News:
October 10, 2017
Member of Parliament for Tamale South and Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu is lamenting over the practice where successive governments through their conduct are contributing to weakening and destroying the private sector in the housing industry.
He observed that, contractors go and borrow money to distill your gutters, build houses and construct roads, but it takes two to three years to pay them and you think if this is going to be a potent private sector no, all their money is absorbed by interest of the Bank charges.
Again let us be sincere with the private sector, Ministries give out contracts and they decide they want to supply cement and iron rods let us go back to the records.
His comments comes in the wake of the celebration of the world habitat day, which witness the Minister of Works and Housing coming to the floor of Parliament to make a statement to commemorate the day.
According to the former Trade and Industry Minister, successive governments have failed Ghanaians when it comes to delivering housing.
“International donners will not give Ghana money to improve its housing sector when they have same challenges to address”.
“Again let us be sincere with the private sector, Ministries give out contracts and they decide they want to supply cement and iron rods let us go back to the records”.
Mr. HarunaIddrisu pointed out that some of the challenges the Ministry of Works and Housing will have to deal with is, rethinking financing housing and how to deal with land titles since they are not vested in the state and rather vested in stools and skins.
The current rent Act should be reviewed helping the ordinary Ghanaian none of us have been able to help address this as MPs, how many of us are not property owners who take rent for two three and five years advance, he questioned.
“We want to be deceptive to the ordinary Ghanaians that we want to help them no, we must respond to this housing challenge that is why the Minister must have our support even this year when you ask him how much budgetary allocation does he have for housing you will be sad to hear it”.
“Mr. Speaker as we meet constituent all they tell us is, Honorable help me pay my rent, what is worrying is that the landlords say we should pay two years rent advance” he lamented.
Parliament must resolve to help him increase the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Works and Housing and sort to know if the Minister has been able to accommodate all his Ministers, no, obviously he remarked.
Mr. Speaker because we could not meet some of this basic needs, the public confidence in us as politicians is eroding, we do not have money for housing but you have it for other sectors the country can make better use of our pension money.
He advocated that the sector Minister takes a trip to Morocco and Turkey to learn how housing can change the situation of a people when you are going on pension in Morocco you know where you will be staying, the Tamale MP pointed out.
He further advised that high rising buildings will also help address the housing issues, adding that the issues with housing also affect productivity in many ways.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com