Debates of 22 Jun 2006

MR. SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10 a.m.
CORRECTION OF VOTES 10 a.m.
AND PROCEEDINGS AND 10 a.m.
THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10 a.m.
Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 21st June 2006. Pages 1…7 -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, sorry to bring you back to page 7. I do know that my hon. Colleague, the Minority Chief Whip (Mr. John Tia) has gone to his constituency. I saw him the other day and he was holding a request for leave of absence. I believe that the Table Office must be in possession of the request. He will be away for one week and I think, to be fair to him, he must be marked as “Absent (with permission)”.
Mr. Speaker 10 a.m.
Pages 8…12. Hon. Members, we do not have the Official Report.
Item 3 - Questions, Minister for Presidential Affairs. Question Number 218, in the name of Mr. Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central. Hon. Member for Ashaiman.
Mr. A. K. Agbesi 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have the permission of the hon. Member for Bawku Central - [Uproar] -- to seek your permission to ask the Question on his behalf.
Mr. Speaker 10 a.m.
Hon. Member for Ashaiman, I did not hear what you said. You may wish to repeat that.
Mr. Agbesi 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I seek your
permission to ask the Question on behalf of the hon. Member for Bawku Central who is not in the House at the moment due to circumstances beyond his control.
Mr. Speaker 10 a.m.
I grant you permission. Go ahead. [Laughter.]
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 10 a.m.
PRESIDENTIAL AFFAIRS 10 a.m.
CHRAJ 10 a.m.
Minister for Presidential Affairs (Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani) 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, article 2 (1) of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice Act, 1993 (Act 456) provides, and I quote:
“(i) the Commission shall consist of:
( a ) a C o m m i s s i o n e r f o r H u m a n R i g h t s a n d Administrative Justice
(b) two Deputy Commissioners fo r Human Righ t s and Admi- nistrative Justice . . .”
The full complement of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice has been appointed as follows:
(i) Mr. Justice Emile Francis Short - Commissioner - Chairman
(ii) Ms. Anna Bossman - Deputy
Commissioner
( i i i ) M r . R i c h a r d Ackon Quayson -- Deputy Com- missioner
Mr. Agbesi 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am aware that Justice Emile Francis Short, the Commissioner, is no more in the country. I believe he is on an assignment. I want to know whether in his absence, there is any Commissioner appointed at the moment, or his post is vacant.
Mr. Mpiani 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, Com- missioner Short is temporarily out of Ghana. He is on an assignment at the request of the United Nations -- a short- term assignment -- and he will come back after he has completed his assignment.
Mr. Agbesi 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, my question has not been fully answered. In the absence of the Commissioner, who has asked permission to be outside the country, is that function being performed and if so by whom? The performance of the functions of the Commission is very vital to the State.
Mr. Mpiani 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Commission has not informed us that it has not been able to perform its duties. In fact, they are performing their duties very well. As I stated earlier, the Commissioner is on a very short-term assignment at the request of the United Nations, and as soon as he completes his assignment, he will come back to take his position.
Mr. Ken Dzirasah 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the hon. Minister how short is Commissioner Short's assignment. [Laughter.]
Mr. Mpiani 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon.
Member, I believe, is a member of the learned profession and he knows that in matters of jurisdiction, it is not very easy to give definitive time. All what I can say is that the Commission has not notified us that it is unable to do its work because of the absence of Commissioner Short. Commissioner Short is out temporarily and as soon as he completes his work he will come back to perform his duties.
Yabumwura Bawa Doshi's Petition
Q. 501. Mr. John Dramani Mahama asked the Minister for Presidential Affairs what action had been taken on the petition presented to the President by the Yabumwura Bawa Doshi calling for the division of the current Northern Region into two new regions.
Mr. Mpiani 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Office of the President and the Council of State are studying the petition by the Yabumwura for division of the Northern Region into two regions and an appropriate response will be issued in due course.
Mr. Mahama 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish
to ask the hon. Minister for Presidential Affairs whether it is normal that a petition that was presented in 2003, three years on, has seen no action.
Mr. Mpiani 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier on, the matter is being studied. The creation of a region is a serious matter which needs very serious studies and, as I stated earlier, as soon as we finish with the study, appropriate response would be issued on it.
Mr. Mahama 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, according to the 1992 Constitution the President, upon receipt of such a petition, shall in consultation with the Council of State set up a commission to look into the merits of
Mr. Mpiani 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. Member said, the President in consultation with the Council of State must study the petition before it is referred to a commission. Therefore, the study must be done for the President and the Council of State to satisfy themselves that there is merit in that before a commission is set up. As I stated earlier, this matter is being studied and if the President and the Council, in their wisdom, decide that it should be referred to a commission of enquiry, it should be done.
Mr. Mahama 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to note that the word the Constitution uses is not ‘study'. It does not say that the President shall “study, in consultation”; it says the President in consultation with the Council of State shall set up a commission of enquiry to look into the matter and decide on its merits. I think that it is more the commission of enquiry that will decide whether the petition is meritorious or not. And so my question is: when will such a commission be set up to look into the merits of the matter?
Mr. Mpiani 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I want to read article 5 (2) of the 1992 Constitution:
“If the President, upon a petition being presented to him and, on the advice of the Council of State, is satisfied that there is a substantial demand . . .”
If the President is satisfied that there is a substantial demand for the creation of a new region, or alteration or merger, then on advice he refers it to a commission of enquiry. So as I stated earlier, it is being studied and, if at the end of it the
President is really satisfied that there is that demand, a commission would be set up to look into it.
Mr. Agbesi 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to know from the hon. Minister whether the petitioner Yabumwura Bawa Doshi, has been informed of steps taken so far on his petition.
Mr. Mpiani 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, we acknow- ledged receipt of the letter from the Yabumwura and told him that action is being taken on his request.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Minister for Presidential Affairs, thank you very much for appearing to answer our Questions. You are discharged.
Bishop Mante Committee Report
Q. 491. Mr. Francis Yaw Osei-Sarfo asked the Minister for the Volta Region when the Bishop Mante Committee Report on the Krachi and Kete Muslims clashes in early 2005 would be made public.
Volta Regional Minister (Mr. S. K. Dzamesi): Mr. Speaker, from 2002 to 2005, a number of conflicts erupted between the Krachis and the Zongo Community of Kete Krachi disturbing the peace in the Kete Krachi town.
Soon after assuming office as the Minister of State for the Volta Region in early 2005, I took the initiative and appointed the Bishop Mante Committee to probe the causes of the conflicts and to make recommendations on ways of preventing further conflicts in Kete Krachi and to ensure permanent peace in the town. The Committee had three months within which to submit its report. However, the Committee could not submit a report until late December 2005 because it had to interview and interact with a lot more people than originally anticipated.
The Committee made a number of recommendations. I have gone through the report which is quite voluminous, and is now before the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) for study and advice.
The report shall be made public after REGSEC has made its recommendations on it. In the meantime, however, and as a way of ensuring law and order in Kete Krachi, I have taken action on a number of the straightforward recommendations the Commit tee made . One such recommendation is to operationalize the Kete Krachi Magistrate Court. I am happy to say that the court is now functioning as a result of a positive response to an appeal made to the Chief Justice to post a magistrate to Kete Krachi.
Both the Krachis and the Zongo Community have been urged to and they have revived their respective festivals as a peace-building measure. The District Chief Executive of Krachi West has been specifically directed to ensure that under the Youth Employment Scheme, as many youth as possible from both communities are offered employment to help prevent agitation among the youth in the town.
Mr. Speaker, it is hoped that with the court functioning, any individual or group of people trying to fan communal conflict in the area will be dealt with according to law.
Mr. Osei-Sarfo 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want the hon. Minister to tell the House if any form of assistance, in terms of relief or financial, has been given to the affected persons in view of the fact that lives were lost, houses and kiosks were burnt down and property worth millions of cedis destroyed.
Mr. Dzamesi 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, so far, no relief items have been given to any of the
conflicting areas because, as I said, the recommendations are still being studied and when the REGSEC finally brings its approval, I think that such things would be done.
Mr. Osei-Sarfo 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to further know from the hon. Minister whether he is aware of the intra-conflicts in the Muslim communities, especially for the distoolment of Sariki Zongo, which is likely to spark off another conflict. And if he is aware and if so, what measures have they put in place to check any future conflicts?
Mr. Dzamesi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes, I am very much aware of the conflict between the Zongos, especially between the Zongo community and the Sariki Zongo; and steps are being taken to ensure that there is peace. In fact, that conflict also forms part of the work given to the Bishop Mante Committee and those recommendations are also within the report given. So they are properly being addressed.
Ms Akua Sena Dansua 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister in his response said that he has directed the District Chief Executive (DCE) to ensure that as many youth as possible are offered employment so as to prevent them from engaging in agitation. Is he by this answer therefore suggesting that unemployed youth in the country should engage in agitation as a way of getting attention drawn to them so that they can be gainfully employed?
Mr. Dzamesi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes, of course; idle hands find other things to do. So we have realized that in the Krachi area, there is the need to increase employment opportunities to the youth; and this we are addressing.
Mr. G. K. B. Gbediame 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, may I know from the Minister how soon; because he says Regional Security Council
Mr. Dzamesi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, let me say that security matters are very delicate matters and that we should take our time, study this Report carefully so that recommendations that we make would be binding and would be long-term and not short-term. So I think that we are still on course and very soon this recommendation will come out and then the problems will be solved. Thank you.
Mr. J. Z. Amenowode 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Regional Minister for the Volta Region stated in the Answer that the conflict had been on from 2002 to 2005 before he set up the committee. Fortunately for us, he happened to be the Deputy Minister from 2001 to 2005. I want to know from him what efforts he made as a Deputy Minister, especially with regard to the Answer he gave for not being able to provide relief items to people whose properties were destroyed.
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon. Member for Hohoe South, will you be kind enough to repeat your supplementary question?
Mr. Amenowode 10:20 a.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All I wanted to know was, what efforts were made before the setting up of this committee to provide relief to the affected people.
Mr. Dzamesi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in fact, between 2002 and 2005 until we had this major conflict, there were of course, as I said, minor conflicts but these were being handled by the District Security Council (DISEC); and a lot was done during those times and these were monitored by the Regional Minister and I at that time.
So something was done until this major conflict.
Mr. J. K. Avedzi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in the Answer to the Question, the Regional Minister said the Report of the committee was before the REGSEC and they were studying it for advice. He also said he had started taking action on the straightforward recommendation from the committee. Then he went on and said the REGSEC would study the recommendations and then make recommendations. I want to find out from the Minister what kind of recommendation the REGSEC would make, apart from the one given by the committee?
Mr. Dzamesi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, normally committees make recommendations but these recommendations are actually studied once again by the REGSEC, and then the Minister is properly advised before actions are taken. So that is all that I am saying; there is nothing more than that. It is just that the REGSEC will have to ensure that those recommen-dations within the Report are properly adhered to, according to the security affairs that we have in the region.
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Minister for the Volta Region, thank you very much for appearing to answer these Questions. You are discharged for the time being.
At the Commencement of Public Business - Item 5. Minister for Education, Science and Sports --
Mr. Felix K. Owusu-Adjapong 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, as you may be aware, the Minister himself is in far away Germany ensuring that by close of the day Ghana would have beaten the United States of America (USA); and he has asked his deputy to hold the fort for him. But I have just realized that the Chairman of the
Committee is not around, and one is not too sure whether he can move his motion and then we find out what is happening to the Chairman of the Committee.
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
The Chairman of the Committee ought to be here to second the motion.
Mr. Owusu-Adjapong 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am told there is a member of the Committee around.
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
All right.
BILL S - SECOND READING 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon. Member for Bole/
Mr. Mahama 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I try not
to be distracted. Mr. Speaker, I was saying that I hoped that this improved financing would also lead to an improvement in the quality of products that are coming out of the institute. The products of this institute occupy high places in our media institutions. Most of the editors of newspapers and radio stations were trained at the GIJ and I hope that with the improved facilities, we would have better quality students coming out.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to comment
on the issue of affiliation. I am aware that GIJ is currently running a degree programme and that degree programme is being run in affiliation with the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana. And so there is some affiliation already in existence, but I think that what the institute must do is to seek full accreditation from the National Accreditation Board in order to run its own degree and post-graduate programmes and be able to award its own certificates to the students that it is training.
But Mr. Speaker, I think this is a very good Bill and I call on all sides of the House to support the Bill massively. I support it with all the weight at my disposal.
Mr J. A. Ndebugre (PNC --Zebilla) 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, this is a very important Bill and I believe that there would be no controversy about it. I support the motion for the passage of the Bill and in doing so, I would like to make a few remarks.
We need quality journalism. What we are experiencing now is more of quantity journalism than quality journalism. Besides, the Bill seeks to establish the institute not to train only journalists but to train persons in other media-related disciplines also; and that is why I said it is a very useful Bill.
I just wanted to draw attention to a few matters connected with the Bill. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the drafters of the Bill and your Committee must have done some work to unearth what relationship there would be between the new institute, if it is established and the existing School of Communication Studies.
The hon. Member who last spoke has just indicated that there is some affiliation existing now between a degree-awarding system within the present institute and the School of Communication Studies. But now that we are going to upgrade the Ghana Institute of Journalism into a fully-fledged degree-awarding institution, it would appear that a clear relationship should be established between it and the present School of Communication Studies.
One other matter I would like to raise is about the advisability or otherwise of establishing this professional advisory committee. I have looked at the memorandum and sought its assistance but I have not obtained the assistance I was seeking from the memorandum regarding the need for the establishment of this professional advisory committee, in the face of the fact that there is also established under the Bill an academic board. I cannot see clearly the difference between the functions of the professional
Mr. Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon. Member, we are not dealing with the details, we are dealing with the principles.
Mr. Ndebugre 10:50 a.m.
Very well, Mr.
Speaker, with these few comments, I support the motion.
Mr. A. N. Tettey-Enyo (NDC - Ada) 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion and in doing so I want to emphasise the fact which already the Chairman of your Committee has drawn our attention to, that the Ghana Institute of Journalism Bill that is before us is a very important Bill which requires the full consideration of all Members of this House and the need to approve it.
We have already been told that this
idea of elevating the Ghana's Institute of Journalism to a tertiary level came up as far as 1990, when the PNDC Government wanted to emphasise the point that this is an institution that should be developed to provide us with the best training and the highest training for that matter in the area of journalism. That policy has not changed and what we are doing now is to provide the enabling Act to support the policy.
We have already been told about a number of issues that bring out the importance of the Bill and I would not like to repeat them. But one area of importance is the fact that such institutions as the Ghana Institute of Journalism are not many in the world and this fact came out clearly during your Committee's meeting with the stakeholders.
It is therefore indicative of the importance that this Institute will play if it is well developed to train highly skilled professionals in the area of journalism and indeed the Institute is likely to become the pacesetter at the regional level.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu (NDC - Tamale South) 10:50 a.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to support the motion for the enhancement of the Ghana Institute of Journalism to a tertiary institution.
But Mr. Speaker, even before I proceed to make my comments, I would want to acknowledge the immense contribution made by the former Minister for Information (Mr. Dan Botwe) in getting this legislation this far. In doing so, I also will recognise his Deputy Minister who is now privileged to be the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Regional Co-operation and NEPAD. I do so because when this House had the opportunity to approve the Budget estimates for the Ministry of Information, we had cause to draw the attention of the Ministry of Communications to work out mechanisms that would ensure that the Ghana Institute
Mr. S. K. Balado Manu 11 a.m.
On a point of order.Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member has made a point that is misleading. Mr. Speaker, reshuffles in governments over the world are a normal practice. To have had somebody reshuffled and for him to conclude that the Minister incurred the displeasure of the President is a serious statement and until he can substantiate that statement, would he honourably withdraw the statement.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
I will take the comments of hon. Balado on board and in particular recognize that the reshuffle was at the pleasure of the President. Mr. Speaker, I wish to proceed.
Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) today has a student population of less than five hundred; you are talking about 485 students in all categories; whether you are doing a diploma or degree per the educational process being done at the GIJ.
My understanding is that the Institute was established somewhere in 1959 by the then Minister for Information, Mr. Kofi
rose
Mr. Speaker 11 a.m.
Majority Chief Whip, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11 a.m.
Yes, Mr.
Speaker. I believe my hon. Colleague is misleading this House. He is saying that the Institute was established by the then Minister responsible for Information, Mr. Kofi Baako in 1959. Mr. Speaker, it is not the Minister who established the school, it was the President, or the Government; in fact, it was the Prime Minister at the time who established it. The Minister did so, on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Government and not the Minister as a person. I guess the hon. Member will take that into consideration.
Mr. H. Iddrisu 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
Minister for Information had the pleasure to open the Institute on 16th October, 1959 and again, one of the issues which has confronted us again which affected the GIJ was the unfortunate coup d'etat of 1966 which explains the current site of the Institute.
Mr. Speaker, whilst supporting this legislation, I think that it is important that tremendous investment is made so that within the next four/five years, we can see a tertiary student population of GIJ rise into the thousands if not two thousand five hundred. I believe that after 40 years of its existence, we have not done enough in terms of resourcing it to be able to build adequate academic and residential infrastructure for the school.
Looking through the proposed Bill, there is no provision which guarantees the Institute of its academic autonomy. I have
not seen any provision anywhere talking about the academic autonomy of the institute and I think it is important that we look at it because as a tertiary institution, they already award diplomas on their own rights. It is only with the degrees that they are affiliated to the University of Ghana. I think that we may have to introduce a new clause to guarantee the Institute academic autonomy.
Mr. Speaker, emphasis is also placed only on journalism but we do know that the Institute also runs very credible courses on public relations; so it is important that we take it on board that beyond its traditional obligation of training in public relations and journalism, they also do have other facilities which they use to organize demonstrations and many other related issues. I think that it is a worthy piece of legislation which deserves the support of hon. Members. And as I indicated earlier, it is in the pursuit of the Government's White Paper of 1990.
But Mr. Speaker, there are still fundamental hitches to the 1990 White Paper of government. If you look at it, apart from the tertiary institutions, we were supposed to have what we call the RECAST institutions -- Regional Education Colleges. If you take nurses training colleges today, and take teacher training colleges, I think that in the foreseeable future, the Minister for Education should be looking at enhancing those institutions also as diploma- awarding institutions just as we are doing to the GIJ.
Mr. Speaker, wi th respec t to
accreditation, as much as I agree with the ‘Introduction' of the Committee that they should be affiliated to any other institution, we do know that in Ghana today, the University of Ghana has the privilege of hosting them as the affiliated institution, widely because it is the only institution in this country which runs a training course in mass communication. But I do believe
that in opening it up, they may be able to affiliate themselves to other institutions within or outside Ghana.
In this direction and with these few comments I encourage hon. Members to support this legislation and vote massively for it. I thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo (NPP - Akim
Oda): Mr. Speaker, the vision behind the establishment of GIJ was as true yesterday as it is true today. In 1959, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah saw the need to train the African journalist. This institute was supposed to be a Pan-Africanist institution, to provide the training of journalists to lead the political fight for Africa's liberation. And if you read the memoranda, about three of them, which sought to establish this institution, the Pan-Africanist nature of this institution was very clear. Today, we are seeking to do two things:
1. To lift it up to a tertiary institution and also
2. To relocate it to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.
A tertiary institution by definition
enjoys academic autonomy and therefore the comment made that there is no clause providing this institution with academic autonomy is not really relevant. The National Council for Tertiary Education defines tertiary institutions and tertiary institutions have certain basic freedoms. Therefore, once we agree to lift this to become a tertiary institution, the National Council for Tertiary Education provides all the freedoms of tertiary institutions including financial autonomy; that is there.
Mr. Speaker, it is also important that we
are relocating. We are relocating because the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports is responsible for training in the manpower requirements of this country
Mr. H. Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
and therefore training of manpower required should not be linked to the special nature of Ministries. If you want to train mining engineers, it does not mean that the mining university should be at the Ministry of Mines, no. All should be at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports that has that primary responsibility. It becomes easier to mobilize financial and human resources to support the institution and I think this is also one of the objects of today's transfer.
Mr. Speaker, as has been said by other
hon. Members who have spoken, the GETFund Law did not allow the GIJ to benefit from it because it was not a tertiary institution. With this law, when we apply a formula to distribute resources to tertiary institutions under the GETFund law, the GIJ will benefit from it.
Mr. Speaker, this Bill is long overdue, we all see the importance of the journalist in the development of any nation. Indeed it is referred to as the fourth estate. And the need to make sure that the quality of your journalism is high, is very, very important.

It is our hope and belief that this upliftment to tertiary status and the relocation of the institution into the Ministry of Education will go a long way to improve the training of our journalists and enhance their work in this country.

As to their ability to award degrees, it

will obviously come once they become tertiary. It is for them to seek certain affiliations with certain institutions and already they have relationship with the University of Ghana, Legon, and with the School of Communications Studies. So we should not be worried about awarding their own diplomas and degrees.

It may also be relevant to mention that the training colleges in Ghana are already going to award diplomas and very soon legislation will be brought here to make them tertiary as well. And arrangements for them to award diploma certificates have been agreed upon through the University of Cape Coast. Mr. Speaker, I think we should support this enhancement of the School of Journalism and its relocation with all the force that it requires.
Mr. K. A. Twumasi 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank hon. Members for the contributions they have made and hope that they will give the approval through the registration of yes votes.
Question put and motion agreed to. The Ghana Institute of Journalism Bill
was accordingly read a Second time.
Mr. Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Item 6 - Motion - Attorney-General and Minister for Justice?
Mr. F. K. Owusu-Adjapong 11:10 a.m.
Mr.
Speaker, the Attorney-General is not immediately available, and even if he were to be available, I believe that the prayer on the lips of every Ghanaian today is that our boys should deliver by the close of the day. And being the representatives of the people, the Leadership has ensured that today's programme is organized in such a way that we shall have the opportunity to continue with our prayers so that by 7.00 p.m. today, we would all be jubilating. I hope tomorrow, we shall get the opportunity to express our congratulatory messages.
Mr. Speaker, it is in this light that
the Leadership would want to join you in extending our goodwill message and prayers for success to our gallant boys in far away Germany. We hope that He will
be with them and that they will end up with a successful day for the people of Ghana.
For this reason, I beg to move, that this House do now adjourn till tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning when we shall be expressing our congratulatory messages to our Black Stars.
Ms. Akua Sena Dansua 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
I rise to second the motion, and in doing so I wish to add that the Minority caucus is also solidly behind the Black Stars and we are praying that tomorrow by this time, we would all be in white to celebrate their victory.
Question put and motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT 11:10 a.m.
  • The House was accordingly adjourned at 11.15 a.m. till 23rd June, 2006 at 10.00 a.m.