Debates of 15 Mar 2005

MR. SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10 a.m.
Order! Hon. Members, I have this communication from the Office of the President of Ghana. It is dated 10th March, 2005 and headed “Absence from Ghana”.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE 10 a.m.
PRESIDENT 10 a.m.
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA 10 a.m.
OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER 10 a.m.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE 10 a.m.
OFFICE OF THE VICE 10 a.m.
RPESIDENT 10 a.m.
CASTLE, OSU 10 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10 a.m.
STATEMENTS 10:10 a.m.
Mr. K. A. Okerchiri (NPP - Nkawkaw) 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, on Monday the 14th day of March 2005, Ghana would be joining other fifty-two countries throughout the world to celebrate Commonwealth Day, an annual event celebrated on the 2nd Monday in March.
Mr. Speaker, its purpose is to promote the understanding of global issues and international co-operation, especially among Commonwealth countries.
The theme for this year's celebration is “Education: Creating Opportunity, Realizing Potential”. The Commonwealth believes in the right of everyone to education. All persons have a right of access to lifelong learning by every appropriate means, with full opportunity irrespective of economic status, or physical and other disabilities.
Mr. Speaker, Education, including early childhood care and development is an essential prerequisite for individuals to achieve their full potential. It provides a safety valve for non-exploitative and non- violent society and enhances competi-
tiveness in a knowledge-based national and global economy.
Mr. Speaker, the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers held in October 2003 at Edinburgh, Scotland on the theme: “Closing the Gap Access, Inclusions and Achievement” endorsed six action areas to address the challenges facing education --
Achieving universal primary, education
Eliminating gender disparities
Improving quality education
U s i n g d i s t a n c e l e a r n i n g t o overcome barriers
S u p p o r t i n g e d u c a t i o n i n difficult circumstances
Mitigating the impact of HIV/ AIDS through education.
Mr. Speaker, the Commonwealth is obsessed with the importance of women accessing tertiary education in order to become role models for young girls.
T h e C o m m o n w e a l t h r e a l i z e s the devastating effects of the HIV/ AIDS pandemic and therefore the Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with UNESCO has therefore launched an initiative dedicated to reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS through education beginning in the Caribbean.
To strengthen the capacity of civil society on its participation in the formulation and implementation of national education plans, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II established the
Commonwealth Education Fund to mark her Golden Jubilee.
Mr. Speaker, Ghana's commitment to the values and works by the Common- wealth is deep and unshakeable. Ghana is at present doing everything it could to practicalise -
Freedom of expression and association
Freedom f rom wan t , hunge r, illiteracy and disease
Democracy and respect for human rights
A world of partnership and solidarity, a world of shared wealth and opportunities
Consensus, multilateralism and peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Thanks very much for the indulgence, Mr. Speaker.
Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah (NDC - Ho East) 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement with regard to the celebration of Commonwealth Day, yesterday, March
14, 2005.
Mr. Speaker, the Commonwealth, originally called the British Common- wealth of Nations, is an association of nations and dependencies that were once colonies of the former British Empire. Many countries in Africa and the Caribbean became members in the sixties and more followed in the seventies and later. Today, there are 53 countries forming the Commonwealth with Africa alone having 19.
Mr. Speaker, when the Commonwealth came into being, they agreed on a set of ideas and goals to which all members subscribed and which provided the basis
Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah (NDC - Ho East) 10:20 a.m.
for peace, understanding and develop- ment. As we celebrate the Day, the idea of the great organization has remained a mirage to over 80 per cent of countries of the Commonwealth.
Despite the enviable record of minerals, oil and gas resources in most of the Commonwealth countries, there is a growing belief that these sectors have not contributed profoundly to the economic development of these countries. Even though there was radical liberalization of the mining, oil and gas sectors, with general investment incentives, this has not been matched with the desired environmental protection as well as improved social services in the mining communities. These communities have remained very impoverished with a very high level of unemployment.
Mr. Speaker, I am taking my time to make all these analyses in order to drive home a point, as we mark the Common- wealth Day. The time has come for the countries of the Third World to make a very strong case against the developed world for the unjust world economic order. Mr. Speaker, only sound sustainable development can offer these millions the prospect of a better tomorrow. The Commonwealth must now be more proactive and go beyond the confines of its Secretariat in London and begin to address the problem of under-development and marginalization.
Mr. Speaker, recently Britain has signalled that it would no longer use overseas aid as a means of forcing poor countries to follow free-trade and privatization policies. I believe, on his recent visit to Ghana, the Rt. Hon. Paul Boateng, Chief Secretary to Her Majesty's Treasury, highlighted the United Kingdom's (UKs) commitment to using her presidency of the European Union, the G7 and the G8 to support Africa.
Mr. Speaker, while I commend Prime Minister Tony Blair for his efforts, I also wish to appeal to the UK Government as a member of the Commonwealth, to appeal to the developed world to go beyond the rhetoric and do more for the Third World.
Mr. Speaker, it is also gratifying to note that the Commonwealth has been used to address the problem of land distribution in Zimbabwe, whilst the Aborigines have continued to suffer discrimination. I wish again to appeal to the UK Government to bring pressure to bear on Australia to deal with the Aborigines situation, recognizing their rights to fight their own socio-cultural practices.
Mr. Speaker, on occasions like this we should rededicate our commitment to the ideas and goals of the organization.
On this note, I would want to wish all the Commonwealth countries a happy day.

Capt. Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (Retd) (NPP - Berekum): Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this Statement.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday was observed throughout the Commonwealth as the Commonwealth Day. As my hon. Colleague has rightly pointed out, formerly it was the British Empire; and the British Empire, when it started breaking up and countries started gaining independence, was converted into the British Commonwealth of Nations. Subsequently, “British” was removed from the title and it is now the Commonwealth. Mr. Speaker, as has been rightly pointed out, it is now a club of over 53 nations and they have this interesting network whereby their diplomas are called “High Commissioners” instead of the normal “ambassadors” that we do have.
Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah (NDC - Ho East) 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, over the years the Commonwealth has become a club. It meets on regular basis to share ideas. And in today's world, a world which is now unipolar, a world which has become a global village because of the advancement of technology and communications, one may want to ask - what is the relevance of the Commonwealth, especially to the people who live in the villages, those who find it difficult to get good drinking water and good sanitation policies?
People who live at far-flung areas where even getting access to basic education is a problem, walk so many miles before they get to the nearest educational establishment. For these people, one may want to ask: what is the relevance of the Commonwealth? It is in this light that I want on this occasion, as we celebrate Commonwealth Day throughout the world, to make a very simple suggestion that the Commonwealth should take steps to make itself relevant in the comity of nations. And one way in which they can make themselves relevant is to promote education throughout the Commonwealth.
Mr. Speaker, we have the United Nations University and so I am recommending that the Commonwealth should come together, all the 53 nations, and establish a Commonwealth university with faculties or branches or schools spread all over the Commonwealth - one single high institution of learning where students will be admitted to pursue frontiers of knowledge and advance education throughout the Commonwealth.
Mr. Speaker, I am not a prophet of doom, but if the Commonwealth does not take steps to make itself relevant, it will be overtaken by events. Today, we have United Nations (UN), we have G8, we have African Union (AU), we have the European Union (EU). So one may want

[CAPT. EFFAH-DARTEY (RETD)] to ask: where is the Commonwealth and of what use is it today?

Mr. Speaker, the maker of the Statement made reference to the point that the Commonwealth is trying to help in the medical area with the fight against HIV/ AIDS, and that they have started in the Caribbean. Mr. Speaker, I think the start is too slow. AIDS has been with us for almost 20 years, if not more, and if it is only the Caribbean that they have started attacking the AIDS pandemic, when according to the media the area worst hit by the AIDS pandemic is sub-Saharan Africa, then the Commonwealth must wake up and do well, otherwise its relevance will continue sliding into oblivion.

Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I join my hon. Colleague who made the Statement to salute the Commonwealth and to urge it to make itself more relevant, otherwise finds itself drowning in the ocean of several organizations. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Mr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central) 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to join my hon. Friends in recognizing the Commonwealth Day which was celebrated yesterday.
The Commonwealth is just one example of our common humanity in which people of varied continental backgrounds and races come together to establish a common union which will be used to identify their problems and then to tackle the problems. But Mr. Speaker, I recognize that the Commonwealth today has a greater dimension than we knew of in the past. It is faced with a challenge in which a section of humanity which belongs to it is constantly wrapped in poverty and disease.
Mr. Speaker, this is where I recognize also that it has an intrinsic significance,
a spiritual awakening, a period in our lives when we would have to reflect upon where we are coming from. We started off as unequal partners in which one partner dominated the lives of others. Now we are sovereign nations coming together to solve our common problems. So Mr. Speaker, I see this even as a period in the life of the Ghanaian when we should begin to ask ourselves where we are and, how far we have gone since independence; whether it was worthwhile at all breaking away and whether it is worthwhile at all now identifying ourselves as one people with equal sovereign rights in the comity of nations.
So Mr. Speaker, I would want to call on fellow Ghanaians to realize that this is a period we would always use as a spiritual awakening, as a period when we would have to ask ourselves the questions for which the Commonwealth was established - whether our education is having any meaning to us; whether our cultural awakening has any meaning to our development.
Mr. Speaker, to this extent, I would want to call on everybody to begin seeing the Commonwealth in a new light, not where one country is a beggar nation and by joining it, it would have the hope that one big brother in the Commonwealth can be of help to us, but one in which we would have equal partnership and equal benefits.
With this, I want to support my Colleague for making a Statement like this in the House.
Mr. S. K. Adu-Gyamfi (NPP - Aowin) 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I also wish to associate myself with the Statement.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we marked the celebration of Commonwealth Day.
The aim of the commemoration was to promote understanding on global issues, international co-operation and to improve the lives of about 1.8 billion citizens of the Commonwealth.
The theme, “Creating Opportunities, Realizing Potentials”, is very important in our educational reform today. Looking at the objectives of our educational reforms, it is evident that if we are able to establish and create opportunities for our children they will improve their life-skills. But Mr. Speaker, about 75 million children within the Commonwealth lack access to basic education that equips the individual with these life-skills. What I would want to say is that we should be able to make sure that these children who lack this access to basic education are given the opportunity. And I want to say that the President is very committed to this issue, when we refer to the Address which he made to the nation that education will be the tool for development in the country.
What I wish to suggest is that the economic giants of the Commonwealth should try as much as possible to support these poorer countries which cannot provide basic education for all these children that we have mentioned so that these communities, these countries, which lack provision of education for such children can also provide the education.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to suggest that the Commonwealth, in an attempt to support education in these deprived countries, should do well to encourage tertiary education through distance learning. I know the Commonwealth is supporting distance education in the country. I wish to say that they should do more so that tertiary education would also reach the hinterlands.
With this, Mr. Speaker, I would wish that the Commonwealth of Nations
becomes a giant organization to help the poorer countries.
BILLS - FIRST READING 10:30 a.m.
PAPERS 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Item 6. Chairman of the Appointments Committee.
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, may we defer motions 6 and 7 and move to motion number 12.
CONSIDERATION OF ANNUAL 10:30 a.m.
ESTIMATES 10:30 a.m.
Minister for Defence (Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor) 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢428,997 million for the services of the Ministry of Defence for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, this amount is made
Minister for Defence (Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor) 10:40 a.m.
Training School, and
c) The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.
The Veterans Association of Ghana is also the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and then Ministry of Defence itself maintains offices in Ghana's Missions in London, Washington DC, New Delhi, Abuja and Cairo.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Defence is also responsible for the 37 Military Hospital and many medical reception centres located in garrisons across the country. These health facilities do not only provide quality healthcare to the people of Ghana, but the 37 Military Hospital, with modest support, could help train and augment the medical manpower of this country.
In this connection, during my recent visit to India, Mr. Speaker, I made contact with my counterpart in India and requested that high calibre doctors - military doctors of the consultant and professorial class -- be asked to come to the 37 Military Hospital to help us strengthen our bond with the post-graduate Medical College of Ghana and also look into the possibility of training doctors at the post-graduate level. We expect a delegation from India in the near future.
Mr. Speaker, the 2004 Budget was prepared in accordance with our mission, goals and objectives, as spelt out in our strategic plan for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the period 2005 2007, for the realization of our stated mission and the following objectives:
i) To improve the state of combat
readiness of the Ghana Armed Forces.
ii) To improve logistics and infrastructure facilities of the Forces.
i i i ) To i m p r o v e h u m a n resource capacity and staff utilization.
i v ) T o i m p r o v e c i v i l - military relations.
Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Armed Forces has a constitutional responsibility to protect by land, sea and air, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ghana against internal and external aggression. This is to ensure an enabling environment for accelerated and sustainable socio- economic development of the country. Towards this end, Mr. Speaker, the Government's goal since its assumption of power has been to build armed forces, which are well trained, well equipped and politically neutral.
Mr. Speaker, those hon. Members who found time to come to the Independence Square during the Independence celebration saw the state of our Armed Forces and their composure. It was a source of joy to all Ghanaian patriots.
Mr. Speaker, I will now discuss briefly the Defence budget for the year 2004. Mr. Speaker, the total budget approved for the Ministry for the year 2004 was ¢636.1 billon. However, last year was an election year and by the end of the year, the out- turn of expenditure amounted to ¢810.38 billion resulting from the following:
The overexpenditure came to 26 per cent. The unanticipated expenditure was incurred in respect of --
i) One military ration, ¢15.7 billion;
i i ) F u e l f o r i n t e r n a l security operations, ¢65.6 billion;
iii) Customs duty and taxes o n i m p o r t o f m i l i t a r y hardware, ¢67.4 billion; and
iv) Maintenance of aircraft of
the Ghana Air Force, ¢16.6 billion.

Mr. Speaker, considering the numerous operations the Ghana Armed Forces was called upon to undertake during the election year, last year, and also was called upon to undertake and maintain peace in the country and the subregion, it was not surprising that we ran above the provisions made for us last year.

Mr. Speaker, during the year in question progress at the Ministry of Defence was quite encouraging. There was massive rehabilitation of residential accommodation for the troops, in all the garrisons of the country. The Burma Camp Commercial and Computer Complexes were completed in December, 2003 and commissioned in January, 2004 by His Excellency the President.

His Excellency the President also

commissioned other facilities at Burma Camp. We are particularly proud of the commissioning of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre by His Excellency. During this occasion, the German Chancellor, Herr Schroeder himself came to assist in the com- missioning. We also completed the Computer Centre at Burma Camp and in Burma Hall. The magnificent Burma Hall and the Library Complex are expected to be commissioned in a matter of a month

or two by His Excellency the President.

Mr. Speaker, concerning the internal security and the precincts of the Ghana Armed Forces, we are happy to report that they were engaged in numerous internal operations, either as a Force by itself or in joint operations with the other security agencies in this country before, during and after the Presidential and Parliamentary elections. All these operations, Mr. Speaker, were successful.

Mr. Speaker, we are also happy that the Ghana Armed Forces is trying to become a serious development partner of Government and indeed is concerned and engaged in the construction of feeder roads, Bailey bridges and other infrastructural projects in the rural areas.

Concerning the Budget for 2005, Mr. Speaker, the provision made for the Ministry of Defence was ¢408.1 billion. This allocation compared to last year's shows a decrease of 36 per cent which is quite considerable, Mr. Speaker. This year's allocation breaks down as follows:

P e r s o n a l Emoluments -- ¢284.8 billion

A d m i n i s t r a t i v e E x p e n s e s - -

¢53.5

billion

Service Activities - - ¢30.6 billion

Investment Expenditure -- ¢39 billion; all coming together to make the sum of ¢408.1 billion.

Mr. Speaker, it is to be noted that this decrease in allocation for the current year is going to have serious effects on the
-- 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Please, go ahead.
Mr. Hackman 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to
second the motion and in so doing I wish to present the Report of the Committee.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister
for Finance and Economic Planning in fulfilment of the requirement of article 179 of the 1992 Constitution presented the 2005 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government to Parliament on
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho (NDC - Avenor/ Ave) 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at the Committee's Report, which was just presented, you will realise that the figure quoted there is ¢408.1billion. Mr. Speaker, but if you look at page 324 of the Budget Statement, we have non-tax revenue of internally generated funds which is about twenty billion cedis. Mr. Speaker, if you add it, you get four hundred and eight billion cedis. But the Committee's Report itself is talking about four hundred and eight billion cedis.
Mr. Speaker, that comes back to the
issue I raised the other time dealing with article 176 of the Constitution. For you to retain a certain percentage of your internally generated funds, you must come to Parliament to get approval. What we are doing is totally wrong. But we will allow it to go, hoping that by the time we reach the Appropriation Bill all the MDAs, which have retained a certain percentage come to this House to get authorisation from this House by way of law, by an Act of Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, that is the Constitution and nobody can change what the Constitution provides by any other means except what the Constitution recognises to be done. So Mr. Speaker, we will allow this motion to go through; we will allow the extra twenty billion cedis to go through; and it is on that basis that we are supporting this motion.
Mr. Speaker, the second point I would
want to raise is with regard to the fifty-
Mr. S. Asamoah-Boateng 10:50 a.m.
Mr.
Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think my senior Colleague is out of order. I am afraid he cannot give a condition, personally, on behalf of all of us. That is the first point. And the second point is, how Ghana sends troops; I guess it comes to the Executive to decide. It is not for him personally to decide. He is out of order.
Mr. Adjaho 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether you would want to rule on his point order.
Mr. Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Please, proceed.
Mr. Adjaho 10:50 a.m.
It shows that, Mr. Speaker has ignored his point of order.
Mr. Speaker 10:50 a.m.
No, you proceed.
Mr. Adjaho 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, clearly,
we cannot be here fighting for a certain principle in a certain cause in this country, which has been blessed by the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court of Ghana, and we approve money and then part of that money is taken to do what our Supreme Court says should not be done in Ghana.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the
Prof. A. M. Oquaye 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the essence of misleading us here is that nothing can be said here at this moment to pre-emptively tie the hands of the Executive in such a manner or Parliament to approve any moneys or any action in future in such a manner that even the sovereignty of Ghana may be at stake. So he cannot say that any guarantee be given here that no troops would be sent to either Togo or Malaysia or wherever, in this House. That will be seriously out of order.
Mr. Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon. Member, I do not think he is asking for any guarantee. Are you?
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised my hon. Friend finds comfort in talking about sovereignty of Ghana. When it comes to energy, you do not find him talking about energy and dere-gulation.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11 a.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, a point of order on relevance on the issue has been raised by the hon. Deputy Minority Leader. Mr. Speaker, an hon. Member had come on a point of order and it is for you, Mr. Speaker, to rule on the matter, whether it is a point of order or not. But for him to import other irrelevances into this argument, I find it difficult to believe him. Mr. Speaker, he is completely out of order.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Members, the hon.
Deputy Minority Leader is winding up so let us hear him.
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, this is a matter I had the privilege of discussing with the hon. Minister for Defence outside this Chamber, and we are very serious about this matter of sending troops to Togo and I expect that in his winding up he will give us some words of comfort - [Interruption.]
Nana Akomea 11 a.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my good hon. Friend should be asked to withdraw the remarks he made against the Minister for Energy. Mr. Speaker, the Minister for Energy is first and foremost an honourable Member of this House. He has the right to contribute to any debate on the floor of this House. If in an attempt to do that, he tries to belittle his remarks by saying he should be contributing to energy matters and so on, it is terribly unfortunate and he should be made to withdraw those comments against the hon. Minister.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Member, what was the point you were making? I did not hear you.
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, he is attributing something to me so he should say where I have offended the Standing Orders of this House. He should say it; he should say what he heard me say. He is raising the point of order so it is for him to state what I said that offends the Standing Orders of this House.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Member for Okaikoi South, what was the point he was making? Could you please enlighten us on that?
Nana Akomea 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister for Energy intervened with your permission. After his intervention my hon. Friend opposite said to him that he should

contribute to matters concerning energy -- [Uproar] -- So what did he say?
Nana Akomea 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, to make the issue worse, he then went on to say that the hon. Minister is not found contributing on issues concerning energy. That is a belittling of the Minister and he should withdraw it.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Minister for Energy, have you taken any offence?
Prof. Oquaye 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I take exception to that contribution to the extent that he was drawing energy matters into this and for that reason insinuating that I may as well think of my deregulation rather than contributing to this.
Mr. Speaker, I was making a very vital
point to the effect that he may comment on sending troops to Togo, but he cannot say that an assurance should be given that that would not happen in future. This is because that would be to prevent our action in futuro; it cannot happen.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, the hon. Member has taken offence to what you said and in the interest of harmony -
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am a little bit surprised. He is saying that it is not only sufficient for him to say he has taken offence. The truth of the matter is that I made a statement of fact. When petrol prices were increased he was nowhere. We did not hear him addressing that press conference; it was addressed by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning for the first time under the NPP Administration, so we started asking questions. Mr. Speaker, I am a member of the Energy Committee. When we got
there, we expected him also to appear before the Energy Committee but the man was nowhere to be found. [Uproar.] Mr. Speaker, in fact, I was particular -- so I asked about his whereabouts and I was told that he was nowhere near where the meeting was taking place and that he had lost the jurisdiction. Now the man comes back talking about sovereignty; and that is the point I was making. [Uproar.]
Mr. Speaker, we are here and those are
the facts, but if he is saying that he has taken offence I am prepared to withdraw. But Mr. Speaker, I want to hear him talk more about energy than sovereignty.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Members, please let us make progress. He has withdrawn.
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes, I have withdrawn.
rose
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Please, let us go ahead. Hon. Majority Chief Whip, he has withdrawn so please, let us make progress.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Deputy Minority Leader knows the rules of this House. He only sounds an intention that if he takes an offence he is prepared to do that; he has not done so unambiguously. He must say that he has withdrawn. He has not said so; he knows the rules.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, have you withdrawn or not?
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I said I have withdrawn. So what is his problem? The hon. Prof. is my good friend and I would want to hear him talk more about energy. [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Let us hear you.
Mr. E. T. Mensah 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of our troops going to Togo and the issue of sovereignty that was raised in connection with that by my good friend, the Professor, I am surprised that the Professor spoke the way he did. As a Professor of Political Science - [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Second Deputy Minority Whip, whom are you addressing? I just want to know the point you are making.
Mr. E.T. Mensah 11 a.m.
The point I am
making is the issue about our sovereignty and our troops going to Togo. It seems to me that we are shifting the goalposts. We have taken a decision here in this country that we would not celebrate 31st December so our troops should not be participating in such celebrations. That is the point that I was making.
Mr. Speaker, for the Professor to be seen to be supporting the idea that our troops should go to Togo is the point that I am raising. He is a professor and I know his stand on coups. He gave me a copy of his latest book and I thought that he was never going to support the hon. Deputy Majority Leader to the extent that he would also extract some assurances from the Minister for Defence that henceforth we are going to send our troops to Togo to participate in the coup celebration. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minority
Leader, are you winding up?
Mr. Adjaho 11 a.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier on, we support the motion. Our Armed Forces are doing very well; we have gone through
another successful election under the able leadership of the Minister for Defence and we would support this motion subject to those valid points that we have raised from this side.
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
May we call on the hon. Minister to wind up if there are no further contributions.
Dr. Addo-Kufuor 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my appreciation to hon. Members for this lively debate and the great interest they have shown in the affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces. But I will make a few comments about some of the suggestions they have made. The inconsistency between the figure given by the Committee and the Ministry and the figure in the books is due to some figures that could have come from the internally generated fund. We are going to discuss this matter with the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, and Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that this matter would be resolved.
The second point is the assurance that hon. Doe Adjaho wanted that the purchases made with the loan from Barclays Bank will all be used for peacekeeping. Mr. Speaker, it cannot be the case that Ghana's own security would be regarded as being less important than peace and stability in neighbouring countries.
Mr. Speaker, we have made these purchases; originally we felt they would all go for peacekeeping, but if there is instability in Ghana, if there is instability along our borders, the equipment would be used to defend this country. We believe Ghana's own peace and stability are very important and it is the Government's responsibility to ensure that no harm comes to this nation.
There was also this point about troops going to Togo. Mr. Speaker, at no time has Ghana sent any troops to Togo. It is the Central Band of the Ghana Armed Forces - [Interruptions] - Yes, led by the Minister for Defence. Yes, I have been there twice -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Speaker, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces who also is the President has the mandate of the people of Ghana to decide on such matters, and that discretion does not lie with any Member of the House -- [Hear! Hear!] - It does not lie with any Member of the House; it lies with the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and I cannot give that guarantee that if the Commander-in- Chief so decides that the Central Band of the Ghana's Armed Forces be sent - [Interruption.]
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I have heard the hon. Minister in his summing up make an authoritative statement that the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces has the prerogative to take those decisions. Mr. Speaker, our Constitution is premised to some extent on the doctrine of separation of powers; and the President is bound by the decisions of the courts of Ghana including the Supreme Court of Ghana.
Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court, in the celebrated case of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) versus The Attorney-General decided that state resources should not be used in celebrating coups d'etat. Mr. Speaker, whether in Ghana or elsewhere in Togo - [Laughter] -- [An hon. Member: Anywhere] -
Mr. Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Order!
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, under article 125 of the Constitution,
Mr. Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon. Member for Tamale South, you have no point of order. Please, wind up.
Dr. Addo-Kufuor 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, my reply to the submission of the hon. Member is that my understanding of the Constitution is that the Commander-in- Chief - [Interruption] --
Mr. Pele Abuga 11:10 a.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, clearly, the hon. Minister is losing sight of the fact that when they bring estimates and budget to this House for approval, they are accompanied by the programmes and activities of the various Ministries and sectors. Mr. Speaker, the essence of this is to ensure that hon. Members are able to know what programmes and activities the monies are being utilised for.
Mr. Speaker, if it is not important

for us to comment on programmes and activities of the various Ministries, why would it be necessary for us to debate - [Interruptions] -- Mr. Speaker, when we are talking about the budget of the Ministry of Defence, it is very important for us to know where the money is going, what activities the money is going to be used for and what programmes are going to be carried out by the funds of the Ministry. So Mr. Speaker, for him to say that the President has the prerogative to decide how to use the money is clearly wrong and a violation of our rules.
Mr. Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon. Member, if you want to contribute, you would always have plenty of time to contribute, but I do not see the point of order you are making.
Dr. Addo-Kufuor 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have already expressed appreciation to hon. Members for their comments. When we come to the floor of the House, hon. Members are free to comment and, in fact, their suggestions are greatly received.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 11:10 a.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, earlier on I heard the hon. Minister for Defence talking about the US$55 million Barclays loan. Mr. Speaker, I was a Member of the Parliament that approved that loan and there is a clause in that Loan Agreement
which states that the loan should be used for peacekeeping purpose only.
The Government or the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has not come to this House to vary the purpose for which the loan has been granted, and it is important not to mislead the House that the money can be used for any other purpose apart from peacekeeping. That really is the point with which he should not mislead this House.
Mr. Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon. Minority Chief Whip, in his winding up, I never heard him mention this loan.
rose
Mr. Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Is he prepared to yield
to you?
Mr. Osafo-Maafo 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a
point of information. I think I presented the request for that loan of US$55 million from Barclays Bank to this House. There was no condition that the equipment should be used only for peacekeeping. On the contrary, on the question of repayment of the loan, we said that the repayment of the loan would be based on proceedings arising out of the usage of this equipment for peacekeeping to just give you the assurance that we are not going to use internally generated funds to pay but from the usage of this. So it is not true that it was used for this only. And Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that safety and security are prerequisite to development and under no circumstance would any Government have agreed to such a clause.
Dr. Addo-Kufuor 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
apart from what the former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has said, there was a clear clause in the Agreement reached with the House that there was
going to be a standby force within Ghana. If you read the Agreement closely there is provision made for a standby force and therefore this idea that everything purchased should be sent for peacekeeping is a completely erroneous interpretation of what was agreed in the House.
Having said all that, Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful for the understanding and the support of hon. Members from both sides and I hope all of us would vote for the Estimates for the Ministry of Defence so that the Ghana Armed Forces can continue to protect this nation. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢408,111 million for the services of the Ministry of Defence for the 2005 fiscal year.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 11:20 a.m.
Minister for Harbours and Railways (Prof. C. Ameyaw Akumfi) 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House approves the sum of ¢32,717 million for the services of the Ministry of Harbours and Railways for the 2005 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, for the 2005 Budget, the Ministry of Harbours and Railways has estimated that we would need twenty- two billion, two hundred and six million cedis (¢22,206,000,000.00). An amount of ¢10.5 billion is meant for Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). This is the cedi equivalent of ORET grant with respect to the purchase of tug boats through the Damen group of Netherlands for the
Minister for Harbours and Railways (Prof. C. Ameyaw Akumfi) 11:20 a.m.


has made provision for these counterpart funding.

The Shipping and Navigation Division and the Regional Maritime Academy have requests for various Investment outlays for the purchase of plant and equipment and continuing construction work at the 50- room Regional Maritime Academy dormitory.

The total request for the 2005 year can be summarized as:

Personal Emoluments

-- ¢1,113,000,000.00

Administration

-- ¢5,568,000,000.00

Services

-- ¢2,390,000,000.00

Investment

-- ¢13,135,000,000.00

As has been indicated, ¢10,115 billion has been posted as representing funding on behalf of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.

Mr. Speaker, approval is hereby sought from this honourable House for the release of the total sum of ¢32,206,000,000.00 to the Ministry of Harbours and Railways to enable the Ministry carry out its onerous responsibilities and duties.

Mr. Speaker, I beg to move.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. S. K. Obodai) 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second
the motion and in so doing present the Committee's Report. Mr. Speaker, I would want to crave your indulgence to read the conclusion and ask that the Hansard should capture the Report in its entirety.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Harbours and Railways was
referred to the Committee on Roads and Transport in accordance with Order 140(4) of the Standing Orders of Parliament. This was after the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2005 financial year had been presented to Parliament on Thursday, 24th February, 2005 by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in fulfilment of article 179 of the Constitution.
1.2 The Committee's meeting to consider the Estimates was attended by the Sector Minister, Hon. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi and his officials. The Committee wishes to express its sincerest gratitude to them for their insightful contributions.
2.0 Reference Documents
The following documents were referred to by the Committee in its deliberations:
a) The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
b) The Standing Orders of Parliament.
c) The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for the 2005 financial year.
d) The 2005 State of the Nation Address by H.E. the President to Parliament.
3.0 The Ministry and its Agencies
3.1 The Ministry was established in April 2003 to ensuer the provision of an efficient, safe, economic and reliable movement of goods and people using the rail and maritime transport system. It is also to ensure that the rail, inland waterways, ports and harbours contribute significantly towards the socio-economic development of the country.
3.2 For budgetary purposes the Ministry operates with the Division of Shipping and Navigation and the Regional Maritime Academy. The Ministry however has supervising role over the following subvented organizations:
i) The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA);
ii) The Shippers' Council;
i i i ) T h e V o l t a L a k e Tarnsport Company Limited; and
i v ) G h a n a R a i l w a y Company Limited.
4.0 Objectives of the Ministry
The Ministry of Harbours and Railways is to pursue the following objectives towards the achievement of its Mission. These are:
i) formulating appropriate policies to transform the Ports, Harbours and Railways Sector;
ii) ensuring that the configuration and layout of the commercial seaports and their infrastructural facilities are developed;
i i i) extending the country's railways network and enhancing its operational efficiency to promote economic growth;
iv)insti tut ing and enforcing standards to ensure the safety, reliability and efficiency of all services provided by the sector;
v) strengthening the institutional and human resource capacity of the sub-sector to ensure improved performance of the organizations under the
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. S. K. Obodai) 11:20 a.m.


Ministry.

5.0 Review of 2004 Budget

5.1 The sum of ¢13,179,000,000 was approved for the Ministry for its operations in 2004. Out of this amount ¢8,345,996,123 was released to the Ministry. The breakdown of both the approved budget and the actual expenditure is shown in Table 1:

6.0 2005 Budget Estimates

6.1 In the 2005 financial year the Ministry in furtherance of the achievement of its objectives will undertake the following activities among others:

a) Complete the selection of a concessionaire for the Railway Sector;

b) Complete the Accra-Tema rail rehabilitation works by the end of the year for train services to be introduced in

2006;

c) Constitute a joint Committee of Railway Experts from Burkina Faso and Ghana to follow-up and implement the Ghana-Burkina Faso Railway Project;

d) Provide modern trunk parks or carports in Kumasi, Techiman and Tamale for transit cargo vehicles;

e) Continue activities on the establishment of the Boankra Inland Port; and

f ) P u r s u e a n u m b e r o f interventions to forestall accidents on the Volta Lake including the removal of tree stumps and charting of navigational fairway.

6.2 For the execution of the above and other activities, the Ministry has been provided with the sum of ¢22,206,000,000,

which is a marked improvement over last year's approved expenditure.

The breakdown is shown in Table 2 below:

7.0 Observations and Recommendations

7.1 The Committee observed that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning could not release all the funds approved by Parliament last year to the Ministry of Harbours and Railways. As a result of this, the Ministry could not

TABLE 1
ITEM APPROVED ACTUAL VARIANCE 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Edward Salia (NDC - Jirapa) 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to add my voice to that of the Chairman of the Committee in requesting this honourable House to approve the sum of ¢22,206 million being the total allocation for the Ministry of Harbours and Railways.
Mr. Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon. Member for Jirapa,
Table 2
and therefore not necessary for funds to be provided from the Budget to support any of its activities. The Committee therefore recommends that this amount be made available to the Ministry to enable it carry out programmes for which the Budget could not absorb.
7.4 The Committee again observed that ¢1.0 billion has been budgeted for to
assist the Volta Lake Transport in the refurbishment/rehabilitation of the ferry at Kete Krachi. Over the years the nation has
had to contend with several tragedies in the area of lake transport. The Committee therefore recommends that definitive steps be taken to tackle issues associated with lake transport to avoid accidents on the lake.
7.5 The Committee finally noted that a provision of ¢5.0 billion has been budgeted for as counterpart fund for a ¢5 million dollar OPEC facility approved by Parliament for rehabilitation works on the Accra-Tema rail link. The Committee realized that Ghana Railway Company
what is the figure you talked about? Is it 22 or 32? It is ¢32,717 million.
Mr. Salia 11:20 a.m.
All right. I am sorry, Mr.
Mr. Obodai 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of clarification. Mr. Speaker, there was a donor funding of ¢10.5 billion which initially the Ministry did not make us aware that it was to be added to the ¢22 billion. So we were later on informed that it should be added to that amount and that made it go up to ¢32 billion.
Speaker: So what is the figure again?
Mr. Obodai 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the figure
now reads ¢32,717 million.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
before the Ranking Member for the Committee on Roads and Transport comes in, we have to get this figure clarified. Mr. Speaker, again, it is with regard to the point we keep on raising. Mr. Speaker, we referred this matter to the Committee to investigate and report. The Committee, in spite of the so-called explanation, came back and said the figure was ¢22 billion. In moving the motion they did not amend the figure.
So Mr. Speaker, we want to know the details about that ¢10 billion. The Report before us is talking about ¢22 billion, there is no provision there for ¢10 billion to be added so we want to know where the money is coming from.
MDA PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION SERVICE INVESTMENT TOTAL 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Obodai 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I received
this sheet which has been circulated to all hon. Members.
Mr. Salia 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, this might well be the case - I am the Ranking Member of this Committee and I have not seen it yet. As far as I am aware, what I am talking about is what I know.
Mr. B. D. K. Adu 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in the course of the deliberations of the Committee, an amount of ten billion, five hundred and ten million, five hundred thousand cedis was discovered under the project sector. This was not clearly explained to us as Committee members after a very long debate. So we requested the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to satisfy the Committee with the justification before we accepted this amount as part of the budget.
It was in the process that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning went back and gave an explanation that it was meant for the purchase of two Damen stand tug boats for the ports of Tema and Takoradi. So the Chairman should have amended the figure of ¢22 billion to read ¢32 billion before presenting the Report.
Mr. Speaker 11:30 a.m.
So the figure is amended
to ¢32,717 million.
Mr. Salia 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I continue to say that the amount approved is ¢22 billion. My reason for saying this is that as far as I am aware, the purchase of - [Interruption.]
Mr. B. D. K. Adu 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am
Mr. Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Hon. Member for Jirapa, please continue.
Mr. Salia 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I disagree with this amount on principle. My principle is this: As far as I am aware, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, since its inception in the l980s, has never directly received money from the Central Bank for the procurement of anything. The amount stated here is meant to be a counterpart fund. It is part of that organisation's contribution to the ORET fund.
This is very unusual and we demanded the justification why for the first time in the life of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, an Authority which was very prosperous, an Authority to which the Government goes for money for investment should now be benefiting directly from the Consolidated Fund in terms of the purpose of tug boats for its operations.
Mr. Speaker, this explanation was not given to us at the time we asked for it and I dare say that this is not a loan. This is not foreign funding. Foreign contribution in the language of this budget normally is money the Government of Ghana has acquired as a loan from a third party which is supposed to be disbursed during the course of the year which is then added on as part of the budget of the year. This particular amount is different because even we have stated how much the oil fund is - it is only counterpart funding. It is my conviction that it should not be coming from Central Government as a support for Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
We indeed suggested that it could be kept on a budget but should be put to another use and Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority has the capacity to contribute
this ten billion cedis to meet this particular project. So, I was going to talk about it. Now you want me to adjust my figure - I am not seeing my way clear in supporting the motion for the voting of a bigger amount than what the Committee saw. I believe it is not proper to do so.
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the figures I have here show that ¢10.511 billion is donor funding - coming from donors. I do not know whether my Colleague is seeing that as a Government of Ghana (GoG) source of funds, because ¢22 billion is GoG, ¢10.5 billion is from donors and the two together give us the ¢32 billion that he is talking about; and that is the ceiling approved by the Ministry in the budget of the Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways.
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I can understand his point if it were true. I would have accepted that but - [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Are you prepared to yield to the Deputy Majority Leader?
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, no. I will explain this point further and show him the difference. I would not yield to him yet. [Laughter.]
Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Deputy Minority Leader, you may have to resume your seat.
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Alright, I will yield to him.
Mr. Adjaho 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that there is some confusion. The Ministry needs resources to run but, given the confusion, I will suggest that we defer discussion on this matter. The Committee should go back.
Mr. Speaker, you may recall that the Committee's own Report is talking about ¢22 billion. They did not amend it, in spite of the explanation given to them by the Ministry. In fact, if they had come with the ¢32 billion and said that, that would have been different. The Committee Report is before me here; it is talking about ¢22 billion. The only reasonable inference that we can make from it, as a House, is that they were not satisfied with the ¢10.5 billion additional funding explanations given to them.
I would suggest that in order for us to get the issue clarified better, the Committee should go back and look at those figures and if there is justification then we approve the ¢32 billion. But given the Committee's Report and what we are hearing on the floor of the House, there is a problem, and it is a genuine problem caused partially by the Committee itself.
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, as I was saying before my hon. Colleague was given the opportunity, the amount of ¢10 billion in this particular expenditure explanation is not money coming from outside; it is money the Government is setting aside - [Interruption.]
Prof. Akumfi 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think at the Committee meeting, we did try to explain why there is this additional ¢10.5 billion. Mr. Speaker, the House did approve the loan which had a grant element - ORET grant. There was a total amount of 9.115 million euro. Out of this, the ORET commitment was 3.19 million euros. The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) did secure a loan of 5.924 million euros. So GPHA has taken
Prof. Akumfi 11:40 a.m.


care of the commitment.

It is the ORET grant which normally is government to government which now has been factored into the input for the Ministry, on behalf of GPHA. Now the total, of course, should come close to ¢31 billion for the ORET grant, and we have ¢10.5 billion being charged against the Ministry because this is a grant element which normally, of course, should have come to the Government.

But as we know, with the ORET arrangement this is, of course, used in offsetting the total value of the goods or services being provided through the Dutch arrangement. This is the explanation that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning gave and this is why it is coming as a donor fund to the Ministry for GPHA.
Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon. Member for Jirapa, have you wound up?
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have not even made my contribution; these are only the preliminaries.
Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon. Member, if you are a Ranking Member, you are allowed not more than 10 minutes.
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was supporting the motion based on the Report of our Committee which asked for ¢22 billion for this Ministry. The additional ¢10 billion that is coming is something that is clearly a new introduction and that is baseless; it is not usual. I am sure the former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, hon. Osafo-Maafo would be able to explain that a lot of government agencies have benefited from the ORET fund and, indeed, this is not the first time GPHA is benefiting from the ORET fund.
My concern is that this is not the first time ever that the Government of Ghana
is directly paying for their contribution to the ORET fund, because they have their own resources and they always pay for their portion of it. It is 35 per cent of the total amount that is given by ORET. On this particular occasion, we have not yet seen, in fact, any loan agreement on this purchase of tugs. It is an intended procurement and this House has not passed any resolution for that loan, so it has not occurred.
Even if it has come here, just as it did in the previous cases, GPHA had always provided for that component and not the Government of Ghana. Unless there is a special reason which this time warrants Government's payment, because I do know that GPHA has always been a very liquid state organization; and indeed some moneys from GPHA were taken by Government. Is that why they are now paying back that money so that they would pay for them? I have no clue as to why this provision has been made and my point of view is that the Committee did not accept it.
Indeed, the hon. Minister also told us, that he was going to find out further from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning why that provision should be made. Since then our Committee has not met to agree that that ¢10 billion should be accepted as payment to be made by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority which, in fact, does not need this money.
Mr. D. A. Azumah 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, indeed, this would have been a very simple matter but unfortunately when we presented the issues this morning I was given the slip brief from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as to the reason why that ¢10 billion was there. Unfortunately, I could not brief my Ranking Member before he arrived. So
if it is the view of the House, if we think there are controversies, I would not mind if the small group would just meet for 10 minutes and iron out this issue and come back and report back to the House.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, indeed if one looks at Table 5, Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) 2005 /2007 , Min i s t r i e s , Departments and Agencies' (MDA) discretionary expenditure ceiling in millions of cedis, in the Budget Statement, the figure ¢10.511 billion is provided there as donor inflow.
Mr. Speaker, the detailed explanation, as the Deputy Ranking Member is saying, perhaps was not very forthcoming. For which reason, I will support his argument that we allow the Committee to have a second look, maybe 10 minutes or some 30 minutes meeting, the Committee itself, and then report back to the House. I believe that good counsel would prevail and we would move on thereafter. Mr. Speaker, for that reason, we may defer consideration of it and move to other areas.
Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon. Member for Jirapa, you are a member of the Committee and are you prepared to join them?
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
I am a Ranking Member of this Committee. Column 73, page 6 of the Report is very clear on this matter.
Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Whatever it is, I think this is the suggestion, and in the interest of harmony and to reach consensus, I direct that this matter be deferred for ten minutes. Members of the Committee can go out now and come back in ten minutes to report to the House.
Mr. Salia 11:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I accept that.
  • [Debate on Annual Estimates for the Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways resumed at column 2702]
    • Mr. Speaker 11:40 a.m.
    In the meantime we must continue.
    Mr. A. O. Aidooh 11:40 a.m.
    Mr. Speaker, may we then take motions 6 and 7.
    MOTIONS 11:50 a.m.
    Mr. A. O. Aidooh 11:50 a.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved accordingly.
    Sixth Report of the Appointments Committee on the President's
    Nominations for Deputy Ministerial Appointments
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, That this honourable House adopts the Sixth Report of the Appointments Committee on the President's nominations for deputy ministerial appointments.
    Mr. Speaker, the Report is a little lengthy, 19 pages, and I would crave your
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    indulgence that you allow the Hansard to capture all and consider the whole Report as having been read. And to save time, Mr. Speaker, I will equally crave your indulgence to read only the “Conclusion” of this Report which has been circulated among Members.

    1.0 Introduction

    Pursuant to articles 79 (1) and 256 (2) of the Constitution, His Excellency President J. A. Kufuor communicated to Parliament his nomination of the following persons, among others, for appointment as Deputy Ministers for the Ministries/Regions specified beside their names:

    i . H o n . J o e G h a r t e y - - Attorney- General's Office

    ii. Hon. Dr. (Mrs.) Gladys N. Ashitey -- Ministry of Health

    iii. Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu -- Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning

    iv. Mr. Osei Bonsu Amoah - Ministry of Education and Sports

    v. Hon. (Mrs.) A. Baiden-Amissah - Ministry of Education and Sports

    vi . Hon. Will iam Ofori Boafo - Ministry of Defence

    vii . Hon. I . Kofi Poku-Adusei - Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development

    viii. Hon. Andrews Adjei-Yeboah - Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines

    ix. Mr. Clement Nyivorli L. Eledi - Ministry of Food and Agriculture

    x. Hon. Ms. Anna Nyamekye

    - Ministry of Food and Agriculture

    xi. Dr. W. Nii Okai Hammond - Ministry of Food and Agriculture

    xii. Hon. Mrs. Cecilia A. Dapaah - Ministry of Works and Housing

    x i i i . Hon . Moses Dan i Baah - Ministry of Private Sector Development and President's Special Initiatives

    xiv. Hon. Dr. C. Y. Brempong-Yeboah - Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment

    xv. Mr. Kwadwo Afram Asiedu - Ministry of Trade and Industry

    xvi . Hon. M. Opare-Asamoah - Ministry of Road Transport

    x v i i . H o n . S . A s a m o a h - Boateng - Ministry of Tourism and Modernisation of the capital City

    xv i i i . Ms . Pa t r i c i a App iagye i - Ashanti Region

    xix. Mr. George Hikah Benson - Upper West Region

    xx. Ms. Susana A. A. Mensah - Eastern Region

    By this communication, the President sought the prior approval of this honourable House for their 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

    ii. Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana.

    3.0 Procedure

    Upon the referral, the Committee held preliminary discussions on the nomi- nations 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 some nominees.

    The nominees appeared before the Committee from 8th to 11th 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. The nominees' reactions were also sought on issues raised in any memoranda received, where necessary.

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

    4.0 Observations

    4 . 1 H o n . J o e G h a r t e y - Deputy Attorney General-designate

    Hon. Joe Ghartey expressed the view that decoupling the position of Attorney- General (AG) from Ministry of Justice was totally unnecessary because the Constitution contains adequate provisions

    for an independent Judiciary which act as checks on the AG. He noted that the Attorney General merely presented the case of the State in court; it was the Judiciary that gave rulings.

    He disagreed with the view that the Attorney-General (A.G) tends to prose- cute cases on political consi-derations and contended that an inherent presumption in that view was that prosecution was necessarily disadvanta-geous. He argued that on the contrary, prosecution may serve the interest of an accused person by offering him an opportunity to clear himself of charges preferred against him.

    He expressed regret over the undue delays in the prosecution of cases by the A.G's Department and assured the Committee that collectively, they would lend the necessary support to expedite action on cases. Furthermore, he gave an assurance to pursue the proposal to engage private legal practitioners to assist in the prosecution of cases on behalf of the A.G's Department as a way of reducing pressure on the A.G's office. It was his view that the only way to attract and retain lawyers in the AG's Department was to close the yawning income gap between them and their counterparts in other public sector organizations.

    The nominee expressed belief in the sanctity of human life and therefore did not subscribe to the imposition of the death penalty on convicts. If need be, convicts should suffer life imprisonment without the option of a parole or pardon but not be executed or hanged. Hon. Ghartey told the Committee that in his considered view, the law on wilfully causing financial loss to the State is a good check on all persons who happen to occupy positions of trust especially in the public domain. He noted that the emphasis of the law was wilful, malicious and fraudulent and not just causing financial loss and therefore expressed support for it.

    Hon. Ghartey, who is also the MP for Essikado/Ketan, admitted that he
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    had entered politics at the expense of a lucrative private legal practice but stated that it was a greater calling to serve his people and country and this was the time to do so.

    4 . 2 H o n . D r. ( M r s . ) G l a d y s N o r l e y A s h i t e y - D e p u t y Minister- designate for Health

    Hon. Dr. (Mrs.) Gladys N. Ashitey told the Committee that improper waste management was the major source of mosquitoes which account for 40 per cent of morbidity in the country and so she would assist the Ministry of Health (MOH) to sensitize people on waste management in terms of desilting choked gutters, weeding the environment, etc. to control the spread of malaria.

    On whether she would recommend the operation of “mobile clinics” as a means of improving access to health care in rural communities, she said improvements in road networks and the acquisition of ambulances for each constituency could facilitate the work of community nurses to address the problem.

    She informed the Committee that as a social worker who had been engaged in the provision of free medical services in virtually every part of the country she learnt of the problems on the ground and felt that becoming an MP would better position her to influence decisions that would improve the livelihoods of Ghanaians. She also indicated that she would assist to enhance the Parliamentary Service Clinic to offer better services to MPs.

    4.3 Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu - Deputy Minister-designate for Finance and Economic Planning

    Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, who

    is an incumbent Deputy Minister for the same portfolio, informed the Committee that the enhanced revenues of the Government in the last few years has resulted from two key factors, namely; the slight growth in GDP and also some re-engineering of systems that has led to significant improvements in the efficiency of collecting agencies in the country.

    He corrected the impression that some practising professionals in the country do not pay taxes. He explained that people would not like to pay taxes voluntarily and therefore if there were no effective systems to track them, there would be a difficulty in capturing individuals in the tax net. The nominee disclosed that the introduction of the tax stamp this year should enable the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) to capture quite a large number of the self-employed into the tax net.

    As regards measures by MOFEP to assist the business community, especially in the rural areas to access credit from the commercial banks, Mr. Agyemang-Manu explained that banks in the country do not readily grant credit facilities because there were not adequate structures to trace people. Secondly, most banks seem to run very short-term assets, hence they tend to be rather comfortable with the “blue chips”. He said as an intervention, succeeding governments have imple- mented various micro-credit schemes. In addition, the operation of the Venture Capital Fund and the Long-Term Savings scheme would increase the resources held by the banks and eventually expand access to credit.

    Mr. Agyemang-Manu, who is a member of the National Health Insurance Council (NHIC) assured the Committee that the NHIS holds very good prospects but admitted that its delayed implementation
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    was a bit overdue. He intimated that the NHIC would soon present a formula for the distribution of the National Health Insurance Fund to Parliament for passage in order to disburse funds to kick start the operations of the various schemes.

    The nominee informed the Committee in response to a concern raised that MOFEP does not deliberately withhold duly appropriated monies from MDAs; rather inability to meet revenue projections compels such actions. Mr. Agyemang- Manu agreed that Members of Parliament should ride in vehicles that would facilitate their operations in both Accra and their constituencies but expressed the view that he would only advise on the most prudent method of acquiring these vehicles based on an analysis of cost-effectiveness.

    4 .4 Mr. Ose i Bonsu Amoah - Deputy Minister-designate for Education and Sports

    Mr. O. B. Amoah expressed the view that indifference and poverty on the part of some parents account for truancy and streetism among school children in the country. He called for the sensitization of such parents on the need to send their children to school as it was the best investment one could make. He told the Committee that the Free Compulsory and Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme and the government's policy of free feeding of children in school would help resolve the issue. He noted that the four-year duration of senior secondary school (SSS) to be implemented would adequately prepare students for tertiary education or vocational training. He agreed to private sector participation in the provision of hostel facilities in tertiary institutions.

    The nominee told the Committee that reforms are required to ensure that sports

    took its place in national life and that if sports was always seen as a pastime, we would always reap marginal results. He noted that although some of these reforms were underway, there was the need to also modernize the country's sports infras-tructure in order to turn around our declining fortunes. Mr. O. B. Amoah advocated for the promotion of other sports, notably boxing, by way of strategic investments by Government so as to win some titles for the country. He also called for more corporate sponsorships for sporting activities in the country.

    4 . 5 H o n . M r s . A n g e l i n a B a i d e n - A m i s s a h - D e p u t y Minister- designate for Education and Sports

    Hon. Mrs. Baiden-Amissah agreed that the conditions of teachers in the rural areas were not the best and suggested the provision of incentive packages for such teachers in order to encourage them to give off their best to the State. She mentioned accommodation, clothing and other household items as examples of incentives that the state could provide. Additionally, reasonable consideration should be given to students from rural schools during admission into higher educational institutions. Hon. Baiden- Amissah condemned the high incidence of teenage pregnancy and called for sensitization of girls on its consequences on their future career. She said she would encourage school heads to readmit the girls in schools after delivery to continue their education.

    The nominee, who has been the MP for Shama since 2001, informed the Committee that during her first tenure as MP, she assisted women in her constituency to acquire various skills under STEP to enhance their livelihoods. She also assisted farmers engaged in fast growing crops to access funds under

    basic weapon handling, he replied that “if it is the wish of Members of the House, so be it”.

    4 .7 Hon. I . Kof i Poku-Aduse i - Deputy Minister-designate for Local Government and Rural Development

    Hon. Ignatius Kofi Poku-Adusei observed that the Government's decentralization programme was working but has not been effective at the lowest level. He said more work needed to be done in order to realize its full benefits and thereby make an impact on the lives of the people. He called for continued sensitization of women to participate more in the district assembly processes.

    The nominee, who is the MP for Bekwai, expressed the opinion that the office of District Chief Executive should be made elective in order to make them more responsible to their people and thereby promote good local governance. He assured the Committee to pursue measures to reduce the incidence of rifts between MPs and DCEs over the utilization of the District Assemblies Common Fund.

    Hon. Poku-Adusei told the Committee that the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, where he has been an incumbent Deputy Minister, established the Women's Development Fund to facilitate the reduction of poverty amongst women and that the report of the National Economic Dialogue has spelt out the achievements of the fund so far. He urged caution in the passage of the Domestic Violence Bill noting that the repeal of section 42 of the Criminal Code was not the only disturbing matter but others as well notably the Protection Order articles. He stated that available empirical evidence show that countries with such laws tend to have high incidence of broken marriages.

    4.8 Hon. Andrews Adjei-Yeboah

    farmers. He explained to the Committee that the package included land preparation, crop planting and harvesting, and the development of simple farm tools for farmers to increase their outputs. As another measure to modernize the sector, the nominee said mechanization centres would be established by the Ministry to offer a wide range of agricultural services to farmers.

    Regarding the negative perceptions among the youth towards agriculture, Mr. Eledi told the Committee that a course on “agribusiness” would be introduced in the curricula of schools to correct such perceptions and stimulate their interest in agriculture as an exciting and profitable venture. He mentioned that the Ministry was considering employing more Extension Officers to ensure the effective implementation of government policies.

    4.10 Hon. Ms. Anna Nyamekye - Deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture

    Hon. Ms. Anna Nyamekye informed the Committee that as part of efforts to modernize farming in Ghana, the Government was undertaking a programme under which tractors were being imported and sold to farmers at cheaper prices. She said the Ministry was also considering establishing an equipment pool in the districts to enable farmers who cannot afford outright purchases to equally have access to tractors and other equipment.

    The nominee, who is the MP for Jaman South and also an incumbent Deputy Minister in the same Ministry, informed the Committee that in order to enhance access to external markets for produce from Ghana, the Ministry was collabo- rating with scientists to improve the life span of food crops to reduce storage difficulties.

    Ms. Nyamekye said the Ministry had

    micro- credit schemes. She assured the Committee that much as she would like to excel in her ministerial duties, she would want to satisfy her constituents for which reason she would find time to represent them effectively in Parliament.

    4.6 Hon. William Ofori Boafo - Deputy Minister-designate for Defence

    Hon. William Ofori Boafo told the Committee that civil-military relationship has improved considerably in recent times through various programmes by the military. He cited the “Open Day” held annually for a cross-section of school children and the general public to expose them to the work of the military and also the civilian-military workshops held periodically with the support of USAID as examples. He assured the Committee to assist in the enforcement of the relevant laws on disclosures to ensure that the military became more accountable to the people through Parliament on matters of public interest such as its expenditure.

    On what initiatives he would personally bring to bear on the military, hon. Boafo, who is the MP for Akropong, said the military had its own mission statement, objectives and goals which were well structured and that he would study these and provide the necessary assistance in any grey area. He agreed that the military should strive to achieve regional balance in its recruitments but insisted that standards must not be compromised.

    Hon. Boafo rejected a suggestion that certain aspects of the operations of the military be commercialized noting that it is a professional institution that is not profit oriented. Asked if he would consider reintroducing the programme under persons like MPs were trained in
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    - Deputy Minister-designate for Lands, Forestry and Mines

    Hon. A. Adjei-Yeboah told the Committee that a Land Administration project under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines was underway. He said the project is intended to streamline matters pertaining to land acquisition, ownership and disposal in order to reduce problems encountered by investors arising from our land tenure system. In response to a question, the nominees stated that the rate of forest depletion in the country was 65,000 hectares per annum.

    He stated that although deforestation activities have resulted in the extinction of some major species of trees, lesser-known species which mature within shorter periods were being cultivated with the assistance of technology. He explained that timber companies were made to pay a fee towards tree planting but were not responsible for tree planting.

    On environmental degradation and pollution associated with mining activities, hon. Adjei-Yeboah, MP for Tano South, assured the Committee that he would assist in ensuring that laid out rules and regulations on such matters were strictly enforced and adhered to by all stakeholders in the industry. In response to a question on the price of environmental degradation as against the gains from mining, he stated that it is the net benefit to the country that matters and so far as he knew this was positive.

    4.9 Mr. Clement Nyivorli L. Eledi - Deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture

    Mr. Clement N. L. Eledi, who is an incumbent Deputy Minister in the same portfolio disagreed with a suggestion that the Ministry's mechanization package was all about the provision of tractors to
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    plans to advance the livestock industry and cited a policy to promote the production of guinea fowl similar like chicken production. She expressed unhappiness with the reversal of a government policy intended to discourage the importation of poultry products and intimated her intention to revisit the matter if the House approved her nomination.

    Hon. Nyamekye disagreed to a suggestion that some farmers were shifting to charcoal production for want of funds for farming. She argued that the latter was even more capital intensive except that it was an easier and faster way of making money.

    4.11 Dr. winfred Nii Okai Hammond - Deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture

    Dr. Nii Okai Hammond told the Committee that funds have been secured to revamp nine major irrigation projects in the country. He said there was the need to identify areas that have high water tables for the purpose of irrigation and dams. He also suggested the review of land laws in such areas.

    The nominee, who is an entomologist with wide experience across the African continent, stressed that the Ministry of Agriculture (MOFA) works in tandem with Ghana's neighbouring countries to strengthen their forecast mechanisms (i.e. prediction and prevention) on locust invasions in the subregion. He also said it was essential that the various Ministries do not work in isolation, but collaborate to resolve their common problems.

    Dr. Hammond admitted that some varieties of cassava contain high levels of cyanide but this could be hydrogenised, i.e. boiling to take away the poison in them for the purpose of consumption. He
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    pointed out, however that such varieties of cassava could be used in a myriad of ways such as starch production.

    4 . 1 2 H o n . M s . C e c i l i a A b e n a Dapaah - Deputy Minister- designate for works and Housing

    Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah observed that government's policy on the provision of adequate affordable housing was dear to the heart of every Ghanaian. She told the Committee that Government was pursuing a vigorous housing policy that would provide the facilitating environ-ment for private sector participation in the delivery of affordable houses for the average Ghanaian worker. She suggested the naming of streets for easy identification of residential properties and their compturisation to facilitate the collection of property rates. To the nominee, the poor person needs maintenance even more and therefore assured the Committee to do everything possible to improve the culture of maintenance in the country.

    The nominee informed the Committee that since she became the Chairperson of the Board of the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), the company had secured a loan to undertake expansion and that the company's production capacity has increased from 25,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes per annum. She agreed that dark cocoa beverage is universally acknowledged to contain some aphrodisiac properties that were useful to women and men alike.

    Hon. Abena Dapaah indicated that she loves listening to gospel, highlife, R&B and jazz music as a hobby. She expressed the view that as a Methodist, although her church has not taken a decision on gay marriages, she believes the practice was wrong.

    4 .13 Hon. Moses Dani Baah - Deputy Minister-designate for Private Sector Development and Presi- dent's Special Initiatives

    Hon. Moses Dani Baah maintained that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) remains a more sustainable means to finance health care for the majority of Ghanaians. He stated that although the anxieties associated with its slow implementation could be understood, there was no need to rush it and cautioned that it was necessary to allow the Scheme to go through the various stages of implementation.

    On measures to halt the exodus of health professionals, he informed the Committee that during his tenure of office as Deputy Minister of Health, an incentive package was put in place for nurses and mentioned some of these as housing, car loans and Additional Duty Hours Allowances (ADHA).

    In response to a question on whether Ghana was losing the fight against HIV/ AIDS, hon. Dani Baah who is the MP for Sissala West, said that a substantial portion of the country has been covered by the message; what was crucial now was behavioural changes in order to reduce the current prevalence rates in the country.

    With regard to the President's Special Initiatives (PSI), Mr. Dani Baah, disclosed to the Committee that the second phase of implementation of the PSI would include cotton, cashew, shea butter, etc. targeted at the northern sector of the country. He disagreed with a suggestion that he had been swallowed by the NPP stating that although his collaboration with the NPP has benefited his people, he remains a PNC MP for Sissala West.

    4.14 Hon. Dr. C. Y. Brempong- Yeboah - Deputy Minister- designate for Manpower, Youth and
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    Employment

    Hon. Dr. Charles Yaw Brempong- Yeboah told the Committee that when he was appointed as Deputy Minister to the Ministry of Works and Housing twenty-two months ago, there was a lot of agitation over private sector participation in the water supply process. He said with tact, dialogue and time, almost all stakeholders did appreciate the need to bring the private sector on board.

    Subsequently, a grant of $103 million had been secured from the World Bank to support the implementation of the policy, which would involve the engagement of a private operator to lead Ghana Water Company in managing urban water supply. He said it was expected that about eighty urban water systems spread across the country would be revamped under the new policy.

    Regarding his vision for the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Dr. Brempong-Yeboah stated that he intends to assist the Minister to address its current structural shortcomings in order to move it in the direction of human resource development that H.E. the President outlined in his Message on the State of the Nation delivered to Parliament in February this year.

    On the question of unemployment, the nominee noted that over 24,000 youth were trained under the Skill Training and Employment Pro-gramme (STEP) introduced by the NPP Government in 2001 but most of them tend to think of employment in terms of white-collar jobs and therefore failed to utilize the skills acquired. He observed that some of the youth trained have returned to the streets to solicit alms or sell and suggested that the public should stop buying from such hawkers to discourage them.

    Trade Organisation (WTO), there is what is known as the principle of subsidiarity where a State can take it upon itself to decide her own fate by looking at her local situation.

    However, this is usually possible where the state is financially well endowed and therefore need little foreign assistance but since that cannot be said of Ghana in comparison with say Nigeria; such price discrimination has not been possible.

    He admitted that packaging of Made- in-Ghana products has been an age-long problem that has undermined our export potential. He stated that the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) and the Institute of Packaging have been organizing training sessions for exporters on the most acceptable ways of packaging their products.

    In response to a concern raised, the nominee informed the Committee that the appointment of trade representatives in countries with high volume of trade with Ghana was one of the key priorities of the Ministry and that the strategy was to appoint either Ghanaians resident in such countries or indigenes with knowledge of Ghana to perform such role.

    4.16 Hon. Magnus Opare-Asamoah - Deputy Minister-designate for Road Transport

    Hon. Magnus Opare-Asamoah expressed the view that both a contractor and consultant on any project stand to be blamed for executing shoddy jobs. He explained to the Committee that the contractor takes a blame for doing a bad job while the consultant takes the blame for his inability to provide proper supervision for the execution of the job according to specifications. He cautioned however that, in such cases, an investigation should be conducted to establish the cause of the

    indicated that the trend was improving but suggested more sensitization to create the necessary awareness that it is a festival intended to bring all of us together.

    On efforts to develop potential tourist destinations in various parts of the country, the nominee who is the MP for Mfantsiman West and also an incumbent Deputy Minister for Information, noted that the Ministry cannot provide the facilities but should create the enabling environment to encourage private sector participation especially the local communities themselves in tourism promotion.

    He mentioned the branding/packaging and marketing of tourist places as well as customer services as aspects of the industry that the Ministry may have to provide training in support of local communities. Hon. Asamoah-Boateng expressed fascination with the idea of temporary tents as cheaper alternative accommodation for tourists. He lamented the very low budgetary allocation to the Ministry which he said tends to constrain its activities.

    Asked whether he undertook National Service upon completion of University as required by law, he disclosed that he went into exile immediately thereafter hence could not do so. Subsequently he was excluded after an application to the National Service Secretariat. 4 .18 Ms. Patr ic ia Appiagyei - Deputy Minister-designate for Ashanti Region

    Ms. Patricia Appiagyei informed the Committee that when appointed, she would assist the many self-employed women in the Ashanti Region with her rich expertise in banking and finance to improve upon their businesses through access to micro credit facilities. Regarding the relocation of hawkers from pavements in the central business district of Kumasi,

    Hon. Brempong-Yeboah, who is the MP for Atiwa, denied allegations that he had misapplied specified amounts of monies from MPs share of the District Assemblies Common Fund. He explained convincingly to the Committee that all the monies were spent on various educational projects in the constituency. He also explained the circumstances surrounding his position as Honorary Ambassador of the City of Nagoya, Japan.

    4.15 Mr. Kwadwo Affram Asiedu - Deputy Minister-designate for Trade and Industry

    Mr. Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, who is an incumbent Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, told the Committee that in his capacity as Deputy Minister, he assisted his Ministers to perform their duties as stipulated in the Constitution and thus, all that were achieved were the outcomes of teamwork. As such, he could not singularly claim any credit for their achievements at both the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of the Interior where he had served earlier. Having said so, he mentioned that he had been in charge of Trade and represented Ghana on the Board of the Common Fund for Commodities. He said under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), Ghana has been progressively increasing her volume of export and thereby improving her balance of trade. He also indicated that while at the Ministry of the Interior, he chaired the Narcotics Control Board and led it to make some high profile arrests that were not published.

    Asked about the Government's inability to implement some price discrimination in favour of local products through the imposition of duties/tariffs, hon. Asiedu explained that under the rules of the World
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    shoddiness before an appropriate penalty was imposed. He added that he happens to be a civil engineer and one of his concerns, when appointed, would be to pay attention to the implementation and supervision of projects.

    Asked about the persistent traffic congestion at the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange despite the completion of construction works, the nominee explained that the interchange is only part of an integrated project therefore until the three-lane extension to Adenta was completed the congestion during rush hours would persist. He noted in response to a concern raised that the relatively higher cost of road construction in Ghana, even though he had no statistics to prove, could be attributed to the fact that most of the materials used like bitumen are imported whereas Nigeria, for instance, does not have to import bitumen.

    He told the Committee that he did not go to Nigeria for economic reasons although it coincided with the “boom days” in that country. He stated that he wanted to expand his horizon and the quality of his experience since there were challenges in the construction industry in Nigeria which he did not find in Ghana.

    4.17 Hon. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng - Deputy Minister-designate for Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City

    Hon. S. Asamoah-Boateng told the Committee that the idea of PANAFEST was a very good one which had sought to draw Ghanaians and our brothers and sisters in the diaspora together. He however, expressed the view that the concept of concentrating attention on people in the disapora to come and celebrate is misplaced. Rather, people in different parts of this country should be equally encouraged to participate as a way of boosting domestic tourism. He
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    health insurance from the Kwahu district to the Regional Coordinating Council to facilitate the speedy implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme in the Eastern Region.

    4.20 Mr. George Hikah Benson - Deputy Minister-designate for Upper west Region

    Mr. George Hikah Benson observed that the Upper West Region is faced with many problems, notably unacceptable levels of poverty, illiteracy and lack of social amenities. To him, the speed at which development was taking place should be accelerated and this could be done through some modernization of the agricultural processes in the region. He expressed the view that antagonizing MPs would not promote the region's development because once elections were over all hands were needed in the pursuit of a common objective and therefore DCEs who attempt to frustrate the efforts of MPs would not be countenanced. He recalled Chinua Achebe's statement that “when a cock crows at dawn in a village, all the people hear him, yet that cock belongs to one household”.

    As regards the development of football in the region, he said he would mobilize the youth to support a Tumu-based team as a catalyst to revamp sports in the region. On the non-inclusion of the Wa Sports Stadium in the list of stadia to be developed to host the CAN 2008 Tournament, he said an appeal would be made to H.E. the President for possible reconsideration.

    The nominee disclosed to the Committee that the appointment of the Deputy Minister was very crucial for consultation purposes. In response to a concern raised about his physical stature, he stated that “it is not actually the size that matters . . . but what is in the mind”.

    - Deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture

    xi. Dr. W. Nii Okai Hammond - Deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture

    xii. Hon. Mrs. Cecilia A. Dapaah - Minister-designate for Works and Housing

    x i i i . Hon . Moses Dan i Baah - Deputy Minister-designate for Private Sector Development and President's Special Initiatives

    xiv. Hon. Dr. C. Y. Brempong- Yeboah - Deputy Minister-designate for Manpower, Youth and Employment

    xv. Mr. Kwadwo Affram Asiedu - Deputy Minister-designate for Trade and Industry

    xvi. Hon. Magnus Opare-Asamoah - Deputy Minister-designate for Road Transport

    xvii. Hon. S. Asamoah-Boateng - Deputy Minister-designate for Tourism and Modernisation of the capital City

    xvi i i . Ms. Pa t r ic ia Appiagyei - Deputy Minister-designate for Ashanti Region

    xix. Ms. Susana A. A. Mensah - Deputy Minister-designate for Eastern Region

    xx. Mr. George Hikah Benson - Deputy Minister-designate for Upper West Region

    Having met the requirements of the Constitution in full therefore, the

    she stated that she would inspire women in the region to be law abiding and refrain from perching at unauthorised places to sell their wares.

    On the security situation in the region, the nominee told the Committee that she would support the current arrangements made to stop the violent harassment of residents and armed robbery. She assured the Committee to work towards a more peaceful region with improved living conditions for the people. She rejected the legalisation of prostitution on the grounds that every woman was endowed with sufficient capacity to earn a living through hard and decent work.

    4.19 Ms. Susana Akosua A. Mensah - Deputy Minister-designate for Eastern Region

    Ms. Suzie Mensah told the Committee that she would collaborate with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) to sensitize women to participate actively in politics so as to bring their influence to bear directly on national policies. She said she would use her experience in sustainable income generation to organize women in the Region into groups to undertake economic ventures and sourcing micro-credit facilities. She assured the Committee that, in order to be effective, intervention packages for women in the region would not be based on partisan considerations.

    When asked about her perception of the major problems in the Eastern Region, she mentioned perennial water shortage and added that she would assist her Minister to work with the Ghana Water Company and Community Water and Sanitation agencies to address the problem. She also assured the Committee that she would avail her rich experience in
    Mr. Blay 11:50 a.m.


    5.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

    The Committee has dutifully performed 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. Joe Ghartey - Deputy Attorney General-designate

    ii . Hon. Dr. (Mrs.) Gladys N. Ashitey - Deputy Minister-designate for Health

    iii. Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu - Deputy Minister-designate for Finance and Economic Planning

    iv. Mr. Osei Bonsu Amoah - Deputy Minister-designate for Education and Sports

    v. Hon. Mrs. A. Baiden-Amissah - Deputy Minister-designate for Education and Sports

    vi . Hon. Wil l iam Ofor i Boafo - Deputy Minister-designate for Defence

    vii . Hon. I . Kofi Poku-Adusei - Deputy Minister-designate for Loca l Government and Rural Development

    viii. Hon. Andrews Adjei-Yeboah - Deputy Minister-designate for Lands, Forestry and Mines

    ix. Mr. Clement Nyivorli L. Eledi - Deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture

    x. Hon. Ms. Anna Nyamekye

    Committee hereby recommends their nominations, by consensus, to this honourable House for approval.

    Respectfully submitted.
    Mr. A. O. Aidooh 11:50 a.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion that the nominees be recommended for appointment as Deputy Ministers.
    Question proposed.
    Mr. K. Osei-Prempeh (NPP 11:50 a.m.
    None

    Kwamang-Beposo): Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion. I believe that all the appointees distinguished themselves so well at the committee. But Mr. Speaker, I would just want to make a short comment on paragraph 4 (2), on hon. (Dr.) Mrs. Gladys Norley Ashitey, Deputy Minister- designate for Health.

    Mr. Speaker, I was really touched at the committee by the CV and evidence given by the Deputy Minister-designate. Mr. Speaker, this is a person who has devoted her time to volunteer work. In fact, spanning the whole country, she has been giving medical assistance to people who need her services. Mr. Speaker, it is astonishing that just less than three months of her being in this House she has spread her social work to this Parliament House. In fact, she has visited our clinic down there and said that it does not befit this Parliament and therefore she is doing everything to help the authorities give us a clinic where Members can be well attended to. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the nominee deserves commendation and I urge her to continue to give volunteer services to the people who need her services. She is a Maame Osofo, she is a doctor, she is a Member of Parliament, she is a Minister and so there will be so much pressure on her time. But I urge her not to give that up but to continue in that

    spirit and God will bless her.

    Mr. Speaker, with this, I support the motion.
    Mr. A. K. Agbesi (NDC - Ashaiman) 11:50 a.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this motion and I have a comment on the Deputy Minister- designate for Defence.
    Mr. Speaker, at page 8 of the Report the Deputy Minister-designate was asked about the initiatives he would personally bring to bear on the military, and his answer was that he would study these things and provide the necessary assistance to any grey area.
    Mr. Speaker, one of the grey areas I have identified is the issue of equipment for the military. We have just approved the budget for the military and in that budget, I see “Investment”. Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Minister-designate says that there are grey areas in the Ministry which he is going to advise on. It is my view that the issue of equipment for the military could be taken on board and knowledgeable people, experienced people and people particularly in the Volta Region who have been associated with the manufacture of weapons could be identified and assigned, and moneys spent on them to be trained so that their experience, their knowledge will not go down without being identified.
    Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize that in the olden days when the whitemen came, they tried to say that our gin was locally brewed and for that matter it was not good. They therefore brought in whisky and schnapps. But today, the locally brewed gin is still enjoyed by some people -- [Interruption] - I am referring particularly to akpeteshie - [Laughter.] Mr. Speaker, in the same way, they tried to play down the ingenuity of Ghanaians who could easily manufacture local weapons by trying to say that theirs is illegal.
    Mr. Speaker, I want to appeal to the Minister-designate to take this matter on board and look at the possibility of identifying these people and money being spent on their training, so that they can even manufacture for export; because they actually have the knowledge.
    Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I support the motion.
    Mr. K. Opare-Hammond (NPP - Adenta) noon
    Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to support this motion. I would want to use this opportunity to also congratulate and commend our hon. Colleagues on their appointments. But Mr. Speaker, I want to single out the hon. Dr. C. Y. Brempong-Yeboah and to commend him for the work that he did in the previous Ministry, Ministry for Works and Housing, and to refer to something that he said on page 13 of the Report.
    Mr. Speaker, if you would permit me, I would like to quote - paragraph 2, page 13 of the Report -- I think the 5th or 6th line:
    “On the question of unemployment, the nominee noted that over 24,000 youth were trained under the Skill Training and Employment Programme (STEP) introduced by the NPP Government in 2001 but most of them tend to think of employment in terms of white-collar jobs and therefore failed to utilize the skills acquired. He observed that some of the youth trained have returned to the streets to solicit alms or sell.”

    Mr. Speaker, the comment I want to make on this is the fact that we should do

    everything as a nation to try and help our youth to disabuse their minds of the fact that you are employed when you wear a tie and a nice shirt to go to work.

    Mr. Speaker, let me just share this story that was told by a pastor sometime ago. Mr. Speaker, a little girl of the pastor was asked in school: “What work does your father do?” And the little girl responded by saying, “my father does not work”. Apparently, the father is a pastor but because she did not see him get up every morning in tie-and-shirt and go to work, she thought that his father was not working. Mr. Speaker, that has been the mentality of many people in Ghana; that if you do not do a white-collar job, you are not employed.

    Mr. Speaker, it is a sad reflection that we read in this Report that the 24,000 youth who were trained went back into the streets because they wanted to get a job that would require that they wore a white shirt and a tie to go to work. Mr. Speaker, I want to urge my hon. Friend, Dr. Brempong-Yeboah and the hon. Minister in charge of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, and all those who work in that Ministry to do everything they can to help disabuse the minds of Ghanaians, especially the young people, the graduates, the unemployed that are on the streets, that they can do something other than waking up every morning and wearing a tie and a shirt to go to work.
    Mr. Speaker noon
    Are you winding up?
    Mr. Opare-Hammond noon
    Yes, I am. Under the STEP programme, there are programmes like snail rearing, rabbitting, et cetera, that I want to urge the youth of this nation to take advantage of.
    Mr. Opare-Hammond noon


    Mr. Speaker, with this, I want to support the motion. Thank you.
    Mr. E. T. Mensah (NDC - Ningo/ Prampram) noon
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and in doing so draw hon. Members attention to the last paragraph of the Committee's Report which indicated that the nominees met the requirements of the Constitution in full; that indeed they were grilled and they all acquitted themselves creditably. And it was on the basis of that that we have recommended that they be approved by consensus. I therefore plead with the Chair to put the Question.
    Mr. Speaker noon
    Chairman of the Appointments Committee, do you have anything to say in winding up?
    Mr. Blay noon
    Mr. Speaker, I cannot agree more with what the hon. Member for Ningo/Prampram has said. I will plead therefore that the Question be put, Mr. Speaker.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved accordingly.
    Mr. Blay noon
    Mr. Speaker, while on my feet, I would also crave your indulgence that you do inform the members of the Committee that we still have some work to do this afternoon and therefore they should come to your Conference Room for us to continue.
    Mr. Speaker noon
    Members of the Appointments Committee, you may kindly follow your leader.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES noon
    Minister for Education and Sports (Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo) 12:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House approves the sum of ¢6,101,927 million for the services of the Ministry of Education and Sports for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Speaker, the request is made out of Government of Ghana's component of ¢3,920,115 million and a donor component of ¢375,163 million. We should also take note that this also includes ¢1,124,200 million from the GETFund and ¢682,449 million from internally-generated funds. It is worth noting that the total allocation is for the two subsectors, namely, Education and Sports.
    Mr. Speaker, it is also important to note that this figure appears big. Analysis of the figure indicates clearly that 84.4 per cent of this amount is for Personal Emoluments; and indeed Investment is 6.5 per cent.
    Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Education and Sports is the largest sector within the Public Service and this year's budget allocation to the sector represents about 23.3 per cent of the total national discretionary budget.
    Mr. Speaker, there are three major implementing agencies under the sector. These are Ghana Education Service responsible for pre-tertiary education programmes; the National Council for Tertiary Education, in charge of educational programmes, and the National Sports Council which is responsible for the formulation and promotion of sporting activities within the country.
    The three agencies have been allocated approximately 94 per cent of the total sector budget. Other implementing agencies under the Ministry are: The Non- Formal Education Division, the National Service Secretariat, the Ghana Library Board, the Ghana Book Development
    Council, the West African Examinations Council, Ghana National Commission for UNESCO, National Co-ordinating Committee for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
    These seven agencies, together with the four directorates of the main Ministry, have been allocated 5.7 per cent of the Ministry's budget for 2005. Mr. Speaker, the education sector has been allocated ¢4,270,587 million for that specific sector, whilst the balance is coming from GETFund and internally-generated funds.
    Mr. Speaker, as indicated in His Excellency the President's State of the Nation Address to this House, the vision of the Government is to develop our human resource and make it an important tool for national development.

    In order to concretize the vision of His Excellency the President, the Ministry will continue to shoulder its major responsibilities of developing the human resource in the country for sustained, social and economic growth and thereby assist in reducing poverty and improving upon the quality of education.

    Mr. Speaker, it is intended that this year's budget for the Ministry would be geared towards the achievement of the target, which is the Universal Primary completion by 2015 as well as Gender Parity in primary enrolment by the end of 2005. Emphasis will be put on achieving equitable access, improving quality of education, improving educational management, science and technology and technical education and training, as set out in the Education Strategic Plan.

    We have set the following targets for ourselves, for the year 2005: Increasing the national gross enrolment of 86.1 per

    cent to 88.6 per cent; gender parity index to be improved from 2.93 per cent to 1 per cent at primary level; and national pupil/teacher ratio to be taken from just below 34 per cent to 34:1 now. It is also the intention of the Ministry to work towards the reduction of the geographical inequalities in the indicators stated above.

    We noted for instance that in the most deprived areas in some parts of the north, the national pupil/teacher ratio is about 52:1 and the idea is to move towards 34:1.

    Mr. Speaker, the Sports subsector is also made up of the Sports Secretariat, the National Sports Council and the National Sports College, Winneba. The subsector has been allocated an amount of ¢24.69 billion and the breakdown of the allocation is as follows:

    Personal Emoluments -- ¢5.27 billion

    Administration -- ¢3.59 billion

    Services -- ¢12.18 billion; and

    Investment

    -- ¢3.65 billion.

    Mr. Speaker, the Sports subsector faces huge management and development problems including lack of qualified technical personnel and inadequate infrastructure, equipment and transport. The Ministry intends putting in place various measures to address these problems, including the drawing up of a national sports calendar to guide institutions responsible for sports promotion and development in this country. Indeed, the draft of the sports calendar was given to the stakeholders for

    their comments yesterday.

    It is also to be noted that Ghana's preparation towards the hosting of the 2008 African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008) is a matter dear to the heart of the Ministry and this will involve the building of two new stadia at Tamale and Sekondi, and the rehabilitation of the Ohene Djan and Kumasi sports stadia.

    The qualification of the senior national football team, the Black Stars to the 2006 World Cup in Germany is at the top of Government's sports agenda. Govern- ment will therefore provide the necessary support, including incentives to ensure that the Black Stars qualify for the World Cup. To afford the national team the
    Minister for Education and Sports (Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo) 12:10 p.m.


    needed attention, we are in the process of establishing a national team secretariat which will give all its attention to the Stars.

    Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and privilege now to move for the approval of the total vote of ¢6,101,927 million to enable the Ministry of Education and Sports, including its agencies, to carry out its programme of activities for the fiscal year, 2005.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah) 12:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and to present the report of the Committee.
    1.0 Introduction
    Following the presentation of the 2005 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government by the hon. Minister

    financial year.

    f) The Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Education and Sports for the 2005 financial year.

    3.0 Mission Statement and Objectives

    The Ministry of Education and Sports exists to provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels irrespective of gender, tribe, religion and/or political affiliation to ensure national development and also formulate and implement policies to accelerate Sports development for all Ghanaians to achieve national integration and international recognition. In pursuit of this, the Ministry will provide:

    i. Basic education for all

    ii. Education and training for skill development with emphasis on science, technology and creativity

    iii . Higher education for the development of middle and top level manpower requirements

    iv. Facilities to ensure that citizens are functionally literate and self-reliant.

    In providing these services, the Ministry will be guided by the underlisted values:

    a. Quality education

    b. Efficient management of resources

    c. Accountability and trans- parency

    Consequently, the Ministry seeks to

    achieve following objectives:

    i. To enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

    ii. To increase access to and participation in education and training.

    iii. To upgrade and extend technical and vocational, agricultural and business education and training.

    iv. To promote good health a n d e n v i r o n m e n t a l sanitation in schools.

    v . T o s t r e n g t h e n governance, planning and resource management within the education sector.

    v i . T o p r o m o t e a n d extend provision of science and technology education and training.

    vii. To improve the quality and relevance of academic and research programmes.

    v i i i . T o p r o m o t e a n d extend provision of Science and Technology Education and Training.

    ix. To promote and extend Pre- School Education

    x. To provide girls with equal opportunities to access full cycle of education.

    x i . T o i d e n t i f y a n d p r o m o t e e d u c a t i o n programme that will assist in the prevention and management of HIV/ AIDS.

    xii. To promote Good Health and Environmental Sani- tation in schools and Institutions

    for Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday, 24th February 2005, and subsequent motion for its adoption, the Annual Estimates for the fiscal year 2005 of the Ministry of Education and Sports was referred to the Joint Committee on Education, Youth, Sports and Culture for consideration and report pursuant to Orders 140 (4), 186 and 187 of the Standing Orders of the House and article 179 of the Constitution.

    1.1 Committee Meetings

    The Committee held a number of meetings to consider the Estimates of the Ministry. Those who assisted the Committee in this endeavour were the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education and Sports and his technical team as well as officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The Committee is grateful to them for their extensive co-operation in this regard. 2.0 Reference Document

    The following documents were used as reference guide during the Committee's deliberations:

    a) The 1992 Constitution of

    Ghana

    b) The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana

    c) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2004 financial year.

    d) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the December 2005 financial year.

    e) The Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Education and Sports for the 2004
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah) 12:10 p.m.


    in Sekondi and Tamale.

    i i i . T h e G h a n a - N i g e r i a bi- lateral Games was r e v i v e d w h i l s t t h e Security Services Sports Associa- tion (SESSA) games was held in May, 2004 at the El-Wak Sports Stadium.

    iv. Courses were organized for football Coaches and Sports Administrators to upgrade their knowledge and improve their performances.

    v. The Five-Year Football Plan to develop and promote football at the grassroots was launched in all regional capitals and the necessary structures are being put in place for smooth implemen- tation of the plan.

    Outlook for 2005

    Education Sub-Sector

    For the year 2005, the Education Sub- sector of the Ministry plans to undertake the following programmes and activities:

    The core Human Resource Develop- ment (HRD) function of the Ministry will be pursued with renewed vigour this year. This will help to make concrete the President's Vision of developing the Human Resource of the Nation as an important tool for national development as contained in his Message on the State of the Nation, delivered to Parliament on 3rd February 2005.

    Towards this end, the implementing of the ESP will continue to be at the centre of activities for the year 2005. The focus

    will continue to be on achieving targets for Universal Primary Completion by 2015 and Gender Parity by the end of the current year. Consequently the Ministry's budget will be geared towards the attainment of these targets.

    The Ministry will complete work on the new Education Bill. This will incorporate the decisions on the Government's White Paper on the Report on the Education Reform Review Committee.

    The Ministry will also undertake the mainstreaming of pre-school education into all basic schools. In this regard, the Government will encourage District Assemblies and other non-state actors to contribute towards the construction of classrooms for this level of education. The mainstreaming will increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at pre-school level from 58.8 per cent in 2003/2004 to 65.0 per cent in the 2004/2005 academic year.

    Towards the attainment of Universal Primary Completion by 2015 and Gender Parity by end of 2005, it is programmed that the GER at primary level will increase from 86.1 per cent in 2003/2004 to 88.5 per cent in 2004/2005. Gender Parity Index at this level is also to increase from 0.93 in 2004/2005 to 1.0 in 2004/2005.

    The abolition of school fees and levies in public primary schools in the 53 deprived Districts has been extended to cover all public primary schools in the country. In lieu of the fees and levies, capitation grants will be paid to all primary schools in the country.

    This is a major step towards the achievement of Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education. The school capitation grant introduced, and paid for by the Government will provide for expanded services as identified in the schools Performance Improvement Plan

    through the provision of ¢25,000 per boy child and ¢35,000 per girl child.

    To improve teacher deployment in schools, the Ministry has also targeted to retain the National Pupil/Teacher Ratio of 34.0:1 at primary level in 2004/2005. However, efforts will be made to ensure the attainment of the long-term target of 35:1 by 2010. Classroom teachers will be eligible for promotion to the highest level, without having to switch to administrative post.

    In order to ensure the equitable deployment of experienced and qualified teachers to schools in the remote and deprived districts, the Teachers Incentive Scheme, which comprises the provision of cooking utensils, bicycles, priority in promotion, access to training, and accommodation, will be continued.

    As par t of the programme of supplementing the supply of teachers to schools especially in rural areas, the National Service Secretariat will post a total of 7,898 teachers, including 616 personnel under the National Volunteer Service programme to rural areas.

    To upgrade the professional capacity of untrained teacher, the Ghana Education Service will continue to train this category of teachers through the system of Open Distance Learning.

    The Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) initiated in 2003 will become operational by September, 2005. The project located at the National Science Resource Centre at Cantonments, Accra, will be implemented at the cost of ¢4 billion. Under the CSSPS, Selection of Successful Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates into senior secondary schools and technical institutes from

    September, 2005 will no longer be done manually at the various regional centres.

    To boost Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), structures proposed under the new TVET Policy Framework, including the Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COVET) will be established.

    Under the National Foundational Literacy Programme (NFLP), it is envisaged to enroll 300,000 new learners. The programme will be equipped with the necessary logistics including vehicles, equipment and training materials to enhance the delivery of the training programme.

    Sports Sub-Sector

    In view of the national image involved in the activities of national teams, Government will take special interest in the management of teams. Government will therefore, establish a National Teams Secretariat at the Ministry. The appropriate national association will be represented on the National Teams Secretariat on ad hoc basis for specific deliberations.

    The Sports College will be fully utilized to offer appropriate courses in sports management to update the knowledge and sharpen the skills of sports officials. It is intended to make the college a centre of excellence for the subregion.

    In addition, the Ministry of Education and Sports is allowed to retain all of its expected Internally Generated Funds (IGF) amounting to about ¢682 billion.

    This year, the Education sector will also expect about ¢1,124.21 billion from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and about ¢160 billion of the District Assemblies Common Fund
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah) 12:10 p.m.


    for Educational projects by the District Assemblies.

    Total Allocation for the Year 2005

    In order to achieve their afore- mentioned objective, the Ministry of Education and Sports and its affiliated bodies have been allocated a total sum of four trillion, two hundred and ninety-five billion, two hundred and seventy-eight million cedis. (¢4,295,278,000,000.00) to cover their expenses of personal emoluments, administrative, service and investment expenses.

    Apart from the GOG/Donor funding mentioned above it is expected that an amount of six hundred and eighty- two billion, four hundred and forty-nine million cedis (¢682,449,000,000.00) of retained IGF and an amount of one trillion, one hundred and twenty-four billion and two hundred million cedis (¢1,124,200,-000,000.00) of GETFund would be realised during the year for the programmes and projects of the Ministry.

    Education Sub-Sector

    The following provision has been made for the Education sub-sector in the 2005 Budget:

    The total budget for the Education sub- sector is four trillion, two hundred and seventy billion, five hundred and seventy- eight million cedis (¢4,270,578,000,- 000.00) of which three hundred and seventy five billion, one hundred and sixty-three million cedis (¢375,-163,000,000.00) is the total donor provision equivalent to 9 per cent of the total budget.

    Personal emolument is three trillion, six hundred and nineteen billion,

    five hundred and sixty million cedis (¢3,619,560,000,000.00), equivalent to 85 per cent of the total budget (and 93 per cent of the GOG component of the budget). The remaining 15 per cent is distributed as 3.7 per cent for Administration, 1.8 per cent for GOG Service, 1 per cent for GOG Investment and 9 per cent for the Service and Investment as donor provision.

    Breakdown

    A breakdown of the allocation is as follows:

    The GES has been allocated a total budget of three trillion, three hundred and seventy five billion, two hundred and fifty- seven million cedis (¢3,375,257,- 000,000.00) for the 3 budget heads which is equivalent to 79.04 per cent of the total budget.

    The NCTE has also been allocated a budget of six hundred and forty-eight billion, seven hundred and fifty million cedis (¢648,750,000,000.00) or 15.2 per cent the budget and the remaining two hundred and forty-six billion, five hundred and seventy-one million cedis (¢246,571,000,000.00), 5.8 per cent is allocated to the main Ministry and its subvented agencies.

    Sports Sub-Sector

    A budgetary allocation of twenty- four billion, six hundred and ninety nine million, seven hundred and eighty thousand cedis (¢24,699,780,000.00) equivalent to 0. 58 per cent as been made to the Youth Sub-Sector to carry out its programmes and activities for the year

    2005.

    Five billion, two hundred and seventy- four million and two hundred and seventy- seven thousand cedis (¢5,274,277,000.00) is allocated to Personal Emoluments, three billion, five hundred and ninety million

    and eighty thousand cedis (¢3,590,080,- 000.00) to Administration, twelve billion, one hundred and eighty-five million, four hundred twenty three thousand cedis (¢12,185,423,000.00) to Service and Investment of three billion, six hundred and fifty million cedis. (¢3,650,000,-

    000.00).

    The Allocation is as follows:

    Observations and Recommendations

    Education Sub-Sector

    Ghana Education Service

    Administrative Expenses

    The 2005 budgetary provision for Administration expenditure is sixty-two billion, one hundred and three million

    cedis (¢62,103,000,000.00). This shows a decrease of 6.56 per cent reduction compared to 2004 allocation of sixty- six billion, four hundred and sixty-two million cedis (¢66,462,000,000.00). This provision, the Committee considered inadequate to cater for the staff of the Service as well as the various numbers of the offices and schools.

    Implementation, monitoring and supervision programmes will therefore be seriously constrained and also have a negative impact on educational delivery in the country if the allocation is not increased.

    I t was also observed that , the deployment of teachers has been lopsided as the concentration in the urban areas is more than the deprived areas. Therefore, for effective and optimum utilization of teachers, accurate data and statistics should be prepared to address the problem.

    The Committee noted with satisfaction
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah) 12:10 p.m.


    Total P.E Admin. Service Investment Donor Budget Provision

    Total 4,270,578 3,619,560 155,986 8,769 41,100 375,163

    Education 100% 84.8% 3.7% 1.8% 1.0% 8.8%

    Main 246,571 159,344 23,363 12,564 5,100 46,200

    Ministry 15.77% 3.37% 0.55% 0.29% 0.12% 1.08%

    GES 3,375,257 2,949,814 62,103 49,583 33,000 280,757

    79.04% 69.07% 1.45% 1.16%0. 77%6. 57%

    NOTE 648,750 510,402 70,520 16,622 3,000 48,206

    15 19% 11.95% 1.65% 0.39% 0.07% 1.13%
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah) 12:10 p.m.


    that GES has strengthened its plan to promote good health and environmental sanitation in schools and institutions in the country. The Committee considered this commendable. It was, however, of the view that the provision of sanitary facilities in schools should be linked to the inclusion of health and environmental sanitation in the curriculum of the schools. Service and Investment

    A total budget of three hundred and sixty-three billion, three hundred and four million cedis (¢363,304,000,000.00) has been earmarked for the various educational programmes. This shows an increase of 5.97 per cent over last years provision of two hundred and seven billion, two hundred and forty-five million cedis (¢207,245,000,000.00).

    The Committee is however of the opinion that the provision is still on the low side considering the volume of activities and programmes the GES has to put in place before the actual implementation of the Educational Review Programme in 2007.

    It therefore recommends that adequate funds should be provided to enable the GES lay a strong foundation for the smooth take off of the Review in 2007.

    Non-Formal Education (NFED)

    Drop in the Illiteracy Rate

    The Committee noted with satisfaction that due to the pragmatic programmes and activities of the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED), particularly the literacy and functional skills programmes, the nation's illiteracy rate has dropped by 10 per cent over the past ten years.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah) 12:10 p.m.


    But the Committee is of the view that, there is still much room for improvement and urges the NFED to collaborate more with other agencies and organizations in the literacy delivery project in order to make the nation's aim of making every Ghanaian read and write at least in his/ her native language a reality.

    The NFED is further being called upon to strengthen its monitoring and supervision mechanism to ensure that the facilitators at the district and the local level perform their responsibilities as expected.

    Ghana Library Board -- GLB

    Inadequate Budgetary Allocation

    The Committee noted with regret, the inadequate and in some cases non-release of budgetary allocation to the GLB over the years. This state of affairs has adversely affected the smooth performance of the Board in terms of service delivery to the public.

    For example, persistent reduction in administrative, service and investment allocation has led to deterioration of existing equipment and vehicles. In addition, the Board is unable to acquire up-to-date books, periodicals and other publications.

    Poor working Conditions

    Related to the problem of inadequate funding is the issue of poor working conditions of the staff of the Board. This manifests itself in low compensation packages and poor working environment (employee health and safety).

    The Committee therefore recommends that since the libraries play an important

    role in the provision of quality education in the country, special intervention in terms of funding and review of the working conditions of staff should be made to enable the Board improve its service delivery.

    It was additionally observed that, the officials of the GLB have not put in the necessary effort to educate the public of the importance of libraries in our socio- economic development. For many Ghanaians, the notion is that libraries are for those who are preparing for examinations. This old perception the Committee noted, has contributed to the low patronage of the Library facilities and also its inadequate budgetary allocation to carryout its programmes and activities.

    It is therefore considered that, pragmatic educational programmes and measures should be put in place to educate the general public on the importance of libraries in the socio- economic development of the country.

    The Board should also consider networking with other organizations and institutions to attract additional funding to supplement its budget allocations.

    National Service Secretariat

    Investment Allocations

    The Committee noted with regret that l ike the previous years, the meagre sum of two hundred million cedis (¢200,000,000.00) approved for NSS investment activity for the year 2004 was not released. As a result, the Secretariat could not do much in the area of investment. This, the Committee considered unfortunate looking at the important role the NSS plays in our national development.

    The Ministry of Education and Sports

    P.E Admin. Service Investment

    Sports 590,499,000 1,188,000,000 5,954,116,000 1,000,000,000

    Secretariat

    NSC 4,246,781,000 1,782,000,000 15,692,907,000 2,350,000,000

    Sports 1,436,997,000 620,080,000 538,400,000 300,000,000 college

    Total 5,274,277,000 3,3,590,080,000 12,185,423,000 3,650,000,000

    GRAND 24,699,780,000
    TOTAL 12:10 p.m.
    rose
    Mr. Speaker 12:10 p.m.
    Hon. Chief Whip, do you have a point of order?
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, there is just a small slip, I guess. The funding gap that the hon. Member is talking about, I believe, should be “¢1 trillion” and not “¢1 billion”. It should be ¢1 trillion and not ¢1 billion. He should effect that correction.
    Mr. Speaker 12:10 p.m.
    That must have been a slip.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, it is in the Report; that is why I am raising it.
    Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 12:10 p.m.
    I am going to correct them.
    This shortfall would adversely affect the implementation of the Ministry's programmes and activities since the Ministry's budgetary requirements were based on a costing of its programmes and activities.
    Adequate funding is therefore important if the Ministry is implementing its programmes and activities effectively and efficiently to bring about improve- ment in the quality of education we all desire.
    Internally Generated Funds (IGF)
    The Committee expressed concern about the way some of the agencies under the Ministry accounted for their internally generated funds. It urged the Ministry to ensure that all funds generated internally by its agencies are properly recorded and accounted for.
    Conclusion
    The Committee is of the view that, the provision of educational facilities, development and promotion of sports infrastructure, and training of teachers are cardinal to job creation, local tourism and poverty reduction.
    The Committee finds the Draft Budget proposal of the Ministry of Education and Sports justifiable and therefore recommends that the sum of six trillion, one hundred and one billion, nine hundred and twenty-seven million cedis. (¢6,101,927,000,000.00) be approved for the Ministry for its activities for the 2005 financial year.
    Respectfully submitted.
    Mr. A. N. Tettey-Enyo (NDC - Ada) 12:20 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion that this honourable House approves the sum of six trillion, one hundred and one billion, nine hundred and twenty-seven million cedis for the services of the Ministry of Education and Sports for the 2005 fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, I do so as the Ranking Member of the select Committee on Education, Youth, Sports and Culture.
    Mr. Speaker, the select Committee has worked very hard in presenting its Report asking this House to approve this request. I have no doubt at all that all hon. Members of this House will massively approve the required estimates for the Education and Sports subsectors. We are particularly sure of that because all of us are concerned about the promotion of quality education in this country. And at the grass roots, we are all very vocal in making promises about the improvement of education in our constituencies. Therefore, I am very hopeful that the estimates would be approved.
    But I wish to draw the attention of the
    Mr. A. N. Tettey-Enyo (NDC - Ada) 12:20 p.m.


    House to some of the concerns expressed by the agencies during the budget hearing and to appeal to the hon. Minister for Education and Sports to work hand-in- hand with the Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Planning, since they have just swapped portfolios, to make the education sector a golden age period for the advancement of education in this country.

    I wish to appeal to them for this collaboration, in view of just two issues affecting the implementation of pro- grammes in the agencies.

    First of all, the delays in the release of funds. The education sector is about the sector where we are dealing with issues, which affect the promotion of the life and development of our youth on daily basis, and we have programmes, which cannot be implemented if the release of funds is not made on timely basis. The situation is even worse when there are unexpected cuts during the fiscal year making it difficult to get moneys to implement the programmes of the subsectors. We are therefore expecting -- we have major programmes to implement this year -- that the funds would be made available in time and regularly.

    This is the year we are to mainstream the pre-school system; this is the year we are extending the payment of capitation funds to all schools. The amounts themselves are not anything to write home about -- twenty-five thousand cedis for boys and thirty-five thousand cedis for girls. And even now most schools are requesting parents and so on to pay sums, well above these amounts. We are expecting that since these amounts are expected to be paid for activities on daily basis, these amounts would be paid, if possible, upfront before the beginning of the academic term so that the heads of schools can make good use of them.

    Mr. Speaker, as I have said, I am sure of the massive support for these estimates and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to support the motion on the approval of funds for the Ministry of Education and Sports.
    Mr. S. K. B. Manu (NPP - Ahafo Ano South) 12:30 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion moved by my hon. Colleague, the Chairman of the Committee on Education, Youth, Sports and Culture. Mr. Speaker, in doing so, I would like to take a look at a few issues raised by the Committee in its Report.
    Mr. Speaker, I would like to take note of the non-release of two hundred million cedis to the National Service Secretariat as noted in the Report.
    Mr. Speaker, the work of the National Service Secretariat in the development of this nation is paramount. They are everywhere in this country and their services are helping a lot, especially in the area of teaching, where the Ministry lacks personnel.
    Mr. Speaker, for such an important organisation, only two hundred million cedis was allocated to it for investment. As if that was not enough, not a single pesewa was released to the Secretariat for development. Mr. Speaker, I would like to simply say that this is not a healthy development and the Ministry should take note and ensure that such paltry releases are made to the Secretariat for its proper functioning.
    Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take note of the Ghana National Volunteer Programme, which is also undertaken by the National Service Secretariat. Mr. Speaker, we sit in Ghana and cry for money. We say we are not rich to the extent that we have even joined the HIPC initiative.

    Mr. Speaker, we have certain avenues in this country that can earn us money except that we are not tapping them. One such avenue is the National Volunteer Programme. Countries like India and other places are making good money out of this. The National Service Secretariat, being supported by the Voluntary Services Organisation (VSO), was able to move their volunteer corps from 52 to 1,371. If we are able to encourage the National Service Secretariat they can produce a lot of volunteer corps and even export them abroad.

    How many graduates have not completed their courses and are roaming the streets of Ghana without jobs? If we were able to mobilise them, give them training and send them abroad, while we would be dealing with the unemployment problem at home we would be earning income - foreign exchange - from whatever they do there for the country. I would therefore like to recommend seriously to the Ministry to take a critical look at this and, maybe, push the idea forward to bring in foreign exchange to solve our liquidity problems in the country.

    Mr. Speaker, there is another serious issue we have to look at, which was also raised in the Report. The President in his State of the Nation Address told us the importance the Government is going to attach to technical training for the youth to enhance development. However, it was noted by the Committee that there is a serious conflict existing between the National Association for Civic, Vocational, Educational and Training (NACVET) - that is one of the feuding parties -- and the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI).
    Mr. S. K. B. Manu (NPP - Ahafo Ano South) 12:30 p.m.


    Mr. Speaker, as it were, these two bodies are to be responsible for the manpower training of our youth in this country and if they are at one another's throat, how do they collaborate to train our youth to get the nation out of the huge unemployment that it is faced with? I therefore recommend to the hon. Minister for Education and Sports on one hand and the Minister for Manpower, Employment and Youth on the other hand to find a solution to this problem through collaborative efforts.

    Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to also take a look at internally-generated funds (IGF) and the laws we have passed regarding the use of internally generated funds. According to that law those moneys should be paid into the Consolidated Fund and before any such portion of the money could be used permission should be sought from this august House. Rightly so, Mr. Speaker; however, if you look at the educational institutions pari passu this law, you would see that there is a problem. Take a secondary school that collects school fees which are meant to feed these children in the school; this money has to be paid into the Consolidated Fund and a process is brought to the House for approval.
    Mr. Pele Abuga 12:30 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, if the IGF is paid into the Consolidated Fund I think it would form part of the general government revenue. I am finding it difficult to understand how they can come to Parliament to ask for the use of that IGF. Once it becomes part of government revenue, the Ministry would
    use it as part of its budgetary scheme, so they cannot be coming to the House for approval for its use, they can only go to the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.
    Mr. Manu 12:30 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I take note of what he has said. Mr. Speaker, the difficulty that these heads of institutions would find in coming by these moneys to feed the children -- While they are travelling from Cape Coast to Accra only to be told that the Minister for Education and Sports has travelled to the United States of America to take a loan, the children would have to be fed.
    That is why I am saying that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning together with the Minister for Education and Sports, given the peculiarity of educational institutions, should come together and if it would be possible -- I know that here the hon. Attorney-General would also have to come in -- something is brought to this House for some exemptions to be granted the educational institutions. Mr. Speaker, this is what I wanted to say.
    I would also want to say that the Ghana Library Board needs serious attention. This refrain has been sung here every year but the same story is told every time to us as committee members and we also come here to sing the same refrain to this House. I think now that we are serious about human resource development, particular attention should be given to the Ghana Library Board and its offices in the regions and districts because if the libraries are well stocked, teachers everywhere in the country can take advantage of the distance learning programme and upgrade themselves.
    With these few comments, Mr. Speaker, I urge all hon. Members to vote for
    the allocation made for the Ministry of Education and Sports.
    Mr. Pele Abuga (NDC - Chiana- Paga) 12:30 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, in urging that the House supports the demand by the Ministry that its Estimates be approved, I would begin by stating that an adequate amount of persuasion has already gone to Government to see whether there is merit in separating the Sports from Education. I say this because from all indications, even from the Minister's own summary of the report he gave just now, it shows that the Sports sector has a lot of management problems.
    Mr. Speaker, when you read the Report, you would see clearly that there is the need to separate the two Ministries. I am saying this because sports is such an important sector. It has the potential to provide a lot of employment for our youth; it has the potential to take this country forward in its development. Apart from everything, it is one big source of revenue that accrue to this country. In spite of all these benefits, it is also a very complex sector and to conjoin it with the Ministry of Education makes it even more complex.
    Mr. Speaker, if you take the Report, for instance, on page 22 where they were talking about a funding gap, they said there is a funding gap of ¢1,296,812,000. This shortfall will affect the implementation of the Ministry's programmes. Then the next paragraph reads -- and Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I beg to read:
    “Adequate funding is therefore important if the Ministry is implementing its programmes and activities effectively and efficiently to bring about improvement in quality education that we all desire.”
    Mr. Speaker, it is as if the thrust of the
    Mr. Pele Abuga (NDC - Chiana- Paga) 12:40 p.m.


    Ministry is just on education. If you look at the beginning where they outlined their mission you would find in the Committee's Report, “Mission Statement and objectives -” Mr. Speaker, I would just use it to illustrate my point. If you read page 2, paragraph 2 where it is written “Mission Statement and Objectives”, the next one itemised as (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v), all talk about education. No mention whatsoever is made about sports.

    Mr. Speaker, if we are to take the words of the hon. Minister and everybody who has been talking about sports in this country, it is clear that the Sports Ministry is bedevilled with a lot of management problems and if you are to tackle it and you make it look very insignificant under the Ministry of Education -- Because the Ministry of Education itself is such an important Ministry with a lot of problems.

    So if you add another problematic Ministry to it, then what would happen is that the Ministry of Education would virtually swallow the Ministry of Sports; and it is no wonder it is given an insignificant place in statements like this. I will urge the hon. Minister for Education and Sports to really look critically at the issue of sports management. It begins from the regulations, it begins from our policies at the Ministry; it begins from the relationships. I always want to use football as an example because that brings vividly to mind the problems in the Ministry. Mr. Speaker, if you take the football sector, the Ghana Football Association (GFA), the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), the Ministry itself, their relationships are not clearly defined. Even the GFA regulations, I think that it is high time we reviewed them.

    Mr. Speaker, as we speak today, the solution that has come up in what the hon.

    Minister just gave us was that they would set up team secretariats. Mr. Speaker, the question is not the setting up of a secretariat but it is what happens in the secretariat. We have seen a lot of secretariats set up, we have the GFA Secretariat, we have the GHALCA Secretariat -- a lot of them, but the solution has not yet been found. So I think that the hon. Minister should look beyond the setting up of secretariats and look at what happens within the corridors of these secretariats and determine what should be the problem of the Ministry and tackle it appropriately.

    Mr. Speaker, I would also want to urge that the budget of Education and Youth as presented, particularly the Sports sub- sector is not very clear. We plan to host CAN 2008, and Mr. Speaker, if you look at the amount that has been allocated to the Sports sub-sector, it is just about ¢25 billion and we plan to build a stadium at Tamale, one in Takoradi and rehabilitate the major stadia in this country.

    Mr. Speaker, I think that they have plans to provide funding from other sources but this is clearly lost in the budget that has been presented to Parliament. So Mr. Speaker, if they really want us to believe that this is the budget of the Sports subsector of the Ministry, then they would have to tell us something more than what they have just given us for approval.

    Again, Mr. Speaker, it is the way we even implement some of the regulations that guide our sports in this country that is the problem. I will just give one graphic example to illustrate my point. There is one Kwesi -- I have forgotten the surname -- who came to Accra and won the Gold Medal in Light Heavyweight boxing.

    Mr. Speaker, it will surprise everybody that when they were inviting boxers to prepare them for competitions he was never invited; it was as if he came here and virtually pushed and wrestled the

    medal from the Sports authority. The bronze medalists and the silver medalists were rather invited. The gold medalist was left out. These are some of the things that the authorities, in implementing their sports agenda, finally make the sports development of this country very difficult.

    I would also urge that there is the need for the Minister for Education and Sports, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development to team up because it is clear that we cannot have enough budgetary allocation to develop sports at the local level.
    Mr. Baah-Wiredu 12:40 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, what the hon. Member is saying is perfectly right and it is in the schedule of the functions of the District Assemblies.
    Mr. Abuga 12:40 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, we know everything in this country is part of what the District Assembly should be doing but if you do not specify then it is left to the discretion of the District Chief Executive who, if he likes sports, will give them ¢500; if he does not like sports he will not even give them anything at all. So I think it is high time we made it a policy and gave them concrete guidelines in a written form so that they would do it as a matter of urgency.
    Mr. Speaker, the final thing I would
    like to say on this is for us to pay much attention to our sports college. We have said it very often in our budget statements, the President's State of the Nation Address and in various circles that we want to see to it that sports college develop as a sporting excellence centre but we do not give full implementation to this idea. We are aware that they have hostel and hotel facilities for our sportsmen.
    Year in, year out, we spend huge sums of money putting our sporting teams in hotels and so on and so forth. Mr. Speaker, we can spend just a little amount of that sum of money developing the sporting college. It will not only provide an avenue where our people can easily be hosted but it will also provide a centre where people can really go for sporting excellence. So Mr. Speaker, we should give full implementation to the idea of making the sports college a centre of sporting excellence.
    Mr. Speaker, in summing-up, I would like to add my voice to those who have spoken about the National Service Secretariat. Mr. Speaker, the volunteer programme that they have started at the National Service Secretariat is a very good idea. I think that the National Service scheme holds a great potential for this country and if we can sit down properly and think out ways by which we can improve upon the idea, we can even branch the National Service into areas like -- This apprentice training that the President was talking about can be brought under the National Service Secretariat. There are many areas that the National Service Secretariat can branch into and we may be exporting talents, providing employment for our youth and all sorts of trained personnel for various sectors of the economy.
    With these few observations, I urge that we support the Ministry's desire to
    Mr. Abuga 12:40 p.m.


    get their estimates approved.
    Mrs. Angelina Baiden-Amissah (NPP - Shama) 12:50 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to the motion to approve the sum of ¢6,101,927 million for the Ministry of Education and Sports for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Speaker, the Education Strategic Plan saw its full implementation in the year 2004. On access to education, there was an increase in the national gross primary enrolment ratio from 81.1 per cent in 2002/2003 academic year to 86.1 per cent in 2003/2004 academic year. Mr. Speaker, this is to tell us that the FCUBE programme is in its full implementation and this is a provision in the 1992 Constitution.
    Mr. Speaker, school levies were abolished in fifty-three deprived districts as against the forty districts targeted, and capitation grant was paid to all public primary schools in those districts. Government would try to cover the rest of the primary schools in the country this year.
    Mr. Speaker, this is a relief to parents who find it difficult to pay school fees and for which reason they do not even send their children to school. Other parents who have more children and for which reason they only take care of the male, leaving out the female, have now got a big relief because the Government is taking care of their children and they are not paying school levies. Death of fathers which are some of the causes of school drop-outs has also now reduced and I believe it will reduce to the barest minimum.
    Mr. Speaker, the Government, in an
    attempt to address the problem of lack of teachers in remote areas, has trained more teachers and is also providing incentive packages including consumer items and accommodation to entice teachers to go to deprived areas. An amount of ¢20 billion was spent on the construction of teachers residences.

    Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the District Assembly sponsorship scheme for teacher trainees assisted in increasing teacher supply to remote areas, especially the deprived areas. The National Service Secretariat also supplemented the supply of teachers to schools in rural areas.

    Mr. Speaker, another way of increasing access to basic education is the construction of 440 six-unit classroom blocks with ancillary facilities in all districts. The remaining 224 school projects are at various levels of completion. As regards the senior secondary schools (SSS), the 31 SSS being upgraded had its first phase completed with very few works to be added to make the rest of them complete so that commissioning would take place. Also, 50 computers and 2 servers were supplied to the National Science Resource Centre for the upgrading of computer skills and teaching in the country.
    Alhaji A. B. Sorogho 12:50 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think the select Committee was asked to review and to agree. It is like my hon. Sister is reading the whole Budget again. Since she started she has been reading and reading. This one, we are not supposed to be reading; she should just give us her comments and then we may approve and move on, but she has been reading for the last ten minutes. Mr. Speaker, please can you direct her to just go straight to the point so that we can consider other areas.
    Mrs. Baiden-Amissah 12:50 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr. Speaker. But Mr. Speaker, I was not even reading copiously as he maintained [Laughter.] I was making a few references and I have not taken ten minutes yet.
    In view of the line toed by the Ministry of Education and Sports, I would urge all hon. Members to support the amount of ¢6,101,987 million to the Ministry of Education and Sports so that the rest of the work can be facilitated. I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for this opportunity.
    Mr. Speaker 12:50 p.m.
    I would call on the hon. Member for Tamale Central (Prof. W. A. Seini) and maybe, the hon. Minister will wind up.
    Prof. A. W. Seini (NDC - Tamale Central) 12:50 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity. I think education and sports are so important that we could have spent the whole day talking about the Ministry. But I just want to talk about one aspect of it and to add a footnote to what the Ranking Member for the Committee on Youth and Sports has already said. If you look at the budget allocation for investment for the Sports sub-sector, it is woefully low. The investment is about ¢3.6 billion and we are supposed to be preparing for the
    Confederation of Africa Nation (CAN)
    2008.
    I would urge that we should not be caught with our pants down because it has happened in the past where a nation was awarded the CAN football tournament and it was taken away because in the end they were not prepared. So let us start preparing now because we know that we are going to build new stadia in Tamale and Takoradi and then we have to renovate the Kumasi and Accra Sports stadia.
    I would like to add, Mr. Speaker, that we need to invest in order to get results. I remember in 1982 I was watching the World Cup match between Cameroon and one of the giants of European Football, that is, Italy. When Cameroon drew 1-1 with them I boasted before my English friend that the world would not see the best of African football until they saw Ghana in the World Cup. Since then, I have been forced to eat my words every time they compete to go to the World Cup. And I have come to the conclusion that we are not investing much in sports, that is why we are not getting results.
    I cast my mind back to around 1980 when we made a presentation. When I say we, I mean we in Real Tamale United (RTU) made a presentation to the Sports Council, arguing for a sports stadium to be built in Tamale. At that time we were arguing for a capacity stadium of fifty thousand because we argued that apart from Kumasi and Accra, we were the next in terms of patronage in sports.
    Unfortunately, we have never had that done but fortunately, this time around, Tamale has been listed as one of the places for a stadium to be built. So I am urging the Minister for Education and Sports to take note that even in 1980 we asked for a fifty thousand capacity sports stadium and I hope that he would take note of that.
    Mr. Speaker, looking at the budget allocation, I do not think we are serious at all as a sporting nation. Everybody knows that this country has led African sports before but we have been going down and down the drain all these years. I think that we have to do something about it. The Minister for Education and Sports would have to make the effort, maybe to get funding from elsewhere to support the investments in the sports sector.
    I remember in the 1970s when I used to be a regular writer for the then Sporting News, I argued at that time that every town with a ten thousand population and above needs to have very good sports facilities, particularly playing ground for people to develop their talents.
    This country has a lot of sports talents not only in football but in several other ways, but if we do not invest in infrastructure -- sports infrastructure -- I am afraid we are not going to get the benefit of these talents.
    rose
    Mr. Speaker 1 p.m.
    I was going to call on the hon. Minister to wind up but as a Senior Minister, I will grant you a few minutes.
    Senior Minister (Mr. J. H. Mensah): Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your indulgence. I have brief comments. Firstly, I would want to draw the attention of the House -- this business of education that we are talking about concerns the youth who up to the age of 18 or so constitute a full one half of the population of Ghana -- about 10 million souls.
    If we were to provide just ¢1 million for
    the educational care of each one of them, we would be talking of about ¢10 trillion

    and not ¢6 trillion. I just want to put that in perspective because, Mr. Speaker, I am afraid it is becoming the popular notion in this country that we do not want to pay more taxes.

    Mr. Speaker, if we want our future, we are going to have to pay more taxes and I am just saying this through the House for the guidance of the whole nation on our national consensus on these matters.

    Mr. Speaker, I am saying that quality education per child, henceforth, we would not be able to procure it at the cost of ¢1 million per child; ¢1 million does not buy very much these days.

    Mr. Speaker, we are aiming at catching up with the world. Just this morning, I heard a foreign broadcasting station comparing Ghana's education and Malaysia's education. And first of all, for those who want to imitate, 25 per cent of the relevant age group in Malaysia are in tertiary education, and in Ghana, 3 per cent.

    It is true that the University of Ghana for instance, has expanded and now has 27,000 scholars; but those numbers should be set in an international perspective. The objective, if we are talking about middle income and all that, must be to get that kind of proportion of our young people in higher institutions of learning so that we can bring science and technology to bear on the affairs of this nation.

    Finally, Mr. Speaker, even as we stand, this Report of the Committee says at page 5 some things to which I want to draw the attention of the House to. First of all on pupil-teacher ratios -- Pupil-teacher ratios have been going up instead of down, as can be seen on page 5 and because of the constraints on finances the Ministry is proposing this year only to maintain that
    Mr. Speaker 1 p.m.
    Minister for Education and Sports, kindly wind up.
    Mr. Osafo-Maafo 1 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, there is one thing that is factual; there is one thing that we all agree to, that the quality
    of education in Ghana is going down. Most people want to send their children to private schools. Private schools are springing up at every corner of this nation and that is a clear manifestation that people have lost confidence in the quality of education.
    I have met most of the groups -- GNAT and the rest -- And if you ask them, “Where are your children being educated?” - You ask those who are themselves educationists -- The answer is that most of their children are in private schools. They are there because that is where we are sure of getting a certain level of quality education for our children.
    So the point made by the hon. Senior Minister is so vital that, even though this appears like ¢6.1 trillion, the allocation to education has dropped from 25 per cent from last year to 23.2 per cent this year. So we cannot talk about not raising additional resources to support education. The only way to be sure of quality education is that we must contribute - we must be ready to raise taxes from other sources to put into education. That is my first point.
    My second point is that there is a general problem raised by hon. Doe Adjaho which I want to take on a general level; and I completely agree with hon. Doe Adjaho. If you take the Financial Administration Act and the Constitution, all funds raised should first find their way into the Consolidated Fund and anybody who wants permission to use the resources must do so with the approval of this House -- [Interruptions] - Yes, and HIPC Funds are always approved by this House; look at the Budget. Mr. Speaker, try as I could only few institutions - [Interruption.]
    Mr. John Tia 1 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister for Education and Sports is my very good friend but unfortunately this time, he is misleading
    the House. I am aware that this side of the House demanded, when we were discussing a similar budget, that the HIPC Funds should be put into the Consolidated Fund and approved by this House; the hon. Minister disagreed. And today he is telling us that he is now against their stand.
    But where he is misleading us is when he says that HIPC Funds are allocated and approved by this House. That is not true. HIPC Funds are not allocated from here. It is true that he incorporated it in his Budget Statement for approval as HIPC Funds to be established but the allocations, the disbursements and so on are not done in this House.
    Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
    Mr. Osafo-Maafo 1 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, he quoted me right. I said that HIPC resources are approved by this House. Pages 7 and 8 of the 2004 Budget Statement indicated the total HIPC resources in the Budget and this was approved by this House -- [Hear! Hear!] Mr. Speaker, on a more serious note, I think the hon. Senior Minister has drawn our attention to something and that is, we cannot have our cake and eat it. And I was so happy by the contribution made by hon. Tetteh-Enyo, who is also an educationist.
    Talking about education, everybody knows the problems involved in education in this country but when you are talking about raising resources to support education in this country then people begin to run away from it. There is no way that Ghana can become competitive as a nation, there is no way that Ghana can become a competitive industrial force, there is no way that Ghana can be counted among the developed world if our educational system does not provide
    Mr. S. K. B. Manu 1:10 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I heard the hon. Minister say, “you cannot be a judge in your own court” and I thought judges presided in their courts and make judgements [ An hon. Member: cause] - Then I did not hear well. It confirms what I said here the other day about the hearing test - Then maybe I
    Mr. Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Hon. Member, it is not a point of order. Hon. Minister, please wind up.
    Mr. Osafo-Maafo 1:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, it is an idiom that my hon. Friend should get himself close to.
    Mr. Speaker, we need to work seriously to improve the quality of education and whatever we can do as a country to introduce additional resources into education, we should do it. Whatever we can do as a nation to make sure that education is truly decentralized - the power also of the teacher is central. The incentive to the teacher is central. The motivation of the teacher is central. We should do this but we can only do this with resources.
    Mr. Speaker, it has been agreed between the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and myself that the emphasis of this year's mini Consultative Group (C.G.) meeting which would be done on the 22nd of this month would be on education and decentralization. The idea is to go outside what we have realized so far; and we are all talking about the financial gap. We are going to seek additional support from the donor community to support education and I intend that by August this year, a special donors' conference would be convened specifically to look at education funding.
    But as the Senior Minister said if we are going to convince others to come and put in their taxpayers' moneys to support education, then of course we should be seen here to be raising additional resources to support education. Otherwise, we are not going to find it easy to ask others to come in to support.
    Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with hon. Abuga Pele that sports and education are diametrically opposite. It is my considered view that indeed, sports and education are bedfellows. Who are involved in sports? What age group is involved in sports? Mr. Speaker, when Ghana was Ghana in sports, that was the time when we had Academicals teams supplying first class footballers to the national teams. When Ghana was strong in sports, that was when we had the inter-colleges sporting activities being the top.
    Mr. Speaker, in 1961/62, Ghana was the champion country in hockey and that national team that was raised which won the Ghana cup included six Achimota students.
    Mr. M. E. K. Ackah 1:10 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, as the hon. Minister is saying, it is true sports and education are bedfellows but the problem here is that the degree of teaching of sports has gone down drastically in our schools. That is the foundation; and I want to urge the Minister to actually put some directives on the ground so that teachers in the classroom, especially the basic schools, would revisit the teaching of Physical Education (PE) so that this thing would be revamped. [Interruption.]
    Mr. Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Hon. Member, are you
    contributing? This is not a point of order.
    Mr. Osafo-Maafo 1:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I agree with him. Basically, teaching of sports - we should ginger interests in sporting activities in schools. We should create a lot of competition in schools as a way of unearthing our talents in the various sports; and I can assure you that if we do that - [Interruption.]
    rose
    Mr. Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Hon. Chief Whip, do you have a point of order to raise?
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, not really but I thought the point my hon. Colleague, the hon. Member for Chiana-Paga (Mr. Abuga Pele was making was that, in respect of the Mission Statement by the Ministry, they have captured that of the former Ministry of Education, but they have really not talked about the Mission Statement for what used to be the Ministry of Youth and Sports. That was the point my hon. Colleague made. The Mission Statement has just re-captured the Mission Statement for the Ministry of Education. In other words, when they come to talk about the objectives, they have really touched on the objectives of the Ministry, what used to be the Ministry of Youth and Sports, but as for the Mission Statement itself, they have omitted it. That is the point that was raised by the hon. Member for Chiana-Paga (Mr. Pele Abuga ).
    Mr. Osafo-Maafo 1:10 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, that is not quite correct. He should please look at page 2, “Mission Statement” and “Objectives” are under one heading, 30. Take (xiii) under the same heading; it talks about Mission Statement and Objectives, all under one heading and it is given four of such things under the Mission

    Statement and Objectives; so sports was not left out. But the most important thing is that sports and education are closely related and I think that if we want to do well in sports we must rekindle interests in sports up the education ladder.

    That is the point I am making. Periods that Ghana did very well in sports were periods when sporting activities were very competitive in schools. I think we should look at that one and bring it up. [Pause.] Mr. Speaker, I think the Chief Whip is forcing me to come out with my sporting credentials. [Laughter.]
    Mr. Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Please, do not be distracted.
    Mr. Osafo-Maafo 1:10 p.m.
    I would not be tempted. Mr. Speaker, I think I am so happy about everybody's concern about education and therefore everybody's input into education. Mr. Speaker, it may be worthwhile to set aside a particular day in this House to debate improvements in quality education. This is one area that everybody can contribute so that ideas from hon. Colleagues would be taken up to make sure that we all do not only pay lip-service to education but work towards making education worthwhile, work towards really making Ghana competitive. The rate at which we are going and the rate at which others are going, as the Senior Minister said, is worrying.
    Mr. Speaker, I take a standard manual in Malaysia and in the standard manual for inspectors to inspect schools, what they do is that if you go to a classroom and the class one pupil is expected to be able to read a sentence and this, the inspector's office is nowhere near the Education Service. He is an inspector; he is like an auditor; he comes and ensures that the class one pupils have attained the standard that have been prescribed and agreed upon. If you are in class four and you are
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Shall we revert to item 14 - That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢32,717 million for the services of the Ministry of Harbours and Railways for the 2005 fiscal year. What is the situation now, Chairman for the Committee?
  • [Resumption of debate from column . 2614]
    • Mr. Samuel Obodai 1:20 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, your Committee met, as directed, and we finally agreed on effecting this correction. On page 5, the total should now read ¢32,717 million instead of ¢22,206 million. The Committee also agreed that the ¢10,511 billion should now be made available to the Ministry and not Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GAPOHA) as indicated.
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Hon. Member for Jirapa, is it correct?
    Mr. Salia 1:20 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to support what he has said and indeed the balance of the money should be put under “Investments” for the Ministry, so that it will invest in some activities in the Ports and Harbours sector.
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Thank you very much. Minister for Harbours and Railways, would you briefly wind up?
    Prof. Ameyaw Akumfi 1:20 p.m.
    I will be very brief, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the issues raised by hon. Members. For the first time, we were seeing the introduction of this item, the posting of money on behalf of GAPOHA and I believe the Committee will continue
    to raise objections. I have no objection against the objections. But I do appreciate their move to have the money brought to the Ministry for investment and I assure the honourable House that this will be applied to an area like railways for some improvement.
    Mr. Speaker, let me also say that the figure we have this year is a lot higher than what we had last year and that most of it will be applied to investment. I thank the House.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢32,717 million for the services of the Ministry of Harbours and Railways for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Leadership, as agreed, we should have a break at 1.30 p.m. and resume at 2.30 p.m. We shall have an extended Sitting.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, with respect, if we can have item 11; the Minister will be very brief.
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    On Energy?
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
    Yes, non- controversial Ministry and -
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Hon. Members, let us have a break now. I know there will be a lot of questions on Energy.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I believe we are anticipating what may happen, which offends our Standing Orders, with respect. But Mr. Speaker, we agree with your suggestion.
    Mr. Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Majority Chief Whip,
    I am not anticipating but it is from indications from the other side.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
    No, Mr. Speaker, the Minority Chief Whip signalled that since the Deputy Minority Leader, hon. Doe Adjaho professes to be a very intimae friend of Professor Oquaye, we should allow him to be in the Chamber before we take the estimates of the Ministry of Energy.
    Mr. Speaker 2:35 p.m.
    Hon. Members, we will suspend Sitting and then return at 2.30 p.m. prompt.
    The Sitting was suspended at 1.25 p.m.

    Sitting resumed.
    Mr. Speaker 2:35 p.m.
    Yes, Leadership of the House, which item are we dealing with?
    Mr. Okerchiri 2:35 p.m.
    We go on with item 11.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:35 p.m.
    Minister for Energy (Prof. Mike Oquaye) 2:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House approves the sum of ¢411,720 million for the services of the Ministry of Energy for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Speaker, the breakdown of the figure is as follows 2:35 p.m.
    Personal Emoluments, ¢3 ,972 ,000 ,000 ; Admin i s t r a t ion ¢4,776,000,000; Service Expenses ¢1,774,000,000; and this is a correction of the previously circulated figure which the Chairman of the Committee will confirm to this honourable House. Mr. Speaker, Investment Expenses is ¢16,841,000,000. Mr. Speaker, the grand total, by way of Government of Ghana's portion, is ¢27,363,000,000 to be also added to the
    Mr. Speaker, the breakdown of the figure is as follows 2:45 p.m.
    donor facility totalling ¢384,357,000, making a grand total of ¢411,720 million as stated.
    Mr. Speaker, the Ministry is mandated to develop and ensure a reliable supply of energy in terms of sufficiency and cost effectiveness as well.
    The sector aims at developing efficient, reliable and affordable energy for the nation. And this will be, among other things, to reduce poverty in the rural areas; and this will be done equitably throughout the nation.
    The main objectives of the Ministry, for the period in question, particularly 2005 to 2007, by way of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, include:
    to consolidate and improve the existing energy supply systems; to increase the service areas particularly with regard to the rural and poor communities;
    to ensure productive and efficient use of energy;
    to strengthen the institutions that relate to the sector;
    to ensure the supply of energy, including hydro-carbon deposits;
    to encourage in this connection, private sector participation in the industry as a whole.
    Mr. Speaker, while also aiming at reducing environmental impact in this

    regard, all these are aimed at contributing towards the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, spelt out in His Excellency the President's State of the Nation Address to Parliament in February 2005. Mr. Speaker, among other things, we are tackling the power sub-sector, the national electri- fication scheme and Mr. Speaker, in this connection, the power sector reform continues unabated.

    Mr. Speaker, if I may add that with regard to power structural reform, there is a slight correction that would be captured by the Chairman of the Committee with regard to page 7 of the Report, and particularly paragraph 7.2.1, that is the formation of VRA Holding Company. Mr. Speaker, this will actually mean that the Volta River Authority would be constituted into two main companies -- the Hydro Company to be responsible for hydro generation, and another company to operate the Aboadze Thermal Power Complex. The fullness of this, Mr. Speaker, would be captured by the Chairman of the Committee, to ensure clarity.

    Mr. Speaker, the performance of the sector has been very active in the past year and up to this moment, in terms of renewable energy and other cost-saving mechanisms so as to, for example, pursue areas such as solar energy and other sources of renewable energy, particularly with regard to enhancing rural develop- ment throughout the country and in an equitable manner in all our various areas.

    Mr. Speaker, in this connection, it is notable that apart from Government of Ghana funds a $15-million Indian Government loan facility, on very soft terms has been secured to support the National Electrification Scheme and particularly

    the SHEP 4 for rural development. These are yet to be immediately disbursed and we trust that rural electrification would be pursued vigorously throughout the year and throughout the relevant parts of the country and on an equitable basis, with all such additional funds that we have just received.

    It is interesting to note that my absence from the House, at the point that was immediately referred to was partly to ensure the arrival of this money and some other $30 million which is being processed by the same Indian Government under what is now known as the “Team 9” of which Ghana has been made a member of a special partnership between India and eight select African countries.

    Mr. Speaker, in this connection, the

    petroleum sub-sector continues also to receive attention including the Buipe- Bolgatanga Petroleum Pipeline Project and allied projects which are being pursued with earnest. Mr. Speaker, funding for the project is being provided by the Korean Government through the EEDFC fund with counterpart funding by the Government of Ghana.

    Mr. Speaker, the Ministry continues to be the nerve centre of development in this country. We perceive it as crucial in terms of general industrialization and rural development. I therefore beg to move for the approval of the annual estimates to the tune of ¢411,720 million as expenditure for the Ministry of Energy accordingly.

    Mr. Speaker, respectively, I move.

    Chairman of the Committee (Mrs.
    Mr. Speaker, the breakdown of the figure is as follows 2:45 p.m.


    4.0 Objectives

    In order to achieve the above mission the Ministry of Energy has set for itself the following measurable and achievable objectives for the fiscal year 2005:

    i . To c o n s o l i d a t e a n d improve exist ing energy supply systems.

    i i . To i n c r e a s e a c c e s s o f modern energy services, especially to the rural and poor commu- nities.

    i i i . To ensu re p roduc t ive a n d e f f i c i e n t u s e o f energy particularly in the rural communities so as
    MINISTRY OF ENERGY 2:45 p.m.
    SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURE 2:45 p.m.
    RETURNS 2:45 p.m.
    FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY TO 2:45 p.m.
    CONSERVATION 2:45 p.m.
    COMMISSION 2:45 p.m.
    , 2:45 p.m.
    Dr. Kwame Ampofo (NDC - South Dayi) 2:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support the motion on floor but in so doing I want to make a few observations on the Report.
    At the committee level we tried to find out about the internally-generated funds which is captured there in the table on page 4. You will find that we do not have the estimates; we think that we can actually project because internally-generated funds have been there for several years so it is possible to actually make the projections and estimates, just as we do for the others. In that case, the actual expenditure can be compared with what was projected.
    Again, we have noticed that some amounts of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) funding came to the sector. And when we compared these with the provisions for 2005 we do not have - the HIPC component is missing from the table on page 5, which gives the provision for 2005 estimates. And in my opinion it is important to do those projections and put into these estimates so that we can be tracking how the HIPC Fund for the energy sector is being allocated -- the quantum -- and the use of it in providing energy services.
    I think for those who have the Report and for the sake of capturing it in the
    Hansard, I think in one of the tables the numbers there ought to be moved one step up, that is if you look at page 4, under item 18500000, the said column with the numbers, I think, has inadvertently been moved downwards; they should be moved up slightly.
    Now Mr. Speaker, if you look at the same page 4 where we have the Energy Commission, that is item 18510100, they gave us the breakdown with their budgetary requirements. But I find it difficult to comprehend why the disbursement of the energy is not captured because it is a fund that the petroleum pricing built- up captures -- ¢5 per litre that goes into the Energy Fund. [Interruption] -- ¢5 per litre on the petroleum products. The Energy Fund takes ¢5 per litre and it goes into the Energy Fund.
    What I am saying here is that it would be useful for us to know the disbursement of the Energy Fund too because if they come, they are taken for personal emoluments, administrative expenses, service and investment. One would have thought that under both service and investment, they can disburse from the Energy Fund. In that case we can make other allocations elsewhere, if need be.
    Then Mr. Speaker, when you look
    into the 2005 Budget Statement itself, paragraph 1005, page 285, it is stated and with your permission, I quote:
    “. . . An initial allocation of ¢50 billion from HIPC resources will be disbursed into the Rural Electri- fication Fund to ensure the execution of the programme.”
    I am just expecting that this would be captured as projections made and the source from which it is coming, so that in
    Dr. Kwame Ampofo (NDC - South Dayi) 2:55 p.m.
    Further, Mr. Speaker, with the large
    increment in revenue to the Government resulting from the introduction of astronomical pricing and taxation on petroleum products, one would have expected that the Government of Ghana's component of the energy budget would have been increased. But on the contrary, it has decreased making the sector more dependent on donor support. I think some of the activities that we need to pursue in the energy sector, in addition to the petroleum products, ought to be directed specifically to these areas so that the Government of Ghana's component would continuously rise.
    I am saying this because when one looks at the report on rural education, one would find that the project has slowed down a lot, and I believe it is because of funding problems -- maybe, donors are not honouring their pledges at the time that they should come. But with the tight schedule that we have for the rural electrification programme, I think if we depend solely on donor inflows, then we may not reach the target.
    If you look at the table on page 6, for
    example, SHEP-IV is reported to have done only ten projects in the whole of
    2004.
    Sorry, I think that is the projection; that they are going to do ten projects, and that is woefully inadequate. In 2004 we did ten projects and that is very slow. Out of 193 projects, we did only ten. So I am only saying -- I am not blaming anybody -- that it could be blamed on the donor inflows. Therefore Government, through the revenue that it generates, should pass more and more resources into the Rural Electrification Programme because of the socio-economic importance of this very project.

    Mr. Speaker, touching on the Power Sector Reform, they have listed a number of things that would be done in the year 2005. And it indicates that the Government is going to accelerate the Power Sector Reform more to its conclusion. But one thing that is conspicuously absent in the scheme of things is the regulator. Who regulates the power sector after the Reform has come to completion or close to completion? That is, after we have decoupled the activities of VRA, from those separate generating companies and indeed, decoupled VRA from its obligation of being the owner of the transmission lines so that we form the separate power distribution utility, it will be important to have the regulator.

    I thought the way these things are done is that there must be what we call the Independent Systems Operator (ISO). That is equivalent to the National Petroleum Authority which will actually regulate the petroleum sector. Here too, you need the systems operator who will regulate the power sector.

    This particular inclusion is important because it is the operator that will do the despatch -- What we call the economic despatch of power generated by different entities. This is very important for independent power producers. They want to see this so that the despatch of power is not done by untransparent means. So it is an observation that I thought I should bring to the attention of the hon. Minister so that they look at this as they go along, because it should be there to take care of the sector.

    Another thing, Mr. Speaker, is the

    productive uses of electricity. We were told that studies were underway in six selected districts, on pilot basis. I would

    just want to comment that the PUE project started somewhere in 1984 or thereabouts and so we should have gone far beyond pilot projects. There are tonnes and tonnes of reports on studies on the productive uses of electricity. So for 2005, I am really not enthused about other pilot projects going on because we now know what should go into the productive uses of electricity. What ought to happen is that we must have a comprehensive programme, just like the SHEP -- a programme that is actually implementing the reports on productive uses of electricity, and not just studying and not also on pilot basis.

    Mr. Speaker, finally, I think I would

    just comment on the aspect of renewable energy. We were told that there would be continuation of RESPRO in the solar programme. But my interaction with the private sector indicates that they are worried about how the Government is going about this with RESPRO. RESPRO by now should have transformed itself into a commercial entity that will also compete on equal basis with the private sector operators.

    Perhaps, there are several private people in the solar business and they are worried that everything is going to RESPRO and RESPRO is just attaching itself to the Government and having Government funding when by now I think RESPRO should have been transformed into another private sector entity on commercial basis.

    Mr. Speaker, conspicuously missing

    in the Ministry's programme under renewable energy is biomass - biomass development. These days, the Ministry hardly speaks about biomass. But this country is a country of biomass really, both solar and biomass; so it is important that the biomass resources be looked at carefully under renewable energy. Particularly, I think that rural application of biogas technology should be something that we should look at to offset the effect

    of rising petroleum prices and kerosene prices because what the ruralfolk use kerosene for, biogas technology can do it easily.

    Then an interesting project that we talked about, I think a year or two ago, is the bio-fuel project. That is, bio-diesel. That is oil from the Jatropha seed, which had been demonstrated. I think Tema Oil Refinery has done some tests on it to show that it actually operates in vehicle engines just as well as the diesel does. So perhaps, in our quest to solve our petroleum problems, we need to put more money into the energy front, into research so that the Jatropha seed project becomes a reality. In that case, we can grow the type of diesel that we want in this country and not depend on imported crude and definitely not over-tax our people.

    With these few comments, Mr. Speaker,

    I support the motion on floor.
    Mr. B. D. K. Adu (NPP - Okere) 2:55 p.m.
    Mr.
    Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the motion on floor.
    Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister talked
    Mr. J. K. Gidisu 2:55 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleague is behind time in terms of distribution of electricity poles. This is because in the 2004 elections, electricity poles were brought to my village and the people are still waiting for the erection of
    Mr. Speaker 2:55 p.m.
    Hon. Member, please continue.
    Mr. B. D. K. Adu 3:05 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, it is therefore heartwarming that the hon. Minister is going to look at rural electrification seriously. This is because it has been a big bother to us as Members of Parliament. You go anywhere and they are crying for electricity. So SHEP-4 should be taken up seriously. I know the Ministry will work on it with all despatch.

    Mr. Speaker, also let us come to meter- reading, under the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). I would have preferred the supply of pre-paid meters to be mandatory; that would be well and good. This is because when some of these meter- readers come to a house and they do not get access to the house, they look at the size of the house and probably the air- conditioners dotted around the house, and give you a bill. That is not good enough. That issue should be looked at seriously.

    Also Mr. Speaker, some time ago, the Ministry of Energy contracted some loans to supply electricity to 52 resettlements of the Volta River Authority. This has been done all right. Unfortunately, there are meters yet to be supplied. I will urge the Minister to look at this and make sure that these meters are supplied. Mr. Speaker, the Electricity Company of Ghana would make more money with the metered houses. But I have stressed on pre-paid meters so that you and I are not cheated by a meter-reader coming to your house and putting down anything for you or me to pay.

    On the other aspects of energy, just as my hon. Friend has said, we have to harness all aspects of energy so that consumers

    would be able to have alternatives. When I say alternatives, I mean, we would be able to pay less bills than what we are paying now. When the thermal energy is commissioned, I know things would improve. I also know that the gas pipeline is going to push our energy supply up and also minimize the cost of energy.

    Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I urge the House to vote overwhelmingly for the budget allocation of the Energy Ministry.
    Alhaji A. B. Sorogho (NDC - Abokobi-Madina) 3:05 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing me to speak to the motion on the floor.
    Mr. Speaker, going through the budget and doing a comparative analysis of the 2004 and 2005 Budgets, it is easily noticed that the 2004 Budget for the Government of Ghana on the Ministry of Energy has been slashed by almost 50 per cent while donor support has been increased.
    Mr. Speaker, I am happy the hon. Minister has assured us that a loan facility has been arranged with the Indian Government. Unfortunately, if you watch the table on page 1 of The Appropriation Act 2005 it is written “384,357,-000,000.00” and it is captured under “Donor”. I just want to find out whether when you say “donor”, it is a grant or it is a loan.
    From what the hon. Minister just told us, it is a loan facility that he has managed to arrange and that while we were looking for him to come and defend and contribute, he was there working seriously to make sure that the loan flows down so that we can work. That was with regard to the first tranche which he talked about as being
    Dr. A. A. Osei 3:05 p.m.
    On a point of information for my hon. Friend. Mr. Speaker, he was talking about ¢384 billion of donor money and since he does not, maybe, remember, I just wanted to draw his attention to page 312 of the Budget Statement where he could get the explanation from. But the other one that the hon. Senior Minister talked about is not yet contracted; it is the discussions that are ongoing and at the appropriate time we will have to bring it to Parliament. However, there is a $27 million facility that the previous Parliament has already approved, but it does not mean that all of it would go to the Ministry of Energy.
    Alhaji Sorogho 3:05 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I am happy he has given me the clarification. It was for that very reason that I raised the issue because if you go through the budget you would realize that our power sector and petroleum amounting to ¢384 billion are all coming from this support that he is talking about. If one comes to consider the importance that these two sectors play in our economy - and we are all banking our hopes on donor support or loans all of which, from their own explanation, we have not even been able to acquire, then it means that we are in danger. It goes to show that if we are saying that our energy, that is our power sector or petroleum sector, are going to be based on funding that we expect from door countries or loans which we are yet - With the past experiences that we have just had, where not all the loans which are negotiated and asked for come to fruition, one has to be very, very careful if one is using donor support to support such very important sectors like our power and petroleum sectors.
    So I am saying that there must be a
    Mr. Speaker 3:05 p.m.
    You should be winding up in five minutes.
    Alhaji Sorogho 3:05 p.m.
    If that is the case, then let me go straight to the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). I think the WAGP which we have all been talking about is also one of the projects that the NPP came and decided to continue because they see that it is a very good project and it is going to benefit the nation. From what we have been told, $40 million have been used as seed money and that money was granted as a loan by the Nigerian Government, and that we still have $96 million which we have to look elsewhere for. And the balance - [Interruption.]
    Dr. Osei 3:05 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if he is aware - I did not hear him well. He unintentionally said we needed $96 million more. It is not correct.
    Mr. Speaker 3:05 p.m.
    Hon. Member, he is talking about the balance.
    Alhaji Sorogho 3:15 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, the balance on the $96 million which is $56 million is what I am talking about. Efforts must be made to get that money so that we can continue that very important project.

    In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I urge hon. Members from both sides of the House to give their support in approving the Estimates so that the hon. Minister can go and do the very good job expected of him, because the energy sector is a very important sector that we all cannot afford to play down.
    Mr. S. N. A. Attoh (NPP 3:15 p.m.
    None

    Amasaman): Mr. Speaker, thank you for giving me the floor.

    Mr. Speaker, if we talk about rural development, if we talk about adding value to our primary agricultural produce, if we want to reduce rural/urban migration with its attendant problems of overcrowding, haphazard development, waste management problems, if we talk about youth unemployment, if we want to talk about tourism, if we talk about efficient communication, education and the Information Communication Technology (ICT) programme, we would see that most of the educational facilities we expect our youth and students to benefit from cannot even be put to use without energy in the rural areas.

    If we want to see integrated economic growth and to attain the 5.8 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth we have targeted for the year and even go beyond that, then we have to ensure that energy gets to all the rural areas. It is only by this that we can talk about private participation or the attraction of the private

    entrepreneurs into the rural areas. With the background that the whole nation has its economy hinged on agriculture, the only way we can get ahead with our rural industry, that is to process our agricultural produce, is to get energy to the rural areas.

    Mr. Speaker, without much ado

    therefore, if we compare the 2004 provisions for the Ministry and that of 2005, we can deduce that there is an increase of about ¢223.4 billion added to the 2005 budget; and this would buttress the importance of the energy sector for the whole nation.

    On this note, Mr. Speaker, I wish to urge this august House to wholly approve of the ¢411 billion budget for the Ministry of Energy.
    Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho (NDC - Avenor/ Ave) 3:15 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion subject to a few comments that I would want to make.
    Mr. Speaker, the first point I want to make is to re-emphasise a very important point made by the Ranking Member with regard to HIPC allocation. Mr. Speaker, when you look at the 2004 expenditure output for the Ministry of Energy, you would realise that the chunk or the greater part of the money for investment came from the HIPC Fund.
    Mr. Speaker, if you look at the Budget Statement, and specifically at page 303, the appendix at tabled 3, you will see that we are expecting ¢846.3 billion as HIPC relief this year. One would have expected that these monies should be distributed among the various Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs), and we could then keep a certain percentage at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to meet unforeseen circum-
    Dr. Osei 3:15 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr.
    Speaker, my senior Brother just told us that the amount we expect for 2005 -- He may have been reading the wrong year; the amount is not ¢815 billion. It is HIPC assistance -- If he is referring to the one under “grants”, it is ¢1,146.6 billion, that is what we expect for expenditures. So I am not sure if he is talking about 2003 or 2005.
    Mr. Adjaho 3:15 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, that may
    be so. He is talking about expenditure; I am talking about receipts. Anyway, whichever it is, we know the amount that we want to spend from the HIPC. That is the point that I want to make. Once we know the amount, why do you not distribute this amount among the MDAs? You do not see the amount; you only see the amount in the Budget Statement. If the committees of this House do not do anything about it, then when we go back to review the expenditure items of the MDAs, then we would be told that they gave so much to this Ministry.
    In fact, Mr. Speaker, I am making this point with particular reference to energy because last year the greater part of donor funding for investment did not flow in and therefore they had to rely on HIPC [financing. If we know the amount that we want to spend from HIPC this year, what prevents us from distributing it among the various MDAs?
    So we look at it and then we know that total budget that we are giving to that particular Ministry or MDA is this and then we would know what to do. Indeed, as they are now doing for the Internally Generated Funds (IGF), that is
    Dr. Osei 3:15 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr.
    Speaker, I think that my senior Brother, hon. Doe Adjaho does not seem to recollect what the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning said at the time of reading the Budget. I think he was very explicit that these projects are demand- driven. At the minimum, 10 per cent is reserved for the District Assemblies Common Fund and 10 per cent for contingency.
    When Cabinet makes a decision, we will so inform the hon. Member. I think he was very clear about that and that is why he does not see it now. At the time he was drawing the Budget, they could not have done it. The requests are on his table and once the decision by Cabinet is made, he has said that he would come back to inform this august House.
    Mr. Adjaho 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, unfor-
    tunately the Constitution is very clear on public funds. This is the House, we hold the power of the purse and once we accept that HIPC funds are public funds, they ought to be here; its distribution or allocation ought to be approved by this House. That is the point being made. The only time is when we hear of it in the media -- the next time the Budget is read -- and they tell you that, “Oh, last year, we got so much from HIPC”. It does not allow for accountability, transparency and monitoring of Government's expenditure; that is the point being made.

    At least, if an effort can be made to have a certain distribution and then leave a certain percentage at the Ministry for very good reasons, then we can - [Inter- ruption] -- So Mr. Speaker, I think that the Ministry should seriously look at these things. When they have accepted that it is public funds, then the Constitution guides the application of public funds and the role of this House. Mr. Speaker, as you said earlier on, the rate at which rural electrification is going on has been seriously affected, the progress is rather slow and I believe that this year the Government would do something about it.

    Again, if you look at the budget, we are told that about ¢384 billion is going to come from donor funding and it is a bit worrying. Last year, we were expecting ¢15 million Exim Bank loan which we expected that at the end of last year, it would have come in, in terms of materials for electrification. But as at the end of the year, these materials did not come in. I do not know whether they are in now and I do not know whether they are part of the ¢30 million that the hon. Minister for Energy is talking about.

    But at the committee meeting, when we asked about the source of the ¢384 billion, we were told that it includes the $15 million Exim Bank loan from India that this honourable House approved last year and that they are expecting another $15 million. If you add the two together, it will give $29 million. I do not know if that is what the Minister is referring to, or the $30 million that he said he was in India processing - [Laughter.] What he was in India processing is different from the other $15 million which this House has approved already, making a total of $45 million. I believe that when he comes to wind up he may have to clarify this matter.

    Mr. Speaker, if you look at the
    Mr. R. S. Quarm 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my senior hon. Colleague was alluding to the fact that during the Gomoa East by-election, people were in the queue and then there was this discharge of transformers and things like that. I do not know whether he was in heaven or in a different country but certainly it did not happen in Gomoa East - [Uproar] -- where I contested in the by-election.
    Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
    Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, you are winding up?
    Mr. Adjaho 3:25 p.m.
    Yes, I am winding up. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, this is something I saw with my own eyes - [Interruptions.] And so the issue - Mr. Speaker, we should make extra effort - If you look at the Committee's Report which is quite clear on this matter, we have a programme, for example - [Interruption.]
    Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:25 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleague's assertion has been debunked by the hon. Member representing the area; he has restated the position. [Inter- ruptions.] However, Mr. Speaker, be that as it may, assuming that what the hon. Deputy Minority Leader is saying is even true, there is no basis for linking that to the by-election because he does not know the programme for electrification in the constituency - [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, he does not now and he would not pretend he knows because Avenor/Ave is so far away from the Ankamu township that he is alluding to.
    Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
    Hon. Majority Chief Whip, you have not raised any point of
    Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.


    order.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, the point of order is that he is misleading this House.
    Mr. Adjaho 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, if you look
    at page 6 of the Committee's Report, you will find out that under SHEP III, Phase III, 700 towns were involved and we only executed 151. Mr. Speaker, 151 over 700 can never be a pass mark. Mr. Speaker, if you look at SHEP IV, Phase I - out of 193, 10 towns were executed. And 10 over 193 is definitely not a pass mark. I believe that whatever it will take for this House to support the Ministry of Energy for us to ensure that electricity gets to our rural people, it ought to be done.
    Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I support the motion.
    Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
    Minister for Energy, kindly wind up.
    Prof. Oquaye 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, we take due notice of all the contributions and suggestions made from both sides of this honourable House. We note also the sympathies expressed with regard to the lack of resources and the need for funds in our energy sector.
    Mr. Speaker, when we speak also of electricity, we do not only talk of hydro as our source of energy in terms of electricity and which is 70 per cent, approximately thereof, but also thermal which forms the 30 per cent of same. For that matter, the petroleum factor, the crude oil factor is very, very pertinent in our electrification and other energy needs.
    I am sure therefore that our hon. Friends from the other side of the House would appreciate very well the petroleum price regime that is prevailing in Ghana today, particularly in the light of the sentiments that they themselves have expressed this morning. And I wish also to add that the amount that we are talking
    about is $15 million, which has actually arrived, plus $30 million which is now a matter of negotiation. And with that, Mr. Speaker, we pray that the House approves of our estimates accordingly.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of $411,720 million for the services of the Ministry of Energy for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
    The next item?
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, item number 9.
    Mr. Speaker 3:25 p.m.
    Item 9 - motion. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning?
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 3:25 p.m.
    Mr. Gidisu 3:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker,on a point
    of order. The Senior Minister is trying to hijack the feelings of hon. Members by exposing the consultant's document. This is because, emphatically we do not have to have the consultant's document to convince us of the impact of any petroleum price hike in the country. We need the consultant to tell us the situation he is talking about. So Mr. Speaker he is misleading the House and the country for that matter.
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 3:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker,
    the economic consequences of price changes in items like petroleum are very much more complicated matters than most laymen would imagine. I am just trying to persuade the honourable House that in taking decisions on such very serious matters, the Government goes to great pains to advise itself with the best technical advice that it can procure so that hon. Member's fears on the sensitivity of Government must be set at rest. That is all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr.
    Samuel Owusu-Agyei): Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion as the Chairman of the Finance Committee. 1.0 Introduction
    The 2005 Annual Estimates of the National Development Planning Com- mission (NDPC) was laid in the House and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 3:45 p.m.
    NEPAD 3:45 p.m.
    Minister for Regional Cooperation and NEPAD (Dr. K. K. Apraku) 3:55 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House approves the sum of ¢9,028 million for the services of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD for the 2005 fiscal year.
    Mr. Speaker, in order that our request
    may be placed in the proper light permit me to state the Ministry's vision and mission. The vision of the Ministry is to enhance political, social and economic well-being of Ghanaians through Regional Cooperation and NEPAD.
    The Ministry's mission is to coordinate and oversee the implementation of regional protocols, agreements, conventions, programmes and projects and to promote adherence to the principles of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in the governance of the country.
    The activities that we have planned for this year have been laid out more in details within the estimates so I would not spend too much time. And the allocation for the four (4) main areas, Personal Emoluments, Administration, Service and Investment are equally laid out.
    Mr. Speaker, I would like to however, take a few minutes to go through the responsibilities that we intend to carry out during this year in respect of Service. The budget line under Service is to enable the Ministry to pursue major programmes in fulfilment of the country's obligations towards regional co-operation, particularly with regard to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and indeed, NEPAD.
    There are quite a number of statutory meetings which the Ministry would be engaged in this year. In their diverse forms reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of issues at hand, all these meetings would aim at removing obstacles to the implementation of community decisions and reinforcing commitment to the integration process for accelerated economic development of the community.
    Mr. Speaker, of particular importance is our pursuit of the West African Monetary Zone agenda and the introduction of the common currency or the second monetary zone within the sub-region. In spite of the uncertainties regarding the target date of July 1, 2005, which we know may not be met, it is crucial to acknowledge the consistent commitment of member countries and their leaders to fulfilling the agenda of the second monetary zone.
    So much is being done to promote the economic well-being of citizens of the community through efficient and dynamic promotion of trade, commerce and social interaction. There is no doubt that the systematic and serious endeavours which are being made to remove all forms of barriers would achieve positive results sooner than later. When all of this is done and are achieved, the economic as well as social catalysts to climax real economic integration is the realization of the common currency.

    It is in recognition of this that member countr ies of the zone have , by consensus, undertaken to step up their sensitization programmes and activities to fully prepare their citizens for the event. The National Sensitization Committees of the respective countries have been enjoined to systematically strategise when they get together a t their regular meetings to assess progress made in their respective countries.
    Mr. Speaker 3:55 p.m.
    Hon. Senior Minister,
    I wonder if you have anything to say by way of winding up.
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 3:55 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, just to inform the House that we have actually succeeded in establishing new pay scales for the staff of the NDPC with effect from last month. And apropos of this I want to say that the NDPC fishes in the same manpower pool that the consultancy think-tanks fish, like the Centre for Economic Policy Analysis (CEPA), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the universities. Therefore we are trying to make the conditions of service attractive to personnel of that level so that we can get more professional planning done. I thank hon. Members for their support. Mr. Speaker, I beg to move.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢61,826 million for the services of the National Development Planning Commission for the 2005 fiscal year.
    It is therefore critical for us to step up and enhance the tempo of our programmes to reach the various groupings of the society and well ahead of time.
    W i t h r e s p e c t t o N E PA D , our commitment must be demonstrated in practical terms and this is what we in this country have sought to do in this Ministry. I think it is important to state here that contrary to what some may think, NEPAD is not just rhetoric or paper work, but has been conceived as a real is t ic f ramework which is informed by the plight of Africans over the past several years. Tangible results are actually showing in the form of important projects being realized with support from our Development Partners.
    The point, though, to be driven home is that our people need to be sensitized adequately on NEPAD and especially, the African Peer Review Mechanism of which Ghana was among the countries to accede to.
    On one hand, the Ministry will step up and intensify the sensitization and information programme which it has embarked upon in order to make an impact on the people in the Communities and Districts in particular and on the country at large. On the other hand, the National Governing Council of the African Peer Review Mechanism has spearheaded the effort at the National Review and the process is coming to a close very soon. This review has been undertaken with various civil society organizations including -
    a) The Centre for Democrat ic
    Development CDD, - which is

    addressing the area of Democracy and Good Governance;

    b) The Insti tute of Statist ical , Social and Economic Research, ISSER - which is dealing with socio- economic governance and development;

    c) Centre for Economic Policy Analysis, CEPA - which is addressing the issue of economic gover-nance and management;

    d) The Private Enterprise Foundation, PEF - which is handling the corporate governance aspect.

    The country self-assessment Report which has been prepared and will b e s u b s e q u e n t l y s u b m i t t e d t o the NEPAD Secretariat is very much on target. This will be followed by the Governing Council's activities in connection with the implemen- tation of the programme of action, participation in APRM International activities and sharing of Ghana's experiences with other African Countries.

    Mr. Speaker, the Ghana/NEPAD School Feeding Programme is being initiated with funding beginning in this budget here will also continue. We expect significant success and progress to be made this year. Mr. Speaker, in doing all of this, I would like to quickly summarize what the focus of our activities this year will be and then to comment briefly on the allocations that have been made for the carrying out of these responsibilities.

    This year, we will work very hard

    to ensure effective enforcement and implementation of ECOWAS Protocols and Conventions, particularly those that are designed to remove barriers to trade.

    We have not been very successful in the past. We have made some progress last year and the year before. This year, we will intensify our efforts and work very hard to open up trade opportunities for us, particularly in our subregion with countries such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and la Cote d'Ivoire.

    We will also spend a lot of effort in making sure that the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) is implemented and implemented effectively in the neighbourhood, particularly with Nigeria which is a big country, most influential but has some difficulties in implementing the ETLS.

    As my hon. Colleagues may be aware of, last year we worked very hard, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Burkina Faso. As a result of that this year we have seen effective implementation of the ETLS. As I have indicated, we have worked very hard this year to get an Agreement with Nigeria in particular so that we can see effective implementation of that Convention.

    This year is the year that all ECOWAS

    member countries have also set aside to introduce and use the ECOWAS Passport. Ghana is very much behind schedule in this and we will endeavour this year to make that a reality.

    The External Customs Programme

    that we have been engaged in which is designed to harmonize our taxes so that we have uniform taxes within the sub region has taken effect this year. We have a three- year transitional period during which we are supposed to be preparing and making progress for full imple-mentation by the year 2008. Ghana is working very hard and this year we will devote a lot of effort

    and time to ensuring that we have the common external tariff structure in place for effective imple-mentation in the few years ahead.

    Again, as I have indicated, we have

    worked very hard on making sure that Ghana and all the other countries meet the convergence criteria so that indeed, the second monetary zone can come into effect as soon as is possible.

    The West Africa Gas Pipeline and

    other infrastructural projects would take some amount of our efforts and attention this year.

    Mr. Speaker, given the focus of our work and the number of projects that we are involved in, we find that we have not been given adequate resources to implement our programmes as effectively as we would wish to have done. Particularly, the APRM Programme is coming to an end this year and there is a lot of sensitization work that we need to do. But if you look at the allocations for this year, it is far below that which was given to us last year. Indeed, if we are all making progress and we are taking additional responsibilities, then we find that the resources given to us is woefully inadequate.

    Last year, we were given ¢21.93 billion. Actual release was about ¢11.195 billion. This year, we are being given ¢9.28 billion and we find this to be very inadequate and we have already initiated discussions with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. It is our hope that additional resources would be made available to the Ministry so that we can carry out our responsibilities as effectively as is possible, given the need for greater integration within the subregion and indeed to make reality out of the NEPAD concept.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Kwabena Adusah Okerchiri) 4:05 p.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 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 the august House on Thursday, 24th February 2005. Consequent upon the motion for the approval of the Government's Financial Policy and Budget Statement, the Draft Estimates of the Ministry of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD was referred to the Sector Committee for consideration pursuant to article 103 of the Constitution and Standing Order 140 (4).
    In considering the referral, the Committee met with the Minister for Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, Dr. Konadu Apraku and officials of his sector Ministry. The Committee hereby reports as follows.
    2.0 Reference Documents
    The Committee made reference to the following documents during its deliberations:
    The 1992 Constitution of Ghana
    T h e S t a n d i n g O r d e r s of Parliament
    The 2005 Budget Statement and Financial Policy of the Govern- ment
    The Draft 2005 Estimates of the Ministry of Regional Co- operation and NEPAD.
    3.0 Vision
    The vision of the Ministry of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD is an enhanced Political, Social and the Economic well- being of Ghanaians through Regional Co-operation and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
    To project its vision, the Ministry has the following as its Mission Statement:
    4.0 Mission Statement
    To co-ordinate and oversee the implementation of regional Protocol, Agreements, Conventions, Programmes and Projects in the country in harmony with national development policies and to promote adherence to the principles of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in the governance of the country.
    5.0 Objectives of the Ministry
    The main objectives of the Ministry are:
    Maximization of benefits of Ghana's participation in the Regional Integration process. To popularize and create ownership among the public and civil society of the principles of NEPAD.
    To institutionalize the Peer Review Mechanism in Ghana.
    To create awareness of ECOWAS act ivi t ies and inculcate the community spirit among the public in general and children in particular.
    To ensure effective management of the regional co-operation and integration programmes. To reduce poverty through regional trade and investment.
    To have NEPAD projects imple- mented in Ghana.
    To promote political tolerance, stability, security and peace in the ECOWAS subregion.
    For its activities and programmes, the Ministry of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD has been allocated an amount of nine billion, twenty-eight million cedis (¢9,028,000,000.00) for the year 2005.
    TABLE II 4:05 p.m.
    rose
    Mr. Speaker 4:05 p.m.
    Hon. Minister for Regional Cooperation and NEPAD?
    Dr. Apraku 4:05 p.m.
    Thank you. Mr. Speaker,
    I thank my hon. Colleague for his support but just a point of correction. Indeed, the quantum of Personal Emoluments being allocated to us is not enough to cover our staff; that is part of the problem. The 13 members of the Ministry who were recruited this year have not been covered, in spite of the appeals that we made in adjusting the figures. So indeed, it is low and I accept that, but still we are not even covering completely the Personal Emoluments for those who are already there.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 4:15 p.m.
    I thank the
    hon. Minister for the information but I do
    know that in the area of new recruitment, other Ministries cover the emoluments under Administration. I do not know what obtains at that Ministry, but I do know that that is the principle that is adopted in other Ministries.
    Mr. Speaker, the point that I am making - because if they have 13 new members of staff, the staff strength there is about 40 -- I understand less than 40. So if they have 13 more, certainly it cannot go anywhere, plus one-third of what obtains there, which still does not invalidate the argument that I am making. So, I am saying that that is the direction that the Ministry should go if really we want to see real development in this country. For the other Ministries that we have considered, the figure for Personal Emoluments alone is anything between 50 and 85 per cent. I do not think that is the way to go if we want to really talk about development.
    Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister talked about harmonizing taxes in the subregion. Mr. Speaker, beyond the harmonization of taxes, we should talk about harmonizing policies and programmes in the country.

    Let us talk about disease control. If we initiate policies and programmes to contain pests in the country and Burkina Faso, Togo and la Cote d'Ivoire do not do the same, Mr. Speaker, it will be an exercise in futility. So we should be thinking of harmonizing programmes and policies in the subregion. If we are constructing dams in the country and we do not collaborate with la Cote d'Ivoire and Togo, again we create problems for them and for ourselves. So it is important that we do this.

    The country now is talking about afforestation. Burkina Faso is taking their afforestation more seriously than we
    Mr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central) 4:15 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and to say that the Ministry for Regional Cooperation and NEPAD is a very important Ministry and this is borne out of the fact that in recent times, Ghana's economic policy is tilted more towards what they call economic diplomacy where we depend so much on international cooperation, especially cooperation with our neighbours to ensure that we get the best out of our economic policy.
    The Ministry for Regional Cooperation and NEPAD is lauded in Ghana especially because we have set it up purposely to support the blueprint which Africa has established to develop its own economic policy. But the sad thing that we recognized when we were having the discussion at the committee level was that the money allocated to NEPAD is too meagre. I want to support what the Chairman has just said and what the hon. Minister has also said that the position of this Ministry is so critical that allocating just over nine billion cedis to its operation for the year is woefully inadequate. I would like to call on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to consider adjusting the figures upwards.
    If there is anything as supplementary budget, as has been mentioned by the Chairman of the Committee, I think it should be considered with the greatest
    rapidity. The reason is that even the nine billion cedis that we are trying to approve now, out of that nine billion cedis they have already expended two billion cedis from the meagre 4.6 or so billion cedis which is meant for services, meaning for the whole year running, they have just a little over two billion cedis for services.
    Mr. Speaker, if we want to take seriously our economic diplomacy, which I believe is the way forward in strengthening our national economy, our domestic economy, we need to look at this direction and we need to readjust the figures. So, in this direction, I want to add my voice to call on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to by all means consider the figure because it is what holds the nation together when we are talking about projecting our economic outlook outside this country.
    With this, Mr. Speaker, I support the motion.
    Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (NPP -- Suame) 4:15 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to lend my voice in support of this motion. Mr. Speaker, the conclusion of the Committee's Report talks about - Mr. Speaker, I am quoting from the Committee's Report -- page 9.
    “ T h e C o m m i t t e e , t a k i n g cognizance of Ghana's leading role in championing subregional co- operation and integration …”
    Mr. Speaker, in the other countries in the subregion, they have Ministries responsible for regional integration: We have a Ministry responsible for Regional Cooperation and NEPAD. We perhaps need to deepen the co-operation into integration as obtains in the other countries. Perhaps, it may become relevant for the Committee to suggest to the Executive that we have
    Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho (NDC - Avenor/ Ave) 4:15 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I have just one or two points. Mr. Speaker, my first point is with regard to the 2004 approval for the Ministry. Mr. Speaker, one would see that for personal emoluments ¢700 million for 2004 was approved and this year we are talking about ¢352 million. So clearly, there is a problem. If for nothing at all, with regard to personal emoluments at least they should receive the same amount. It either means that people were given money when they were not there - ghost names. Yes, to use the Majority Chief Whip's words either there were ghost names or because last year was an election year and there was a special operation in that Ministry.
    So Mr. Speaker, this is a serious anomaly because as for personal emoluments, you normally do not touch it. I think that the Committee should have - [Interruption] -- Yes, the ghost names dimension. So I think that maybe the Minister in winding up might have to clarify the discrepancy between the ¢700 million and ¢352 million.
    Mr. Speaker, the second point I want
    to make -- and this was a point we made several times to the hon. Minister -- is with regard to the NEPAD document itself. Mr. Speaker, it is the view of some of us in this House that the NEPAD document
    Dr. K. K. Apraku 4:15 p.m.
    Thank you
    very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to say thank you to my Colleagues for the support, for the sympathy that they have expressed in respect of the allocation for the Ministry. Indeed, we also believe that we have not been treated fairly in respect of the resources available to carry out our responsibilities. But let me comment specifically on some of the issues that are raised. We have also asked for a supplementary budget and we are hoping it would be given to us to carry out our responsibilities.
    My Colleague talked about harmo- nization. Yes, the common external tariff is designed to harmonize taxes within the subregion but we are also working on other areas for harmonization, such as the West African Health Organization that is combating diseases from the subregional point of view. For example, we are dealing with malaria as a common policy within the subregion and we are dealing with HIV/AIDS. It is a very strong organization. I could go on and give many, many examples in respect of health. So yes, some progress is being made; we have not covered all the basics but we are working towards it.
    In respect of agriculture, we have the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Policy (CADEP) that is also designed to harmonize agricultural policies that have worked within Africa, so as to use technology transfer to effect greater productivity of the agricultural
    Dr. K. K. Apraku 4:25 p.m.
    sector in other African countries. I could go on and give more examples but I just want to say that efforts are in that direction, to seek greater harmonization.

    We have been working even on harmonising our individual poverty reduction strategy programmes and that is also proceeding.

    In respect of the removal of barriers, I

    agree with my colleagues. We also find that there are too many barriers and we have worked to remove some of them and we would continue to remove or work to have a few more removed.

    Yes, in respect of the ECOWAS

    passport, indeed, it is true. It cannot be the case that we carry different passports to ECOWAS countries and then carry different passports to non-ECOWAS and non-African countries. So discussions are already taking place to ensure that our ECOWAS passports would be acceptable in all foreign countries, including African countries. So we are working in that direction.

    Now, in respect of the NEPAD

    document as my Colleague, the hon. Member for Avenor/Ave (Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho) mentioned, yes, he has raised the point about the Governing Council. We have sought the view of the Attorney- General's Office and we are working to meet the requirement. So it may not be too long from now that we would come back to this House to give you our response.

    But we have sought a legal opinion on, one, the NEPAD document as well as the Governing Council. it may be that by the time that we are able to implement the decision in respect of the Governing

    Council, it may well have completed its function or its responsibility. But we would take that into account if we were to set up another governing council so that either they that are going to be preaching effective governance, good governance will themselves adhere to the tenets of our Constitution.

    Yes, the emoluments issue that the

    hon. Member for Avenor/Ave raised. I just wanted to say that yes, indeed, it is true. As I indicated, the amount that has already been allocated for us this year is not enough to cover the people who are already employed. So he is very right and we are pushing that at least, if we get nothing at all, we would get additional resources so that we can pay the salaries of the people. Not just those we hired because they were hired last year after the budget; they were included in the budget estimates but were not taken care of. Even those who were already there, we do not have enough resources to pay their salaries. So there is an urgent case to be made for increasing their allocation if nowhere else at all, for personal emoluments.

    Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I hope my colleagues will vote massively for this motion.

    Question put and motion agreed to.

    Resolved:

    That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢9, 028 million for the services of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD for the 2005 fiscal year.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:25 p.m.
    rose
    Mr. Speaker 4:25 p.m.
    Deputy Minority
    Leader, do you have a point of order?
    Mr. Adjaho 4:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, this motion
    is standing in the name of the Minister for Fisheries. I know that the hon. Senior Minister is definitely not responsible for Fisheries. I do not know whether that portfolio has been added to his. [Laughter.] But Mr. Speaker, if for any reason, the substantive Minister is not available, like the hon. Minister for Works and Housing did the other day when he moved for the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, he must give us an explanation. But he is my “uncle”; if he is adding Fisheries to his portfolio, I have no problem with him. If it is part of his set- up -- but if it is not, then he should tell us why he is moving the motion.
    Mr. Speaker 4:25 p.m.
    Deputy Minority
    Leader, I have not even listened to him and you are raising this objection. Let me listen to him first. Maybe, I may not allow him; maybe, I will. Let him go on.
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 4:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I

    Mr. Speaker, as the House knows this

    time round, His Excellency the President has decided to create a Ministry of Fisheries, at the high levels of Government in order to give added impetus to the development of this area of our national life. And I say national life, rather than economic activities, because fishing is not only an economic activity but it is a way of life.

    Mr. Speaker, besides, many people do

    not know that in this country, we derive more of our protein intake from fish than from meat. It is a fact that the public should be made more keenly aware of because hitherto, we have treated the fishing community, admittedly, as a rather rough community -- rough in its ways and its language. But we have not given this area of our affairs the attention that it deserves.

    Mr. Speaker, I am moving that this

    House approves the sum of (¢85,123 million (eighty-five billion, one hundred and twenty-three million cedis) for the services of the Ministry of Fisheries, a new Ministry, for this year 2005. And in doing so, I would like to just comment on some of the potentials that this Ministry is being set up to realise for the nation.

    Mr. Speaker, when you and I were a

    bit younger, perhaps, some other hon. Members of the House may not have been present to witness this. In Kumasi, the vehicles going to Burkina Faso, Upper Volta as it was then, Mogti to Mali and so on, they used to come and load enormous baskets of fish. Many people did not know that we used to be a huge exporter of fish in exchange for the meat that we bought from the then Upper Volta. That business has virtually disappeared.

    Mr. Speaker, that fish was not cultivated

    by anybody; it was a free good, which we fished out of the rivers of Ghana without
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 4:35 p.m.
    paying for licence, without registering, without anything. Unfor-tunately, we over-fished our rivers, and so today, that Mogti trade has disappeared. And correspondingly, our own intake of protein is under threat from the depletion of that free good.
    We have to do something more to protect those fishery resources and make sure that they grow and if possible begin once more to provide us with the source of foreign exchange earnings to compensate somewhat for the meat import that we seem we are inevitably going to be condemned to in the foreseeable future.
    Mr. Speaker, for this purpose, it is also proposed to appoint a Fisheries Commission to give further impetus to this work under the aegis of the Ministry.
    Mr. Speaker, there is in the Committee's Report, at page 5, some account of research work that is being done; it is terribly important that this research work, which is now mostly concentrated in the coastal areas, be extended also to the Volta Lake which is an enormous potential source of fish and to the other streams, tributaries and rivers in this country.
    Mr. Speaker, it is remarkable that
    the Ministry has already attracted a considerable volume of donor support, in addition to the total amount of money that is expected to be spent under this budget of sixty-five billion cedis for the coming year.

    The donor component, if only I could find it, is ¢52.962 billion, a substantial amount of donor support for this new Ministry, already. The new Ministry has to settle down, recruit staff, find a place to live and equip itself generally. But Mr.

    Speaker, I trust that with the enthusiastic support of both sides of the House, it will establish itself and come to play a worthy role in the management of our develop- ment affairs. I thank you, Mr. Speaker.
    Mr. Speaker 4:35 p.m.
    Senior Minister, before you sit down, what is the sum you are asking for?
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 4:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, the two together are: First, ¢65 billion here and ¢20 billion, making a total of ¢85.123 billion. That is the one I read out. Mr. Speaker, as I read it out at the beginning, it is ¢85,123,000,000.00.
    Mr. Adjaho 4:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect, the Committee's Report gave us ¢65 billion. [Interruption.] Then where from the additional --
    Mr. Speaker 4:35 p.m.
    Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, let us hear him.
    Chairman of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs (Mr. Samuel Johnfiah) 4:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the Committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, on Thursday, 24th February, 2005 presented to Parliament, the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2005 financial year in accordance with article 129 of the 1992 Constitution.
    Pursuant to Standing Orders 140 (4) and 175, Mr. Speaker, referred the draft Estimates of the Ministry of Fisheries
    to the Committee for consideration and report to the House.
    2.0 Deliberation
    The Committee held a series of meetings with the following to deliberate on the Draft Annual Estimates:
    1. The Minister for Fisheries, hon. Mrs. Gladys Asmah
    2. The Chief Director of the Ministry of Fisheries
    3. The Chairman, Fisheries Commis- sion
    4. The Director, Fisheries Directorate
    5. The Director, Fisheries Department - Research
    The Committee is grateful to all who attended upon it for their support and co- operation.
    3.0 Reference Materials
    1. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana
    2 . T h e S t a n d i n g O r d e r s of Parliament
    3. The 2005 Draft Annual Budget of the Ministry of Fisheries
    4 . The Budge t S t a t emen t and Economic Pol icy of the Government for the 2005 fiscal year
    5 . The 2005 S ta te o f the Nation Address
    4.0 Mission Statement
    The Ministry of Fisheries exists to promote sustainable and thriving fisheries enterprises through research, technology development, extension and other support services to fishers, processors and traders and to fulfil its crucial roles as an instrument of poverty reduction.
    5.0 Objectives of the Ministry
    For the 2005 fiscal year, the Ministry will pursue the following objectives:
    1. Prepare and keep under continual review plans for the management and development of fisheries in waters under the jurisdiction of Ghana.
    2. Ensure availability and adequate supply of fish from capture and culture fisheries for the local and export market.
    3. Provide technical support and facilitate assistance to fishers, fish farmers, fish processors and markets.
    4. Co-operate and collaborate with other MDAs for the enforcement of fisheries laws, regulations and by-laws.
    5. Promote local, subregional and international co-operation in fisheries management and development.
    6. Ensure that plans are formulated for the building of the human resource capacity of the Ministry to improve service delivery.
    7. Ensure availability of timely, reliable data and information on the fisheries sector.
    Chairman of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs (Mr. Samuel Johnfiah) 4:35 p.m.


    8. Coordinate and collaborate with MDAs and NGOs for poverty reduction, production and value chain in the fishing industry.

    6.0 Budgetary Performance in 2004

    A total amount of ¢1,217,317,079 was approved for the Fisheries Commission, Fisheries Directorate and the Fisheries Research Division in the 2004 fiscal year. There was however an overexpenditure of ¢243,676,968 as a result of salary increases by the government.

    Out of an amount of ¢670,600,000 approved for administrative expenses, only ¢461,731,698 was released to pay for overheads such as utilities, office consumables, travel and transport, maintenance and other administrative expenses.

    As regards the Service vote, an amount of ¢523,238,773 made up of GOG and Donor funding was approved. However, considering the enormity of the activities of the Fisheries Commission, Fisheries Directorate and the Fisheries Research Division a higher figure of ¢1,059,112,- 621 was released. The release was as a result of an internal arrangement made with the AgSSIP secretariat.

    The allocation made to the Fisheries Commission was not totally expended because the Commission is yet to be inaugurated. Out of an amount of ¢96,258,083 approved for personal emoluments, only ¢35,843,354 was spent. Although an amount of ¢58,601,046 was released for administrative expenses, only ¢32,121,736 was used. Nothing was however released with regard to the Service vote.
    EXPENDITURE APPROVED CASH RELEASED ACTUAL VARIANCE 4:35 p.m.
    EMOLUMENTS 4:35 p.m.
    EXPENDITURE APPROVED CASH RELEASED ACTUAL VARIANCE VARIANCE 4:35 p.m.
    GOG 4:35 p.m.
    EMOLUMENT 4:35 p.m.
    INVESTMENT -- -- -- -- -- 4:35 p.m.
    DONOR 4:35 p.m.
    EXPENDITURE APPROVED CASH RELEASED ACTUAL VARIANCE VARIANCE 4:35 p.m.
    GOG 4:35 p.m.
    EMOLUMENT 4:35 p.m.
    DONOR 4:35 p.m.
    GOG 4:35 p.m.
    -- 4:35 p.m.
    -- -- 4:35 p.m.
    Prof. A. W. Seini (NDC - Tamale Central) 4:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, listening to the Senior Minister, it is clear that the fishing industry in this country is a vital part of our economy. More importantly so, because fish is a very important aspect of consumption, a very important source of protein. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the per capital consumption of fish in
    Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it is also true that inland fishing which contributed immensely to fish production, in addition to the canoe fishing is almost dead. It is dead because a lot of the fish food they used to rely on are no longer in our sea. In other words, our seas are being over-fished just like it is happening throughout the world, and many countries are concerned about our sea sources of fish.
    It is our opinion that the new Ministry should be resourced. We know that it is a new Ministry but the investment for the next budget year is going into the establishment of the Ministry, particularly, into office buildings and vehicles. We do hope that in subsequent budgets, attention would be paid to investing in aquaculture. It is the only alternative we have left and in doing so, we implore the Ministry of Fisheries to collaborate with other institutions that can make an input in the development of the fisheries sector, particularly some of the research institutions and animal husbandry - the sector that deals with poultry because in aquaculture, we are made to understand that you can integrate poultry production with aquaculture so that the fish can feed on the droppings of the birds.
    Mr. Speaker, I would like to conclude by saying that we should take our fisheries sector very seriously, try to invest some public capital in it and in doing so, at least, try to diversify the sources of income of our fishermen. This is because throughout the year, most of them do very little fishing because of the reduction in fish stocks in our sea. So there is the need for us to invest in aquaculture and to diversify the sources of income of our fishermen.
    Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I would like to support the motion.
    Mrs. Angelina Baiden-Amissah (NPP -- Shama) 4:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I speak in support of the motion to approve the sum of ¢85,123 million for the Fisheries sector for the year 2005.
    Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a very brief intervention and dwell on the objectives of the Ministry, number 4 - “Co-operate and collaborate with other MDAs for the enforcement of the Fisheries Law, regulations and by- laws.” Mr. Speaker, I have realised that some unscrupulous fishermen are rudely breaking the Fisheries Law, Act 625 by using unapproved fishing gears, such as generated anchor cable and a bulb to do fishing. What they do is that as the main canoe takes the lead, a smaller canoe follows the main canoe carrying a generator, an anchor, cable and a bulb where the generator is connected and as soon as the bulb gives off light, it is put in the sea, and as soon as the fishes see anything foreign, they quickly come around it to see what it is and immediately they are electrified and they die outright.
    What happens is that even the smaller fishes all come around to look at what is happening and they are all killed; then the fishermen pick the big ones that they want and then throw away the smaller ones. This is what is depleting the ocean of fish that we expect, because even the tiny ones that should grow and lay eggs so that later we would have a lot of fish in the sea are being killed. Which ones then would grow and lay eggs so that we can have enough in the ocean? This is the reason why all of us must put our hands to the wheel, advise the fishermen in our communities to put an end to it.
    The Ministry of Fisheries has given a statement empowering the police or
    mandating the police to arrest and seize these unapproved fishing gear. This is staking place but there are some fishermen who are saying that nothing can be done to them and that they would continue doing it. It is even happening in my constituency though it has been reported several times.
    Anytime you meet fishermen to listen to their problems this is what they mention - “light fishing -- we are suffering; we cannot get anything when we go fishing.” Even when I was trying to explain the increase in the price of fuel because of the premix that they use, they said, as for premix, the necessary thing is for them to get fish, and then they can buy it. So what is happening is actually bothering the fishermen and I urge the Minister for Fisheries to make sure that these unscrupulous fishermen put an end to it. People have started making politics out of it in my constituency and I wish we could put an end to it so that we can all get the sort of animal protein that we need from the ocean to build up our bodies. With this intervention, Mr. Speaker, I support the motion.
    Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 4:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I just want a clarification; the figure for approval is still my problem. Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect, if you look at the Budget Statement, we have ¢78 billion there; if you look at Internally-Generated Funds (IGF) for Fisheries, at page 322 of the Budget Statement, we ¢12.6, but I heard some ¢19 billion being mentioned by the Chairman.
    I do not know where the figures are coming from. That is where my interest is at this time, because the Budget Statement gave ¢78 billion and if you look at the IGF at page 322 and you look at Fisheries there, we have ¢12.6 billion - page 322, Appendix 10 -- and then you have ¢78 billion as total in the Budget Statement, that is at page 132. So we want to know
    how they arrived at the ¢85 billion because the figures in the official document here do not support the ¢85 billion that is being cited. These are the official documents.
    Mr. Speaker 4:45 p.m.
    Is there any problem about the figures, Chairman of the Committee?
    Mr. Johnfiah 4:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, what is happening is that like hon. Doe Adjaho is saying, it was ¢78 billion in the Budget, but then this morning there was a confirmed report from the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning which indicated that the IGF, that is the Internally-Generated Fund is ¢19,651 million instead of the ¢12.6 million indicated in the Budget.
    Mr. Speaker 4:45 p.m.
    Hon. Members, as you know, we have a lot of work to do. If the members of the Committee would kindly go out for the next ten minutes and sort these things out whilst we continue --
    Mr. Adjaho 4:45 p.m.
    Yes, Mr. Speaker, the best thing to do is for us to defer the discussion. Mr. Speaker, clearly the hon. Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning did refer us to page 322 as to the amount to be retained by each MDA, and that is where I am picking my figures from; and this is the official document and we have ¢12.651 million at page 322 -
    Mr. Speaker 4:45 p.m.
    Deputy Minority Leader, I am suggesting that we defer this matter for the next ten minutes whilst members go out to resolve this matter. In the meantime, we can take another motion.
    Mr. Adjaho 4:45 p.m.
    But Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect, situations where your Committee submits a report and then another figure comes out from nowhere to be added should not be encouraged. After the Committee had submitted its Report, then a figure - [Interruption.]
    Mr. Speaker 4:45 p.m.
    Deputy Minority Leader, that is why I am suggesting that in the interest of harmony and consensus, let the Committee go out and resolve this matter and come back. In the meantime, this matter is deferred for the next few minutes. Leadership, what is the next motion to tackle, please?
    (Debate on the Estimates of Ministry of Fisheries resumed at column 2831)
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:45 p.m.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Albert K. Obbin) 5:05 p.m.
    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

    The Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Environment and Science (MES) was referred to the Committee on Environment, Science and Technology for consideration and report, in accordance with Standing Orders (104) 4 and 185 of Parliament, upon presentation to Parliament of the Financial Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the 2005 fiscal year.

    1.1 The Committee, in its deli- berations, held two days meeting with the Minister for Environment and Science, Ms Christine Churcher, the Chief Director, Officials and Directors of the undermentioned Institutes and Agencies under the Ministry --

    1. Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD)

    2. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

    3. Rural Enterprises Project (REP)

    4. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

    5 . G h a n a A t o m i c E n e r g y Commission (GAEC).

    1.2 Acknowledgement

    The Committee is fully appreciative of their support and co-operation.

    1.3 Reference Documents

    The Committee made use of the following documents in the course of its deliberations:

    (a) The 1992 Constitution of

    the Republic of Ghana

    (b) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2005 financial year

    (c ) The S tand ing Orders of Parliament

    ( d ) . T h e 2 0 0 4 D r a f t Annual Budget Estimates o f t h e M i n i s t r y o f Environment and Science.

    2.0 Mission Statement of the Ministry of Environment and Science

    The Ministry has been mandated to set up a strong national science and technological base, for accelerated and sustainable development of the country, with the view to enhancing the quality of life of the people.

    In achieving the above, the Ministry will strive to make use of:

    i. Cost-effective means of appropriate technologies;

    ii. Safe and sound environ- mental practices; and

    iii. Efficient human settlement development.

    3.0 Objectives

    The activities of the Ministry of Environment and Science for year 2005 will be largely informed by the under- mentioned medium-term policy objectives. These include:

    (i) The intensification of t h e a p p l i c a t i o n a n d

    enforce- ment of safe and sound env i ronmenta l practices.

    ( i i ) T h e e n s u r i n g o f proper planning of human settle- ments and compliance with its guidelines, standard and regulations.

    ( i i i ) The promot ion, co- o r d i n a - t i o n a n d evaluation of research and development activities in the Environment and Science sector.

    (iv) T h e i n c r e a s e i n public awareness of Science and Technology products and services.

    ( v ) T h e d e v e l o p m e n t and promotion of Science and Technology culture, pro- ducts and services at all levels of society.

    ( v i ) T h e s t r e n g t h e n i n g of linkages with local, sub- regional, regional a n d I n t e r n a t i o n a l collaborative agencies.

    (vii) T h e p r o m o t i o n , c o - o r d i n a t i o n a n d evaluation of research and develop- ment activities in the Environment, Science and Technology sector.

    4.0 Allocation for 2005 Fiscal Year

    A total of one hundred and fifty- seven billion, seven hundred and forty-
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Albert K. Obbin) 5:05 p.m.


    late releases and sometimes no releases, the Ministry and its Departments and Agencies chalked some successes in the past year, which need mentioning.

    6.0 The CSIR

    The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is one of the largest Research Organisations in the subregion. It is made up of a Secretariat and seventeen Research Institutes and Centres. The Council is tasked with the generation and transfer of innovative and improved technologies for the socio-economic development of the nation. In support of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) and PSI, the Council through its various Institutions among other projects, can be credited with:

    i. New cassava varieties of high yielding industrial starch, composite flour for baking purposes and glucose syrup for the confectionery industry. (CRI) and (SARI).

    ii. Pozzolana, a local building material, which will replace the use of Portland, cement by 30 per cent (BRRI).

    iii. Domestication of small rumi- nants for local consumption and for export (ARI) and Nile Tilapia selection and breeding for protein supplement in irrigation sites.

    iv. Breeding of disease resistant parent stock for the Poultry Industry (ARI).

    v. Silk production and generation of cotton varieties in support of the PSI on Garment and Textiles.

    vi. All-weather feeder roads to provide year round accessibility to food growing and raw material centres. (BRRI).

    vii. In support of the PSI on Oil Palm, the Oil Palm Research Institute generated high yielding, disease resistant and fast maturing seeds for 12 nurseries, which will supply the project.

    Again vigorous research is being made into the processing of oil palm fruits into various value added products for the pharmaceutical and other industries.

    6.1 The GAEC
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Albert K. Obbin) 5:05 p.m.


    The Ghana Atomic Energy Com- mission was established by Act 204 in 1963 to explore, promote and develop the peaceful application of nuclear and bio-technological techniques for socio- economic advancement of the country.

    Presently, its operations are governed by Act 588 of 2000. The Commission consists of three Institutes and five centres which carry out its objectives and programmes.

    The GAEC is currently engaged in a lot of ongoing programmes and projects, some of which have been enumerated below:

    The Commission is solely in charge of nuclear medicine, products and treatment for cancer patients in both Komfo Anokye and Korle-Bu Radiotherapy and nuclear medicine centres.

    Commercial sterilization of medical disposables like gauzes, syringes and needles using radiation technology.

    Regulation and control of radiation and radioactive sources in the country, which include importation

    of radioactive materials, training of experts to man X-ray units, and field survey of FM bases in the country. Control of malaria and tsetse control, using sterile insect techniques.

    The production of high yielding plantlets, for plantain, cassava, banana, etc. to ensure food security and to reduce poverty; and

    Food preservation using Gamma Irradiation. This process keeps food crops and spices fresh for long period of time.

    6.2 The EPA

    The mission of the Agency is to co-manage, protect and enhance the country's environment, as well as seek common solutions to global environmental problems. In 2004, the Agency among other things, trained some District Assemblies and MDAs to incorporate environmental issues in all development plans and projects.

    In order to streamline pesticide use in the country, a stringent pesticide control system was initiated to regulate its importation, distribution and utilization as required under Pesticide Control and Management Act of 1996 (Act 528). A total of 154 annual clearance certificates

    and 26 supplementary certificates for industrial and consumer chemicals, 1,004 single import permits for selected industrial and consumer chemicals, 223 single permits for agricultural chemicals and 181 meat permits were issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    7.0 Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD)

    This important department was set up in 1945 and has the statutory responsibility for proper Human Settlement Planning and land use management to ensure the efficient development of Ghana's cities, towns and villages, consistent with sound environmental standards.

    Despite the constraints in budgetary allocation for 2004, some modest gains were made as follows:

    i. The Department's restructuring efforts through institutional and l ega l r e fo rms were initiated and pursued to enable the Department carry out its functions.

    ii. The TCPD was able to use Poverty Profiling and mapping as a strategy to identify the spatial locations as well as characteristics of various poverty pockets which have helped in ensuring a more balanced development and projects distribution in the interest of all sectors of the communities.

    7.1 The Rural Enterprise Project Phase II (REP II)

    The REP II is an IFAD sponsored project, its prime objective is to reduce poverty at the rural level by increasing

    production, employment and incomes of about 5,000 people. The objective is being achieved by facilitating access to appropriate technologies, technical services, business advice, market formation, rural financial services, inter- sectoral policy dialogue and strengthening of local trade associations among others.

    In 2004 , 103 c l i en t s were helped to adopt new/improved technologies 536 clients operated bank accounts for their business for the first time, thereby, qualifying as entrepreneurs.

    Beneficiar ies of the project established 58 new businesses, whilst 508 clients recorded increases in production levels.

    8.0 Outlook for 2005

    With the Government's drive to achieve growth and wealth creation, there is expected to be pressure on the environment and natural resources. The Ministry and its agencies would therefore rise to the task to ensure that sound environmental practices are not sacrificed for socio- economic gains.

    The Crop Research Institute of the (CRI) and Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) will develop and release various improved high yielding, disease and drought resistant crop varieties including sweet potatoes, tomato, pineapple cocoyam, peanut, cowpea, rice and sorghum to farmers for multiplication, to achieve food security and reduce poverty.

    8.1 In support of the GPRS, the Export Development and Investment Fund, the Agriculture Service Subsector Improve-ment Programme (AgSSIP) and Care International are funding CSIR to develop improved pepper planting

    materials. This variety could be used as colouring agent in food preparations and also as a substitute for tomatoes in food preparation. This initiative, which will be implemented in the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions, is expected to create employment, and generate income in the rural areas, thereby reducing poverty.

    8.2 REP II, which is in its second year, hopes to achieve a broad-based increase in productivity, employment and incomes of the rural poor and families through small-scale non-agricultural activities. This year, the project will enroll thirteen additional districts, which will be selected from the ten administrative regions.

    8.3 The Town and Country Planning Department will complete and commission 5.2 km access roads within approved planning scheme in five districts:

    The West Kabakaba Hill planning Scheme, Ho District Assembly in the Volta Region.

    South Essupon/Upper Inchaban Planning scheme, Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly in the Western Region.

    N k a w i e / K u m a / P a n i n / To a s e Planning Scheme, Atwima District Assembly in the Ashanti Region.

    Gushiegu Planning scheme, Gushiegu/Karaga District in the Northern Region.

    Bawku Planning Scheme, Bawku West District in the Upper West.

    The restructuring effort to revamp the TCPD will be continued with the laying in Parliament a bill, which will enable the Department, commercialise part of

    its activities.

    8.4 The GAEC in 2005 will continue with the ongoing projects they initiated in 2004 and will pursue new programmes like the prevention and management of Invasive Alien Species particularly, water weed infestations and ;the completion of hostel and lecture theatres for the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences for Post-graduate studies, to boost Human Resource Development. These projects will be done with the financial support of the International Atomic Energy Agency

    (IAEA).

    GAEC will also undertake a study of the energy needs of the country with the view of introducing nuclear energy in the energy mix. Nuclear Energy is a cheap source of energy.

    8.5 The EPA will expand the main- streaming of environmental issues by posting Officers to environmentally critical districts and intensifying the commercialization of some of the services it provides to other bodies:

    Also, the Agency (EPA) in colla- boration with CSIR and Volta River Authority will continue to monitor and manage the spread of water hyacinth in the Volta Lake, the Abby Lagoon and other water bodies in the country. The exercise will improve fish resources and reduce water borne diseases in the communities where they occur.

    8.6 Under the HIPC Initiative, the Ministry of Environment and Science has proposed to undertake, Rain water Harvesting Project in the three Northern Regions to limit the rate of desertification and to improve access to potable water in the rural areas.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Albert K. Obbin) 5:05 p.m.


    The Ministry of Environment and Science (MES) would also undertake studies of the likely impact of policies under each of the five thematic areas of the GPRS covering macro-economy production, gainful employment, Human Resource and basic services, Governance and Special Programmes for the vulnerable, to help in the sustainable implementation of the scheme. 9.0 Observations and Recommendations

    Mr. Speaker, upon interaction with the MDAs under the Ministry of Environment and Science, the Committee realized that, the research and development activities of the Ministry (MES) are multi-sectoral, covering areas of agriculture, industry, roads, housing, environment and some aspects of health.

    The Committee realised that, though technologies developed and transferred by the Departments and Agencies have contributed immensely towards the creation of employment, income generation and increased productivity, thereby improving living standards, the MES has by and large been marginalized by decision-makers over the years.

    This has made the Ministry and its Departments and Agencies face unimaginable hardships. It is touted as the Ministry with the highest turnover rate of staff in the country due to a number of reasons enumerated below.

    9.1 Woefully Inadequate Budget Allocations

    For 2005, the budget proposal from

    the MES was one hundred and fifty-nine billion, three million cedis (¢159,003,- 000,000) but the total allocation from the GOG and IGF was one hundred and thirty- eight billion, eight hundred and sixty-six

    million cedis (¢138,866,-000,000) leaving a shortfall of (¢20,137,000,000). See table below for details.

    2005 Budget Ceiling Versus Budget Proposal by the Ministry

    of Evironment and Science

    ITEM 2 0 0 5

    BUDGET 2 0 0 5
    BUDGET SHORTFALL 5:05 p.m.
    PROPOSAL CEILING 5:05 p.m.
    PERSONAL 5:05 p.m.
    Mr. Lee Ocran (NDC - Jomoro) 5:05 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on the motion and in doing so I wish to state the mission of the Ministry of Environment and Science. Mr. Speaker, the Ministry has been mandated to set up a strong national science and technology base for the accelerated and sustainable development of the country with a view to enhancing the quality of life of the people.
    Mr. Speaker, the Minis t ry of Environment has had a chequered history. Set up in 1993 as the Ministry of Environment, it developed into the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology and today, it is the Ministry of Environment and Science.
    Mr. Speaker, throughout this period of
    metamorphosis, the Ministry has suffered one disease - lack of funds and staff to develop. Mr. Speaker, from the days of enlightenment through the renaissance times, nations that have developed have always relied on science and technology. We speak and glorify the Asian tigers of having done well. It is because they have invested heavily in science and technology. Our country, if we want to develop, cannot be an exception.
    Mr. Speaker, technology is the use of scientific knowledge in practical ways but we have decoupled technology from the Ministry of Environment and Science and shifted technology to communications as though Communications technology alone is technology. And the Committee is of the view that the Ministry should revert to its previous name of Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology so that we can develop our own local technology. We can call the other one the Ministry for Communications and Communications Technology; we do not mind.
    Mr. Speaker, the Minis ter for Environment has other agencies - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Town and Country Planning Department and the Rural Enterprise Project.
    Most people think that the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission produces atomic bombs; it does not. It is charged with the responsibility of using nuclear energy in medicine and agriculture. During the Konkomba-Nanumba war, had it not been for the GAEC, you could not have had yam seeds because the few of the yam seeds that were left were taken to the laboratory and from tissue science development (tissue culture) we got all the yam seeds that we needed to plant.
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 5:05 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the point that my hon. Colleague is making about the smooth plantain may as well be the truth but to say that because of that development, no plantains were imported from la Cote d'Ivoire is far from the truth. Some did come from la d'Ivoire. The smooth and juicy plantains he has been advertising, definitely, I agree with him that they have been developed here but there were some baked plantains that came from la d'Ivoire -
    Mr. Ocran 5:15 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, like the cocoa, I come from the border area where there is cross-border trading, so there will be some plantain coming and some going out. Mr. Speaker, what we need is that there should be enough allocation of resources for the research institutes to do their work. In most years, the allocations are only enough to pay personal emoluments with the scientists sitting idle and almost doing nothing. What is a research institute which does not carry out research jobs?

    Mr. Speaker, we need to encourage our research institutions to work. It may interest hon. Members of the House to know that over the 60 years existence of the

    Town and Country Planning Department, they have had only 35 vehicles - 35 for 60 years. [Interruption.] Every year they get but for the 60 years they have had only 35 vehicles and yet when there is haphazard development, everybody asks, what is the Town and Country Planning Development doing? They need to move.

    So I am asking hon. Members of this House that although we are going to approve for the Ministry ¢157,742 million, this amount of money is not enough and that during the course of the year, it would be appropriate if the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning would raise a supplementary budget to assist the Ministry to support the functions for which it has been set up.

    What is so hurting now is, Mr. Speaker, most of the institutions under the Ministry have counterpart institutions outside; especially the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission is affiliated to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). With the assistance of the IAEA, the Ministry has put up three radiotherapy institutions - one at Korle Bu; one at Komfo Anokye and one is currently under construction in Tamale.

    Hitherto, those suffering from cancer had to travel outside this country for treatment. Today, you can have treatment here. But instead of paying our subscriptions to these institutions, we have not been paying. An appendix is there showing that we owe some as long as 5 years. We have arrears. If you calculate, we owe about $240,000 to a lot of institutions and 170,000 pounds to these institutions.

    These institutions have threatened us with dismissal; they would not allow us to participate. I was on the floor of this House some years ago when I told them
    Mr. Ocran 5:15 p.m.


    that we needed to pay our subscriptions to the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapon. Somebody asked, does Ghana produce chemical weapon? We do not but, if you do not sign and pay up our subscription we would not be allowed to import certain chemicals.

    It may interest hon. Members to know that the small chemical in a ball pen, if it falls into the wrong hands can be used for an explosive; it can produce explosives. So Mr. Speaker, let us pay our subscription to these institutions because we benefit a lot from these institutions. If we do not pay, we would be ostracized and Ghana would not benefit anymore from these institutions.

    With these few words, Mr. Speaker, I wish to support the motion and hope that the amount the Ministry is requesting could be approved. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
    Mr. Peter A. Sarkodie (NPP - Mampong) 5:15 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the motion on the floor. Mr. Speaker, this year's Budget emphasized private sector Development as a means of enhancing economic growth. Mr. Speaker, for me, the private sector is all about the production or manufacturing of goods and the provision of services. To this end, Mr. Speaker, it is the findings of science or scientific research that comes into play before the goods and services are provided or manufactured.
    Now, Mr. Speaker, I hope all would agree with me that the cost of any scientific research is very expensive. Even talking about the simple instrumentation cost of a scientific research, one would agree that it is always very colossal. Therefore, talking about the entire cost of a scientific research one would agree with me that it
    is always very expensive to come out with a scientific research finding.
    Mr. Speaker, at the tail end of very productive activity is the associated environmental problem. Therefore you [would agree with me that the Ministry of Environment and Science would have to be taken seriously, if we actually want to embark on private sector programme so as to ensure economic growth.
    Now, Mr. Speaker, when we look round some of these research centres, one would agree with me that most of the research findings that emerge from these centres are made use of by so many Ministries that one can think about. Now, we just heard of, for example, nuclear technology being used in medicine for the treatment of cancer. Again, we can talk about, let us say, the research findings from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) by which very viable planting materials are developed in agriculture.
    So Mr. Speaker, when we talk about the Ministry of Environment and Science, it is one which cuts across so many Ministries. Therefore if we are really to make business, as a country, we must take this Ministry as one which can actually propel economic growth.
    Mr. Speaker, taking into consideration the fact that the budgetary allocation is almost always not enough, I would wish to implore the House to consider adding more funds to this Ministry's allocation so that our aim of ensuring economic growth through the private sector can be achieved.
    Mr. Joseph Y. Chireh (NDC - wa west) 5:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, before I go on to make any comment, I would like us to look at the report, on page 9, on top of it you have “Bawku Planning Scheme, Bawku West District in the Upper West Region”; this is a very serious typographical error. The main technical problem I have is that this Committee is asking us to give ¢157,742 million whereas the main Budget document says ¢157.7 million. So ¢42 million more has been added, yet there was no explanation by the Chairman of the Committee. For me, I think it is something that they should tidy up, unless they have an explanation.
    Mr. Speaker, recently, there was an alarming statement made by somebody in the press about Atomic Energy Commission and I thought that by now, some quick response should have been made because if such a remark is allowed to go unanswered, then those living close to the Commission would be living in fear.
    Again, I do not think that the environment, as we talk about it, we are putting it really on a high pedestal. We ought to look at it more seriously, particularly where I come from and where, as we always emphasize, the Sahara Desert is fast approaching. We do not only talk about forestry because if you are not in the forest region the attention may not be close to you but overall attention ought to be paid to the environment of every sector of this country.
    Mr. Speaker, I would like again to emphasize the point that until we balance the use of our resources with the management of the environment, we stand a very great danger of perishing completely.
    Because of this technical problem
    I have raised, I would not want to say anything more. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

    Ms. Anna Nyamekye (NPP - Jaman

    South): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to make a contribution to what we have before us today, trying to approve the amount of ¢157,742 million for the Ministry of Environment and Science.

    Mr. Speaker, I will congratulate my hon. Colleague who just spoke for realizing that there is need for us to give money to the Ministry of Environment and Science. This is the Ministry where we have a lot of scientists gathered, prepared to work. In fact, they have done a lot of work that is rotting on the shelves, that is not being used. But these scientists, most of them are professors, and doctors, who were in the universities and therefore they argue that their personal emoluments should be on parity with those of the universities.

    So as I am speaking today, they are wearing red bands. They always do that any time the universities get better salaries and it becomes a problem for the Minister and the administrators in the Ministry. But this is a realization that we should all come together and ensure that we make enough money in this country to support our scientists to do all the good works that they have been trained to do and they are good at doing.

    Mr. Speaker, as I speak to you now, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has managed to use the slimy substance on cocoa to make brandy. Last year, I carried some of this to London during the Royal Agricultural Show and you would be surprised how the people of London enjoyed that drink. Meanwhile, as I talk about this here, most of us in this Parliament do not even know that that thing exists.

    Mr. Speaker, I would want to take this opportunity to urge the Ministry
    Mr. Joseph Y. Chireh (NDC - wa west) 5:25 p.m.


    of Environment and Science to make public their findings so that the business community can buy them and make use of so that they in turn will make money enough to go on with their research. We know that the scientists are not businessmen but as they conduct the findings, if the community does not make use of them then we will not profit.

    So Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that we have so much there. I would also encourage the business community to contact the Ministry but first, let the Ministry make it available to the public so that people who are interested in certain research findings can make use of it and the country will benefit from it.

    Apart from the yam seeds that were

    multiplied as a result of their tissue culture, they do the same for pineapples, for plantains and so many other things; and this is the Ministry we are talking about. So I agree with him perfectly that there is need for us to support the Ministry with more funds so that the researchers can do their work and the rest of us will benefit from it.

    Mr. Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to make a contribution.
    Mr. Speaker 5:25 p.m.
    One more before I call
    on the Minister to sum up.
    Mr. C. S. Hodogbey (NDC - North
    Tongu): Mr. Speaker, I support the motion but I will briefly comment on the following which affect the environment.
    We have several chemical industries today in Ghana producing X-ray materials and other chemicals. But most of these industries are never checked. Besides, they do not have any effective disposal systems. Wherever you drive today all over Ghana, you would see plastics, whether you are in the city or you are in the rural areas.
    The main plastic pollutants are the sachet water containers which are normally thrown about without any serious attention. Besides, we have open defecation; that is, people just go anywhere and defecate. And this has been polluting the environment such that even the US trouble warning to tourists is that when you go to certain countries including Ghana, do not eat salad or vegetables which are cold. I think we have to take some measures to arrest that.
    The open gutter system -- I do not
    think today, at this age, Ghana should be constructing roads with open gutter systems, especially in the cities. It is rather unfortunate that even our new Tetteh Quarshie Circle, at this age, we are still doing this same open gutter system which I do not think is really good for our city.
    Regarding the disposal of chemical products, I wish to alert the Minister for Environment and Science that they should ensure that for some of these - We have special vehicles which dispose chemical waste, but our chemical waste disposal is done using open trucks which go out and dump them at any landfill and leave.
    On that note, I support the motion that the additional money should be given to the Ministry.
    Mr. Speaker 5:25 p.m.
    Hon. Minister, you may
    wish to wind up.
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 5:25 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, just
    to say that my hon. Friend here made reference to some statement regarding the Atomic Energy Commission, but instead of trying to sort it out here we will meet and try and sort it outside. I thank hon. Members for their support and hope that the Ministry could carefully read the proceedings of today and that where there is the need for further resource mobilization we would have support from
    all sides of the House. I move accordingly.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢157,742 million for the services of the Ministry of Environment and Science for the 2005 fiscal year.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 5:25 p.m.
  • [Resumption of debate from column 2796]
    • Mr. Speaker 5:25 p.m.
    May we go back to
    item 15, that is, Budget Estimates for the services of the Ministry of Fisheries for 2005 fiscal year. Has there been any agreement on this?
    Mr. Obodai 5:25 p.m.
    Yes, Mr. Speaker, but before the Fisheries Division, which is now the Ministry of Fisheries, was divorced from the main Ministry, that is Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), there used to be this fish levy that was placed under MOFA. So when the Ministry of Fisheries was divorced from it, this ¢7 billion should have been brought under Ministry of Fisheries but it was still retained at the headquarters of MOFA.
    So when we look at page 322 of the Budget Statement, under “2005 Projected Retention”, we have ¢7 billion captured under MOFA in respect of the fish levy; and this ¢7 billion belongs to the Ministry of Fisheries so it has been moved to add to the ¢78 billion to make it ¢85 billion. So that is where the error was.
    Mr. Speaker 5:25 p.m.
    Hon. Minister, may you then briefly wind up on this.
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I hope that with that explanation hon. Members would be able to proceed to approve the request for the Ministry of Fisheries.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of ¢85,123 million for the services of the Ministry of Fisheries for the 2005 fiscal year.
    rose
    Mr. Speaker 5:35 p.m.
    Hon. Deputy Minority Leader?
    Mr. Adjaho 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind the hon. Senior Minister who is holding brief for the hon. Minister for Fisheries that the new Ministry has no Executive Instrument supporting it. So if they want the Appropriation Bill to go through, they must make sure that before the Appropriation is carried, they bring Executive Instrument to support the Ministry.
    This is because under the Civil Service Act, when a new Ministry is created, they have to give legal effect to it by an Executive Instrument. I have gone round and I have not seen any Executive Instrument giving legal effect to the new creation. So I am only reminding him that they should try and bring the Executive Instrument to give legal effect to the new Ministry. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
    Mr. J. H. Mensah 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, it is gratifying that we have careful constitutional lawyers to advise us on these matters. I think the appropriate action
    Mr. Speaker 5:35 p.m.
    Leadership, which item should we take?
    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, item number 18. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Attorney-General and Minister for Justice is travelling tonight and we believe that it is one Ministry that has a lot of sympathizers. I think that we can deal with it in the next 15-20 minutes before adjournment.
    Mr. Adjaho 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, you saw the reaction when this item was called. I have been informed that the hon. Minister will be travelling out of the jurisdiction. I have looked at the Committee's Report and it is not an area that, in his absence, there would be a problem. He has two very able Deputies -- Mr. Speaker, I admire your staying power. Even the young men cannot stay.
    Mr. Speaker 5:35 p.m.
    Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, if you think that this Report does not raise any contentious issues, why do we not spend 5-10 minutes and finish with it? That is the only one we will take for the day.
    Mr. Adjaho 5:35 p.m.
    Very well, Mr. Speaker.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, the Departments and Agencies under the Ministry are 5:35 p.m.
    the Attorney-General's Department, Law
    Mr. Speaker, the Departments and Agencies under the Ministry are 5:35 p.m.


    Reform Commission, Legal Aid Board, General Legal Council, Registrar- General's Department and Council for Law Reporting.

    The mission statement of the Ministry is captured thus: The Ministry of Justice exists to entrench, at the core of the body politic, an abiding respect for the rule of law and a constant observance of human rights to ensure equality of access to justice and equality of treatment before the law for all citizens; to promote by law justice to facilitate the operations of fair, efficient and transparent legal system; and to propagate a culture of due process and legality.

    For these purposes, the Ministry acts as a defender of the constitutional order, the guarantor of the rights and liberties of the citizen, the protector of the State's legal interests, the enforcer of the criminal laws, the developer of the human resources of the legal sector, and the champion of the rule of law.

    In helping to create and sustain a reputable legal system and an enabling environment, the Ministry contributes not only to fostering good governance and social peace but also to strengthening the investment prospects of the national economy. The Ministry, like other agencies of State, is thus fully engaged in the fight against poverty, the highest standards of the professionalism in its dealing and transparency in its conduct which will be the bedrock of the Ministry in carrying out its statutory respon-sibilities.

    Mr. Speaker, this hounarable House is requested to consider a shortfall of ¢9,174,000,000 under Personal Emoluments and ¢2,519,000,000 under Administrative Expenses which has been requested for.

    Mr. Speaker, the summary of the budgetary provisions for 2005 for the

    Ministry and its agencies are as follows: Personal Emoluments, ¢17.754 billion; Administrative Expenses, ¢11.721 billion; Service Expenses, ¢4.793 billion; and Investment, ¢50.887 billion all to the tune of ¢85.155 billion.

    The institutional breakdown of the 2005
    Draft Budget is as follows 5:35 p.m.
    Ministry of Justice, ¢19.6 billion; Attorney-General's Department, ¢26.1 billion; Law Reform Commission, ¢2.1 billion; General Legal Council, ¢11.4 billion; Council for Law Reporting, ¢4.1 billion; Legal Aid Board, ¢5.1 billion; Registrar General's Department, ¢2.2 billion; Serious Fraud Office, ¢13 billion.
    Mr. Speaker, I would like to conclude by stating that the Ministry of Justice is one of the institutions under the public safety sector with a sectoral goal of ensuring security and adequate protection of life, property and rights of all nationals, especially for the vulnerable and the excluded within the democratic environment. The goal therefore falls in line with the governance thematic area in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). The policies of the Ministry are therefore consistent with GPRS and aimed basically at achieving the sectoral goal and to ensure good governance, justice and peace.
    Mr. Speaker, I move accordingly.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Kwame Osei-Prempeh) 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and in doing so to present the Committee's Report.
    But Mr. Speaker, before then let me draw your attention to page 3 of the Report, under the review of 2004 budgetary allocation. Mr. Speaker, paragraph 2, where we said that from December 2004 to February 2005, some staff of the Ministry in the agencies, Law Reform Commission and others have not
    been paid. Mr. Speaker, I believe that steps must be taken to have them paid.
    Mr. Speaker, I also refer you to paragraph 9.2, Ghana Law School and ask that the amount needed to expand the school be made available to enable them to absorb the graduates being produced by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). It will also allow those that the University of Cape Coast is recruiting this year to be catered for.
    1.0 Introduction
    The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the Financial Year was presented to the House by the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution on Thursday, 24th February 2005. Following the presentation, the 2005 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Justice stood referred to the select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report pursuant to Standing Orders 140 (4) and 179 of the House.
    2.0 Deliberations
    In considering the referral, the Committee held discussions with Officials from the Ministry of Justice as well as representatives of its agencies who were all in attendance at the Committee's invitation, and reports as follows:
    3.0 Reference Documents
    The Committee had recourse to the underlisted documents during its deliberations:

    a. The 1992 Constitution

    b. The Standing Orders of Parliament

    c. State of the Nation Address of His Excellency the President

    d. The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2005 Financial Year; and

    e. Report of the Committee on the 2004 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Justice

    4.0 The Ministry of Justice

    4.1 Mission Statement

    The Ministry of Justice exists to entrench at the core of the body politic respect for the rule of law by ensuring equality of access to justice, promotion of social justice, protection of the legal interest of the State and the constitutional order, as well as the creation of an efficient and transparent legal environment with the highest level of professionalism.

    4.2 Objectives

    In furtherance of its mission, the Ministry seeks to:

    i. formulate policies, monitor and evaluate their impact for a fair and efficient operation of the legal regime

    ii. prepare, revise and reform laws towards national economic growth

    iii. create a scientific and modern records management centre for

    the registration of companies and intellectual properties

    iv. improve the human and institutional capacity

    v. improve economic crime prevention, transparency and public accountability

    vi. broaden the scope of legal aid service to the vulnerable and the excluded

    vii. strengthen public awareness of the national laws as stipulated and publish the official law reports.

    4.3 Agencies under the Ministry

    The Ministry comprises two depart- ments and five agencies, namely:

    Attorney-General's Department

    Registrar-General's Department

    General Legal Council

    Law Reform Commission

    Council for Law Reporting

    Legal Aid Board

    Serious Fraud Office 5.0 Review of 2004 Budgetary Allocation

    During the year under review, a total amount of thirty-nine billion, one hundred and ninety-one million cedis (¢39,191,- 000,000) was approved by the Hose for the services of the Ministry and its agencies. However, the sum total of the amount released by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to the sector by December 31, 2004 stood at thirty billion, nine hundred and

    seventy-two million, six hundred and eighty-one thousand, nine hundred and seventy-four cedis and seventy-nine pesewas (¢30,972,681,974.79), resulting in a shortfall of eight billion, two hundred and eighteen million, three hundred and eighteen thousand, twenty-five cedis and twenty one pesewas (¢8,218,318,025.21).

    It is significant to note that the eight billion, two hundred and eighteen million, three hundred and eighteen thousand, twenty-five cedis and twenty-one pesewas (¢8,218,318,025.21) was mainly arrears of the allocation for personal emoluments. It came to the notice of the Committee that due to this shortfall, a number of the Ministry's agencies have still not received their salaries from December 2004 to February 2005, which situation the Committee found unacceptable.

    It is the considered view of the Committee that since the constitutional authority of the State regarding authorization and disbursement of approved votes for MDAs from the Consolidated Fund is vested in Parliament, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should notify the House whenever it is compelled to reduce a percentage of the approved budget of particular MDAs as a result of shortfall in revenue inflow.

    The table below indicates a breakdown of the approved budgetary allocations and actuals of all expenditure items of the Ministry for 2004.

    6.0 Budgetary Allocation for 2005 Financial Year

    For the 2005 financial year, out of a total sum of one hundred and sixty-nine billion, seven hundred and thirty-one million cedis (¢169,731,000,000.00) requested for the Ministry of Justice, it has been allocated eighty-five billion,

    five hundred and ninety-four million cedis (¢85,594,000,000.00) for both recurrent and investment expenditure. Of this amount, eighty-five billion, one hundred and fifty-five million cedis (¢85,155,000,000.00) has been earmarked from the Consolidated Fund. The Ministry is expected to generate four hundred and forty million cedis (¢440,000,000.00) internally to supplement the allocation from GoG. The breakdown of the allocation under the four main expenditure items is as follows:

    7.0 Observations (General)

    7.1 Personal Emoluments (PE)

    Out of a total amount of twenty-six billion, nine hundred and twenty-eight million cedis (¢26,928,000,000.00) it requested, an amount of seventeen billion, seven hundred and fifty-four million cedis (¢17,754,000,000.00) has been provided for personal emoluments (PE) of the entire Ministry. The Committee observed that this amount does not match the actual expenditure requirement of the Ministry for the year as it could pay salaries for only ten (10) months.

    Secondly, the Ministry with this ceiling would not be able to implement its recruitment programme for the year even though it is urgently required to recruit a number of State Attorneys and other core staff. The Committee considers the new recruitment crucial to the attainment of the objectives of good governance which is fundamental to the mission of the Ministry of Justice and therefore recommends that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning review upwards the PE allocation for the Ministry in order to meet this requirement.

    7.2 Administrative Expenses

    An amount of eleven billion, seven hundred and twenty-one mil l ion
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Kwame Osei-Prempeh) 5:35 p.m.


    cedis (¢11,721,000,000.00) has been allocated for the administrative expenses of the Ministry of the 2005 financial year. Considering national budgetary constraints, the Committee hopes that the Ministry of Justice would make judicious use of this allocation for the attainment of its objectives.

    7.3 Service Expenses

    The Committee noted that out of an amount of nineteen billion, five hundred and thirty-three million cedis (¢19,533,000,000.00) requested for by the Ministry, an amount of four billion, seven hundred and twenty-one million cedis (¢4,721,000,000.00) was allocated as its service expenses for the 2005 financial year. This allocation falls short of the actual service expenditure requirements of the Ministry for the year. The Committee was informed that the Ministry would require an extra amount of thirteen

    billion, six hundred and twenty million cedis (¢13,620,000,000.00) to cater for the underlisted service activities which it necessarily has to undertake during the year. These include:

    i. Hosting of Commonwealth Law Ministers Conference in October, 2005

    ii. Training of legal and para-legal staff at foreign institutions

    i i i . Consul tants fee for the restructuring of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General's Department by GIMPA

    iv. Printing cost of backlog of Law Reports from 1999-2004

    v. Training of career magistrates and police prosecutors by Ghana School of Law

    vi. Ghana School of Law students exchange programme.

    Contrary to the decision of the Ministry of Justice to vire thirteen billion, six

    hundred and twenty million cedis (¢13,620,000,000.00) from its investment expenses, to implement the mentioned activities, the Committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning takes note of this shortfall in the allocation to the Ministry of Justice in disbursing the HIPC Funds to enable the Ministry effectively discharge its mandate. 8.0 Investment Expenses

    Under the 2005 Budget Estimates, the Ministry of Justice has been allocated an amount of fifty billion, eight hundred and eighty-seven million cedis (¢50,887,- 000,000.00) for its investment activities.

    9.0 Specific Observations

    9.1The Attorney-General's Department

    Conditions of Service of State Attorneys
    ESTIMATES EXPENDITURE 5:35 p.m.
    HEAD ESTIMATES EMOLUMENTS EXPENSES EXPENSES EXPENSES 5:35 p.m.
    Mr. Francis A. Agbotse (NDC - Ho west) 5:45 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I stand to support the motion ably moved by our new Attorney- General and Minister for Justice. Mr. Speaker, taking it from where the hon. Chairman left off, if the departments under the Ministry could have their salary not paid for three months, I think it is bad enough. These are departments where we need lawyers and they are very unwilling to go to these departments because of the low remuneration in these departments. So we should do everything not to further aggravate the situation so that lawyers would find it difficult going to work in these agencies.

    Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Law School is one of the agencies under the Ministry. The Ghana Law School will be 50 years in the near future and they need a lot of investment to be done so that come their 50th year, they would be in a position to show what they can do. We have been informed that the Ghana Law School is now running courses for the Police in prosecution, for the Judicial Service in training of career Magistrates.

    Mr. Speaker, these courses are being held, as we were informed, virtually free. We think this is an area which the Ghana Law School could use to increase their revenue. Currently professional students are paying as much as ¢12 million a year, that is, ¢1 million a month. I am not sure how many people can afford, out of their salaries in Ghana today, ¢1 million a month for training. This, if not reviewed,

    would be making legal training something for only those who are rich.

    We need several lawyers. We are told that the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Cape Coast have departments for the training of lawyers and all these people would come to do their practical legal training at the Ghana Law School. So the Ghana Law School needs expansion and it would be reasonable if the fees are brought down so that as many people as possible can enter the Ghana Law School.

    The Registrar-General's Department is

    a very effective department which is the first point of call for investors to Ghana. Mr. Speaker, they generate a lot of money and it is my suggestion that the Registrar- General's Department should be made a “Service” like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS). They should be made a Service so that they do not come directly under the Ministry of Justice so that they can operate freely and use their own resources to develop the Registrar-General's Department. Because -- look at their building - They are putting up a building for the past five or six years. I am sure if the monies they generate do not go to the Consolidated Fund but they are allowed to use such monies to improve their environment and their operations, they would offer a better service than they are offering now.

    Mr. Speaker, some time ago this House approved 15 per cent of their revenue to be retained, but the law to enforce it has not yet come to Parliament, it is over four years now. So the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice should look at that and bring that Instrument to the House as early as possible so that they can retain that 15 per cent to improve their services, the computerization and all the other record keeping requirements.

    Mr. Speaker, the Council for Law Reporting, for some time now, have not

    been able to print their reports - the Ghana Law Report. We are pleased to hear that they have now been able to print from 1997 to 2000; they have been able to print these ones. Their problem is with selling. They find it very difficult to have these bought by the lawyers, especially since they are expensive.

    Mr. Speaker, in other jurisdictions you hear of even newspapers like the Financial Times reporting and reporting accurately so that their reports are even accepted as authority. We have the Times Law Reports which are used by the courts. I do not see why our journalists would not develop the capacity so that they can report accurately.

    Mr. Speaker, sometimes you read in the newspaper that a writ had been filed, then they quote the statement of defence and end up saying that no date has been fixed for hearing. If they are trained in reporting they would know that when you file a writ and you serve the other side, it takes a long period before a date is fixed for hearing; but we have such things in reports by our newspapers. I think it is time some of them specialized in court reporting so that one day, like the Times Law Reports, they would be quoted.

    Mr. Speaker, with these few words I support the motion.

    Capt. Effah-Dartey (rtd.) (NPP - Berekum): Mr. Speaker, I also want to associate myself with the Chairman of the Committee who seconded the motion and call on my hon. Colleagues to support the motion massively. Mr. Speaker, with permission, I want to comment on only two points. The first one is about the State Attorneys.

    Mr. Speaker, my view is that the State Attorneys, their conditions must be improved as much as possible. And I agree with the Chairman of the Committee that the State Attorneys, we

    should do everything possible to contract many lawyers to the Attorney-General's Department so that they can work and deliver services as we require.

    Mr. Speaker, I also want to comment on the Registrar-General's Department. Mr. Speaker, the Registrar-General's Department is the place we register new companies and they keep tracking the companies in the private sector. And Mr. Speaker, the Government's policy is to strengthen the private sector. So the Registrar-General's Department is a very significant area that we should put our attention to.

    Mr. Speaker, it is in this light that I want to suggest that the Attorney- General should bring a Bill to Parliament so that we can authorize the Registrar- General's Department to retain a specified percentage of its internally-generated funds to supplement their operations funding.

    Mr. Speaker, with these few words I want to join my hon. Colleagues and call on them to massively vote for the motion.
    Mr. Speaker 5:45 p.m.
    May I call on the hon. At- torney-General and Minister for Justice to wind up.
    Mr. Ayikoi Otoo 5:55 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, I have noted all the concerns raised by hon. Members. I believe that inthe near future we would come tothis House with the necessary Bills.
    The retention of the fifteen per cent by the Registrar-General's Department is something that has engaged my attention, and we have been looking at it.
    The problem with State Attorneys, I must say, is that most people who are outside do not know the advantages that the lawyers in the Attorney-General's Department really have. There are a lot of
    training opportunities and I have seen quite a number of them who have, through the Attorney-General's Department, bettered their education by going in for Masters programmes and the rest. Most people are not aware. We would intensify knowledge in that area and I am sure that we would be able to attract them.
    Mr. Speaker, we are grateful then.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House ap- proves the sum of ¢85,594 million for the services of the Ministry of Justice for the 2005 fiscal year.
    ADJOURNMENT 5:55 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 5.56 p.m. till 16th March, 2005 at 10.00 a.m.