Debates of 10 Mar 2005

MR. SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:05 a.m.

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:05 a.m.

STATEMENTS 10:05 a.m.

Mr. Mahama Ayariga (NDC -- Bawku Central) 10:25 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am indeed grateful to have this opportunity to add my voice to the celebration of International Women's Day.
Mr. Mahama Ayariga (NDC -- Bawku Central) 10:35 a.m.
us to reflect on advances in the struggle to improve the conditions of women. It is not important for us to pay mere lip-service to the advancement of the conditions of women. We need to ensure that we carry out the structural reforms that are needed to transform the situation of women in our society.
Mr. Speaker, I wish also to deplore the situation where we seem to be promoting the welfare of women and at the same time taking very subtle measures to destroy women's organisations that in our opinion do not seem politically correct. There are outstanding constitutional obligations regarding the rights of women about which this Parliament, after over 13 years, has not lived up to its obligations.
Mr. Speaker, if we look at article 22 (2) of our Constitution, it imposes an obligation on this Parliament to enact a legislation regulating the property rights of spouses. Of course, “spouses” is gender neutral but the reality is that the fulfilment of this constitutional obligation would go a long way to ameliorate the conditions of women in our society.
Obviously property ownership issues are key in determining power relations between men and women in families. So if after 13 years we have ignored the constitutional obligations that have been imposed on this House to enact a legislation dealing with the property right of spouses, I must say this is a deplorable situation.
I will therefore urge this House to take advantage of the fact that this is the International Women's Day, to take steps to ensure that as a House we fulfil our constitutional obligations to live up to the promise to ensure that we put in place structures that would, in the long-term,
ensure that real empowerment comes to women. Merely appointing a few women to deputy ministerial positions and a very small number to full ministerial positions is not enough.
There are many women out there on a daily basis who have their properties being taken away from them, who have no share in properties that they have worked for so many years with their husbands to create, and yet the law is silent and ignores the sufferings of all such women.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to reiterate our obligations, as a Parliament, to take steps to pass legislation that will correct this historical injustice that women have suffered for far too long.
Mrs. Angelina Baiden-Amissah
(NPP -- Shama): Mr. Speaker, I rise to associate myself with the Statement made by hon. Member for Bantama on the International Women's Day.
Mr. Speaker, the 8th of March has been earmarked by the United Nation (UN) and, in fact, the whole world to celebrate Women's Day, and for the year 2005, the theme was, “Women 2005 -- Building a more Secure Future”. This was proposed by the UN. In Ghana the theme for our celebration was, “Women -- Inspiring Hope and Responsibility”.
Mr. Speaker, this celebration is to recognise the tremendous efforts of women in nation-building. All of us here are aware that without women in the home, the home will be tilting towards a place, which cannot be described. Let a woman leave the home for 3 days and the man goes kicking here and there, not knowing how to take care of the children, not knowing how to take care of the home. This is to tell you that the women are essential in the home. This is the reason why it is said in the Holy Bible that a man shall leave his home, go and take a woman and together stay with her so that there will

be procreation, and at least, the woman can take care of the home.

Mr. Speaker, despite all the efforts that women are putting in nation-building, women are going through a lot of problems. For example, the dual role of women -- women taking up their traditional roles as mothers and as wives and as homemakers in conjunction with working to bring something home to supplement the effort of the husband -- is not easy. At least, those of us women here know that it is not easy doing all these, waking up at 4.00 a.m., putting everything right at home and then starting off to come to work. It is not easy at all and when one comes to work, one has to settle well, take all the files around and work well with them. So you can imagine what women go through. This is the reason why women should be well recognised in society.

Women are very good decision-makers. Men know that they cannot take decisions without their wives; otherwise the decision falls flat. It becomes insipid because the little efforts, the little ideas that the woman will bring, at least, will go to enrich the home so that something good can come out of it. Anytime men decide to do things quietly behind the women, they do not end up well.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to taking care of our children's education, there are a lot of men who are very responsible and who take the chunk in taking care of the education of our children. However, there are a few men who are irresponsible and who will not have any hand in the education of their children and for which reason, it becomes the burden of the woman who bears it quietly without complaining.

Mr. Speaker, apart from these, there

are other challenges facing women, what we call the negative traditional practices, the trokosi, for instance, which we have fought against and which Parliament has also fought against. We have moved to those areas to crush them but some chiefs in some of these areas like Klikor, Bakpa try to justify this negative practice of trokosi by a Greek law.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot imagine women going through this traditional servitude and I pray that in no time, it will come to an end. There was a time we visited a place, in 2003, and by the end of that year, it had come on air that one hundred women had been freed from the trokosi shrine. In 2004, one hundred and twelve were also freed, which means we are making strides.

Mr. Speaker, even the female genital mutilation that we are talking about, I think this must also be taken out from our society because this is not the type of circumcision that men go through; ours is mutilation. I do not think any man would be happy to realize that the labia minora and the labia majora have both been removed -- [Hear! Hear!] -- such that the woman looks clumsy if you want to visit the woman. I expect that all men will join us in this fight.

Mr. Speaker, women are making strides. At least, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEADAW) is doing well in Ghana. Ghana has ratified it and has even ratified its optional protocol. The Beijing Platform for Action is also actually working. We also have the Millennium Development Goals, 2005 talking about gender parity.

It is actually doing well in Ghana, and even “Education for All” is also doing well with us. I believe that all men would join their fellow women to fight against any problem, any menace in society with regard to gender inequality as we celebrate this day. At least, we have women -- The

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) boss is a woman, the Deputy Inspector- General of Police is also a woman; the boss of the Ghana Immigration Service is also a woman.

We also have a lot of women in the media and we have a lot of women in Parliament now. In 2004, we had nineteen; now we have twenty-five women. I believe that in the next Parliament, we would have forty women -- [Hear! Hear!] -- so that we can balance our male counterparts in this Parliament.

As we celebrate our day, I salute all women. I urge all of them to fight hard. The struggle is ours; this is the time to fight. We should not let our husbands take the lead; it is for us to take the lead and fight so that they protect us from behind.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you and I salute all women.
Mr. Speaker 10:35 a.m.
One more contribution.
Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah (NDC -- Ho East) 10:35 a.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to associate myself with the Statement and the contributions made by hon. Members. I do join my Colleagues in congratulating all women all over the world, especially those in Ghana.
God in his own wisdom created us women to remain steadfast and resilient, despite the drudgery and the odds against us. Women all over the world are honoured with the institution of this special day in our honour because, as we all know, no man enters this world except born by a woman. Today, we must say ayekoo to all the millions of hardworking women all over the world, more particularly our own women in Ghana.
Despite the constant drudgery of our
Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah (NDC -- Ho East) 10:35 a.m.


There are myriad of problems that we women have to face today -- low status in our society, poverty, violence against us. We head households and the practices that go against humanity such as widowhood rites, female genital mutilation, maltreatment of househelps and taking advantage of these househelps by our male counterparts.

May I,on this note, urge the Government to try to look more deeply into picking women to head Ministries and to add a little bit more impetus to whatever they do so that we women also can feel part of the national economy.

I am very glad to associate myself with the Statement today and I use this opportunity to congratulate all the ladies of the House. I also urge all women Colleagues of this House to work together towards raising the concerns of our sisters in the country.
PAPERS 10:35 a.m.

MOTIONS 10:45 a.m.

Chairman of the Appointments Committee (Mr. F. W. A. Blay) 10:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwith- standing the provisions of Standing Order 80 (1) which require that no motion shall be debated until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the motion is given and the date on which the motion is moved, the motion for the adoption of the Fifth Report of the Appointments Committee on the President's nominations for deputy ministerial appointments may be moved today.
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 10:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
5th Report of the Appointments Committee on Deputy Ministerial
Appointments
Mr. F. W. A. Blay 10:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House adopts the Fifth Report of the Appointments Committee on the President's nominations for deputy ministerial appointments.
1.0 Introduction
Mr. F. W. A. Blay 10:45 a.m.
i. Hon. E. A. Owusu-Ansah -- Attorney-General's Office
ii. Hon. k. T. Hammond -- Ministry of Energy
iii. Hon. Samuel Owusu-Agyei -- Ministry of Health
iv. Hon. Dr. A. Akoto Osei -- Minis t ry of Finance and Economic Planning
v. H o n . N . E f f a h - D a r t e y -- Ministry of the Interior
vi. H o n . A . O s e i - A d j e i -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
vii. Hon. Theresa A. Tagoe -- Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines
viii. M r. I s s a h K e t e k e w u -- Ministry of Works and Housing
ix. Hon. Shirley A. Botchway -- Ministry of Information
x. Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw -- Minis t ry of Trade and Industry
xi. Hon. Gifty Ohene-Konadu -- Minis t ry of Trade and Industry
xii. M i s s G l o r i a A k u f f o
-- Greater Accra Region
xiii. Hon. Joseph K. Nayan -- Volta Region
By this communication, the President sought the prior approval of this honourable House for the appointments.
1.1 In accordance with Order 172 (2) of the Standing Orders, the Speaker referred the nominations to the Appointments Committee on 17th February, 2005 for consideration and report.
2.0 Reference Documents
The Committee made reference to the underlisted documents during its deliberations:
i. Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992
i i . S t a n d i n g O r d e r s o f the Parliament of Ghana.
3.0 Procedure
Upon the referral, the Committee held preliminary discussions on the nominations and agreed on the procedure to apply. The Committee then published the nominations in the mass media in accordance with Order 172 (3) and formally invited written memoranda from the general public on the suitability, conduct, experience and capability of the nominees. In response, a few memoranda were officially received by the Committee in respect of the nominees.
The nominees appeared before the Committee on 3rd and 4th March and testified, on oath, about issues pertinent to their previous record of office and the positions for which they have been nominated for appointment. Nominees' reactions were also sought on issues raised in any memoranda received, where

necessary.

Finally, in deciding on the nomination, the Committee was guided by the provisions of articles 79 (2) and 94 of the Constitution.

4.0 Observations

4.1 Hon. Emmanuel Asamoa Owusu- Ansah -- Deputy Attorney-General- designate

Hon. Owusu-Ansah told the Committee that he has no sympathy for persons who take the lives of others and therefore expressed support for the imposition of the death penalty on such persons as armed robbers when convicted. As he put it “we must start oiling the gallows and take a few lives”. He argued that when one was jailed for a hundred years, it was as good as taking his life because he is immobilized and cannot do anything. He was quick to add, however, that the generality of world opinion was drifting in a different direction. Hon. Owusu-Ansah also argued he saw nothing wrong with the law on “wilfully causing financial loss to the state” which is at the moment on our statute books.

In the nominee's view, the attraction and retention of lawyers has been the Achilles' heels of the Attorney-General's Department. He was emphatic that public service salary and remuneration are not attractive to keep both senior and junior lawyers at the Department and therefore a second look must be taken at the package. He mentioned realistic book and clothing allowances, among others, as examples to enhance the “take home pay” of State Attorneys.

Hon. Owusu-Ansah, who until recently was the Judicial Secretary and is now the MP for Kwabre West, explained the

circumstances surrounding his resignation from the Judicial Service as Deputy Judicial Secretary and his reappointment later as Judicial Secretary. He admitted the presence of some amount of corruption in the judiciary and lauded the efforts of Parliament to assist in curbing the phenomenon.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.2 Hon. Kobbina Tahir Hammond -- Deputy Minister - designate for Energy

Hon. k. T. Hammond stated that deregulat ion does not mean that Government would shirk its responsibility in ensuring fair pricing in the petroleum industry. He explained that deregulation meant an end to Government's monopoly over the importation of crude oil so as to allow oil marketing companies (OMCs) to compete in the open market. This is meant to free scarce public resources towards the development of other sectors of the economy.

In response to questions on the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the nominee insisted the Corporation strayed into ventures that were outside its lawful mandate notably production of hydro-carbon resources and oil explora- tion. He stated that GNPC engaged in hedging in the international crude oil market and thereby plunged the state into huge debts.

Hon. Hammond noted that the Osagyefo Barge was a nice project but badly executed hence its failure. As a result, a strategic reserve plant was rented to supplement electricity production by the Akosombo dam. He however could not say, readily, how much cost was incurred on the plant.

The nominee denied allegations that the former CEO of VRA Dr. C. Y. Wereko- Brobby was still occupying a government bungalow but intimated that the former CEO was entitled to go home with the official car allocated to him whilst in office in accordance with his conditions of service.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.3 Hon. Samuel Owusu-Agyei -- Deputy Minister-designate for Health

Hon. S. Owusu-Agyei informed the Committee that a great deal of progress has been made in the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) but said there was the need for more education to better inform citizens on the scheme. He said when properly implemented, the NHIS will reduce the burden of healthcare and make services more accessible to the broad majority of people.

Hon. Owusu-Agyei who was a career civil servant stated that he could only advise Government on public policies but did not participate in the politics of decision-making. That notwithstanding, he said it was his duty to ensure the proper implementation of approved government policies and this he had discharged with all diligence while in office.

In response to certain allegations contained in a petition against his appointment, the nominee denied that despite becoming an MP since January this year, he was still drawing salary and allowances (ADHA) from the Ministry of Health (MOH). He told the Committee that, the MOH rather owes him three months' salary; August -- October, 2004 when he terminated his contract with the Ministry to file his nomination for

election.

He added that, he was entitled to purchase the official car that was allocated to him while in office and therefore has sought the necessary approval to do so. He also denied an allegation that he had improperly authorized a private automobile workshop to service MOH vehicles and explained that the Ministry was not obliged to repair its vehicles at any particular workshop and so he could exercise discretion aimed at reducing cost.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.4 Hon. Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei -- Deputy Minister-designate for Finance and Economic Planning

Hon. Dr. A. Akoto Osei declared the 2005 Budget Statement of the Government as pro-poor, given the 40 per cent increment in allocations to poverty alleviation related activities during the year. He admitted though, that the country's current growth rate of 5.8 per cent per annum has not reflected in the pockets of the people because of the unemployment situation which has been difficult to resolve. He expressed the hope that the new strategic pillars of growth branded as the PSIs would boost economic growth and improve the conditions of life of the people.

The nominee, who is an incumbent Deputy Minister for the same portfolio and also MP for Tafo, noted that having reached the HIPC completion point in July 2004, Ghana has qualified for the cancellation of up to US$3.5 billion over the next twenty (20) years. He indicated that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to disburse proceeds of the HIPC fund according to criteria set out.
Mr. F. W. A. Blay 10:45 a.m.


The nominee attributed the persistent delays in the payment of contractors for jobs executed to cumbersome bureaucratic procedures in the public sector; it takes so long for contractors to be paid. He suggested the amendment of the relevant laws to simplify the procedures for payments.

On petroleum deregulation, Dr. Osei said it was to divest the Government of its monopoly in the industry to allow private sector participation. As an intervening measure, a National Petroleum Authority would be established to regulate the industry.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.5 Hon. Capt. Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (rtd.) -- Deputy Minister-designate for for the Interior

Hon. Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey told the Committee that as a former soldier steeped in discipline and also a lawyer, he would strive to instil a sense of professionalism in the various security services under the Ministry by insisting that they operate within the confines of the law. With regard to the conditions at the prisons, the nominee said having tasted life in prison before, he would assist his Minister to take measures to improve conditions at the country's prisons and also that of prisons officers.

On the increasing incidence of armed robbery around the country, hon. Effah- Dartey stated that the police have a duty to arrest armed robbers and assured the Committee that every effort would be made to improve the capacity of the police to deal with the phenomenon.

In response to questions on his role in the operations of the GNPC, hon. Effah-

Dartey said he worked at the GNPC from 1984 to 1994 as a Legal Officer but never attended Board meetings and as such did not take part in decisions about oil and salt exploration. However, he admitted that as one of those who crafted the GNPC law in 1983/84, the definition of petroleum exploration was made very broad and so did not personally see anything wrong with the Board's decision.

Hon. Effah-Dartey, who is also MP for Berekum, refuted a suggestion that he was a “hawk” and would use the Police against his political opponents. He assured the Committee that he would operate within the law and under the direction of his Minister.

He denied media reports that he had been involved in visa racketeering and said he had instructed his lawyers to sue the publishers of the said story -- The Ghanaian Chronicle. He explained the circumstances that led to his discharge from the Ghana Army.

The Committee recommends him to the House by consensus for approval.

4.6 Hon. Akwasi Osei-Adjei -- Deputy Minister-designate for Foreign Affairs

Hon. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, MP for Ejisu- Juaben, told the Committee that during his tenure at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, he succeeded in introducing the “National Friday Wear” initiative which also applied to all Ghana Missions abroad and also vigorously promoted the use of “made in Ghana” products.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he is the incumbent, he recounted his achievements as the promotion of economic diplomacy as an integral part of their activities and the use of Ghana made furniture in furnishing Ambassadors' residences.

He informed the Committee that he has submitted proposals to his Minister to the

effect that the Ministry divest itself from the management of its assets and contract such services to a professional group. He argued that such an arrangement would build capacity and ensure efficiency in comparison with their management of same by officers of the Foreign Service.

On Ghana's delayed response to the recent political developments in Togo, the nominee maintained that the Government adopted a measured approach within the framework of ECOWAS and this has subsequently brought some normalcy to Togo. He assured the Committee that the protection of the welfare of all Ghanaians resident abroad regardless of their status was of paramount interest to the Ministry. He indicated that consultations were underway with Libyan authorities on the safe repatriation of stranded Ghanaians. The nominee also intimated that the Ministry has intervened whenever necessary to caution foreign diplomats against abusing the rights of Ghanaian employees.

In response to a question on the career progression of Foreign Service Officers, especially to the ambassadorial level, hon. Osei-Adjei contended that although it was not the case that all career officers who rise to the A1 position in the service must necessarily be appointed as Ambassadors, it is important that a reasonable number of them be considered for such positions to encourage them to give their best to the service. He agreed to a suggestion that a policy be formulated to enable the country take advantage of the exodus of certain professionals to the advanced economies of the world.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.7 Mr. Issah Ketekewu -- Deputy Minister-designate for Works and

Housing

Mr. Issah Ketekewu, who is an incumbent Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, told the Committee that the decentralization programme which commenced in 1988 has achieved a great deal since 2001. Citing some of its achievements, he mentioned the establishment of a secretariat for the programme as well as a Presidential Advisory Committee to advise the President on matters concerning decentralization and the best way forward. He was quick to add, however, that more could be done to improve upon the system, especially in the area of revenue mobilization by the District Assemblies.

Regarding his own ideas for promoting housing delivery, the nominee said the Ministry already has a programme and that he would assist in the implementation of these programmes to increase the delivery of affordable houses to workers. He drew attention to the fact that the Ministry had a wider role to play aside the provision of affordable houses and therefore would assist his Minister to implement the policies of the Ministry.

In the opinion of Mr. Ketekewu, people from the Northern Region themselves were best positioned to find solutions to the internecine conflicts afflicting the Region, especially with the involvement of their Members of Parliament.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.8 Hon. Theresa Ameley Tagoe -- Deputy Minister-designate for Lands, Forestry and Mines

Hon. Theresa Tagoe, MP for Ablekuma South, informed the Committee that an Urban Afforestation Programme was being implemented by the Ministry where
Mr. F. W. A. Blay 10:45 a.m.


she happens to be an incumbent Deputy Minister. She noted that about 17,000 hectares of land had been developed under the NPP Administration and that an afforestation programme has been embarked upon with the support of the HIPC Fund at Weija, Dansoman and other areas in the Accra-Tema metropolis. She stressed the critical need for intensified public education on the benefits of trees to human existence. She expressed the view that irrigation schemes would promote green vegetation in the Northern Sector.

On women's access to lands for productive activities, she told the Committee that the Ministry was implementing comprehensive prog- rammes on land reforms and adequate provision would be made to ensure that women also own lands to facilitate their economic empowerment. In this regard, she said that steps were being taken to educate traditional rulers to allow women to own lands. The nominee informed members that she had received several awards for her gender activism.

The Committee recommends her nomination to the House by consensus for approval. 4.9 Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway -- Deputy Minister-designate for Information

Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway expressed the view that the existence of the Ministry of Information was critical in any developing democracy for the purpose of disseminating information on Government's programmes and policies and receiving vital feedbacks from the public. This would enable the public to properly and continually assess the performance of the Government. She added that, with the consent of her Minister, she will collaborate with gender advocacy groups to promote the

understanding of government policies by women groups.

The nominee, who is also the MP for Weija, indicated that the National Media Commission (NMC) had performed well so far but she would support any effort at re-examining its mandate in order to sharpen its teeth in the enforcement of its decisions. Asked of her opinion on the “Wahala” demonstration, she said that the demonstrators had the constitutional right to express themselves by “taking to the streets”. On whether marital rape exists in the Ghanaian cultural milieu, hon. Botchway said she believes that the phenomenon exists. However, she does not see it in the light of only men being the perpetrators but also possible the other way round.

The Committee recommends her nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.10 Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw -- Deputy Minister-designate for Trade and Industry

Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw expressed the view that Ghana and Africa at large need better terms of trade with the advanced economies rather than reliance on aid as a means for her development from donor countries. He told the Committee that he would work within the policy framework of the Ministry to assist rural folks to establish small-scale enterprises and thereby stem their migration to the urban centres in search for jobs. The nominee, who is also the MP for Asuogyaman, further assured the Committee that he would give the banana plantations in his constituency all the support required to boost production and marketing of their produce.

Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, who had been resident in Australia for over two

decades, informed the Committee that he had renounced his Australian citizenship since June 2003. He said he left his lucrative job in Australia to enable him return home to serve his people and country. He convincingly denied an allegation in a petition that he fired a warning shot during the 2004 electoral campaign in his constituency following which he was invited by the Police for interrogation.

The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.11 Hon. Gifty Ohene-Konadu -- Deputy Minister-designate for Trade and Industry

Hon. Mrs. Gifty Ohene-Konadu expressed her desire to promote women entrepreneurs in the country when approved. She mentioned as her utmost priority, the education of women folks on the Ministry's recently launched trade policy to enable them tap available opportunities contained therein. She assured the Committee that she would take steps to educate women on the right procedures in accessing credit facilities to expand their businesses as well as assist them to find market for their goods.

As a gender expert, the nominee intimated that she would bring her expertise to bear on the cause of women traders in the country within the framework of the Government's trade policy. She expressed the view that it was necessary to educate commercial sex workers on the dangers of their trade so as to discourage them.

The Committee recommends her nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.12 Miss Gloria Akuffo -- Deputy Minister-designate for Greater Accra Region

Miss Gloria Akuffo told the Committee that as an incumbent Deputy Attorney- General, she could not personally take all the credit for their achievements since they are due to team work rather than individualism. She noted her direct contribution to the maintenance of national security.

The nominee said she personally had no plans for the development of the Greater Accra Region but she would work with the provisions of the Constitution to develop the Region. She suggested that Government returns to the people lands acquired for national development but which have not been developed over time whilst the people have need for them. She stressed the need for effectiveness in the operations of District Assemblies for the success of government policies.

Miss Akuffo assured the Committee in response to a concern raised that despite her high educational standing, she was humble in disposition and therefore could assist her Regional Minister in any way required of her.

The Committee recommends her nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

4.13 Hon. Joseph Kwaku Nayan -- Deputy Minister-designate for Volta Region

Hon. J. K. Nayan, MP for Nkwanta North, acknowledged the crises in the Volta Region and assured the Committee that when approved he would work with the Minister to ensure that peace prevails in the Region. He however noted that a committee had been put in place to resolve the numerous disputes in the region.

The nominee indicated his preparedness to work with the Minister to bring about development in the region.
Mr. F. W. A. Blay 10:45 a.m.


The Committee recommends his nomination to the House by consensus for approval.

5.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

The Committee has dutifully per- formed its function under the Standing Orders of the House and in accordance with the Constitution in respect of the nominees in question, namely:

i. Hon. E. A. Owusu-Ansah -- Attorney-General's Office

i i . Hon. k. T. Hammond -- Ministry of Energy

iii. Hon. Samuel Owusu-Agyei -- Ministry of Health

iv. Hon. Dr. A. Akoto Osei -- Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning

v. Hon. N. Effah-Dar tey -- Ministry of the Interior

v i . H o n . A . O s e i - A d j e i -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs

vii. Hon. Theresa A. Tagoe -- Minis t ry of Lands, Forestry and Mines

v i i i . M r. I s s a h K e t e k e w u -- Ministry of Works and Housing

ix. Hon. Shirley A. Botchway -- Ministry of Information

x. Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw -- Ministry of Trade and Industry

xi. Hon. Gifty Ohene-Konadu -- Ministry of Trade and

Industry

xii. Miss Gloria Akuffo -- Greater Accra Region

xiii. Hon. Joseph K. Nayan -- Volta Region

Having fully met the requirements of the Constitution in full therefore, the Committee hereby recommends their nominations, by consensus, to this honourable House for approval.

Respectfully submitted.
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 10:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and to say briefly that each of the nominees impressed the Committee as fit and qualified to hold the position for which he or she is designated. I therefore urge all Members to support the motion.
Question proposed.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu (NDC -- Tamale South) 10:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to associate myself with the motion for the approval of the Deputy Ministers of State.
Mr. Speaker, the basis of the parliamentary approval process as provided in article 78 and subsequent on the Supreme Court ruling in J. H. Mensah versus Attorney-General, raises very serious matters for this House; and I am saying this in respect of hon. Ms. Ayorkor Botchway.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:45 a.m.
On a
point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think that my Colleague is misleading the House. When we say a judge in his or her own court, it means that, that person takes part in determining issues affecting him or her. Now, under our procedures, a nominee who is also a member of the Committee does not take part in the determination of her case; or after being examined she vacates her place. When the decision is being taken he or she is not present. So it is completely untrue for anyone to say that a member of the Committee was a judge in his or her own cause. That is completely untrue.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 10:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs, hon. Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo, Mr. Speaker, we have seen instances where some de-selected Deputy Ministers of State -- because there is a vacuum in our Constitution -- there is no limit as to what number the President may appoint as Ministers of State and there is the tendency for some Deputy Ministers to be holding themselves out in an acting capacity on the basis of the vacuum in the provisions of our Constitution.
I think that, Mr. Speaker, it is about time that this House legislated on that particular issue of what constitutes reasonable time. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court, without wanting to interfere with the processes of the Legislature, said that that must be a matter to be determined by Parliament itself.
Unfortunately, over the years we have not determined it. In 2008, if the current ruling Government loses the election, as they are likely to, there will be a serious challenge to the transitional process even as we witnessed in 2000 because of this vacuum in our Constitution. So what is
reasonable time ought to be determined by this House.
On that note, Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Ministers of State, and specifically hon. Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Minister-designate for Works and Housing, and also hon. Shirley A. Botchway and my very good Friend, hon. Dr. Akoto Osei. I do hope that in the immediate future, as he inputs into the drafting of the Budget, he would reduce the incidence of wahala.
Mr. Henry Ford Kamel (NDC -- Buem) 10:55 a.m.
I want to support the motion and to associate myself with some of the interventions made.
In the first place, I want to thank the Appointments Committee; I think they did a wonderful job and we need to congratulate them. The honourable personalities who have received the nod from the Appointments Committee, I think, also deserve our commendation. Some of us watched them on television and I think that they were outstanding in the way they responded to critical issues.
I also want to congratulate hon. K. T. Hammond, Deputy Minister- designate for Energy. I think that one appeal that I would want to put in his court is to look at the single-phase system that pertains to electricity. Those of us in the rural communities, I think that we have a lot of investment potentials but one constraining factor is the single phase system that has been put in place. This is not helping to improve the socio-economic activities in our constituencies. We would therefore like the Ministry to take a serious look at this so that they can step up the phase system in order to promote the economic potentials in our constituencies.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho (NDC -- Avenor-Ave) 10:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, this is a Report from the Committee and they are recom-mending that we should approve it by consensus. Mr. Speaker, I rise to
Mr. Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Chairman of Appoint- ments Committee, are you prepared to wind up?
Mr. F. W. A. Blay 10:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, from all indications, hon. Members are all for it. For that reason I thank you and all hon. Members and I will therefore take my seat and wish that the Question be put.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
Mr. Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Hon. Members, in accordance with article 79 (1) of the Constitution, this House has given approval to the nomination of the following persons as Deputy Ministers:
i. Hon. E. A. Owusu-Ansah -- Attorney-General's
Mr. Speaker 10:55 a.m.


Office

ii. Hon. k. T. Hammond -- Ministry of Energy

iii. Hon. Samuel Owusu-Agyei -- Ministry of Health

iv. Hon. Dr. A. Akoto Osei -- Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning

v. Hon. N. Effah-Dartey -- Ministry of the Interior

vi. Hon. A. Osei-Adjei -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs

vii. Hon. Theresa A. Tagoe -- Min i s t ry o f Lands , Forestry and Mines

viii. Mr. Issah Ketekewu -- Ministry of Works and Housing

ix. Hon. Shirley A. Botchway -- Ministry of Information

x. Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw -- Ministry of Trade and Industry

xi. Hon. Gifty Ohene-Konadu -- Minis t ry of Trade and Industry

vii. Miss Gloria Akuffo -- Greater Accra Region

xiii. Hon. Joseph K. Nayan -- Volta Region

I shall accordingly inform His Excellency the President.
Mr. Blay 10:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would also crave your indulgence that members of the Appointments Committee be informed that we are ready to continue with our public hearings so they could join us right
now in your conference room.
Mr. Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Members of the Appointments Committee, would you be kind enough to follow your Chairman.
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 10:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, we are not ready with item number 7 so we can take item 8 and have the item 7 stood down.
CONSIDERATION OF ANNUAL 10:55 a.m.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo) 11:05 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct honour, for the second time, to present for approval to this august House, the Parliament of our Republic, the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, in the discharge of its statutory obligation of conducting Ghana's foreign relations in the supreme interest of the nation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is given a total budgetary allocation of four hundred and seventy-four billion, one hundred and sixty-two million cedis (¢474,162,000,000.00) in the fiscal year
2004.
This figure, which represented a forty-eight per cent cut in the Ministry's original request of ¢924,930,202,770.00 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning imposed severe constraints on the Ministry's ability to meet its objectives.

The Ministry suffered a further major setback in its operations when funds approved under Items 2, 3 and 4 were cut by twenty-five per cent by the end of the second quarter with Item 2 subjected to further cuts during the fourth quarter. These financial constraints notwith- standing, the Ministry was able to carry out some of its programmed activities, including the opening of the Madrid and Dakar Missions as well as the Malabo Consulate General.

The Ministry was also able to recruit twenty-four officers in the Secretarial and Executive classes during the preceding year. The Ministry's recruitment in the Administrative class could, however, not be carried out last year but will be pursued vigorously this year to improve the human resource base of the Ministry. The Ministry also carried out training programmes for Accounting Officers at headquarters and in our Diplomatic Missions abroad.

Mr. Speaker, I am also happy to report that the Ministry was able to undertake major rehabilitation projects at its headquarters buildings as well as at the Lome and Cotonou Missions. Funds were also released by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from Special Collections Accounts operated by the London Mission for the purchase of the University of Ghana property located at 35 Chartley Avenue for the use of the staff of the Mission and the rehabilitation of the State Lodge at Ellis Avenue in Kumasi meant to accommodate foreign dignitaries travelling to Kumasi.

In addition, funds were transferred to our Missions in Freetown and Tripoli for the purchase of the Head of Mission's Residence and Chancery building respectively. An amount of two billion cedis was released as well for the continuation of the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) building project.
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo) 11:05 a.m.


In pursuit of the Government's policy of economic diplomacy, the Ministry supported the trade and investment efforts of Missions through the promotion of some made-in-Ghana products. In addition, the Ministry participated in trade exhibitions in Japan, United Kingdom, Cuba and The Netherlands, among others. It also hosted and participated in several international conferences and reactivated a number of Joint Commissions for Co-operation such as those with Brazil, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, South Africa and Mauritius.

The Ministry also played a positive role in the many multinational organisations like the United Nations (UN), the Africa Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Non Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Commonwealth to which Ghana belongs.

In terms of the provision of consular and protocol services, the Ministry and its Missions extended these services to Ghanaian officials on overseas assignments. Welfare services were also extended to Ghanaian travellers as well as residents abroad. As an important generator of income, the Passport Office and our Diplomatic Missions abroad generated revenue to the tune of ¢18,855,834,000.00 and ¢179,136,-700,000.00 respectively in 2004.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recall that when I presented the Ministry's 2004 Budget Estimates last year, we proposed certain measures aimed at stabilising the emoluments of officers in our Missions which continued to depreciate in value due to the falling US dollar and exchange rate fluctuations. I am pleased to inform hon. Members that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has, on the recommendation of the Committee which worked on our proposal, granted approval for Missions to receive their remittances
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo) 11:15 a.m.
2005 Fiscal Year
Mr. Speaker, against this background, it is evident that, given the required resources, the Ministry and its Diplomatic Missions are capable of accomplishing most of their objectives for the enhancement of the lives of our people.
As the foremost state institution responsible for the smooth and effective implementation of the foreign policy of Ghana in accordance with our Constitution, and as determined from time to time by the President of the Republic, the Ministry and its forty-eight Missions in 2005 -- it is Government's intention to re-open our Missions in Kenya and Australia -- will require resources in excess of the approved amount of ¢511,727,-000,000.00.
In this regard, the Ministry originally submitted a request for ¢710,117,- 000,000.00 to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as its most realistic budget requirements for the 2005 fiscal year. At a preliminary session with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Ministry was advised to revise the estimates downwards in view of constraints on Government resources. In response to this advice the Ministry readjusted its priorities and came up with a figure of ¢617,117,000,000.00 as the minimum required for its operations at home and in the Missions. This figure was, however, further slashed to ¢511,727,000,000.00. The Ministry's original request was formulated on the basis of putting in a little more resources for the efficient implementation of its programmes. Mr. Speaker, it is pertinent at this point to emphasise that the Ministry's planned activities will only be brought to fruition if the necessary financial support
is provided.
Item 1: Personal Emoluments
Regarding the Ministry's budget estimates under Item 1, I wish to state that we requested an amount of ¢298,012,000.00. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, however, allocated the Ministry ¢270,000,-000,000.00. The Ministry's request is attributable in part to the planned opening of the Canberra and Nairobi Missions as well as the proposal to increase the salaries of officers serving in our Missions abroad by twenty-five per cent. This request has become necessary because the salaries of officers have remained the same for the last eighteen years in spite of global inflation, which has led naturally to the unfortunate lowering of morale in this important public service. We need to reverse that development.
Other new elements reflected in the Ministry's request are plans to recruit ninety-one (91) persons of all grades to fill existing vacancies. The proposed recruitment exercise has become necessary in view of the fact that out of the Ministry's approved staff establishment of 843, our manpower strength as at 31st December, 2004 was only 431. This figure constitutes only 51 per cent of the Ministry's approved staff establishment and it seriously undermines its capacity to execute its programme of activities.
Item 2: Administration
Concerning Administration Expenses, the Ministry will require an amount of ¢174,000,000,000.00 in order to operate efficiently. Most of the expenses in respect of Item 2 which include payment for utilities, office sanitation, office consumables, printing and publications, rent, travel, maintenance, insurance and financial and bank charges are fixed and cannot be readily reduced. The Ministry
is therefore obliged to honour these bills. The implications of the reduction in the Ministry's requirements are therefore pretty obvious.
The Ministry will, in the circumstances, be grateful for additional funds in order to avoid the repetition of past experiences when Missions, due to severe financial constraints, had their telephone lines disconnected and others subjected to threats of ejection from their rented premises. Such incidents do not reflect creditably on our nation, the Black Star of Africa.

Therefore, for fiscal year 2005, it is also extremely important that resources under Item 2 are not cut, as was the case in 2004, to enable the Ministry meet all its contractual obligations.

Item 3: Service Activity

Mr. Speaker, the appropriation of ¢11,777,000,000.00 as approved by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning falls severely short of the Ministry's original request for an amount of ¢35,105,000,000.00 for its Service activities. I wish to remind the august House that the Ministry's planned activities under Item 3, focus, to a large extent, on the Government's policy on economic diplomacy. Together with our Missions, the Ministry proposes to intensify our trade, tourism and investment programmes in 2005. To do this, the capacity of our Missions needs to be strengthened through improved logistics and information technology. These important objectives can, however, only be achieved when the necessary funds are released.

Mr. Speaker, considering the enormous cost involved in meeting these tasks, the recommended appropriation of ¢11,777,000,000.00 which is less than
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo) 11:15 a.m.


the amount of ¢14,252,525,240.95 spent in 2004 by our Missions alone is clearly inadequate. In order to operate efficiently, the Ministry will require additional funds to the tune of ¢23,328,000,000.00 for its Services activities in 2005.

Item 4: Investment Expenses

The Ministry originally requested ¢203,000,000,000.00 for its Investment activities. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has, however, cut this figure to ¢86,731,000,000.00. Our Investment budget was designed to enable us to complete among others the LECIA building project, implement our planned property acquisition programmes in Cairo, Bamako and Riyadh, to mention only a few, replace old and unserviceable vehicles in most of our Missions and also carry out rehabilitation programmes in the Ministry, the Adu Lodge as well as some of our Missions in New York, Washington, Japan, London, Pretoria and Rome. The Ministry also proposes to rent properties to house the new Canberra and Nairobi Missions.

Mr. Speaker, to enable us pursue our policy of phased acquisition of landed properties abroad and also provide furnishing and equipment for the Ministry and some of its Missions, it is very important that adequate funds are made available to the Ministry.

Legon Centre for International Affairs

(LECIA)

Mr. Speaker, as you may be aware, a decision was taken almost a decade ago to establish the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) at the University of Ghana for the formal training of the staff of the Ministry. The Ministry had previously depended heavily on external institutions for the formal training of its staff.

In 1999, the Ministry submitted proposals to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to commence the construction of a permanent building for the Centre. The estimated cost of the project then was three billion cedis and it was expected to be completed by December, 2004.

LECIA is now an established and leading institution for the study of international affairs in Ghana and yet it is still being housed in a building belonging to the School of Administration. The cost of construction has gone up and it is now estimated that it will cost approximately another twelve billion cedis to complete the project. To enable the Centre move into a permanent location latest by December, 2006, it is recommended that the amount of ¢12 billion be urgently released for the completion of work on the building project.

LECIA has also requested two vehicles at a cost of ¢1.3 billion to enable it commence a national outreach programme through research into conflict situations in the country. The Ministry will appreciate a favourable consideration of the Centre's request.

All African Students Union

The All African Students Union (AASU) is the Ministry's second subvented organization. As indicated in my presentation to the House last year, AASU is currently in temporary premises and is in dire need of permanent accommodation and a vehicle.

To ensure that Ghana continues to host the AASU, it is important that every effort is made to provide permanent accom- modation for the organization and also procure a vehicle for the Union.
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo) 11:15 a.m.


Burglary in the Tripoli Mission

Mr. Speaker, as the House will recall, during our budget presentation last year, I indicated that Government had agreed to refund 50 per cent of the monies some of our compatriots had lost through burglary at the Ghana Embassy in Tripoli, Libya. I am pleased to inform you that Government has released an amount of US$150,000.00 to the Ministry for disbursement to the victims. Accordingly, those who have produced the appropriate receipts and identification documents have started collecting their monies which represent about one-third of what they had lost. Conclusion

Mr. Speaker, it is my intention to continue the dialogue with our affable new Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, my good Friend, the Member for Asante Akim North, to ensure that the shortfalls in the Ministry's budget, which in the name of transparency I have been constrained to lay bare here, are made up in the course of the year. He has given me the necessary assurances which will be realised when circumstances permit under his management of the national economy. I am confident that he will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, the Member for Akyem Oda, who made it possible in fisical year 2003 for this House to approve a supplementary budget to strengthen the financial base of the Ministry.

The call for adequate resources to finance the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs comes at a most opportune moment.

Ghana's contribution to the search for peace in our region in the last two years, which saw the President of the Republic chairing the affairs of ECOWAS, has been very positive and well received both by our

neighbours and the wider inter-national community. The successful efforts to bring peace to the conflict-ridden nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea Bissau have been inspired in considerable part by the ability of Ghana to serve as an honest broker whom all sides to the conflicts could readily trust, for our nation has no territorial or other interests in the affairs of our neighbours other than the promotion of peace, stability and democratic growth in West Africa. it is an enviable reputation which we should strive jealously to guard.

Even though the collective efforts of ECOWAS to bring peace have not, however, fully succeeded in the case of la Cote d'Ivoire, our nation continues to be strongly involved in the collective attempt to find a lasting solution to the resolution of the Ivorian crisis. Our ability to work within the confines of ECOWAS has again borne fruit in our next door neighbour of Togo, which has heeded the firm voice of ECOWAS, retreated from an unnecessary crisis and is now happily undergoing a peaceful transition from the Eyadema era to hopefully the new democratic Togo.

We will continue our engagement so that West Africa, indeed all of Africa, comes to embrace fully the values of democratic accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law which are fortunately today, after many wrong turnings, the bedrock of our own body politic.

Indeed, it is this evolution over the last decade in the 4th Republic, which has seen our nation emerge as a viable democracy, that has enhanced immeasurably our status in the comity of nations. I daresay that not since the heady days of our early independence has the image of our nation been greater, and I am proud to say in all modesty that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has played its part in this welcome development.

It is for that reason that I know that this House will stand by the Ministry and
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo) 11:15 a.m.


ensure that adequate funds are provided for the operation of the Ministry to enable the Ministry discharge its statutory responsibility of implementing effectively Ghana's foreign policy.

I take this opportunity to thank once again the Chairperson and Members of the House's Select Committee on Foreign Affairs for their consistent show of solidarity with the Ministry as eloquently demonstrated in their Report.

Mr. Speaker, I beg to move that this House approves the sum of ¢511,727,- 000,000.00 for the operation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the 2005 fiscal year.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Kwabena A. Okerchiri) 11:25 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and in so doing present the Report of the Committee.
1.0 Introduction
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, in accordance with article 179 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana presented the Budget Statement and the Financial Policy of the Government for the year ending 31st December 2005 to Parliament on Thursday, 24th February 2005. Consequent upon this, the 2005 Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stood referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs for consideration and report, pursuant to article 103 of the Constitution and Standing Orders 140 (4) and 183.
The Committee in considering the referral, invited the following:
(i) The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, hon. Osei-Adjei;
(ii) The Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Departmental Heads
of the Ministry;
(iii) Representatives of the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA); and
(iv) Representatives of the All African Students Union
(AASU).
The Committee acknowledges their
representation and is grateful for their co-operation.
2.0 Reference Documents
The Committee in its deliberations was guided by the following documents:
(i) The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
(ii) The Standing Orders of the
House.
(iii) The 2005 Budget Statement and Financial Policy of the Government.
( i v ) T h e D r a f t 2 0 0 5
Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
3.0 Mission Statement
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs exists
primarily to promote the interests of Ghana and its citizens abroad and to enhance Ghana's security and prosperity through:
Promoting friendly relations and economic co-operation between Ghana and other countries and Ghana's image abroad.
Promoting Ghanaian exports, foreign investments, tourism and seeking scientific, technological and cultural links between Ghana and other states.
Provision of economic, political and security information and advice to
Government.
Provision of Consular Services.
Playing a positive and creative role as a member of the United Nations (U.N.), the Commonwealth African Union and other international organsations to which Ghana belongs.
Upholding the rule of law in international affairs and seeking the establishment of a just and equitable international order. Provision of supportive services to relevant MDAs and NGOs in their work.
Assisting the Diplomatic Missions, international organiza-tions and foreign NGOs in the discharge of their duties in Ghana. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeks to carry out the foregoing through a dedicated, efficient, knowledgeable and patriotic staff.
4.0. Objectives of the Ministry
The Ministry hopes to realize its mission statement through the following set of objectives:
(i) To promote and protect the interests of Ghana.
(ii) To provide efficient and effective consular services within and outside Ghana.
( i i i ) To promote favourable cond i t ions fo r Ghana's trade, foreign investments, tourism and to seek scientific, technological and cultural co- operation with other countries and institutions.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Kwabena A. Okerchiri) 11:25 a.m.


(iv) To promote fruitful political and economic relations with all countries, especially Ghana's neighbouring countries in the interest of peace, stability and economic development.

(v) To play a positive and creative role in international orga- nizations to which Ghana belongs.

(vi) To upgrade the Ministry's human and inst i tut ional capacity for the efficient execution of Ghana's foreign policy objectives.

5.0 Deliberations

5 . 1 R e v i e w o f t h e M i n i s t r y 's Perfor- mance in 2004

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was allocated the sum of four hundred and seventy-four billion, one hundred and sixty-two million cedis (¢474,162,000,- 000.00) for its activities in the year 2004. However, in the course of the year, the Ministry had its allocation reduced by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning thus affecting its operations adversely. For instance, Items 2, 3 and 4 were cut by twenty-five per cent by the end of the second quarter.

The above financial constraints notwithstanding, the Ministry was able to carry out the following objectives and programmes in 2004:

The opening of Missions in Madrid, Dakar and Malabo.

The purchase of a Chancery building in Tripoli.

The rehabilitation and plumbing works of the Ministry's building.

The purchase of the University of Ghana's property located at Chartley Avenue in London.

Rehabilitation of the Chancery building in London.

Furnishing of the Chancery and Officers' residence in the Lome Mission.

Purchase of a building to house the Freetown Head of Mission.

Continuation of the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) building project.

Contributed towards the promotion of good democratic governance by helping in the brokering of peace in La Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It also engaged the international community to resolve various crises.

Hosting and participation in several international conferences and the reactivation of a number of Joint Commissions for co-operation, such as Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and Libya.

The Committee however noted that the

Ministry's ability to operate effectively in 2004 was severely curtailed by reductions in its 2004 budget.

6 .0 Expend i ture Es t imates o f the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Year 2005 (Heads 320-323)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was allocated a budgetary sum of five hundred

and eleven billion, seven hundred and twenty-seven million cedis (¢511,727,- 000,000) out of a requested sum of seven hundred and ten billion, one hundred and seventeen million cedis (¢710,117,000,- 000) for the year 2005.

The amount approved by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MFEP) for the year 2005 for the Ministry represents a shortfall of thirty-nine per cent of their budgetary requirement. The Ministry's original request was designed to be used among others, for the maintenance of government buildings, equipment, the rising cost of rent, medical care, utility and telecommunications bills, purchase some landed properties for the Mission and to pursue a vigorous investment drive to win investments for Ghana.

Table (1) shows the breakdown of the Ministry's budgetary allocation.

ITEM MINISTRY'S REQUESTS
MOF ALLOCATION VARIANCE 11:25 a.m.

Alhaji Sumani Abukari (NDC -- Tamale North) 11:25 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was just debating within myself whether I should stand up and say anything at all. Because in his usual manner the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South has said everything that should be said -- very, very comprehensive and very detailed. But I still have to say a few sentences.
Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning still realizes the importance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the most important Ministries in this country and I hope that officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning who are here, especially the hon. Member for Old Tafo, Dr. Akoto Osei, are listening attentively. It is unpardonable for an important Ministry such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have its budget slashed down by as much as 40 per cent. I think that it is unrealistic.
Mr. Speaker, this is a Ministry that serves all Ministries including the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. All the assistance we get from outside, all the businessmen who come here, the tourists who come here, I will say come as a result of the hard work of the very poorly paid officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, I think that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should do better than that and allocate some of its HIPC resources to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make up for the shortfall. It is true that we are known for our very poor
Lodge
(vii) Renting of properties for the Missions in Canberra and Nairobi.
The Committee noted that the work of the Ministry, its Missions and subvented organisations would be seriously hampered if the full complement of its budget is not allocated to it. To this end, the Committee wishes to recommend to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be authorised to retain a percentage of the Special Collection Fund to augment its budget allocation.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should consider sourcing a loan for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enable its Missions abroad acquire and to rehabilitate landed properties.
The Committee noted with satisfaction that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has granted approval for its Missions to receive their remittances in the six (6) major currencies, namely: Pound Sterling, US Dollar, Yen, CFA, Swiss Franc and the Euro so as to preserve their value, effective January 2005.
8 . 0 L e g o n C e n t r e f o r International Affairs (LECIA)
The Committee took serious view of the delay in the completion of the LECIA building project. The Committee suggests that the sector Ministry ensures the completion of the project this year. It therefore urges the Ministry to ensure that the projected amount of twelve billion cedis (¢12,000,000,000) be made available to LECIA. This becomes more apparent when one considers the fact that since the start of the building project construction cost has risen from three billion cedis (¢3,000,000,000) to thirty
Alhaji Sumani Abukari (NDC -- Tamale North) 11:25 a.m.


maintenance culture in this country. If you look at page 10, under Investments, there is a list of seven areas that need urgent rehabilitation attention by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and that budget is slashed down by as much as 57 per cent.

Mr. Speaker, if you see some of our properties outside and the conditions in which they are, people start wondering whether the Ghana they hear of is the Ghana which owns those properties. Mr. Speaker, all these give us very poor image outside. If somebody were to go to the Consulate of Ghana in Riyadh he would see the very poor leaking roofs and even ceilings dripping with water and all that. If I am a businessman and I see this of your Consulate, I will not come to your country, it is as simple as that. The business that I am going to bring there, I will take it to another place. So Mr. Speaker, as I said, I hope they will make up by giving some of the HIPC resources to the Ministry to carry on its programmes.

Mr. Speaker, I would also want to speak on the emoluments of the officials of that Ministry. I had the privilege of serving that place and my salary and allowances as an ambassador were lower than the salary and allowance of the Third Secretary of the Nigerian Embassy. In fact, the Ambassador of Togo and his First Secretary were better paid than me.

Mr. Speaker, these are the real conditions in which our officers there work, even though people here seem to have different impressions. Out there, we do not spend cedis; we spend dollars. So people translate the dollars into cedis and say that these people are very highly paid when on the contrary we are among the least paid officers in the diplomatic circles.

Mr. Speaker, on this note, I want to call on the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs

and his officials to go on with the good job they are doing. Some of us who know the good works they are doing are proud of them and I think that they ought to blow their trumpet a little more than they are doing, because if they do not do it, nobody will do it for them. But particularly I want the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to take note of the work that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does for that Ministry and all other Ministries and give them more than what they have asked for.

Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei): Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion moved by my senior Colleague, hon. Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo. I also sympathize with our former ambassador to Riyadh. I just want to assure him that I will make a case for his re-nomination to an ambassadorial position -- [Laughter.] Mr. Speaker, I want to assure him that even last night, I left my office after 9.00 p.m. for two reasons; it was all related to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I was on the phone to our ambassador to Israel as well as our ambassador to Japan, trying to solve some of the problems that they are experiencing.

Mr. Speaker, I have a sibling who happens to be an employee of the Ministry for almost 30 years. I do understand the difficulties the Ministry faces. But I want to correct the concept of “slashing” that is embedded in the Committee's Report. Every year, Ministries, Departments and Agencies make requests on the basis of what they perceive to be their needs. Mr. Speaker, every country has an economic constraint so we base it on the projections that are available and Cabinet in its wisdom is the final arbiter.

The notion that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning slashes a Ministry's budget is patently false. The decisions are made; we are the implementers; and this is true for every Ministry and not only the Ministry of
rose
Mr. Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minority
Leader, do you have a point of order to raise?
Mr. Adjaho 11:25 a.m.
Yes, I am not clear as to what the hon. Deputy Minister is saying because we just heard the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs lamenting. Is he a member of Cabinet? I am asking the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, this is not a point of order. Let him continue.
Dr. Osei 11:25 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my senior Colleague and my hon. Friend from Tamale North that we will do everything in our powers to ensure that if and when sufficient funds are available, we will, as required by the Constitution, come back to this august House to make a request for additional moneys for their investment expenditure.
As somebody who tends to travel a lot, I do appreciate the jobs they do for us when we travel around to their various missions and we are always looking for ways to assist. I remember one time we were going through London and we could not even call the High Commissioner to come and pick us up because their phones had been disconnected and we had to call Accra to send moneys there. So Mr. Speaker, I just want to support the motion moved by hon. Nana Akuffo-Addo; and he has our best sympathies.
Alhaji Seidu Amadu (NDC -- Yapei- Kusawgu) 11:35 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion to approve the Budget
Estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Speaker, in doing so, I want to look at the Tables of paragraphs on pages 6 and 7. Mr. Speaker, if you examine the budget structure of most of the Ministries, you will realize that the savings and investment activity are mainly funded from our donors.
But in the case of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it appears all the resources are coming from the Government of Ghana; that is why their pay -- by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs becomes very relevant and very important. Because if you look at some of the Ministries where about 85 per cent of the foreign inflows come to support the savings and investment activity, you will realize that there is less pressure on the Government of Ghana than in the case of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, his appeal should be taken seriously so that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning would give them more money to be able to particularly meet their savings and investment activities.
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of AASU, there is a big property around Airport Residential Area, which has been reserved for International Students Hostel, and it is at a prime area. I would want to find out from the Minister for Foreign Affairs what plans his Ministry had to develop that particular property in terms of providing office accommodation for AASU and other residential accommodation for students who qualify to be so catered for.
Mr. Speaker, coming back to page 10, paragraph 74, on the rehabilitation of government landed properties, we realize that the Public Works Department (PWD) is one department that is officially mandated to rehabilitate government properties and I do not know whether in asking for money to rehabilitate government landed properties by the
Mr. Kojo Opare-Hammond (NPP -- Adenta) 11:35 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion moved by the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs that this House approves the sum of ¢511,727 million for the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot be overem- phasized. I would want to say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Ministry that is servicing all the other Ministries. Mr. Speaker, why am I saying this? All Ministers, Deputy Ministers, government officials and sometimes even private individuals who travel to various countries have to depend on the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs represents the image of Ghana abroad; and Ghana, we must say, is a well-respected country. But Mr. Speaker, from our deliberations -- and let me add here that I also speak as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Speaker, it was so disheartening during our deliberations when it came out that many of our Embassies are in a state of disrepair. Mr. Speaker, I can cite a specific example of our Chancellery in Lagos because I visited there recently. Mr. Speaker, the Lagos Chancellery is housed in a seven- room apartment. Mr. Speaker, you would not believe this, that for the last ten years the lift in that block has broken down and it has not been repaired as at now. The same can be said of many of the other Missions.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to ask and also add my voice to that of the hon. Minister and my hon. Colleagues who have already spoken that some more funds should be allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And I want to be even specific and ask that some part of the money that accrues to the Government through the various Missions that is sent to the Special Collection Fund -- Mr. Speaker, in the submissions they made to us last year alone 20 million was collected from the various Embassies for the Government of Ghana. I do not think we would be asking too much if we ask that a certain percentage of this amount is set aside for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs specifically for the rehabilitation of our

various Embassies. Mr. Speaker, we are told that in

Washington, the building that houses the Embassy is leaking so badly. Mr. Speaker, we also have situations where some staff who are on transfer or had been sent to work with the Missions do not even have places where they can stay because there is insufficient money to rent places for them. And in cases where they have been able to rent houses for them, Mr. Speaker, money to furnish those houses has been a problem and so we heard of situations where Embassy staff sleep on their mattresses on the bare floor. Mr. Speaker, the situation is really appalling and so as I add my voice to this motion, I want to beg once again and ask that some of the money that the Ministry collects for the Government of Ghana should be given to them to rehabilitate the houses as well as to service the staff that we post to our Foreign Missions.

Mr. Speaker, on this note, I want to second the motion and ask that we approve what has been allocated to them and also ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to look into the suggestions that we have made. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity.
Mr. John D. Mahama (NDC -- Bole- Bamboi) 11:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of the Report.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs is one of our first ports of call to the outside world in terms of experiencing our country Ghana. And therefore the dignity that this Ministry portrays in terms of the missions abroad and the Ministry's own Headquarters are what will give the first impression of what our nation is like.
Mr. Speaker, we have entered the phase where we are aggressively trying to attract investments and create Ghana as a first choice destination for foreign investment. And I think that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will play a very important role in this regard. Therefore, any budget that is provided to this Ministry in order to enhance the image that this country has must be supported by all of us.
Mr. Speaker, I notice that the budget
that was approved for the Ministry shows a shortfall of nearly 40 per cent requested considering what it needs to be able to carry out its business. It means that they received only about 60 per cent of what the Ministry actually requested. The total sum is four hundred and seventy billion cedis.
Mr. Speaker, of this amount, two hundred and seventy billion is going into personal emoluments alone. Then if we consider service activity, which comes to about eleven billion cedis, then what is left for actual investment amounts to just eighty-six billion cedis.
Mr. Speaker, in Ghana, when we talk
about billions of cedis, it might sound like a lot of money, but if you consider that a lot of the work that this money is going to do in terms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in countries that have stronger currencies, a conversion of this eighty-six billion cedis into dollars or euro represents a very small amount.
Mr. Speaker, all the problems that
my hon. Colleagues have enumerated in respect of the mission's capacity to carry out their duties are real problems that we all face. We all travel from time to time and we expect certain courtesies and assistance from the missions. But if we do not resource these missions sufficiently, the ability to be able to provide those
Mr. Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Hon. Minister for
Foreign Affairs, you may wish to wind up.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 11:45 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I
would just want to get some clarification from the Chairman of the Committee or the hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs.
On page 5 of the Committee's Report,
they mentioned certain activities that they did carried out in the year 2004. I would want to know whether they can make the cost involved in those activities available -- the purchase of the Chancery building
in Tripoli, the purchase of the University of Ghana property located at Chartley Avenue in London; the furnishing of the Chancery and officers' residences and the purchase of a building to house the Head of Mission in Freetown. Because once the Committee mentioned it in its Report, we thought they would have told this House the amount of money involved.
Mr. Speaker, I would also want to get
a clarification from the hon. Minister as to the rehabilitation mentioned at page 10, where they are supposed to carry out a major rehabilitation work on the Washington Chancery building. I just would want to find out whether that is different from the one that we recently bought -- whether it is the one that we recently bought that needs major rehabilitation or it is the old one. Why should they go and buy a new building which they would have to rehabilitate within this short period; and why should we go and buy a very old building? I would want them to address this area.
Mr. Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs, you may wish to wind up.
Nana Akufo-Addo 11:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I have to express my gratitude for the support from all sides for the Ministry, request for appropriation and particularly the sympathetic comments of the hon. Member for Tamale North, himself a diplomat -- and the Member of Parliament for Adenta.
Mr. Speaker, I welcome, especially, the intervention of the Ranking Member of the Committee, the hon. Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi, and his concern about the image of the Ministry and the necessity to provide adequate
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 11:55 a.m.

Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment (Mr. J. K. Adda) 11:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, before I move the motion, I would like to highlight some aspects of the Ministry's budget and to call on the House to pay particular attention to the role of this Ministry.
Mr. Speaker, in all that we do in this country, the policies we formulate, the programmes we implement, we tend to forget that this Ministry is, perhaps, one of the most important Ministries in the scheme of government business. For along time this Ministry has been marginalized and its agencies have been considered to be unimportant. The results therefore have been that limited resources have been made available to it by way of approval and even after those estimates have been approved, the actual releases do not match up with the approved estimates.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to state here that this Ministry is perhaps one of the most important ones, basically because it serves as the yardstick or barometer,
if you will, in terms of how successful government programmes are. Whether we formulate good financial policies, agricultural policies, industrial policies would all be determined, in the long run, in terms of the social well-being of our people; and indeed, it is in this particular area that this Ministry is very important. The success or failure of these policies would be measured by the Ministry. It is this Ministry that should be able to give feedback to Government as to how well we are doing in terms of the kinds of services that we are delivering.
Mr. Speaker, the mandate of this Ministry and its agencies essentially comprise the promotion of sustainable employment environment, maintaining harmonious industrial relations, improving productivity, and also developing our human resource capacity.
The Ministry has 13 agencies under its ambit. Most recently, the National Youth Council has been added onto the existing agencies. This is because we recognize the role the Ministry has to play in ensuring that our young people will not only obtain skills but are able to get jobs, and that they grow to become responsible contributors to our economic development. Mr. Speaker, the range of activities in the Ministry go from labour down to social development, from industrial relations, employment, to social welfare and cooperatives.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, since for a long time this Ministry has been forgotten, very little has happened by way of support. However, the President in his wisdom has chosen to highlight the human resource needs of this Ministry and also to emphasise the need to consider the informal sector and try to get it up unto mainstream economic activity. These, along with the social policies that are being formulated in the various sectors,
Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment (Mr. J. K. Adda) 11:55 a.m.


Promote youth empowerment for sustained growth;

Facilitate the provision of sports and recreational facilities in deprived communities.

4.1 Agencies of the Ministry

The Ministry will achieve these objectives through the combined efforts of its underlisted Departments and Agencies:

Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment -- Headquarters

Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI)

National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI)

Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU)

Opportunities Industrialisation Centre (OIC)

Ghana Co-operative Council (GCC)

Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills (ICCES)

Laobur Department

National Youth Council

Department of Social Welfare Department of Factories Ins- pectorate

Department of Co-operative

Ghana Co-operative College

5.0 Review of the Ministry's Performance in 2004

In 2004, a total of ¢47,441,000,000

from GOG and Donor sources was

allocated to the Ministry to implement its

planned projects and programmes.

Figure 1 below is the breakdown of

the approved sum of ¢47,441,000,000

under the various items of expenditure

and sources of funding.

5.1 Delays in Release of Funds

The Joint Committee noted the usual delays in the release of funds approved for the Ministry and its Departments and Agencies which had adversely affected the Ministry's performance, having impacted negatively on the realization of its objectives for the 2004 financial year.

The Joint Committee particularly noted with concern the withholding of a percentage of the PEs of the subvented organizations under the Ministry by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning which contributed to the delay and in some cases the non-payment of wages and salaries of employees of such organizations and the consequent upsurge of labour unrest in the Ministry.

It however came to light that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had frozen PEs and other funds approved under the Budget pending the report of a Payroll audit it had directed to be conducted, which audit was occasioned by the apparent lack of clarity in the

staffing levels of subvented organizations.

Realising the need to rid the Payroll of subvented organizations of ghost names whilst also motivating employees of those Agencies which are Poverty Reduction Strategy-oriented organizations, the Joint Committee thought that it would be appropriate if, in future, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning gives clear and concise directives on Payroll

reporting requirements early enough to MDAs to enable the Auditor-General complete such audits in time to forestall the recurrence of such incidents.

5.2 Insufficient Budgetary Support

The Joint Committee expressed concern about the low budgetary support for the Ministry vis a vis the overriding importance of its functions, the core of which include Vocational/Management training and development of employable skills, facilitation of employment and promotion of industrial peace, ensuring workplace safety and health, development of co-operatives and care, rehabilitation and support for the vulnerable and the excluded, disadvantaged and marginalized groups.
ITEM P E ADMINISTRATION SERVICE INVESTMENT TOTAL 11:55 a.m.

Mr. J. K. Gidisu (NDC -- Central Tongu) 12:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and in doing so, to associate myself with the sentiments expressed by the sector Minister in identifying with the mission of the Ministry.
Mr. Speaker, as indicated, that Ministry plays a very pivotal role in all programmes and activities geared towards the promotion of poverty-reduction in terms of job opportunities which would support the living and working conditions of workers. This is a situation which cuts across the concerns of all other Ministries, especially those activities under which they try to reduce poverty; and in so doing, Mr. Speaker, one would have expected that this Ministry would have been strengthened financially and be properly
resourced to spearhead its activities. But unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, over the years, in the short- run, the country decides to short-list the resources allocated to this Ministry; and this has affected its delivery capacity.
Mr. Speaker, when one looks at the various departments and agencies under the Ministry, one would realise that if well- resourced, a lot of them could generate additional or internally-generated funds to support their activities. And I would want to say that by this year's budget, which as noted by the Minister has seen some improvement, we would expect these departments and agencies to at least begin to seriously look at how they could take up the internally-generated funds to support their activities.
Mr. Speaker, in some of the cases, it might be very necessary to review the depositing of some of these internally- generated funds into the Consolidated Fund, which does not easily make these departments have easy access to the little funds that come their way.

Mr. Speaker, we would also, in terms of those funds that are generated and disbursed by those departments equally at the end of the year, submit whatever projects and activities they have spent these internally-generated funds on, so as to serve as further stimulus to our encouraging them for greater access to funds which would support their cause.

Mr. Speaker, there is the need for us to look at the psychology of work ethic in this country, and this Ministry is better endowed to be the pivotal front through which we can develop that Ghanaian culture towards work. Mr. Speaker, because, if we are talking about productivity, it is the attitude of workers in this country that is very fundamental in giving us whatever targeted production
Mr. J. K. Gidisu (NDC -- Central Tongu) 12:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is equally very necessary to look at some of the departments and agencies within the Ministry. By so doing, to look at how best to synchronize their activities to minimize duplication of activities and programmes within them, especially when we complain that there are limited funds at their disposal, so that they could judiciously use some of these little funds that come to them.
For example, Mr. Speaker, if you look at the Co-operative Council and the Department of Co-operatives, there is a very thin line between their programmes but as a result of the fact that they are both recognized institutionally, we continue to allocate very lean resources to them in the long-run which do not see any forward march in their activities. So it would be very necessary for us to see how best to integrate some of the departments and in the process, look at how best to move them forward.
Mr. Speaker, one other area where I would want to make a suggestion is that if you look at the activities of the departments and programmes within the Ministry, they are aimed at providing skills. Mr. Speaker, it would be very necessary for us to look at these programmes and equip the youth with life-long skills rather than ad hoc programmes, in terms of batik, snail rearing and other activities which are short-term and do not carry the beneficiaries into the future.
These are some of the things which we would expect our young and dynamic Minister, supported by two deputies who are yet to be confirmed to look at. It is
our expectation that the attitude to work among the staff, which is now at very low level, in terms of the various factors that have affected their psychology towards work over the years, would be examined by the new Minister.
Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that the House would unanimously support the Budget and vote for the allocation that has been made to the Ministry.
With these few comments, I support the motion.
Senior Minister (Mr. J. H. Mensah): Mr. Speaker, I beg your indulgence to make a small contribution to this debate in order to call the House's attention to a very major departure from policy which is in the making but which is not fully reflected in our financial estimates as have been stated; but they would be more and more fully reflected as we go along.
As you would recall, Mr. Speaker, His Excellency the President in defining and refocusing the principal strategic instrument for his policy in his second term, identified human resource development as a strategic foundation for the entire national economic development process. This decision is founded on the lessons of history both in the more distance and the recent past, in Ghana as well as elsewhere.
Mr. Speaker, the history of economic development continues to teach us that the human being is not only the beneficiary of all our endeavours at economic development but the principal source and origin of national development.
Today, if you go to all our schools there are little children sitting there. Some of them are being more well-catered for -- desks, school books and so on. But when you take the sad case of the poor, you can still say that that little Ghanaian child as

compared to a child in some village school in Britain -- by the time he is twenty something, he would have matured into an adult ready to work -- on the average, equipped with much less knowledge, capacity, skill and productivity than his counterpart in the other country.

That is the only difference between us and them, that their people have learnt more and therefore can do more. Otherwise, children are born with the same brain capacity and other functions and they spend the same number of years in school and so on. But today, there is not one architect in Ghana who could design and supervise the construction of a 100- storey building. We just do not have it and yet today in Shanghai, in virtually every other street, there is a skyscraper going up. What is the difference? Because, their people know how to do it and our people do not know how to do it.

Therefore, this development of the human capacity must be the principal strategic concern; it must move to the very centre of our economic policy-making, if we are to see the sort of progress that we are all ambitious to have, not only in our own generation but especially for the next generation of Ghanaians. I am therefore asking for support for the work of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment.

The addition to the debate that I would like to make is only this, that as it stands today, the full import of the work of the Ministry, in association with the Ministry of Education and Sports, will be reflected in the proposals that would come to this Parliament from the Government in pursuit of this strategy of putting human resource development at the core and centre of our national development programmes.

Already, we have published a new educational programme and I realized,

when we debated the President's State of the Nation Address, that some of our distinguished Friends have not yet read the White Paper on the Education Reform. Similarly, I am craving the attention of Members towards that section of the President's Message on the State of the Nation and on the Economic Policy with focus on this, as one of the absolutely central strategic poles of our national development policy. And we have more to say about this to the House at the later stages of our work.
Mr. J. Y. Chireh (NDC -- Wa West) 12:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to support the motion ably moved by my hon. Brother, the Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment (Mr. Joseph Adda). Now, before I make my comment, I would like to urge that the name of the Ministry itself be properly looked at and properly advertised because there are so many additions, so many movements.
When you have manpower and employment, then there is the problem with where we would be locating the various departments. But my major problem really is that not enough attention is being paid to this Ministry and the role that it plays. I would want the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning not to delay any more, the releases to the Ministry because the Ministry does a lot of things. Many people who want welfare issues solved, run to the Department of Social welfare, but that is a department that is under-resourced. I think that something significant ought to be done to give more resources to the Ministry for that purpose.

My hon. Brother was grateful to the Ministry of Finance for increasing some of the allocations that the Ministry had for this year. But I want to say that well, whilst they have done well in doing

so it appears to me that there has been shifting of departments. For instance, Youth has been added to the Ministry with the accompanying budget, in terms of resources they will need to handle. Therefore, if they have added anything, it could be to take account of that addition they made. So you would still realise that you are still the same, because when they were under the previous Ministry they were not getting enough. That will be added to yours, it will still be a problem.

I would also add that the Ministry has a very difficult constituency to deal with. And I say a difficult constituency to deal with, because it deals with labour issues and it is now going to deal with youth matters; and I think that handling the youth is a very crucial issue. They are the people who have the energy. Sometimes we say that that energy is not properly channelled; but I think that if the Ministry is not resourced sufficiently to be able to handle youth matters we could run into difficult problems.

Now, the training institutions. I have seen that they have added youth leadership training institutions to his Ministry. That is a place where enough resources have not been allocated. They are under-resourced but they are training and bringing up a number of people with employable skills. That emphasis ought to be made in this budget and it should be reflected in the amount that they give to the Ministry.

Mr. Speaker, with these comments, I would like to urge that sufficient funds be made available to the Ministry; and releases should be timely so that we can handle the youth who are very difficult people to handle, if their aspirations are not met.

Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (NPP

-- Suame): Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to lend my support for

the approval of the sector allocation to the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, the youth provide the index, indeed, the measuring rod of our tomorrow and one believes that we should really focus on youth development.

Until last year there was no proper youth policy in this country and that was a really sad commentary. There was one in the pipeline for a very long time; the hon. Member for Ningo-Prampram was trying to shepherd one to Parliament for approval. It had been in the pipeline for a considerably long time but it did not see the light of day. Last year it surfaced, Mr. Speaker, but I believe that it is still important for us to work on it because the policy document that we have is still not the best for this country.

Mr. Speaker, the strategic choices open to us as a nation is in the direction of youth development, youth training and capacity- building, to make our people employable.

Mr. Speaker, there is massive youth unemployment in the country and it is one issue that should attract our attention. It should engage the attention of the Minister.
Mr. J. Y. Chireh (NDC -- Wa West) 12:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with these I would want to plead, on behalf of the Ministry, with the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning that because the youth represent our tomorrow, the Ministry should timely release the sums that have been allocated to the Ministry of Manpower and Social Welfare. People on retirement go to the Ministry already angry and if they do not have the resources, the motivation to deal with them, and if the people there are already frustrated then there is no way they can calm the nerves of the already angry people -- pensioners who go there with their own problems.
Mr. Speaker, with these few words I
want to lend my support to the motion and thank you for your indulgence.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu (NDC --
Tamale South): Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, I rise to support the motion for the approval of funding for this important Ministry.
Mr. Speaker, at the same time I wish to express regret that the funding that is being made available to this Ministry does not in fact, reflect the President's own vision.
Mr. Speaker, in the Inaugural Address of the Fourth Republic, His Excellency the President minced no words in declaring; this era and this time the era for the youth; so it is only appropriate that investment in that sector would recognise that. As the
young people we represent the wealth, the health and the future aspirations of this country.
But Mr. Speaker, there is a good beginning. I am particularly delighted that, at least, for the first time the National Youth Council has been decoupled from the Ministry of Education and Sports and properly placed under the ambit of the new Ministry of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, i t i s a lso worth acknowledging the fact that over the years we have had brilliant programmes such as Youth in Agriculture. In talking about youth development we need to make a segregation between young people in the informal sector and youth in the formal sector. I hope that the hon. Minister would cooperate with other collaborative Ministries and institutions to ensure that this programme is dealt with because that ultimately will address the issue of the growing youth unemployment.

Indeed, when His Excellency the President appeared before Parliament to deliver the State of the Nation Address, he made mention of some funding being made available for the National Youth Training Council at Afienya and he also mentioned the issue of Nalerigu. I am glad that Navrongo is not too far from Nalerigu and I do believe that the hon. Minister would fast-track work on the development of the National Youth Council (NYC) in Nalerigu because that will deal with the gap, especially as young people continue to migrate from the northern part of Ghana to here.

Indeed, I would want to acknowledge even a personal effort of hon. Kennedy

Agyapong who at a personal level is initiating some programmes to deal with some aspects of youth development. But contrary to what the hon. Member said, there is still no national youth policy and it is important that the Minister, with urgency, should ensure that a youth policy is placed before this House.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleague is a young Member in the House and he would be informed by the hon. Member Chiana/ Paga that last year a youth policy came here. Of course, it needs to be really discussed and fine-tuned, but the policy document came to this House.
Mr. Pele Abuga 12:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. Member has just said is not very accurate. When the youth sector was under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, there was an attempt by the Ministry to come out with a youth policy. In fact, they invited stakeholders. The Committee on Youth and Sports was invited to participate in the drawing up of that youth programme but unfortunately it did not get to the stage where it was presented to Parliament. And that sector now having been put under the Ministry of Manpower and Development -- I remember at a meeting with the hon. Minister this question came up and they said they will have to review the whole thing because the orientation of that particular policy would have to change because now it is under a different
Mr. K. T. Hammond 12:35 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, there was some statement to the effect that the President through his Commissioner for Nigeria -- What portfolio is that? And who is this person?
Mr. Speaker 12:35 p.m.
He was talking about the High Commissioner; he mentioned the High Commissioner for Nigeria.
Mr. Hammond 12:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he said “Commissioner” so we were getting confused.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 12:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I belong to the youth of this country and I have been closely associated with the development of the National Youth Policy. Indeed, as I am speaking, there is supposed to be a platform meeting of the experts of the youth policy to conclusively deal with the matter that we have raised.
But I think it is about time that our District Assemblies began sponsoring officers for social welfare just as they do in the area of teachers in order to download some of the work -- load at the national level to the level of the District Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, my final issue has to do with the Disability Act. I think it is about time that the Ministry also fast-tracked works in ensuring that we have a National Disability Policy on this matter.
With these comments I beg to support the motion.
Mr. J. K. Hackman (NPP -- Gomoa West) 12:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to add
my voice to what the hon. Senior Minister said, that an architect from this country might not be able to supervise a 100-storey sky scrapper. This actually demonstrates how our universities have been starved of funds. As a former lecturer of the Department of Building Technology, I can comment on some of the issues.
When you walk to our science laboratories -- It is all because funds have not been adequately made available for the Department to research into areas and so what is happening now is that all the good jobs that could throw challenges to our students actually go to foreign contractors who make the money and then transfer the money out of the country.
My impression is that if enough funds are made available to the universities or the tertiary institutions, the capacity of the graduates would be better to meet the challenges of the industry. Especially, when you go to other universities outside the country funds are made available not only by Ministries but also by employers; they sponsor programmes that enhance the performance of the students. Even industrial placement also becomes a problem. The industries that make the money would like to engage these students or the graduates but would not even like to give them job placement during vacation.
So my plea is that whilst looking at manpower development and money is being made available to them, funds must also be made available to adequately equip the science laboratories of our universities, especially the technical ones to enhance the performance of our future graduates so that we would keep all the jobs here and then keep the profits and everything that is associated with them in this country.
With that I would like to plead with the Minister to make funds available for the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and
Employment, as well as the Ministry of Education and Sports so that they would be able to run effective programmes in our universities.
Mr. Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon. Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment, may you please wind up.
Mr. J. K. Adda 12:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to those hon. Colleagues who have contributed to the motion and in doing so I would like to revisit a few things that they have talked about.
Mr. Speaker, the issue of capacity developments in the institutes have been highlighted. As I indicated earlier, a comprehensive manpower survey will support the evolution of a strategy that would address this matter.
Mr. Speaker, some mention was made of psychology of work in this country. I would like to state here that in the President's State of the Nation Address he indicated that the work ethics of Ghanaians have to change. This is indeed one of the priorities of the productivity enhancement exercise that the Ministry would be embarking on. We intend to ensure that Ghanaians, particularly the Youth, as they grow into working positions, their mindset and attitudes change back to the old-fashioned discipline and hard work mentality that we had before.

On the synchronization of activities of the Ministry, it is true that there seems to be some overlapping in some of the activities that are being carried out by some agencies. There is training going on in National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), Opportunities industrialisation Centre (OIC), and Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills (ICCES).

We intend, as part of our total restructuring and streamlining of the functions of this Ministry, to address those issues; and they are part of the activities that we will be undertaking this year.

Mr. Speaker, enough has been said about the human resource development and I cannot add any more to what the hon. Senior Minister has said.

On the policy evolution that should take place between the Ministry of Education and Sports and the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, I wish to state here that the Tz policy is one that is jointly being undertaken by the two Ministries and that policy will be coming to Parliament in the course of the year.

Mr. Speaker, the issue of youth is a complex one and we appreciate the fact that there are different categories of youth -- some in the formal, others in the informal; some well educated to tertiary levels and others semi-illiterate. All these matters are being addressed in the strategic plan of the Ministry which is in draft form and we hope to get it finalized within this quarter.

Mr. Speaker, some contributions were made in the area of the inadequate infrastructure that we have. I wish particularly to emphasize the Labour Department, Social Welfare, Co-operatives infrastructure problems. With particular reference to Social Welfare, we have inadequate infrastructure but we are able to train about 50 social workers every year. And over the past ten years the policy on freezing public employment has not made it possible for these social workers to find themselves back in the Department of Social Welfare.

Unlike teachers and nurses whom when we train and as they graduate go back to their mother departments, in the case of the Department of Social Welfare
Mr. J. K. Adda 12:45 p.m.


we are not able to do that. Therefore, out of a total need of about 2,241 we only have 760 staff at post. And so, there is a need for us to handle this matter and we intend to take it up with the appropriate agencies.

Mr. Speaker, a call was made by a

youthful Member of this House, the hon. Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, for us to look at some of the leadership training institutes, particularly the Nalerigu Training Institute.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to state that as much as both sides of the House are in agreement on strengthening these institutes, the interesting thing is that the NDC in its manifesto was planning to do work on this while we were actually commissioning it, and therefore he needs to update his knowledge on that. So Mr. Speaker, there has been some work on the Nalerigu Institute; it has been commissioned and more money is going to it this year.

Mr. Speaker, on all of the problems

that we have highlighted with regard to the operational constraints of the Ministry, the Ministry intends, as part of its strategic agenda, to adopt a sector-wide approach programme for the complete overhaul and institutional strengthening of the Ministry. And I think in that process those hon. Members of this House who have expressed such interests in the Ministry's work will be invited to be part of that working session.

I thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I urge all hon. Colleagues to vote for the motion on floor.

Question put and motion agreed to.

Resolved:

That this honourable House

approves the sum of ¢75,755 million for the services of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment for the 2005 fiscal year.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 12:45 p.m.

Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (Mr. C. B. Bintin) 12:45 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move that this House approves the sum of four hundred and fourteen billion, seven hundred and eighty million cedis (¢414,780,000,- 000.00) for the services of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the 2005 fiscal year.
The allocation is provided within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the 2005 financial year for the Ministry Headquarters and the three Departments under the Ministry -- the Department of Parks and Gardens, the Births and Deaths Registry and the Department of Community Development.
Mr. Speaker, the objectives, outputs and activities of the Ministry are captured in Volume II of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the 2005 - 2007 fiscal years and the Budget Estimates for 2005 financial year.
For the fiscal year 2005, the Ministry will continue to pursue actions aimed at further deepening the decentralization process and widening the access of the general citizenry to political authority and their involvement in the process of governance.
Following the passing of the Local Government Service Bill in 2003 and the subsequent inauguration of the Local
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Asamoah Ofosu) 12:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion as moved by the hon. Minister, and in doing so present the Report of the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development.
1.0 Introduction
On Thursday, 24th February 2005, the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, in compliance with article 179 of the 1992 Constitution presented to Parliament the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2005 financial year. In pursuance of Order 181 of the Standing Orders of the House, Mr. Speaker referred the 2005 Draft Budget/ Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Local
TOTAL 12:55 p.m.

NO ITEM GOG 12:55 p.m.

DONOR TOTAL 12:55 p.m.

TOTAL 12:55 p.m.

Mr. Lee Ocran (NDC -- Jomoro) 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of the motion. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is one of the biggest Ministries the Government operates and its activities affect almost everybody, whether you live in cities or in villages because we live under Assemblies, Municipal, City and Metropolitan Assemblies.
Mr. Asamoah Ofosu 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of the Member on the floor and for others, the Department of Town and Country Planning is no more under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development; it is now under the Ministry of Science and Environment.
Mr. Ocran 1:05 p.m.
I am very much aware of that. What I am saying is that under Act 462, at the district level, the Department of Town and Country Planning is under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, but at the national level it is under the Ministry of Science and Environment; and that is the most conflicting thing we have.
So whilst the Department of Town and Country Planning looks up to the Ministry of Science and Environment for its resources at the national level, at the district
Mr. Armah 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I would want to correct my hon. Friend on the issue of the Department of Town and Country Planning.
The Local Government Act (Act 462) makes the District Assembly a planning authority but the functions of the Department are still under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Develop- ment. They are supposed to work in collaboration with them but they are not under our authority.
When it comes to the special aspect of planning, to do the special planning of the various districts, there is the planning committee which includes the Town and Country Planning Officer at the district level. It does not make them come under the authority of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development except that the District Assemblies -- I will say something on that one but the District Assemblies are now beginning to take up more and more responsibilities because most of the departments are under- resourced and they think the Assemblies should assist them. But it does not make the Department of Town and Country Planning fall under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
Mr. Ocran 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the former District Chief Executive (DCE) is trying to teach me how the Department works, or is he the acting DCE still? A Member of Parliament acting as DCE? [Laughter.]
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Town and Country Planning's situation is very anomalous. They draw the plans for the various planning schemes for the whole country including the towns, villages and the cities but when it comes to approval of the plans it is the Assemblies that do it; they give the approval.
Mr. Armah 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, as much as I agree with his last statement that when it comes to approval it is the Assembly that approves, I would want to inform him and the House that the Approval Committee is not made up only of the Town and Country Planning Officer; we have the Police there, we have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representative there, and we have the security personnel because the approval involves several inter-sectoral activities. That is why they are there but it is not because they are under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Develop-ment.
Mr. Speaker 1:05 p.m.
We will give you time to contribute.
Mr. Ocran 1:05 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker; he will have his turn. He is trying to confuse me but -- [Pause.] Mr. Speaker, I am very particular about this because
Mr. Asamoah-Boateng 1:05 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I just want to know from the hon. Member for Jomoro. He just stated that he lives at East Legon and I am wondering whether he is advancing
the socialist principles and living in an affluent part of the city.
Mr. Speaker 1:05 p.m.
This is not a point of order.
Mr. Ocran 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am living with the people.
Mr. Speaker 1:05 p.m.
You may be winding up.
Mr. Ocran 1:05 p.m.
Yes, sir. My last statement, Mr. Speaker -- I think the Assemblies should be properly resourced in terms of capacity building to be able to put up very good structures. Some of the structures put up by the Assemblies are quite ugly. They do not fit into the twentieth century and yet if you check the cost, it is quite enormous. I have seen structures, so-called clinics that have been put up by Assemblies costing ¢180 million per piece which will not pass for ¢90 million.
On this note, Mr. Speaker, I wish to support the motion and wish that the Ministry's request for ¢414,780 million be given to them.
Minister for Energy (Prof. Mike Oquaye) 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.
Mr. Speaker, with reference to the very importance of this particular Ministry, which should be the engine of growth of our localities, the decentralization law perceives the District Assemblies as the highest authority for the development of the Ghanaian locality. And Mr. Speaker, if we were ever to succeed in avoiding the outflow of our youth from the rural areas to the urban areas in search of non-existent white colour jobs then we definitely need to assist this particular
Ministry extensively in the fulfilment of its mandate.

Mr. Speaker, matters relating to the youth are also inextricably interwoven with our rural development efforts. If they were to be given the opportunities of cottage industry development for example, as we see in certain parts of Asia, particularly China and India, Mr. Speaker, it is very likely that our youth would find themselves in agro-processing at very small levels, food packaging; and not canning and sophisticated ideas and systems, and industries not using conveyer belts but the multiplicity of which come to virtually the same amount and volumes that go to assist national development and national needs efforts.

Mr. Speaker, it is also notable that a lot

of the young women who would become victims of street movements are mainly from the rural areas. Rural development therefore becomes a tool for avoiding this mischief, which often tends to hunt us so much.

Mr. Speaker, there is also the need for a lot of planning in these efforts. It has been noted that in the past, resources have been so meagre that District Assemblies, the number of studies that have taken place, have not been able to be well equipped with the relevant tools to plan the needs of the communities, much less ensuring actual implementation and relevant monitoring of the development efforts, which are imperative if something meaningful and systematic was to take place in our local development efforts.

Mr. Speaker, this Ministry is not

only responsible for local government but also to ensure rural development, which naturally cuts across the whole

spectrum of development efforts so far as the localities are concerned. If we were to, for example, bring about alternative sources of energy in our local areas, Mr. Speaker, I cannot see my Ministry doing this effectively without the active support and collaboration of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in areas such as solar energy and wind energy.

Mr. Speaker, if I had my, they should

even be given more. In the circumstances, I will respectfully support the motion for the well-deserved estimates before the House.

Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh (NDC --

Wa West): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and also thank my hon. Friend for allowing me to take your leave.

First of all, I would like to support the motion by the hon. Minister for Local Government and Rural Development for the amount that has been requested for. During our committee discussions, we realised that this was woefully inadequate and we would want to urge that in particular some of the departments -- for instance, in the case of one department, it budgeted for five hundred million cedis last year. It did not get a pesewa. So this year, we are urging that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should at least keep faith with what we have all decided to approve.

Mr. Speaker, the issue of decentra-

l i sa t ion is very key to nat ional development and that is why when you have so many organisations supervising and co-ordinating the activities of decentralisation, in the end we may not have one effectively doing it.

For instance, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is supposed to be a kind of secretariat that would co-ordinate the activities of the District Assemblies. Unfortunately, it has got bogged down with the implementation of this other major projects and therefore, the Regional Co-ordinating Councils come in line to help the District Assemblies to function properly.

Of course, recently, the President also set up a commission on decentralisation and it will be good to have the commission. But you see, if that commission has not got a short life, that is, identify the problems related to decentralisation and it becomes a permanent feature, one wonders what it will be doing in terms of supervising decentralisation. I would therefore urge that instead of creating more superfluous organisations, we should concentrate on giving adequate support to those institutions that already see to decentralisation.

Again, if you consider the implemen- tation of the decentralisation to its logical end, last year the Government created twenty-eight more districts. As I talk today, some of these districts are not functioning -- functioning legally because they have not been able to elect their presiding members and therefore they cannot meet to take major decisions with regard to policy issues concerning the District Assemblies.

I would urge that the new Minister

should do something about it and ensure that these Assemblies are not only supported with the resources that they need but also should be supported adequately with the manpower, to be able to deliver what they should deliver for us to know that good governance is reaching our people.

Mr. Speaker, fortunately for us, this

House passed the Local Government Act.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I heard my hon. Colleague indicate to us that he is looking forward to the day when District Chief Executives would be elected.
Mr. Speaker, DCEs are elected. Perhaps, he is talking about universal adult suffrage; that is a completely different thing. But DCEs are elected. They have always been elected by the Assemblies.
Mr. Chireh 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. Chief Whip for confessing now and agreeing that District Chief Executives cannot be elected by universal adult suffrage and that they are already within the schemes that were put in place in 1998 -- the system of approving them. What I want to emphasise is that, in their Manifesto 2000, at least, they promised to have popular election of District Chief Executives. If they have reneged on that, fine; no problem. [Laughter.]
Mr. Speaker 1:25 p.m.
You may be winding up.
Mr. Chireh 1:25 p.m.
Yes. Mr. Speaker -- [Interruption.]
Mr. M. K. Jumah 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. I think the hon. Member is misleading this House -- [Interruption.]
I think the hon. Member is attempting to gag me through electronic -- [Laughter.] But he is misleading the House by giving the impression that DCEs are not elected. I think DCEs just like the American President, is elected by the electoral college; and if DCEs are not elected, then the United States of America's President is definitely not elected.
Mr. Speaker 1:25 p.m.
I hope you would be winding up.
Mr. Chireh 1:25 p.m.
Yes. I will just wind up. [Interruption.]
Mr. Asamoah Ofosu 1:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. Chief Whip misled the House; the Rt. Hon. Speaker agreed to his misleading and it has been supported by the hon. Member for Asokwa. [Laughter.] Mr. Speaker, it would be wrong to say that DCEs are elected; they are nominated by the President and approved by the Assemblies.
In like manner, the President nominates Ministers and they are vetted and approved by the House through a voting system, either by voice or by vote; and that cannot be said to be Ministers being elected. That is what pertains at the District Assembly level. So Mr. Speaker, DCEs are not elected. They are nominated and what happens there is approval. They either approve or disapprove; and it is the same with Ministers. So if Ministers are not elected, then DCEs are not elected -- whether by universal adult suffrage, electoral college or whatever name they may choose to give to it.
Mr. Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Member for Wa West, please wind up.
Mr. Chireh 1:25 p.m.
Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, I used the word “approved”;
Mr. Asamoah-Boateng 1:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member is misleading the House when he says that the NPP has not done it because we do not want to do it. If you look at our Manifesto, quite clearly we said just that. We intend to do that -- to elect -- but there was no time-scale. It has even been captured in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy document. There is no time-scale so you cannot say that we have not done it or fault us. It is a process and the process has started. When that now happens, the final process -- [Interruption] -- And the approval by the Assembly, vetting and all that, are part of the process. The final one has not happened, but that does not mean we have abandoned it.
Mr. Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon. Member, please conclude.
Mr. Chireh 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think I have given enough education on the issue and if they still want more information they can come; I am a child of decentra-lization.
Mr. Speaker, I want to conclude by urging this House to approve the motion and also ask the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to religiously stick to the release of the monies, and indeed if there is a supplementary budget, give more money to the Ministry, so that the good
Mr. Kojo Armah (CPP -- Evalue- Gwira) 1:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in supporting the motion moved by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, I wish to draw hon. Members' attention to the very critical role that local government plays in our governance programme.
His Excellency the President made good governance a plan in his second term in office and I think it is important for us to focus our attention on local government as a major critical area in achieving this. Indeed, I want to draw hon. Members' attention to Chapter 20 of our Constitution, particularly article 240 -- throughout. I do not intend to read the whole thing in extenso, but that article sharply defines the role of local government in our whole democratization and decentralization programme. It is in the light of this that I think the Committee did a good work on the budget proposals and highlighted various challenges that face the Ministry. I think it is important that this House assists the Ministry to carry through its mandate and achieve its objectives.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at page 2 of the Committee's Report, the objectives have been stated clearly there, but I want to draw attention to paragraph (6) (a) which states that it is the Ministry's objective --
“(a) to formulate appropriate policies and programmes to accelerate the implementation of the decentra- lization programme;
(b) strengthen leadership and capacities at all levels of the decentralized government mach-inery.”
Mr. Speaker, these are very important objectives but unless we focus on the human resource aspect of the Assemblies, we may not be able to achieve much in this area. Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Assemblies have various duties that they perform and gradually, these duties are multiplying day in, day out. Various sectors of government machinery are asking the Assemblies to support them to achieve their objectives, but the capacity for doing this sometimes falls short of expectation.
Indeed, the whole structure of the Assembly centres around the Unit Committees, but these are areas that people with capacity, knowledge, intelligence so on normally shy away from; because the unit committee members do not receive any emolument or even stipend and therefore people who go there are not the best to carry out the functions that are assigned to them, either by the Act or even by the Ministries on guidelines.
We are now saying that the Department of Births and Deaths will task the unit committees to facilitate the registration of births and deaths.
But Mr. Speaker, we need also to re-inforce the capacity of those at unit committee level so that they can undertake this assignment very diligently and truthfully, because we are going to talk about statistics, data collection and things like that; and if unit committees are not empowered to do that one, I am afraid we may not get the truthful picture which we will need as a basis of the true development of these areas.

The other challenge that came out of the Report was that of sanitation and environment. Again, this has become a very important assignment of the District Assemblies. I mean, we all hear daily the

filth engulfing Accra, the filth engulfing the cities, the filth engulfing the districts; and so much money is being spent everyday on waste management. But it is regrettable, Mr. Speaker, that if you look at page 9 of the Report it says:

“The Committee noted in its del ibera t ions tha t a l though about five hundred million cedis (¢500,000,000.00) was allocated and approved for the Environmental Health Division of the Department of Community Development for its 2004 Investment activities, nothing was released to them.”

Now, if approval has been given and nothing is released, what it means is that the Assemblies must look at other sources for resources to manage the waste and the environment in the districts, thereby depriving other areas of vital resources. I would want to plead with the Ministry -- I do not know whether it would be the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning or the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development -- that whatever is approved for the Environmental Department should be released to them so that they can carry out this vital duty which is also assigned to them; and the people would expect them to perform.

Mr. Speaker, one other area that I would want to speak on very briefly is the need to empower the Assemblies to enforce their bye-laws and the other regulations. Many of the Assemblies, I presume -- except the metropolitan areas -- almost all the District Assemblies do not have legal officers. Mr. Speaker, they do not have legal officers and therefore cannot prosecute some of the offenders that they have arrested; and these offenders are not just those who cause nuisance in waste management and things like that, but even

those who default in poverty-alleviation loan repayment.

They cannot prosecute them because there are no legal officers at the district level and this affects the planning functions of the Assemblies. It also affects the rating functions of the Assemblies, because we have a lot of land that we need to document; there are a lot of other legal instruments that need to be executed but because there are no legal officers, it becomes very difficult.

I think we would want to plead that the National Service Secretariat should look at the possibility of seconding some National Service personnel who have graduated from the Law School to the District Assemblies so that even if it is for a sort-term, they can help them overcome some of their legal problems.

Mr. Speaker, it is important, finally, to also talk about what the Department of Parks and Gardens wants to do. On page 8, the last sentence, they are saying that the Public Parks concept will also be introduced in the 138 districts in the country, to promote tourism and generate revenue for the District Assemblies. It is a good idea to promote the public parks concept, but let us look at what has happened to Aburi Botanical Gardens; how well have we been able to maintain the Aburi Botanical Gardens? We know that even flowers are important foreign exchange earners for certain countries like Poland and Israel, and we have a lot of flora and fauna in this country.

So if the department now wants to embark on the public parks concept, it is a good idea that we need to support. I would want to hope that this would not be just a paper concept; that we would take steps, especially those of us in the Western Region, where we have abundant rainfall and therefore still have some virgin forests around; we would be empowered to create
Mr. Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon. Members, we shall have extension of Sitting for only an hour.
Prof. A. W. Seini (NDC -- Tamale Central) 1:35 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak to the motion before us.
Mr. Speaker, we are all aware that district decentralization is designed to bring governance to the local level and to encourage the participation of people in governance. I would like to urge the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, particularly the new Minister, to try as much as possible to collaborate with the Electoral Commission to find out a suitable time to hold district elections or municipal elections in the Tamale Municipality and Yendi District.
We would all recall that because of the State of Emergency in Dagbon, District Assembly Elections were not held in these two places. But since the State of Emergency was lifted, I think last November or so, no action has been taken to hold elections in these two
Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom (CPP -- Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem) 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, as someone who has served as an elected member of a District Assembly, I have just a few comments and suggestions for the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development in support of the allocation for the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
Mr. Speaker, allowances for District Assembly members -- if you go to any Assembly, you would find that, yes, there are people elected to serve, there are people nominated and appointed to serve, but the level of activity and their level of motivation is very low. And so I would encourage the hon. Minister to work very hard with the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to find a way to provide decent allowances for the members so that they can concentrate on the job that they are there to do.
Mr. Speaker, if the Government looks at accelerating growth and development, it can only come at the District Assembly level and therefore, that suggestion needs to be looked at very, very seriously.
Also, at the District Assembly, we
must look at the relationship between the District Chief Executives and other public officials. I am sure my Colleague Member of Parliament can speak to the improvement that needs to come in the relationship, but it also goes for other public officials as well. And this is one area that I would urge our Colleague, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (Mr. Charles Bintin) to work on very, very well so that the stream of development, the relationships that have to come for development to happen, that relationship is firmly established.
Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that a lot would also be allocated to the area of sanitation and in my view, any District Chief Executive, any Assembly that does not pay attention and show improvement in the area of sanitation should not be allowed to continue; and it should not be given good marks. And so I would hope that a lot would be strengthened in the area of sanitation for all District Assemblies.
Mr. Speaker, in the area of procurement, when I was at the Assembly, if you asked all the members which committee they would want to serve on, everybody wanted to serve on the committee that looked after procurement. And Mr. Speaker, it tells you of the kind of things that go on at the local level. We are all concentrating on what is happening in Accra but Mr. Speaker, a lot of attention should be paid to the procurement practices that are going on in our District Assemblies all over Ghana.
I would hope that enough financial resources would be allocated and could also be allocated so that the procurement procedures are streamlined and the oversight relationships also strengthened between the Ministry and the District Assemblies themselves.
Mr. Speaker, I have two recom- mendations -- We need at the local level to have local enterprise zones established
Alhaji Seidu Amadu 1:45 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker. I just want to draw the attention of my hon. Friend that the function of rural housing is under purview of the Ministry of Works and Housing.
Dr. Nduom 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, that may be so but I am suggesting that leaving such important items only at the centre and always at the centre is not going to help development at the local level. Therefore, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development must have allocation and must assist the District Assemblies directly to built houses for the rural poor. And if we can do that then people all over the country, not just in selected areas, would see proper housing where
Mr. Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, may you wind up, please. I just want you to wind up; or do you not have anything to say?
Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (Mr. Charles Bintin) 1:45 p.m.
Well, I will say a few words. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. Let me take the opportunity to thank all hon. Members for their contributions and to assure them that all the contributions have been taken into consideration and would be acted upon accordingly.
On this very simple note, I would want to urge all hon. Members to vote for the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to:
That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢414,780 million for the services of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Item 11 -- Minister for Finance and Economic Planning?
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 1:45 p.m.

Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu) 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House approves the sum of ¢658,514 million for the services of the Government Machinery for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, in moving for the approval of the motion, I just want to indicate that the Committee has done a very good work. The Report is a 19-page document. It gives the background of Government Machinery, which embraces the Office of the President, at the seat of Government, the Regional Co-ordinating Councils and other organizations which traditionally operate under the Presidency.
Mr. Speaker, the Committee actually indicates that the main focus of the sector is to efficiently give delivery for good governance through ensuring that all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) become transparent.
Mr. Speaker, the Committee in its Report, page 15, paragraph 414, has observed that the main focus of the sector in 2005 is to assist the National Identification System which obviously is linked up to paragraph 976 of the Budget Statement -- page 276; it is about the National Identification System.
Mr. Speaker, the Committee has done a very good work and I believe that we have to approve the sum of ¢658,514 million for the Services of Government Machinery.
I move accordingly, Mr. Speaker,
Chairman of Finance Committee (Mr. Samuel Owusu-Agyei) 1:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion in my capacity as the Chairman of the Finance Committee.
1.0 Introduction
The 2005 Annual Draft Budget of the Government Machinery was laid in the House and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report, in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Standing Orders of the House. This follows the presentation of the Financial Policy of the Government by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu for the year ending 31st December 2005.
The Committee met with the Chief Director of the Office of the President and a technical team from his office and reports as follows:
1.1 Reference Documents
1. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana
2. The Standing Orders of the House
3. The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2005 financial year.
2.0 Background
Government Machinery embraces the Office of the President as the seat of Government, the Regional Co-ordinating Councils (RCCs) and those Organizations whose operations fall outside traditional areas of sectoral responsibilities, for which the Office of the President(Core Government Machinery) exists to provide
NIS, SEC, NPC, PURC, GAIDS, 1:55 p.m.

TOTAL 1:55 p.m.

-- 1:55 p.m.

-- 1:55 p.m.

TOTAL 1:55 p.m.

Mr. Pele Abuga (NDC -- Chiana/ Paga) 1:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in supporting the Report just read by the hon. Member, I will urge hon. Members to approve the sum indicated in the Report. I want to make a very short comment.
Mr. Speaker, we had occasion to talk about the expenditure levels in this country and, Mr. Speaker, since it is important for us to start counting cost and ensuring that expenditure levels are relevant to our developmental needs, I want to urge that we take a second look at the size of the budget and make an attempt to trim
it down.
Mr. Speaker, I say this for a very good reason. There have been several occasions when Members of Government have been called upon to see whether they could not exercise some caution in the manner in which expenditure is made in certain aspects of Government. Particularly, I will take this opportunity to call on the Government to see whether they cannot cut down on the number of Ministers in the Government because when we keep appointing many more Ministers into Government, then we are increasing the size of the Government and the expenditure levels that go into the upkeep of the various Ministers.
Mr. Speaker, having said this, I want to support that we approve that sum.
Mr. Kadwo Opare-Hammond (NPP -- Adenta) 1:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion to approve the Annual Estimates of the various Government subvented organizat ions under Government Machinery. Mr. Speaker, although I support the motion, there is a comment I want to make with regard to the Ghana AIDS Commission.
Mr. E. Salia 1:55 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. Colleague is misleading this House seriously by understanding the impact of AIDS on the lives of the people. AIDS is not becoming a killer; it is indeed a killer. It has been a killer for a long time, so he should correct himself, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Opare-Hammond 1:55 p.m.
I thank my hon. Friend. Let me state that AIDS is a killer. As at now, we have statistics that about 3.5 per cent of our population is infected with AIDS. We also have it on record that about two hundred thousand people in this country are infected everyday with HIV/AIDS.
Mr. Speaker, when you look at 13 of the Budget Statement, we have before us, the funds that have been allocated to Ghana AIDS Commission, which is about ¢135.6 billion. Mr. Speaker, of this amount, ¢130 billion is supposed to come from foreign donors. What it means is that about 96 per cent of the money that we need to finance the programmes of the Ghana AIDS Commission is supposed to come from outside donors.
Mr. Speaker, with this picture, I am beginning to think that we are not taking the AIDS menance as a serous thing. I therefore, want to recommend that, especially given the fact that sometimes some of these foreign sources cannot be relied upon, we should allocate some funds from our own local sources for programmes of the Ghana AIDS Commission so that if we have some money coming in, it will come to complement whatever we are doing on our own, as a country.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to humbly ask my hon. Friend, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to take a second look at this position of the Ghana AIDS Commission and allocate some more funds from our local sources for it, rather than expecting over 96 or 97 per cent of the funding of the Ghana AIDS Commission to come from outside.
Mr. Speaker, with this submission, I beg to support the motion.
Alhaji Seidu Amadu (NDC -- Yapei/ Kusawgu) 2:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in supporting the motion I just want to make a special appeal for the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at the allocation in respect of the size and the unwieldy nature of the region, coupled with the present state of insecurity, there is so much demand that is made on the resources of the Regional Co-ordinating Council. If you look at the present allocation, I think what has been specifically allocated to Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council is on the low side. I therefore wish to appeal to the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to take into consideration the size of the region, the distance from Accra -- because the Regional Co-ordinating Council will continue to host a lot of visitors within
and without -- in addition to the security situation in the region.
With this, Mr. Speaker, I support the motion.
Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom (CPP -- Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem) 2:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, just two quick points in support of the motion.
Mr. Speaker, the area of national identification, and the creation of a database in relation therefore, are areas that we need to only continuously emphasise but also ensure that that work is done as urgently as possible to enhance national development.
This is because we need it to make sure that all of us can have a common identification so that all of us can have proper credit; so that we can build credit databases in the system; so that we can
PP 2:05 p.m.

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N 2:05 p.m.

D 2:05 p.m.

IX 2:05 p.m.

A 2:05 p.m.

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C 2:05 p.m.

R 2:05 p.m.

Mr. Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, you may wind up.
Mr. Baah-Wiredu 2:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank hon. Members for the contributions made so far. I think most of the points have been jotted down and I believe that the work of the Commission is going to serve as the basis for the execution of the Budget. I also hope that quarterly review of the Budget by the committees would help all of us.
On that note, Mr. Speaker, I move that the sum of ¢658,514 million be approved for the services of Government Machinery for the fiscal year 2005. Mr. Speaker, I beg to move.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢658,514 million for the services of the Government Machinery for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Hon. Majority Chief Whip, which item do you say we can
take now?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the motion advertised at item 12 on the Order Paper.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:05 p.m.

Minister for Women and Children's Affairs (Hajia Alima Mahama) 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢18,336 million for the services of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, this request is being made against the background of the Ministry's Mission Statement which is that the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs is committed to the promotion of gender equality and equity among men and women and the survival, development and protection of children as an important step towards increased participation of women in the development processes, poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Mr. Speaker, research and studies indicate that women and children are the most vulnerable in our community. The Ministry is therefore set up to work with all stakeholders including Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Parliament, traditional authorities, civil society and all Ghanaians to reduce the vulnerability of women and children and provide equal opportunities for women and men, boys and girls to realize their potentials to contribute to the advance- ment of our communities and our country at large.
Mr. Speaker, to carry out this responsibility our main activity involves working with MDAs and mainstreaming gender activities in all their sectoral programmes and activities. We are also working with the MDAs to ensure that they have the necessary gender capacities to do the analyses and incorporating their results into their policy programmes.
Mr. Speaker, our activities include doing research to identify the gaps, doing impact assessment to analyse the impact of our programmes on women and children.
We also disseminate information on gender policies as it pertains in Government policy framework. We participate in mandatory, statutory international conferences and meetings -- I am just coming from one, the Commission on the Status of women where we assessed the impact of Nairobi -- that was in 1980, Mexico 30 years ago, and Beijing Platform for Action -- 10 years ago; and we are supposed to incorporate that in all our activities.
Mr. Speaker, we are also conducting research on the Domestic Violence Bill. We did that in five (5) regions and we will continue with the remaining five (5) regions of this country. We are working on addressing the problems of child trafficking and all other issues that are related to the development and growth of children.
Mr. Speaker, we had a Budget of ¢20 billion last year; we did not receive the whole budget; we had a release of ¢18 billion. Consequently, the shortfall in the release of the investment activities prevented the Ministry from resourcing all the targeted regional and district offices of our two agencies, the National Council for Women and Development (NCWD), the Ghana National Commission on Children

(GNCC).

The two agencies would be bringing an amendment to the Decree to enable them work as departments of the Ministry and to implement our activities throughout the country. The two agencies have been under-resourced for many years and as a result they lack basic facilities like computers, fax machines, furniture, and even office space. It is the Ministry's prime objective to resource these regional and district offices to facilitate their performance.

This year there are plans to resource the twenty regional offices and the district offices with vehicles, equipment and short-term consultancies to enhance their capacity.

The headquarters is also facing acute accommodation problem. It is the Ministry's plan to commence the first place of the annex building this year; and this has been estimated to cost about ¢3.5 billion.

Mr. Speaker, one issue to be raised is the inclusion of ¢2.028 billion in the budget line for donor funding. Unfortunately, the Ministry did not receive this in the last year's Budget and we are concerned that if this is repeated we may not receive it again. We would therefore indulge the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to look at our budget with the amount that has been allocated and not consider it as ¢2 billion being excluded from donor funding.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Committee for a thorough work done, for the insights that they outlined and the recommendations that they provided. It
Minister for Women and Children's Affairs (Hajia Alima Mahama) 2:15 p.m.
will go to enrich the work of the Ministry.
Mr. Speaker, I so move.
Mrs. Angelina Baiden-Amissah (on
behalf of Chairman of the Committee): Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and in doing so I would like to present the Report of the Committee.
1.0 Introduction
In accordance with article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and Order Number 140 (4) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, the Draft Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs for the fiscal year 2005 was referred to this Committee on Gender and Children for consideration and report, following the presentation of the 2005 Annual Budget Statement by the Ministry for Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday, 24th February 2005.
2.0 Deliberations and Acknowledgement
In considering the Estimates, the Committee held a meeting with the Chief Director and his technical directors and the principal officials of the Ministry to seek their clarifications on the Estimates. The Committee is very grateful to them for their assistance.
3.0 Reference Documents
The following reference documents were used by the Committee in its deliberations:
i) The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
ii) The Standing Orders of Parliament.
iii) The Sessional Address of His Excellency the President.
iv) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for 2005 Financial Year.
v) The Committee's Report on 2004 Budget Estimates of the Sector Ministry.
4.0 Background Information of the Sector Ministry
4.1 Mission Statement
The mission of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs is to “unite all stakeholders involved in the promotion of gender and children issues and create an environment conducive to the integration of women and children in all sectors of the economy.”
The Ministry therefore is responsible for:
i. Policy formulation, co- ordina-tion and monitoring of institutional framework and activities of women and children programmes,
ii. Advocacy of gender sensitivity in sectoral plans and business promotions, programmes and projects,
iii. Collaboration with donor agencies, NGOs and other development partners to facilitate the integration of women and children in national development; and
iv. Dissemination of government policies, research findings on women and children to assist in the development process.
5.0 Objectives of the Ministry
The Ministry has the following as its main objectives:
i . to develop pol ic ies and programmes that will promote gender equality and child development at all levels of society;
ii. to establish a national framework for women issues through the institution of affirmative action on women's participation in public life;
iii . to analyse the impact of economic reform on women and children and initiate a process which will empower them to participate fully in the design, management and implementation of socio- economic programmes;
iv. to co-ordinate, monitor and evaluate gender-based pro- grammes and projects, using existing structures; and
v. to improve institutional and human resource capacity of “Women and Children Deve- lopment”.
The above-mentioned policies and programmes are implemented through the following affiliate agencies:
National Council on Women and Development (NCWD);
Ghana National Commission on

[HAJIA MAHAMA] Children (GNCC). 6.0 A Review of 2004 Budget Estimates

An amount of ¢20,563,000,000.00 was approved by this honourable House to the Ministry in the 2004 fiscal year, to meet its expenditure. However, it was realized that not all the approved sum was released to the Ministry to execute its programmes and activities as scheduled. As a result, the Ministry was not able to achieve its set target.

The breakdown of the provision and its expenditure is shown in the table below (Expenditure Returns for 2003) in Cedis.

6.1 Ministry's Performance in 2004 This table shows an overview of the

Ministry's financial operations for the year.

7.0 2005 Budgetary Allocation of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs

The Committee observed that a total budgetary allocation of ¢18,337,000,000 have been estimated for the operations of the Ministry for the year ending 31st December 2005. This is made up of two components, the Government of Ghana and Donor funds.

A. Government of Ghana

Item Allocation

¢

i. Personal Emoluments

-- 2,115,000,000.00

ii. Administration

-- 5,762,000,000.00

iii. Services

-- 3,635,000,000.00

iv. Investment

-- 4,737,000,000.00

Sub Total
-- 2:15 p.m.

- 2:15 p.m.

MINISTRY OF HEADQUARTERS GHANA NATIONAL GHANA NATIONAL 2:15 p.m.

AFFAIRS DEVELOPMENT 2:15 p.m.

Mr. Mahama Ayariga (NDC -- Bawku Central) 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion that is before the House.
Mr. Speaker, in supporting the motion, I wish to emphasize the plight of women and children in this country. Being honourable representatives of our people here, we all know the situation of women and children in this country, and if we have left them far away in our constituencies, I believe what we see in the streets of Accra these days is a constant reminder of the situation that women and children find themselves.
Mr. Speaker, this Ministry is obviously a new one and it is in response to the plight of women and children. And being a new Ministry, there is no doubt that it is a Ministry that needs more resources than the already well-established Ministries. And so I would urge that we continue to provide adequate resources to such a Ministry so that they can effectively prosecute their responsibilities.
But Mr. Speaker, again in supporting
Mrs. Gifty. E. Kusi 2:15 p.m.
On a point of
order! Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member is misleading this House. He knows that even before we passed the National Health Insurance Act we went round to discuss it and to let the public have an input. So if
he says we are wasting time disseminating a Bill, what is he saying, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Ayariga 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
Mr. Lee Ocran 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on
a point of order. The National Health Insurance Bill had to be disseminated because the people have to contribute financially towards the insurance scheme. In the case of the Domestic Violence Bill nobody is contributing; they are telling us not to maltreat women. Let us pass the Bill first and then we can go and tell them not to do so.
Mr. Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon. Member for Jomoro, that is not a point of order.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:15 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, the hon. Member on the floor is making a useful contribution. However,
what he needs to know is that when Bills come to Parliament and they are referred to committees we have a time-frame within which the committee will have to report to the plenary. So that constrains them.
In fact, we had the same problem when we were dealing with the Children's Bill and so we believe that it is important that it goes into the public domain first before it comes to Parliament so that we have a longer time to debate this matter at the national level. So that explains it. So much as I agree with him that it has not come to Parliament yet, the import of it being circulated in the public domain is to allow longer time for discussion.
Mr. Ayariga 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The simple point that I am making is that the way we are treating the issue of domestic violence betrays our lack of commitment to passing the Domestic Violence Bill. Mr. Speaker, the delays have been too much. This is not the first time, it has taken several years, it has taken four years -- [Interruption.]
Mr. James Appietu-Ankrah -- rose
-- 2:25 p.m.

Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Member, do you have a point of order to raise?
Mr. Appietu-Ankrah 2:25 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I think the hon. Member on the other side of the House is misleading this House by saying that there is lack of commitment. Because I believe that it is because of the commitment and the seriousness that the nation attaches to the Domestic Violence Bill that is why it seeks the involvement of the people who are affected by the Domestic Violence Bill.
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Member, continue.
Mr. Ayariga 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we need to as a matter of urgency consider the issue of bringing the Bill before this House so that we can give women in this country hope that the violence to which they have been subjected will be seriously addressed by our legal system.
rose
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Member, for Ahafo Ano South?
Mr. Manu 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he continues to mislead the House by telling us that the document is unduly being delayed. Mr. Speaker, the issues involved in the Domestic Violence Bill has to do with the abuses that women have faced in this country and in their homes. Mr. Speaker, women at some point were stripped naked and humiliated in public. [Hear! Hear!]
So if a Bill is coming to arrest some of these things, it has to go to every nook and cranny of this country where there are women so that they will understand it. And it is the need that the document be translated in many languages that makes almost every woman in this country understand what is being done for women before they also could contribute to the document and before it comes here to be passed. We want to save women from the atrocities, the humiliations they have gone through in this country before.
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Member, proceed.
Mr. Ayariga 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am impressed by the presentation of the hon. Member and his
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Yes, you must wind up.
Mr. Ayariga 2:25 p.m.
It is to draw the attention of the hon. Minister -- [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Majority Chief Whip, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member is misleading this House. The Domestic Violence Bill is not about women alone. It is not about violence against women alone; violence against men as well is also captured. [An hon. Member: Have you seen the Bill? You have not seen it. [Interruptions.]
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Members, address the Chair. And please wind up.
Mr. Ayariga 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker; I am just about to wind up. I certainly agree that the Domestic Violence Bill is not about women alone -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Are you winding up?
Mr. Ayariga 2:25 p.m.
But the very fact that it is something that is being handled by the Ministry for Women and Children's Affairs betrays the fact that it concerns women more in reality than men.
Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by saying that as a Ministry, I believe that the thrust of their work should be lobbying all the
institutions to ensure that every programme that they design and implement is done in such a way that it addresses the concerns of women and children. And so I will urge the hon. Minister to make good use of their offices in the various regions and various districts to work effectively with the District Assemblies and the Regional Co-ordinating Councils which have a lot of resources so that they can design pro- poor programmes that address the issues of women and children.
On that note, Mr. Speaker, I will urge my hon. Colleagues to vote massively in support of the motion.
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Minister, you may have to wind up. [Interruptions.]
rose
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon. Member, let us hear her. I did not see you; were you up?
Mrs. Boon 2:25 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Let me give you two minutes, please.
Mrs. Alice Teni Boon (NDC -- Lambussie) 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would want to support the motion on the floor and to acknowledge the fact that this is a very important Ministry that caters for about 52 per cent or more people of this nation.
I think that it is a Ministry that can contribute in bringing most Members to this House and should be cherished by all in this House. Mr. Speaker, the number of women voters is more than that of men and there is no Member of Parliament here who can stick his neck to say that he was not voted for by the majority of women in his constituency. I want to think that on this note, it is the wish of all hon. Members here that this Ministry is seen as the priority of all.
Mrs. Alice Teni Boon (NDC -- Lambussie) 2:25 p.m.


Mr. Speaker, I also want to believe that the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, although we were told that the decision of allocating these inadequate funds to the Ministry happened at the Cabinet level, I think that the hon. Minister was there and he should be held responsible. So I am addressing this to the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning but not Cabinet as a whole. After all, how many women were there?
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Are you concluding?
Mrs. Boon 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am still in the introduction -- [Laughter.] I think that -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker 2:25 p.m.
I gave you two minutes.
Mrs. Boon 2:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will conclude. I think that all that the hon. Minister got up to complain about are just the primary needs of the Ministry -- without vehicles and computers and even with few officials to do the work of the Ministry, this would not carry the Ministry anywhere. So I think that the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning should be looking at how best he can again look at the inadequate amount given to the Ministry so that he can top it up to make it sufficient for the Ministry.

Mr. Speaker, just yesterday, I read from a newspaper that a journalist went round trying to find out whether women are versed with what the Ministry is doing. To my surprise, most of the people they contacted said that they did not even know women have a Ministry. This Ministry is for gender issues and yet most women are

not aware. I do not know whether the men who are with us are also aware. So that means that what is always allocated to us is not always enough and all hon. Members can testify that it has always been so.

That is why I started by saying that it is women who brought most of us here or all of us so we should be seen as being sensitive to this Ministry's allocations or its affairs. Since there is not much time, I want to wish the hon. Minister well so that he will relook at the issue of adding something to what has already been given so that the Ministry would take up its numerous activities.
Mr. Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, please wind up.
Hajia Alima Mahama: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank hon. Members for the contributions that they have made. I hope the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning was listening and if there is an opportunity to do supple-mentary budget our budget will be increased. Indeed, our Ministry is new and we are still recruiting.
Mr. Speaker, on the Domestic Violence Bill, I would want to reiterate the point that the Government of Ghana is committed. Indeed, the draft document was done at the instance of the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General so if the Government was not committed, it would not be there in the first place. It has had Cabinet's approval and we are now mandated to ensure that it gets across-the-board support and people understand what we mean by, or what they input into the Domestic Violence Bill.
Mr. Speaker, the translation into the languages was found necessary when we
had meetings with our donor community and we put forward the programme of disseminating the formation on the Domestic Violence Bill in the country. And they generously donated for us the translate it into the eight languages that we have. So we did the translations from generous donations of our donor community and I think we should be grateful to them for that input into our legislative process.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank them for their contributions and to say that other matters that they have raised would be incorporated into the activities of the Ministry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢18,366 million for the services of the Ministry of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Item 13, Minister for Road Transport?
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:35 p.m.

Minister for Road Transport (Dr. Richard W. Anane) 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to crave your indulgence to make a correction before I move the motion. Mr. Speaker, the motion is to be moved for the approval of the sum of ¢2,091,138,-000,000.00 but we want to make a correction by adding other estimated revenues from the Road Fund and internally generated funds in order to make up for a total budget of
¢2,978,050,-000,000.00 for the Ministry of Road Transport. Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, I may now want to move.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move that this honourable House approves the sum of ¢2,978,050,000,000.00 for the services of the Ministry of Road Transport for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Road Transport has the purview of ensuring that the road transport sector programmes which are essentially geared towards the provision of access through better distribution of the nation's road networks with special emphasis on high poverty areas are done.
Mr. Speaker, Ghana also has thrust on her the added responsibility of the provision of the transit corridor for our landlocked neighbours and as enshrined in the August 2003 declaration of AMATTY, Ghana must make provision for these landlocked neighbours to use our corridors.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to that, the Ministry also has a policy objective with regard to road transport services to continue with the setting up of mass transport services in all regions of the country.
Mr. Speaker, these options are to be implemented in 2005 and are expected to reduce road transport disparities between the urban and rural communities. Mr. Speaker, the Ministry deals with especially the trunk roads sector, the urban roads, sector, the feeder roads, sector as well as a road transport services. Mr. Speaker, the need to open up the countryside in order to create access for the food market and for others socio-economic needs and activities has been central to the Government's development agenda.
Indeed, because of the need for us to improve upon our road network, especially under the feeder road sector, Mr. Speaker, form 2001 up to the end of 2004, we were
able to improve upon our road condition mix from 29 per cent good, 26 per cent poor and 45 per cent poor to 46 per cent good, 25 per cent fair and 29 per cent poor.
Mr. Speaker, with the support of this House, we believe that we would be able to improve upon this condition mix so that this country would be better off. Mr. Speaker, based on this, we hope that within the coming year, we will be able to provide under the feeder road sector routine maintenance for 26,400 kilometres roads.
In addition, we also hope to engineer 3,000 kilometres of 9,600 kilometres of tracks and un-engineered roads in the country.
Mr. Speaker, while we are dong this, there is a parading shift of making sure that we also start tarring our feeder roads network. We are hoping that this year, with the support of the House, we will be able to tar about 183 kilometres of feeder roads spread countrywide.
Mr. Speaker, this country has been going through some changes and the Department of Urban Roads now has to take upon itself extra jobs and extra duties as more municipalities are created.

Mr. Speaker, as at the end of the year 2004, we had only moderate improve- ments in our urban road network. And the reason, Mr. Speaker, is because of the fact that the Department of Urban Roads had to take upon itself work in newly created municipalities.

Mr. Speaker, because of the poor nature

of the roads, especially in the newly created municipalities, there will be the need for this Ministry to ensure that these roads are catered for to be improved to the standards that befit the municipalities which have just been created. And because of this the Department of Urban Roads will have to be relocating to more municipalities.
Minister for Road Transport (Dr. Richard W. Anane) 2:45 p.m.
Las t year, we moved to new
municipalities and this year, we are moving to more municipalities. This, Mr. Speaker, is going to put a big burden on us but we believe that with your support, with the support of this august House we will be able to make an improvement in the road network of our existing metropolitan and municipal areas as well as the newly created municipalities.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to that, we also
have our road network under the trunk road programmes to be considered. And under the trunk road network, Mr. Speaker, we hope that this year we would be able to give periodic maintenance to about five hundred and ten kilometres of trunk roads.
We are also with the support of our development partners going to reconstruct and rehabilitate to a major extent about two hundred and seventy-five kilometres of roads in order to put up the kind of road network that we believe will be able to absorb the extra load that had been thrust on this country as a result of our having to provide a transit corridor for our land- locked neighbours.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to this, road
safety is also a major concern. As we make provision for our roads, we also believe that we must ensure that there is safety on these roads.
Mr. Speaker, from figures which were
given pre-2000, which were said to be about Ghana having a road traffic accident fatality rate of seventy-three deaths per ten thousand, we have had to review the data and we can now say that from this period we have been able to reduce our road traffic accident fatality rates. Indeed, from the year 2001 to the year 2003, the road traffic accident fatality rates fell from thirty-one deaths per ten thousand vehicles through twenty-seven deaths per ten thousand vehicles, twenty-three deaths per ten thousand vehicles in the year 2003 to an estimated twenty-one deaths per ten

thousand vehicles.

Mr. Speaker, we believe that we would

be able to reduce further our road traffic accident fatality rate to below twenty and eventually hit the single digit mark. We believe that with the support that this honourable House should be giving the sector, we should be able to achieve this and ensure that there is safety on our roads.

Mr. Speaker, this, we believe would

also be possible if we support the activities of the National Road Safety Commission, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority and other stakeholders who have been playing quite a yeoman's role in ensuring that we improve upon road safety in our areas.

Mr. Speaker, based on this, this august

House last year passed the Road Traffic Bill and we believe that with the passage of the Bill and with its operationalization we should be able to impact positively on road transport accident fatality rates and road transport accidents.

Mr. Speaker, as we make provision

for ensuring that the roads are done and also ensure that there is an improvement in accidents and accident fatality rates on the roads, we believe that there must also be an improvement in access by way of transportation, especially for our urban dwellers in order to improve productivity.

Mr. Speaker, based on this, the past few years have seen the emergence of a mass transportation system in the country.

Mr. Speaker, the Mass Transport Company which was formed in March, 2003 has been improved upon and we believe that by the end of this year, the services of our Mass Transport Company would be markedly improved in order to ensure that urban dwellers can easily access transport services to and from their work in order to ensure and improve upon

their productivity by way of not going to work tired and by way of also improving upon the length of time that they can spend at home and improving also our family bonds. This is because over the time, it has been difficult for quite a few family members to ensure that even the bond with the members of their family at home is improved.

Mr. Speaker, based on that, it is hoped that by the end of this year, an additional two hundred and fifty buses from China would be arriving in the country. A hundred and fifty Tata buses would be also arriving from India in order to boost the transport service between our urban centres and our rural centres.

So also we hope to receive extra support from the Government of The Netherlands by the provision of extra more hundred buses. And the Government of Italy will continue to support us and we believe that by the close of this year another sixty more buses will also be arriving from Italy.

Mr. Speaker, these are all to improve upon access, access to our areas of economic activity and access in order to improve upon our productivity.

Mr. Speaker, these can only be achieved if this honourable House would give this Ministry the mandate to use the sum of two trillion, nine hundred and seventy-eight billion, and fifty million cedis.

Mr. Speaker, with these words, I beg to move.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. S. K. Obodai) 2:45 p.m.
I rise to second the motion and in so doing, I wish to present the Committee's Report.
Mr. Speaker, before that, I appeal to hon. Members to ignore the last sheet attached to the Report and replace it with
the single sheet that was circulated to hon. Members on that same topic, that is breakdown of total allocation to the Ministry of Road Transport. And on that sheet, I appeal to hon. Members to effect the following corrections:
Under Department of Urban Roads, that is, Investment, GOG, the amount there should read fifty-nine billion, nine hundred and twenty-one million, four hundred and sixty thousand cedis instead of ¢128,292,910. That is under invest-ment, GOG, Department of Urban Roads. Then under Ghana Highway Authority, it should also read two hundred and thirty-seven billion, seven hundred and ninety-nine million, two hundred and eighty thousand cedis instead of ¢169,428,249,999. And the total amount has been corrected by the hon. Minister. That is, it is now reading, two trillion, nine hundred and seventy- eight billion, and fifty million.
1.0 Introduction
Mr. Speaker, in fulfilment of article 179 of the Constitution the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2005 financial year was presented to the House by the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday, 24th February, 2005. In accordance with Standing Orders 140 (4) and 188 of the Standing Orders of the House, the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Road Transport was referred to the Committee for consideration and report.
In considering the referral, the Committee met with the sector Minister hon. Dr. Richard W. Anane, officials of both the Ministry of Road Transport and the underlisted departments and agencies for further elucidation on the Estimates:
a) Department of Feeder Roads (DFR) b) Department of Urban Roads (DUR)
TOTAL 2:45 p.m.

TOTAL 2:45 p.m.

-- 3:05 p.m.

Mr. Yaw Ntow-Ababio (NPP -- Dormaa East) 3:05 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this debate on the floor of this august House on the motion that this House approves the sum of ¢2,978,050,000,000.00 for the Ministry of Road Transport. Mr. Speaker, I just want to make only two quick contributions because I see that most Members want to contribute.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:05 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I believe the word that my hon. Colleague has uttered was a slip of tongue -- [Laughter.] In reality he meant to say “a superb” Budget Statement and Economic Policy document presented to this House by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, not “superfluous”. Mr. Speaker, I have his word that it was a slip of tongue.
Mr. Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Yes, hon. Member continue.
Mr. Ntow-Ababio 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. Chief Whip for the correction. Mr. Speaker, this morning I went to my pigeonhole and found the Road Traffic Act which says something which for all these years, I was thinking should have been incorporated in the laws of the country. And by the good work of the Road Transport Ministry, they have put together this fine and very useful Bill about safety on our roads. Drivers in this country drive dangerously, carelessly and

Maj. (Dr.) (Alhaji) Mustapha Ahmed (rtd.): On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I am finding it very difficult to match the name to the voice. I would be very grateful if the hon. Member contributing to the motion could tell us his name, please.
Mr. Ntow-Ababio 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my name is Yaw Ntow-Ababio, hon. Member for Dormaa East constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Mr. Speaker, the Road Act was enacted in the year 2004 and it gives me joy that this Ministry is working and we need to support it in its entirety. Because I am a member of the Committee, I am privileged to know that the budget was slashed from a very good percentage to the level that we are seeing over here. I was glad when the hon. Ranking Member stated that the trillion that we are talking about is nothing when it comes to road construction; that some of my Colleagues would think that this is the only Ministry that has budgeted above ¢2 trillion or in the neighbourhood of trillions.

But I am of a firm belief that most hon. Members here in this House would like roads constructed in their districts. I am also of the opinion that if there is any Ministry that we need to support and encourage to get more money it is this particular Ministry that we are talking about.

On this note, I urge all Members in this House to vote massively for this Ministry's estimates.
rose
Mr. Speaker 3:15 p.m.
Deputy Minority Leader, do you want to speak now and
wind up?
Mr. Adjaho 3:15 p.m.
I will be coming but I need some clarification, that is why I am getting up at this stage so that they can clarify it. I will come back after other Members have spoken because this is the first time I have seen an item of ¢230 million being allocated to the Office of the Minister.
The Appendix 1 attached to the Report -- the sheet that the Chairman of the Committee referred -- there is an amount of ¢230,240,004 allocated to the office of the Minister for administration; it is under “Admi-nistration”. There is no service to back it and all those things, but I know that Ministers take their moneys from general administration. I want this matter to be answered to clarify this position. At the appropriate time, I will come back to make my own contribution because I have never seen this type of allocation before. Maybe, there is a reason for it.
Mr. Speaker 3:15 p.m.
Deputy Minority Leader, how many contributions are we recognizing?
Mr. Adjaho 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is a very difficult question but as you know, from the discussion we had this morning, this is an area in which Members are generally interested. We will get about five people from the Minority side. [Interruption.] In fact, the Minority Chief Whip says four; I have only added one. [Laughter.] Mr. Speaker, I know you are looking tired but -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker 3:15 p.m.
It is not that I look very tired. I gave Members only one hour extension. We have exceeded that, but
let us go on.
Mr. Dominic A. Azumah (NDC -- Garu-Tempane) 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if there is any Ministry which every Member of Parliament is concerned about, it is the Ministry of Road Transport, simply because there is no individual Member of Parliament here who is not yearning for one or two roads in his constituency. And so when it comes to -- [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. Speaker 3:15 p.m.
Hon. Member for Ashaiman, are you raising a point of order?
Mr. Agbesi 3:15 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the document we have here has been described in various forms. The first page talks about “Committee on Roads and Transport”; then when you go down to page 1, it also talks about “Ministry of Road Transport”. Then on page 2, “Ministry of Road Transport”; page 3, “Ministry of Road Transport”. And then when you go to where they signed the Report, it is stated that “Committee on Roads and Transport”.
Mr. Speaker, I want a clarification on this point so that we know what it is.
Mr. Speaker 3:15 p.m.
Hon. Member for Ashaiman, your hon. Friend is on his feet, and this is not a point of order; would you kindly wait.
Mr. Azumah 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, to address his concern, the Select Committee is called “Committee on Roads and Transport” but the Ministry is called “Ministry of Road Transport”. That is the difference I would like him to note.
Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
You must be winding
up.
Mr. Azumah 3:25 p.m.
I would want to tie it,
Mr. Speaker, with your permission, to the
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). When we were passing the Act on the DVLA, it was the intention that a certain amount of money be retained by this institution to enable it provide all the necessary equipment for proper testing of vehicles. But as I speak to you today, Mr. Speaker, if you drive your car now to the DVLA Office and they want to test your fog light system, there is a private individual there who does the examination and DVLA pays a certain percentage to him as part of the amount they are receiving from customers.
What I want to say is that we are not providing sufficient funds for the equipment to be purchased so that we can effectively examine vehicles to prevent these accidents. This is not part of the budget but it is part of transportation -- the Aviation sector -- and I just want to raise a concern to the Minister. Aviation is part of it; we have been briefed about aviation and I am happy the Minister is here.
Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Please conclude.
Mr. Azumah 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the airport is number one; it is superb if you look at it from outside but sadly if you enter, the arrival hall is an oven. I would want to term the arrival hall of our airport as an oven.
Mr. Adjaho 3:25 p.m.
On a point of order. I think the hon. Member is misleading this House. The motion moved is for the Ministry of Road Transport, not Road and Transport. We are talking about road transport, so we cannot be talking about aviation. He is out of order.
Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
I am sure you are winding up; please wind up.
Mr. Azumah 3:25 p.m.
So Mr. Speaker, I am

appealing to the Minister to quickly take a look at the arrival hall of the airport, if we are making Accra and for that matter Kotoka Airport the gateway to Africa. Indeed, I chanced to be there to see what has happened and it was so sad to hear concerns of people. So I would very much plead with the Minster to take a critical look at it and see how that issue can be immediately addressed.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (NPP -- Suame) 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in supporting the motion, I intend to be very brief.
Mr. Speaker, on page 12 of the Committee's Report, paragraph 10.2, the Committee has stated:
“Secondly, the Committee wishes to recommend to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to speed up the processing of payment of certificates presented to it by road contractors who undertake road projects funded directly from the Consolidated Fund to avoid the difficulties such road contractors have to contend with.”
Mr. Speaker, I do believe that the Committee indeed is recommending to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to speed up the processing of payments. They do not merely wish to recommend, they indeed are recom- mending. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member for Jirapa (Mr. Edward Salia) alluded to the fact that the quality of work done by contractors, particularly local contractors, is deteriorating.
Mr. Speaker, the effect of the delay in processing payment certificates presented by contractors is really to strangulate the contractors. The tendency therefore will be for them to cut corners, whenever they have, new projects, at least to
  • [MAJ. (DR.) )ALHAJI) AHMED recoup. And also they might have made -- [Interruption.] Particularly those ones who might have resorted to borrowing from the banks. Mr. Speaker, it is only natural that they would do that; and so that will affect the quality of work that is done by the contractors. Mr. Speaker, on page 3 of the Committee's Report, we are told that the provision of road transport infrastructure and services at minimum cost throughout the country for economic growth particularly in the agricultural, industrial, trade and services sectors is one of the principal objectives of the Ministry. For that reason, we have so much allocated to the Ministry. Mr. Speaker, it is rather uninteresting to observe that in the budget provision for the Ministry in 2004, in the area of investment, whereas Government of Ghana (GOG) budgeted ¢250.39 billion for the Ministry, in actual fact GOG released ¢219 billion. Mr. Speaker, it was under the figure that was allocated for investment by GOG, that is, the GOG counterpart. Mr. Speaker, on the other hand, whereas we expected ¢611.79 billion from our donors, at the end of the day, they ended up releasing two trillion, three hundred and sixty-four billion (¢2.364 trillion). Mr. Speaker, this really is surprising because our donors are prepared to help us in achieving the set objectives, that is the provision of transport infrastructure and services throughout the country to accelerate economic growth, but it appears that the counterpart funding from GOG is not really forthcoming, even though admittedly, they made about 87 per cent. Mr. Speaker, that really is not the best. It is like sympathisers weeping more than the bereaved. Our donors realise the dying nature of our roads and they are helping us and we are not helping ourselves much. Mr. Speaker, the other thing that I believe we must also look at -- the Minister talked about it -- that is, the procurement of Tata buses. Mr. Speaker, that is a good effort but what I want us to concern ourselves with is the experience that this nation has had by resorting to Tata buses. Mr. Speaker, they were not the best, so if the Minister is saying that they intend to procure Tata buses to facilitate mass transportation in the country, I believe we should have a second look at it particularly if perhaps we need to tropicalise the buses or make sure that they would be able to traverse the bad nature of our roads. That should be taken into consideration otherwise after one year six months of use, we would have to park these Tata buses, as the experience was previously; it would not be the best. Mr. Speaker, we have made this point in this House that in this country, the cost of constructing roads, the variation is just too much. Let the Minister advert his mind to this and let us all come to some agreement so that whether it is the NPP Government, whether it is the NDC Government, whether it is the CPP or the PNC Government, we shall be very clear in our minds that the cost of road construction is within this range. It is happy news learning that the Ministry intends to construct about 20 kilometres of road in the Afram Plains. Mr. Speaker, that is a good effort but I believe that it is too much on the low side -- 20 kilometres reconstruction works to be undertaken in the Afram Plains. Mr. Speaker, we need to open up the Afram Plains. What we have here, Mr. Minister, with respect, is reconstruction. So I am saying that we need to really open up the Afram Plains to allow for the endeavour in agriculture to proceed speedily. That place could be the food basket of this country, and indeed we need to open the place up.
  • Mr. Speaker 3:35 p.m.
    Deputy Minority Leader, are you prepared to contribute now?
    Mr. Adjaho 3:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I would let you take one or two from my side then I will contribute.
    Alhaji Sumani Abukari (NDC -- Tamale North) 3:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity. I will be very brief. I want to add my voice to those who have supported the motion on the floor and I would start by saying that the Ministry needs more funds. To do the work that we require them to do, they need a lot of funds.
    We all know that road construction is a very capital intensive business and so if we do not give them more funds then we should not expect much from them. However, having said this, I will say that the Ministry should in future see to the connection of roads between the regional capitals and the district capitals.
    For instance, in the Northern Region, which is a very vast region, apart from Yendi which is connected to Tamale and Savelugu because it is on the way to Burkina Faso, all the other roads are not tarred; and in fact, some of them are in very terrible conditions. For instance, if you take the road through Salaga to Bimbilla, in fact, the road is in a real mess. So I would advise that the district roads leading to regional capitals in all the country, not just in the Northern Region are looked at next time.
    Secondly, I would like the hon. Minister to take note of the road in the Tamale Metropolis. Apart from the main road that passes Tamale no other road effectively is tarred. Mr. Speaker, the result is that, even roads that we need to divert traffic out of the centre of Tamale, because they are not tarred, a lot of heavy-duty trucks, especially from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger go through the town centre and within the past year we have had terrible and ghastly accidents in the city. We have lost so many lives through road accidents because these big trucks have to go through the centre of town.
    Those who know Tamale would know that most of the people move around on motorcycles and bicycles and these trucks keep crushing them day in and day out. Mr. Speaker, if we were to tar the by- passes, the Ring Road particularly, these international vehicles would go round Tamale without coming through the city centre. Mr. Speaker, in fact, that applies
    Alhaji Sumani Abukari (NDC -- Tamale North) 3:35 p.m.
    to Kumasi as well. I think that some of the bypasses in Kumasi need to be looked at, especially the one going through Suame; and I mention Suame not because my Friend is the Member of Parliament there but because it goes to the North. I do not know but we have a problem going in and out of Kumasi; Suame is a real problem.
    There is a real problem in Suame; you would spend about 2 hours getting out of Suame alone.
    Mr. Speaker, I would also want to talk about the question of open gutters. It is sad that in this country Ghana is still constructing open gutters. Even in Accra, the capital city, the Tetteh-Quarshie Circle, the latest of our circles has open gutters. Mr. Speaker, I think this is an area that we have to look at. To modernize our roads and to make our cities more beautiful there should be no open gutters in our cities, our districts and our regional capitals and in our metropolis; we should not have them.
    I think that all gutters ought to be sealed and that would even save us from the huge amounts that we spend on desilting gutters, because people pour waste materials into the gutters as they are open. If they were sealed they would have no place to dump them except the regular places.
    Mr. Speaker, having said this, I also want to talk about capacity-building for our contractors. Each time we say that our local contractors do not perform well; and we are doing nothing to help them. I would suggest that in future any foreign contractor who wants to work must link up with a local contractor; that is the only way we can develop our contractors. And Government must make it a point to help us acquire equipment, modern equipment with which they can work with these foreign contractors and get the experience that we require. We do not have to rely on foreign contractors all the time, when
    we have people who are willing -- and I think most of the contractors are capable of working effectively with these foreign contractors who, in fact, sublet some of their contracts to the local contractors, behind the scenes. So in future I think that if we can link the local contractors and the foreign contractors we can build up their capacity.
    Mr. Speaker, there is another component of this which I think is rather unfortunate. This component is the payment of contractors. The foreign contractors are usually paid timely. The local contractors are ignored; and these are the people who take heavy loans from the banks and pay a lot of interest on the moneys that they take.
    Mr. Speaker, what happens also is that when the foreign contractors are not paid they are paid, interest on the money that is due. The local contractors get no interest whatsoever. Sometimes, their payments are delayed for years and when they are paid finally they cannot claim interest because they are afraid they would be blacklisted.
    If a local contractor goes to the Ministry asking for interest he is automatically blacklisted; and when he goes for another contract they would say “You have been worrying us about payments and whatnot; we will not give it to you, we will give it to another contractor”; whereas the foreign contractors are paid interest even though these are embodied in their contracts. These interest payments are embodied in their contracts but they dare not ask for them. This is another area we have to look at.
    Mr. Speaker, our roads in Tamale -- I have talked about those roads. I would therefore want to wind up by saying that we should give more money to the Ministry. I know the hon. Minister will do a good job with all the money we give to him but we should add more money to

    The roads around my house in Tamale, Kalpohin Estates of Tamale are so bad that as I speak today, I have no bed in my bedroom and I do not have furniture in my hall because by the time I get there I would have to change them; they would all get dusty. And most of the senior officers even from the Ministry are in that area. So I think that they should look at these areas that are in the centre of town and see who best they can tackle them.

    I thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That is my contribution.
    Mr. David Hennric Yeboah (NPP -- Afigya-Sekyere East) 3:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, thank you for allowing me to contribute to the motion on the floor.
    Mr. Speaker, this Ministry plays a very important role in our society. Roads beautify our country; roads bring more investment into the country. Mr. Speaker, an example is the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange. I am sure every regional city would be happy to have one.
    Mr. Speaker, more roads should be constructed in the rural areas so as to convey more foodstuffs into our cities. Sometimes, foodstuffs get destroyed due to poor road network in our rural areas.
    Mr. Speaker, sufficient funds should be added to the Ministry to tackle all these projects mentioned in this year's Budget. Mr. Speaker, because the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning sometimes delays in releasing funds, most contractors also drag their feet when contracts are awarded to them.
    With this, I support the motion for the approval of the budget, Mr. Speaker.
    Several hon. Members -- rose --
    Mr. Speaker 3:45 p.m.
    Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, are you ready to contribute? [Pause] -- You are up; that is why I am asking you.
    Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 3:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I would be very grateful if you take one more contribution from our side and then I will come in and speak.
    Mr. Speaker 3:45 p.m.
    All right, yes, go ahead; whichever one you want.
    Dr. A. Y. Alhassan (NDC -- Mion) 3:45 p.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My contribution is skewed towards the attention rural areas should be given in the process of constructing roads in this country.
    The situation in our rural areas, sometimes, is so bad that some places are even termed “Overseas”. That tends to suggest that their immediate need may not be an asphalt road or a road that is motorable, but a strategic bridge that would even allow them to ride a bicycle across to the next community.
    I know of certain places in my constituency that you have to stop your car and wait for the community to come out and actually do some communal labour before you can move for the next ten metres.
    I am appealing to the Ministry to try as much as possible, perhaps to design a special programme that can give rural areas strategic bridges, for a start, so that
    Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho (NDC -- Avenor/ Ave) 3:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, there are just two issues I would want to raise, and whether this budget will go through or not depends upon how the Minister responds to these questions.
    Mr. Speaker, the first is on page 9 of the Committee's Report where they are supposed to keep an amount of ¢3.6 billion under “Retention of Internally Generated Funds”. Mr. Speaker, the Constitution is very, very clear that if any department wants to keep any money that it generates it must come to this House to pass a law to authorize it to do so under article 176 of the Constitution. If that is not done, neither the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, His Excellency the President, nor this Parliament can authorize such retention. Mr. Speaker, if you look at article 176, it is very clear -- and with your permission, I quote:
    “176 (1) There shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund, subject to the provisions of this article --
    (a) all revenues or other moneys
    raised or received for the purposes of, or on behalf of, the Government; and
    (b) any other moneys raised or received in trust for, or on behalf of, the Government.
    (2) The revenues or other moneys referred to in clause (1) of this article shall not include revenues or other moneys:
    (a) that are payable by or under an Act of Parliament into some other fund established for specific purposes;
    (b) that may, by or under an Act of Parliament, be retained by the department of govern- ment that received them for the purposes of defraying the expenses of that depart- ment.”
    Mr. Speaker, clearly, you have to come with an Act of Parliament that you want to retain a certain percentage of that internally-generated fund to defray the expenses of your department. Indeed, we have done a few in this House where we authorized them. In fact, we did it for the Judicial Service in the last Parliament, where we asked them to retain a certain percentage of the monies that the Judicial Service generates, to defray some of their expenses. The Revenue
    Agencies, we authorized them also to keep some money. So Mr. Speaker, for them to be allocating ¢3.6 billion without any Act of Parliament authorizing them to do that, there is a problem with that allocation and I think that the money must go back to the Consolidated Fund. So there is a problem with that money; it is not authorized. It is not approved and to do that is to sin against the clear provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Mr. Speaker, that is my first point.
    The second point that I have is with regard to Appendix 1 of the Committee's Report. Mr. Speaker, we know that the Minister controls the General Admin-istration and that is the budget of the headquarters of the Ministry. Allocations have been made; they may not be sufficient, but allocations have been made for that purpose -- from Personal Emoluments t o Admin i s t r a t i on , t o Services and to Investment.
    Mr. Speaker, when you go down, you would see the “Office of the Minister” has been allocated “Administration”. There is no “Personal Emoluments” attached; there is no “Services”; there is no “Investment”; and the impression there is that this is money which is going directly to the Minister.
    The way it is couched is not clear. In fact, if you look at
    Mr. Speaker 3:45 p.m.
    Hon. Minister, may you wind up.
    Dr. Richard Anane 3:55 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to hon. Members of this august House for the support and the interest they have shown in the activities of the Ministry and for what they will want to see come out from this Ministry for the benefit of the nation.
    Mr. Speaker, whilst hon. Members were expressing their support and sympathy, issues have been raised which I have captured for consideration. I want to assure hon. Members of the House that we are at the service of the entire country and therefore if there is anything that is unclear we are ever ready to explain that. As suggested by the hon. Deputy Minority Leader, if the House finds it fit to call upon me to attend to the House, Mr. Speaker, I am ever ready to attend to it as it has always been the case with me.
    Mr. Speaker, I think some two issues raised by the hon.
    Minority Leader need to be addressed. The first is with respect to the amount of ¢230,240,004 shown under “Administration” under the Office of the Ministry. Mr. Speaker, the fact that it appeared to have been shown in isolation is indicative of what its actual worth is. Mr. Speaker, it is part of what amount that is to be spent under “General Administration”. But my Finance Officer always finds it necessary to make sure that he teases it out for us to see clearly what it is.
    But as suggested by the hon. Member, I w i l l make sure that it is brought to where it definitely belongs, which is under “General Administration”. But Mr. Speaker, this amount is not going to be spent by me as a person, it is going to be spent for the administration of the Ministry. So I want to assure my hon. Colleague that it is only by way of teasing out to see how and where moneys are spent that is why this was done.
    Mr. Speaker, with respect to the issue of retention of Internally Generated Funds ( IGF) , when I sought your indulgence to make correction to the total quantum for the Ministry I mentioned that two additions were that of the Road Fund and that of the IGF. And Mr. Speaker, I said that an IGF of ¢3.612 billion was to be added to the total budget of the Ministry.
    Mr. Speaker, be that as it may, yes, I appreciate what my hon. Colleague put across and I believe that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in subsequent Bills that will be arriving in the House will cater for all these. Whilst presenting our budget we thought it was necessary for us to tease out, just as we teased out the issue of the 230, for us to see where it is. So Mr. Speaker, I would want to plead with hon. Colleagues to appreciate the need for the Ministry to continue with this project and to also understand what my Finance Department wanted to do, so that whatever we put across will be known and the source of the income that arises from any part of the economy will be shown for all of us to know that part -- The Road Fund normally did not appear in our general budget, Mr. Speaker.
    This is the first time that we are showing the Road Fund in our global budget. In the same way that is why this is also being shown, but I do appreciate what my hon. Colleague has raised. Whilst appreciating and understanding my hon. Colleague, I also want to call on him to understand what has been happening.
    But apart from this, Mr. Speaker, so many other viewpoints have been expressed and,
    as I said, these have been taken into consideration and will be encrusted into the activities of the Ministry.
    I would want to assure hon. Members, especially when the question of axle load control was brought up, that indeed we had taken this very seriously and a policy Paper on axle load control was prepared in 2003, approved by Cabinet -- In 2004, we formed a Committee with our development partners and we are operationalising the axle load control on our highways.
    Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is even in our own interest to ensure that we did the axle load control for the benefit of the roads that we are putting up. At the same time, for the major highways which are now suffering under the load of what pertains in our neighbouring countries, Mr. Speaker, we have had to review the specifications and therefore whilst previously our specifications were roads carrying axle load of 10 tonnes, today we
    Dr. Richard Anane 3:55 p.m.


    Question put and motion agreed to:

    That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢2,978,050,- 000,000 for the services of the Ministry of Road Transport for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Adjaho 3:55 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, there is a serious constitutional issue. The hon. Minister said they will try and bring the Bill. Mr. Speaker, if it is not brought before the Appropriation Bill is brought it will affect it; because the Appropriation itself would be affected by unconstitu-tionality -- these figures -- But now, we will allow it to go to facilitate the business of the House. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Speaker 3:55 p.m.
    I thought you could raise
    this even after the Sitting.
    ADJOURNMENT 3:55 p.m.

  • The House was adjourned at 4.06 p.m. till 11th March 2005 at 10.00 a.m.