hospitals; sunk boreholes for the hospitals and some are yet to be mechanized.

In addition, she has ensured that roads are made accessible to link various communities. Those you could not use tricycle on are now using it, motors and cars can access those communities. “I am doing what government and district Assemblies are supposed to be doing and this is what I am using my small common fund to do and the constituents have trust in me”.

“So, there is no way that for me to be unseated, my opponent the NPP Parliamentary candidate is CEO of social intervention fund and promising women he is going to give them loans”.

She said for eight whole years this was not done, and with just three months to go for elections her opponent is promising women loans and she has advised them to take it but still vote against them because they (who are in government) didn’t care about their welfare all these years, and whatever they are promising now is just for votes.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The incumbent Member of Parliament for Walewale, Lariba Abudu, has withdrawn from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries in the constituency, after the primaries between Dr. Kabiru Mahama and herself was annulled by the Electoral Commission (EC) after some ballot papers were snatched, affecting the sorting and counting process.

A National Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for today, Wednesday, September 11, 2024 by the NPP to address the brouhaha.

The party’s General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong had assured that the meeting would result in a decision aimed at unifying the party in the constituency, resolving issues, and ensuring that the NPP retains its seat in Walewale.

Below is the statement from the Member of Parliament for Walewale:
 
Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Akyem Oda and Deputy Minister of Health, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, inspected machinery allocated for the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) in the Birim Central Municipal Assembly on Monday.

He was accompanied by the NPP Constituency Chairman, Kwadwo Ampaabeng, and constituency executives.

Mr. Acquah met with the Municipal Chief Executive, Joyce Adjoa Agyeiwaa, and the Assembly’s Coordinating Director, who led the inspection of essential equipment, including motor grader, backhoe, roller compactor, bulldozer, tipper truck, concrete mixers, and water tanker.

The DRIP, championed by the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and spearheaded by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, seeks to improve road infrastructure in rural and semi-urban areas.

This initiative will enhance connectivity, improve access to essential services like healthcare and education, and boost economic activity by facilitating the transport of goods and services.

The MP lauded the government’s commitment to improving road infrastructure and expressed confidence in DRIP’s ability to transform communities in Birim Central, promoting development and creating jobs.

Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Chereponi Abdul-Razak Tahidu said it is about time the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) intensified educating the public on the core functions of Members of parliament to help reduce the pressure on MPs based on projects.

The lawmaker said MPs are not development agents but that is exactly how the public sees them and judge their performance based on that.

According to him once a while the lawmaker can take care of the social needs of the constituents but pointed out that sometimes as a sitting MP their opponents capitalize on the lack of proper understanding of the role of MPs to campaign against them. “They go round telling your constituents, you have not done the roads, you have not taken care of their water needs; so when you vote me as the MP I will address all these needs.”

“It’s the duty of the Assemblies to ensure that developmental projects are addressed in the districts and as MPs once a while since you have your colleagues as Minister, you can lobby to bring projects to the constituency”, the former DCE said in an interview.

As to whether this thorny issue can be addressed in Ghana, he noted that it will take a long time for Ghanaians and their constituents to come to that understanding that MPs are not development agents, rather those are the mandates of the Assemblies.

“Why do I say so, as a sitting MP my opponent goes to the ground and tell people I have not been able to construct the roads, you have not been able to do this or that which is not your obligation and that is what he is going to use to campaign to the delegates against you. You might try to explain to them but not everyone will understand that it’s not your mandate to construct roads and more especially when the illiteracy rate is high, it’s impossible to explain to them”.

And in an election year especially the two dominant parties, NPP and NDC should not go promising to construct roads and we should make it clear to the people that as an MP you do not construct roads.

Hon Abdul-Razak Tahidu further noted that the reason a number of MPs end up being one time lawmakers is because of unrealistic promises that were made during campaigns which they failed to fulfill.

“If, we get NCCE to do this work, that will help MPs. But without proper education, they will always look at us as developmental agents, he affirmed.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament for Akyem Oda Constituency, who also serves as a Deputy Minister for Health, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, officially filed his nomination today to contest as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Akyem Oda in the 2024 general elections.

The sitting MP expressed his excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to serve his constituency once again.
In a statement, Mr. Acquah highlighted his dedication to addressing the concerns of the people and continuing the development work he has championed since being elected in 2020.

He emphasized his commitment to creating jobs, improving infrastructure, and enhancing education and healthcare services in the constituency.

“My vision for Akyem Oda is one of prosperity, growth, and development,” he said, adding that economic empowerment will also be a key focus of his campaign.

He assured constituents of a clean and positive campaign, centered on the issue.

Ghanamps.com/Nana Keseh

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, ECOWAS Member of Parliament from Ghana, said there is an urgent need for Parliamentary diplomacy to help keep the three Sahel Countries in the fold of the West African bloc.

According to him the Community Parliament should activate contact channel with former colleagues of the Parliament before the coup occurred.

Reacting to the issue of Burkina Faso introducing a new biometric passport without the logo of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),he said that singular action further solidifies that the country’s break from the regional bloc.

“We should move quickly and fast track dialogue, hence the reason why a committee was formed. I do not believe the solution to this problem is with those who had the opportunity to turn things round and they were unable to do so”, he pointed out.

The Deputy Minority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament further pointed out that it is very refreshing that the President of Senegal, H. E Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye is leading in the crusade to see the three Sahel Countries return to the fold of the sub-regional bloc and he needs a lot of support in this direction.

And further appealed to Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, that where the sub-regional bloc has gotten to, they cannot fight individually; there has been issues, but this is the time to come together, and they should open the door for diplomacy.

Again, let us work more together, the only way of lifting the sub-regional citizens out of poverty, is not to go in our separate ways with cup in hand but collectively as a people; we need to work together.

As to whether there is light at the end of the tunnel in the scheme of things, he said “there is hope but we should do away with the face of the old guards who are mediating; they have lost credibility unfortunately including the Ghanaian president”, he lamented.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamen Afenyo-Markin has urged his colleagues from both sides of the House to campaign on issues ahead of the December 7, 2024, Presidential and Parliamentary elections as they get back to the constituency after their two days emergency recall.

According to him they should get the beauty out of politics they have all worked so hard for. “I pray that all of us come back to the 9th parliament; as we are going back to our constituencies we should draw the attention of the people to the work we have done”.

Again, he admonished colleagues to have their constituents at heart and identify the national issues to rally around.
“If, we as a political class we lose our relevance, when that day comes we will all be wiped ou;t we should take this on board as we go home if we do not work hard the people will lose confidence in democracy”.

Let us limit the way we attack each other and brand each other, we should be mindful of same, and raise the very critical issues such as unemployment and we should come out with issues that will turn the Country around and let our people know the value of patriotism; there are real issues affecting us as a people, he stated.

Additionally, we have a role to play in ensuring that the citizens of Ghana live up to expectation and we should start it as MPs, if we do they will follow us, the Majority Leader concluded.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Deputy Minister of Health, Alexander Akwesi Acquah has urged his colleague politicians particularly Members of Parliament to desist from politicizing issues of health as that could hinder confidence in the health sector in the country.

Reacting to the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh’s visit to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital regarding the broken down elevators, Mr Acquah said the action of the Ranking Member smacks of someone with political motive than seeking to find genuine solution to the problem.

“My brother, health is health, we need to decouple health from our political issues”, he affirmed.

Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, he noted, is Ghana’s premier health facility that takes referrals from all other health facilities across the country, and anyone is likely to end there in search of health delivery. Therefore, it is not healthy to make the place look like a grave yard due to the negative image we give it, he said.

Mr. Acquah who was reacting on GhOne TV argued that instead of storming the place with cameras, Mr. Akandoh could have just called authorities at the facility to get briefing; and added that if the Ranking Member had done that, he would have been told that management was already working to solve the problem.

He asserts that that Korle Bu like any other institution has management that oversees the running of the facility and it was within their remits to find solution to the problem, and they were at it before Mr. Akandoh went to whip up public sentiment with the cameras that he sent there.

HE berates the action of the Ranking member saying it did not expose anything as the management was already aware and dealing with it.

“The Korle Bu administration knew about it and they’ve been working at it, Korle Bu has a CEO  who has underlying managers, it doesn’t take the Minister or the deputy to know that Korle Bu’s lift is not working; and they are working at it. This is a regular routine maintenance”.

He said the traffic alone that uses the lift at the facility is quite on the high side and these breakdowns are expected from time to time, and management would always step in to make them functional again. “And so if for a moment the lifts are spoilt and the technicians are working at it, it doesn’t have to take honourable Akandoh, to come there before it is fixed; no it has been fixed, they were working on it, they had fixed some and they were working on the remaining ones.

He said this attempt to always make government look bad, is not helping the sector as the Ministry’s mandate goes beyond just fixing elevators.

The Deputy Minister who revealed that he equally patronizes the services of the Korle Bu Hospital because he carries out all his health check-ups in Ghana said the lifts works all the time, and reiterates that the traffic on it accounts for why it breaks down from time to time because it is a gadget.

Ghanamps.com

The Parliament of Ghana at its third meeting of the eighth parliament passed some five bills consisting as indicated in the chart.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa Tahir Kobina Hammond has appealed to indigenes of Sege and Ada as well as their respective lawmakers to allow Electrochem Ghana Limited to develop the massive salt deposit at the Songor Lagoon.

“In the name of the Almighty God, let Electrochem develop this massive potential”, he said.

“In the name of the Almighty God to for ones allow ElectroChem Ghana Limited to mini the massive salt deposit in at the Songor Lagoon.

According to him it has a potential to benefit the people of Ada and where the mineral deposit is located and the whole nation.

And recounted that he knows the story of the salt deposit and the brouhaha that had surrounded even in his days back a student of the University of Ghana where Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin was his senior.

He made these remarks on Wednesday, September 4, 2024, when the House was in the process of adopting the report of the joint Committee on Mines, Energy, Lands and Forestry, whiles MPs within the enclave of the salt mine express serious reservations of ElectroChem’s operation.

According to him, various governments set up committees to investigate the brouhaha that had surrounded the mining of the salt, but it became impossible to develop the area. “We are hearing issues about the gods in the area are not feeling comfortable; we have the respect of traditional believes”.

“Mr. Speaker, the Songor Lagoon area has to be developed, the intransigence of some of the inhabitants has caused this country so much, the salt is next to the black gold and the area has numerous deposits of national resources.

Again, the whole world needs the resources from Ghana; what people do not appreciate is that the Songor area is about the only area in the whole of West Africa that is massively endowed with massive salt natural resources.”

“The whole of Africa is looking up to Ghana to develop the salt my information is that we have millions of dollars of salt deposit.”

The Trade and Industry Minister who spoke passionately further revealed that Ghana’s salt can be exported to Nigeria who has to go all the way to Brazil to get salt for the petroleum industry.

Salt, he said is so crucial in the petrochemical industry and to the world that Ghana is in the position to contribute massively. And further added that he hopes his colleagues on the Minority side will accept that it’s such a potential for employment and income, adding that through the company (ElectroChem) “we, are going to obtain billions on this particular investment.”

“We will not be doing ourselves good as a Country, I pray the people of Ada and Sege, allow the company to work to the glory of Ghana. We need the salt from the area; help us, we should not allow the gods to impede the salt development. If there is anything we need to sit down and settle it and take the gods out of this”, he said.

This came up on the floor of the House when Member of Parliament for Ada Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe indicated that ElectroChem has to hold their peace so that they can save their shrines, cemetery and some of the villages, so that there will be clear definition of what should be done so that no one is inconvenient.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com