Day: November 25, 2023

Dr Harrison Kofi Belley, the Head of the Department of Governance Studies at Evangelical Presbyterian University College (EPUC) in Ho, has called for more support for women to participate in decision-making and governance processes in the country.

He said women’s participation and representation in the decision-making and governance processes of the country was paramount to enhancing development.

Dr Belley, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, urged the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to offer the necessary support to women and encourage them to take up more political positions in the country.

He said the low level of participation of women in the upcoming district assembly election, was a worrying situation.

The Governance Expert, however, said the situation could be attributed to factors, including a lack of a conducive environment and an equal level playing field for women.

Dr Belley also mentioned stigmatisation and the notion that politics was not for women but fo
r men as another factor, hindering and discouraging women from vying for political positions.

Monetisation of the politics, the Lecturer said was another contributing factor to women’s inability to participate in the electoral process of the country, as most of them did not have the financial capability.

Dr Belley said conscious effort must be made to motivate women, and build their capacity and confidence level so they could participate more in the governance processes of the country.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Andrew Asiamah Amoako, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, has expressed worry at the low pace of work at the Committee levels in the House.

He said: ‘So many reports have been referred to committees and no one is reporting back to the House.’

‘Once a referral is made to you, we expect you to report back to the House with recommendations and the way forward,’ Mr Asiamah Amoako said on the floor of Parliament on Friday when he commented on the Business Statement for the fifth week ending Friday, December 1, 2023.

Some Members of Parliament (MPs), particularly the Minority Caucus, lamented how Committees with referrals were always reminded in each week’s Business Statement to present their reports to the House for consideration but were not yielding any results.

Consequently, presiding over Friday, November 24 Proceedings of the House, Mr Asiamah Amoako, charged the Leadership of the House and Chairmen of the respective Committees with referrals to take up their duties of ensuring such Committees w
ork expeditiously.

Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Tema West, called for a way that would bridge the gap for Committees to deliver to expectation.

In his presentation of the Business Statement, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip told the House that the Business Committee recommended that the debate on the ongoing Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana be concluded on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 instead of Tuesday, November 28 2023 as indicated initially.

He explained the decision was to enable as many MPs, particularly backbenchers of the House to contribute to the motion for approval of the Budget Statement.

‘Mr Speaker, the Leaders of this House will, however, conclude the debate on Wednesday, November 29, 2023,’ he said.

Mr Annoh-Dompreh urged the Ministry of Finance and other Ministries to endeavour to submit to Parliament the estimates of Ministries early enough for consideration of same and approval by the House, due to its lim
ited available time.

He, therefore, entreated all Committees to endeavour to commence consideration of the Budget Estimates of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies by Wednesday, December 6, 2023.

‘Mr Speaker, the foregoing recommendations are expected to enable the expeditious consideration of the Budget Estimates and the passing of the Appropriation Bill, 2023, prior to the House adjourning sine die in the fourth week of December 2023,’ he said.

Regarding the ensuing week’s work schedule, Mr Annoh-Dompreh reminded the House of the Business Committee’s recommendation of the House commencing sitting each day at 1000 hours with extended sittings.

He informed the House that on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, there would be a joint caucus meeting after adjournment for the discussion of pertinent matters.

‘Mr Speaker, Friday, December 1, 2023 is National Farmers’ Day, a statutory holiday and it is expected to be observed as such across the country,’ he said.

Owing to Ministers expected to attend up
on the House during the week, Mr Annoh-Domperh, also an NPP MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, said in all, seven Ministers would respond to 67 questions of which nine would be urgent with 58 being oral.

He, mentioned the Minister for Works and Housing, Minister for Education, Minister for Communications and Digitalisation and Minister for Trade and Industry as some of the expected Ministers to attend upon the House.

Others would be the Minister for Food and Agriculture, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Youth and Sport.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Dominic Nitiwul, the Minister of Defence on Friday touted the Ministry’s achievements during his tenure over the past seven years.

Contributing to the debate on the 2024 Budget on the floor of Parliament in Accra, Mr Nitiwul centred his debate around infrastructural development, training and moral within the armed forces, modernisation and reforms, the equipment state of the armed forces and international relations within the armed forces.

This, he said, was to let the people of Ghana know what the Government had done over the past seven years.

‘Mr Speaker, this Government has taken the largest infrastructural development since 1992 within the Ghana Armed Forces; from housing to the military bases, to injection of capital into hospitals, it has taken the largest infrastructural development,’ the Minister said

‘In fact, on the coastal front, Mr Speaker, we’ve expanded hugely, the Military Academy into a world modern training facility that is there for everybody and I am inviting Members of Parliament t
o come on the 22nd of December to see for themselves the state of the Military Academy of Ghana today and compare to the ground zero that it was before we came to power.’

He explained that there was a Military Academy but the Government moved it to a new site and literally built a complete new Military Academy for the training of officers.

Under the infrastructure again, the Minister mentioned that the Government had built a very massive Military Naval Base at Ezilinbo in the Jomoro Constituency of the West Region.

He noted the Ezilinbo Naval Base was the biggest Naval Base in Ghana and that the project was about 54 per cent complete, adding that this was the brain child of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said in the northern sector, the Government was building about 12 storage operating bases in 12 different sites, as part of efforts to move the military to the people, and three Logistic Centres across three cities – Tamale, Wa and Bolgatanga.

He said these Centres and bases were cumulatively
40 per cent complete while some were about 50 per cent complete or more.

He reiterated that the Akufo-Addo Government had provided more housing facilities for the military than any other Government since 1992.

He said the housing facilities were in all the Military Galleries – Tamale, Ho, Michel Camp (Tema), Second Infantry Battalion (2BN) and Fourth Infantry Battalion (4BN).

He said thanks to the Minister for Roads and Highways, they had done more roads than any other Government within the Military Barracks; saying no Government has done asphalting of military roads than the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Government.

He noted that evidence of the construction of the military roads were there for everybody to see.

He also noted that in the 2024 budgets, the provisions were made to provide more equipment for the Ghana Army, the Air Force and the Navy.

He said the Akufo-Addo Government had never sold any military land to any private developer; declaring that it would never happen under his watch.

Source:
Ghana News Agency

Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minority Leader, has called for an urgent review of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815) to ensure that oil revenues are used for specific national infrastructure projects.

Mr Buah, who is also a former Energy Minister, made the call at a press conference at Parliament House in Accra.

He said the provisions in the Act provided for the establishment of the Heritage Fund because it was envisaged that this finite resource was not only for the living but for those yet unborn.

He said it also established the Stabilisation Fund to provide support for the budget in times of shocks to the economy.

He said in that provision in the Act, by and large, the whole period of oil production and revenue reporting, it was the Minister of Finance that had been given the guidelines implementing how those revenues were applied.

He reiterated the need for oil revenues to be used in executing major national projects across the country.

‘But frankly if I ask you today, after a
ll these years of oil production exactly where have we used the oil money for? I am sure everybody will start thinking, we are not sure; I think it is important that we revisit that issue and make sure that in the next 10 years, we Amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Act to focus revenue for the annual budget funding amount solely on development of big time projects,’ he said.

‘We can pick two items and say that in the next 10 years, we are going to focus on railway development, the whole Ghana will know that (within) 10 years this is what the oil money had been used for.

‘We can also focus on the Ghana super highway, we will dedicate it to developing a high from Half Assini to Bawku, all the way to Accra.’

He noted that the history showed that in Ghana almost every road was constructed because there was a community there.

Mr Buah reiterated the need for the construction of super highways across the length and breadth of the country in order to facilitate fast movement of people, goods and services.

‘
We need to create highways across our country, so that when you want to travel around our country within two days, you can do those things without any interruptions.’

He called for fair distribution of petroleum revenues, to ensure that regions contributing to the extraction of resources were given their fair share.

‘I call for fairness in the distribution of the oil revenues to where the oil resources come from,’ Mr Buah stated.

‘It is only fair because when you develop the Western Region, you are developing Ghana, and you are really developing where most of the resources come from.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Mercy Adu-Gyamfi, a former NPP MP for Akwatia has declared that she was coming back to recapture the Akwatia seat from the NDC in 2024.

Popularly known as Ama Sey, the former Member of Parliament, made history in 2016 as she defeated Mr Babal Jamal, former NDC MP in a fierce contest, to become the first female MP for Akwatia.

Speaking with the GNA as part of the ‘Women’s Profile’ an initiative to highlight women contesting for all public elections, she declared ‘I am coming back like kakai to take the seat.’

Madam Adu-Gyamfi was elected MP on the NPP’s ticket in the 2016 general elections but lost in her re-election bid in the party’s parliamentary primaries to Mr Ernest Kumi, who eventually lost the seat to the NDC in the 2020 elections.

According to her, a lot of consultations had gone on ‘and I have heeded to the call of my people to come back and wrestle the seat for the NPP again.’

She said she was optimistic that this time round the delegates would repeat what happened in the 2016 primaries
to endorse her overwhelmingly to redeem the seat once again for the NPP.

Ama Sey is one of 19 aspirants and three women who have been given the nod to contest the upcoming primaries in six out of eight NPP orphan constituencies in the Eastern Region.

Notable among the aspirants who would be on the ballots on December 2, in the Eastern Region are Mr Pius Hadzide, CEO of the National Youth Authority and Mr Mark Okraku Mante, Deputy tourism minister for Asuogyaman and Ayensuano respectively.

In what has been described as a replay of the 2020 events, Madam Adu-Gyamfi is contesting with Mr Ernest Kumi who defeated her in the primaries in 2020 and one Mr Castro Obeng Dankwa.

The other NPP orphan constituencies in the region where elections would be held to choose parliamentary candidates for the Party, include Afram Plains North and South and Lower-Manya Krobo.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Kate Gyamfuah, the National Women’s Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said the NPP-led Government has brought greater relief to women than any other government in Ghana’s history.

Through its pro-poor policies such as the Free Senior School, Planting for Food and Jobs, Ghana School Feeding Programme and the One District One Factory initiatives, women have received support in diverse ways to improve their livelihoods and well-being.

She, therefore, called on the party faithful, particularly the women, to work harder than before to retain the Government in power for the continuation of its pro-poor policies.

That would benefit the vulnerable and the poor in society by changing their lifestyle and also living decently, Madam Gyamfua told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Friday.

‘Voting for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be a vote for insensitivity, hardship and visionless government,’ she said.

‘Many Ghanaian women who wouldn’t have been able to send their chil
dren to senior high school due to high fees are now saving some money for other economic ventures as a result of the Free SHS’

More than 5,000 women caterers had been employed to provide meals to basic school pupils under the School Feeding Programme, while women farmers had also benefitted from the Planting for Food and Jobs to boost food security and generate sustainable income.

‘Let me urge all women to take advantage of these policies to address issues of malnutrition, hunger and food security in the country’, Madam Gyamfuah said.

On the party’s parliamentary primary, she called on the aspirants to conduct their campaigns peacefully, devoid of insults and name-calling.

‘We all belong to the elephant family so let’s unite and fight for a common goal…, which is victory in 2024.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Tamale South, has called for an increment in the Electoral Commission’s (EC) budgetary allocation of GHS786 million, as captured in the 2024 Budget Statement.

He said the EC’s budgetary allocation of GHS786 million was woefully inadequate and that the electoral body needed adequate resources to conduct the District Assemblies Election this December and the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in December next year.

The Tamale South Lawmaker made the call in his contribution to the ongoing debate on the 2024 Budget on the floor of Parliament in Accra.

‘And Mr Speaker, this is what has been provided for them in the Budget, go and make a case for them, it is not enough.’

Touching on Voters’ Registration by the electoral body, Mr Iddrisu said the Minority had been arguing strongly in the House that the EC should not go on with voter registration without the Guarantor System.

He noted that the EC had been arguing for the use o
f the Ghana Card for Voters’ Registration and that nobody was against the use of the Ghana Card; however, it must be made available and accessible to the extent that every Ghanaian had the Ghana Card, then the Minority would support its usage for Voters’ Registration.

‘Mr Speaker, it is revealed in the just ended limited Voters ‘Registration exercise that 61 per cent of people who registered were from the guarantor system, which meant that 900 thousand were registered, 550,000 would not have been registered, if this House hadn’t insisted that the right thing must be done.’

He noted that without Parliament’s insistence that the right thing must be done, the 550,000 people who had registered through the Guarantor System would have been disenfranchised.

Mr Iddrisu urged the House and the Government to ensure that enough resources were allocated to the EC and the National Identification Authority, the body mandated by law to issue the Ghana Card to Ghanaians.

He appealed to the finance minister to redeem his
promise of allocating adequate resources to the two bodies, so that they could complete the task before them.

Source: Ghana News Agency