Debates of 15 May 2007

MR. SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10 a.m.
WELCOME ADDRESS 10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10 a.m.
Order! Order!
Hon. Members, it is my greatest pleasure to welcome you to the Second Meeting of the Third Session of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. I am hopeful that you have returned from the break better refreshed to continue with the tasks ahead of us. We are thankful to God for His guidance.
Hon. Members, this Meeting would consider a number of very important Bills which include the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Bill, the Geneva Convention Bill, the Data Capture Registration Protection of Personal Information Bill and many others. Instruments to regulate the production of gas and electricity will also be laid.
11. Edward Yeko, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Labourer 12. Patrick Akolgo, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Labourer 13. Stephen Adjei-Baffour, Esq... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Labourer
14. Frederick Dodoo, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Labourer Cleaners
1. Felicia Gyamah (Ms.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Senior Cleaner 2. Florence Afful (Ms.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Senior Cleaner 3. Elizabeth Kotey (Ms.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Senior Cleaner 4. Augustina Ayitey Adjin (Mrs.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Senior Cleaner 5. Dora D. Armah (Ms.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner 6. Stella Boadi (Ms.) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner 7. Mary Dodoo (Ms) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner 8. Abubakar Ishaaq, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner 9. Maxwell N. S. A. Akwei, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner
10. Isaac Quayson, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Cleaner 11. Michael Dzanenu .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Cleaner 12. Helena Antwi, (Ms) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner 13. Solomon Coffie, Esq. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner 14. Regina Paula Gbevedzi, (Ms) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Cleaner 15. Thelma Anim Agyei (Ms) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Cleaner 16. Seth Obeng Ameyaw .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. Cleaner
Gardeners
xxi OFFICERS -- Contd.
I therefore call on hon. Members to lend their maximum support to Leadership to enable the House successfully dispose of these businesses. Finally, let me reiterate the need for hon. Members to be regular and punctual at our Sittings. Thank you.
Hon. Members, we have in the House, the Speaker from Ogun State of Nigeria. She is hon. Titi Ofemi and she is here with a number of Members of Parliament. Let us welcome them to the House. [Hear! Hear!] Hon. Titi Ofemi, we wish you a happy stay in Ghana. Thank you.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE 10 a.m.
PRESIDENT 10 a.m.
PRESIDENTOF THE REPUBLIC 10 a.m.
OF GHANA 10 a.m.
SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT 10 a.m.
OFFICE OF PARLIAMENT 10 a.m.
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT 10 a.m.
CASTLE 10 a.m.
THE CASTLE-OSU 10 a.m.
APPOINTMENT OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE 10 a.m.
SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT 10 a.m.
THE CLERK TO PARLIAMENT 10 a.m.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE 10 a.m.
ACCRA 10 a.m.
SCHOOLS ATTENDED 10 a.m.
DEGREES OBTAINED 10 a.m.
OTHER QUALIFICATIONS 10 a.m.
CLASS UPPER 10 a.m.
POSTGRADUATE TRAINING 10 a.m.
GHANA POLICE COLLEGE - - 10 a.m.
SIX MONTHS 10 a.m.
WORK EXPERIENCE 10 a.m.
AS PUBLIC PROSECUTOR IN THE GHANA POLICE SERVICE 10 a.m.
THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon. Members, Correc- tion of Votes and Proceedings, Friday, 23rd March 2007.[No corrections were made.]
Hon. Members, we have a lot of Official
Reports and I will go through them, but if there are any mistakes or omissions, you
are advised to bring them to the attention of the Table -- 22nd February 2007, 23rd February 2007, 27th February 2007, 28th February 2007, 1st March 2007, 2nd March 2007, 5th March 2007, 8th March 2007, 9th March 2007, 13th March 2007,14th March 2007, 15th March 2007, 16th March 2007, 20th March 2007, 21st March 2007 and 22nd March 2007.
Hon. Members, we now move to item 3 -- Questions. Is the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning in the House?
Mr. Owusu-Adjapong 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I crave your indulgence to allow the hon. Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, who is also a Member of Parliament, to answer the Questions.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning?
rose
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Yes, hon. Minority Chief Whip?
Mr. John Tia 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Majority Leader has not provided any reasons why the hon. Minister is not here. And is he just requesting that the House should allow the hon. Deputy Minister to answer the Questions? I think we would want to know what authentic reason the hon. Minister has for not showing up today.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon. Majority Leader, you may wish to comment on this.
Mr. Owusu-Adjapong 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in fact, I am really surprised because he is really challenging your authority to accept what you think is right in keeping the Business of the House in shape -- [Interruptions] -- No, because the Speaker says yes, he can come and answer the Questions and if you the hon. Member is now saying no, the Speaker was wrong -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon. Majority Leader, you address the Chair. [Laughter.]
Mr. Owusu-Adjapong 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, if it is your wish that I disclose to them where the hon. Minister is, I will do that.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon. Minority Chief Whip, what do you want to say?
Mr. Tia 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am really surprised. I think that the campaign that the hon. Member has undertaken has exhausted him.
Mr. Speaker, it is the normal practice that hon. Members of this House should be properly informed about the reasons

for the absence of a substantive Minister, especially one like the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning. I am surprised that he rather doubts your integrity in permitting this question or request for explanation.

So Mr. Speaker, I think that the hon. Majority Leader owes this House an explanation about the absence of the hon. Minister for Finance and Economic Planning before we allow what he terms as “practice in this House”.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon. Minority Chief
Whip, I have already given him leave, so let him go on.
Question number 816 -- hon. Yaw
Effah-Baafi, Member of Parliament for Kintampo South?
Mr. Alex Kyeremeh 10:10 a.m.
I am the Member
of Parliament for Techiman North. The hon. Member for Kintampo South is on his way to this very honourable House and has asked me to ask this Question on his behalf.
Mr. Speaker 10:10 a.m.
I grant you leave; ask
your Question.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 10:10 a.m.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND 10:10 a.m.
ECONOMIC PLANNING 10:10 a.m.
Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak 10:10 a.m.
Mr.
Speaker, in the hon. Deputy Minister's Answer, he said in the 2006 Budget, an amount of ¢81.1 million was released as part of the Labour Department Service vote to cater for some of these claims. But Mr. Speaker, when you look at the Answer, when he said that the total outstanding claims is well over nine billion cedis -- I would want to ask the hon. Deputy Minister whether they really have the commitment to settle these claims because the ¢81 million is less than ten per cent of even the total outstanding claims. Does he not think that they will be inconveniencing a lot of claimants?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in fact, I stated that the Legal Division of my Ministry is actually working with the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment to determine the genuineness of the claims. We have to establish whether it is genuine before we actually pay. That is why the amount for 2006 was ¢81 million. They have not been able to establish the genuineness of the claim. So as and when the claims are certified as genuine we will go in and pay for it. So we are committed to pay everything as long as it is genuine.
Mr. Stephen Kunsu 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, may I know from the hon. Minister whether his Ministry has plans to adjust upward the amount of compensation due to the claimants since the amount due would have been eroded by the time of payment.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, my Ministry has no such plans to increase it upwards.
Mr. J. K. Gidisu 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, looking at paragraph 3 of the hon. Deputy Minister's Answer, he noted that it was the decision of his Ministry to take over the liabilities and pay them outside the ministerial budget of the Ministry responsible for Labour.
But looking again at the last paragraph on page 3, he said that in 2006, the amount released was on the vote of the Labour Department which is under the same Ministry. Does it mean that they have gone back to pay the outstanding amounts through the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member's observation is right. We think the right place to pay compensation workers who have actually been injured should be rather not under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, but under the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment where they actually belong.
Yes, that is the process that we are trying to evolve. Rather than paying from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, it should be properly paid under the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment vote.
Mr. Mahama Ayariga 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister in his response indicated that his Ministry has to satisfy itself of the authenticity of claims that have been made.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that compensation is either determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, or if the parties so agree, they determine the compensation and the Ministry for Manpower, Youth and Employment would indicate to the Ministry how much is to

be paid. But in his statement, is he saying that he has no confidence in the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment that when they inform the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that this amount has to be paid, they would still doubt the authenticity of the claim that has been made? Is it just a deliberate ploy to avoid payment of compensation to workers who are entitled to those compensation payment?
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon. Member for Bawku Central, this is not a supplementary question.
Loans to Other Countries
Q. 898. Mr. James K. Avedzi asked the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning whether Ghana had ever given out loans to any country and if he would provide a list of the countries and the terms and conditions of the said loans.
Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Prof. Gyan- Baffour): Mr. Speaker, Ghana, it would be recalled, gave out some loans to some neighbour-ing African countries in the late 1950s and early 1960s. These countries were the Republics of Mali and Guinea. They were each given ten million pounds at that time.
Apart from these two countries, we are not aware of any other loan or loans Ghana has given to any country after that time.
Mr. Avedzi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the second part of the Question is asking for the terms and conditions of the said loans. Can the hon. Minister provide the terms and conditions of those two loans?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
these loans were given in the 1950s and the 1960s. I have no idea what the terms were, but if he wants me to go into the
archives and get them for him, I can do that, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Avedzi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to find out from the hon. Minister if we still maintain those two loans on our books of account.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot confirm or deny that at this point. If he wants me to get that information for him, I would; but he has to be aware of the fact that the public accounts is an open book and one can actually check from that account whether it is in there or ask hon. Sallas-Mensah because he knows more of that than I do.
Mr. Avedzi 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised the hon. Minister is giving this Answer to the whole House. This is the Ministry that is responsible for our finances and debts and if he cannot tell us whether we maintain those two loans that we have given out to countries in our records, then what are we doing?
I am surprised, but I want to find out whether the Ministry has ever taken the pain to find out why countries are giving out loans to Ghana but we are rather not giving out to other countries. Has the Ministry ever done any studies to find out?
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Order! Order! Hon. Member for Ketu North, do you have any supplementary question?
Mr. Avedzi 10:20 a.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am asking whether the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has ever taken the pains to study why other countries give loans to Ghana but we rather do not give out loans to other countries.
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
That is not a supple- mentary question.
Mr. E. T. Mensah 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised that he does not have the records.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think the issue here is not about the loans that we have contracted, rather it is about the loans that we have given out. They are two different things. Those that we have contracted -- the question was not about that and if the Question was about that I would have given him the entire list. Of course, we have all of them in the Budget Statement; it is all there.
So it is not something that is not in the public domain. If he wants it, he can go in there and he would see all the loans in there. But I think I do not understand his question because his question is talking about loans that we have contracted. This one is about loans that we have given to the two countries.
Maj. (Dr) (Alhaji) Mustapha Ahmed (retd): Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the hon. Minister whether the coup d'etat of 1966 had any effect on the recovery of these two loans that were given out.
Mr. Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon. Member, this is not a supplementary question.
Mr. Samuel Sallas-Mensah 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to find out from the hon. Deputy Minister whether those loans that we gave to countries like Guinea and others which are still outstanding in our books -- Do we have intention of writing them off in future and when exactly?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. Member is actually agreeing
to the fact that they are still on the books so that question actually answers his question. But then the issue is whether we are going to write it off. Mr. Speaker, we have not made any decision yet but if we make any decision we have to come to this House so we would let the House know.
Payment of Arrears of Income Tax
Q. 899. Ms. Akua Sena Dansua asked the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning which companies were in arrears of payment of income tax to Government, how much does each of the companies owe, and how these debts will be collected before the end of the financial year.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the position of indebtedness of companies to the State is fluid. There is always a grace period of thirty days after every quarter within which companies are supposed to settle their indebtedness. Moreover, the company in arrears can arrange with the Commissioner to pay in instalments.
All indebted companies, I am told, have some kind of arrangements to settle their indebtedness.
As at last Friday when the data was compiled, there were 5,091 companies in arrears but the situation has changed, as I speak. It will not be prudent to mention names of companies because being in arrears is not illegal, however, mentioning names can embarrass a company which has not done anything wrong.
I would however urge firms that are in arrears to pay promptly because it is out of these taxes that national development is funded.
Ms. Dansua 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to first place on record the fact that the Question was meant for 2006. Secondly,

the hon. Deputy Minister said in his Answer “as at last Friday”. Which “last Friday” is he referring to? Is it the “last Friday” in 2007 or the one in 2006?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, as at last week Friday, in 2007.
Ms. Dansua 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Deputy Minister mentioned the fact that mentioning the names of companies would embarrass them. I would want to know whether he is aware that some time this year, some companies were actually mentioned in the newspapers as having defaulted in the payment of income taxes and that some companies were actually locked up in the north industrial areas.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I heard it on air as the hon. Member did but I am not sure that it was only in arrears but maybe some form of delinquency. But the Question here relates to arrears and so I think they are two separate things.
Ms. Dansua 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to confirm to the hon. Deputy Minister that the companies were locked up for defaulting in the payment of income tax and not involvement in delinquency. Mr. Speaker, so what is the hon. Deputy Minister telling us? Is he saying that the companies have paid up to date?
Mr. Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Is this your supplemen- tary Question?
Ms. Dansua 10:30 a.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I would want to know whether the 5,091 companies have paid up to date.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that they have not paid up to date but some of them have made arrangements with the Commissioner for
Mr. E. K. Bandua 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in fact the hon. Deputy Minister has told us that the arrangement is that a grace period is given and then if they are not able to pay within the grace period, the company in arrears can make arrangements with the Commissioner to pay by instalment. Beyond this arrangement, are there any measures in place to ensure that if the company continues to default, they are brought to book, to ensure that the indebtedness is paid?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, if they become delinquent, if after the agreement with the Commissioner they still fail to do that, the Commissioner has the option to take them to court. And in fact, I think it is in that regard that hon. Dansua said that some companies' premises were actually locked up. So they have processes that they go through in trying to retrieve the money.
Mr. Samuel Sallas-Mensah 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to find out from

the hon. Deputy Minister why the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the Commissioner for IRS is requesting employees who have other means of income apart from their salaries to file their annual returns whilst the law has been changed. I would want to know why they are doing that.
Mr. Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon. Member for Upper West Akim, this is not a supplementary question.
Mr. A. K. Agbesi 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the hon. Deputy Minister whether he could supply the list of the companies mentioned here to at least the questioner since we want to know the companies which are still indebted.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, there are about 5,000 companies that are in arrears. I may not be able to give the hon. Member all of them but if the hon. Member is interested in a specific segment, whether in his region, district or a certain group of them, I can confide in her and give it to her on the caveat that the thing is fluid, and so whoever is owing arrears today does not mean that he is going to owe arrears by tomorrow. So that is the caveat, and that is the reason why I do not want to mention names.
Measures in Place to Cushion the Poor
Q. 900. Mr. David Oppon-Kusi asked the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning what measures were in place to help cushion the poor against the impact of the global rise in crude oil prices.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, re-cognizing the adverse impact of the increasing price of crude oil and refined petroleum products on the international market, the Government has put in place a number of measures to lessen or mitigate the effects of this price hike on the poor in our society.
Among these measures, Mr. Speaker, are:
The conversion of the Ad Valorem Excise Duty to Specific Duty. This has controlled increase in ex-pump prices as crude prices increased leading to a significant reduction in the excise duties on kerosene, premix and diesel by 29 per cent, 28.7 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
The Government abolished these ad valorem taxes which were percentages of the ex-refinery price of petroleum products, and now, the excise duty is fixed and flat even when petroleum product prices fluctuate on the international market and by so doing, the impact on the economic fortunes of the poor is lessened.
The Social Impact Mitigation Levy in the petroleum price build-up introduced by Government also allows Government to use such funds to better the lot of the poor through social programmes like the Metro Mass Transport (where school pupils/the aged, et cetera board the buses free of charge). Funds accruing from this levy are partly used as capitation grant for school children and also support the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE). Of course, it also helps in the school feeding programme.
The NPA has the responsibility for monitoring and fixing the maximum indicative prices and allowing the Oil Marketing Companies to set their own price. This process has promoted competition at the service

stations, thereby giving the poor the option to choose from where to buy oil products. This in effect has given the poor value for their money.

Cross-Subsidy Levy, within the price build-up. Mr. Speaker, there is a component called cross-subsidy levy which is net revenue neutral. In this, the petroleum product widely used by the poor (kerosene and gas oil which are used for cooking, lighting and mass transportation, i.e. diesel oil) are subsidized by users of premium gasoline which is widely used by the middle upper income and the well-to-do in society.

Delivery of Special Product. Mr. Speaker, the Government in its efforts to help the poor has been delivering premix fuel and marine gas oil to fishermen at subsidized prices thus reducing their cost of production and making more money available to them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Oppon-Kusi 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in terms of the direct impact on the poor, there are two disturbing issues that I would ask the hon. Deputy Minister to address. Mr. Speaker, when prices of petroleum products go up, prices of fuel go up, but when they come down, I never see the prices coming down.
Again, the value chain of kerosene distribution, prices seem to continue upwards so that those in the hinterland seem to buy kerosene at about twice the price that is agreed on. What measures are being put in place to make sure that such direct impact is taken off the poor?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
in the first instance, prices of petroleum products have been going up with time, but it is not true that it has never come down; it has come down at least once or twice, as I know of it. But Mr. Speaker, the issue about the pricing of petroleum products is not within the purview of the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is only responsible for the tax component of this build-up. The price- fixing is actually done by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA); the Minister has no control over that.
Notwithstanding that, I think those cross-subsidy levies which are actually percentages and of course the Social Impact Mitigation levies are used to cushion the poor; and that is how the Government actually minimizes the impact of price increases on the poor. As to the prices in the local communities, I am not aware of the doubling of these prices, but I think that it is actually the market forces that are doing that.
Mr. Lee Ocran 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in the hon. Deputy Minister's Answer, he said that the petroleum products widely used by the poor are subsidized by users of premium gasoline, which is widely used by the middle upper income class and the well-to-do in the society. Is the hon. Minister aware that most taxies use premium petroleum products, and by this is he saying that those who ride in taxies are the poor or the middle class in the society?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, most of the poor in the society, reside in the rural communities and taxies are less used in those rural communities. They use trotro and that is what I mean by gasoline -- using diesel oil. Taxies, yes, if you are not more affluent than the one using trotro you would never use a taxi.
Mr. Ocran 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Deputy Minister is committing blasphemy in the House. How can he say that it is only the affluent who use taxies? In my constituency, which is a rural constituency, the taxi is the only means of transporting people.
Mr. Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon. Member for Jomoro, that is not a question.
Mr. Agbesi 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, my concern
is about the price of kerosene which is used by the poor. What steps is the Minister taking to make sure that the price of kerosene is drastically reduced to the manageable limits of our poor in the villages?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the hon. Member means by “manageable limits”. But what I know is that we are using the cross-subsidy, subsidizing the fuel that is used by the rich and giving the poor some respite in what they pay; that is, kerosene. That is what they are referring to as the respite to the poor. It is the subsidy on the rich.
Mr. Pele Abuga 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in respect of the conversion of the ad valorem and excise duty to specific duty, it is stated in the first paragraph, that the excise duty is fixed and flat even when petroleum prices fluctuate on the international market and by so doing the impact on the economic fortunes of the poor is lessened.
Mr. Speaker, if the prices of petroleum products fall and the ad valorem remains specific and fixed, does he not think that it would affect the fortunes of the poor?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
hon. Member is right; if it falls it stays there. But the most important thing is that I do not think in recent history, we have seen a drastic fall in the price of
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.


petroleum; almost all the time it goes up. So it actually cushions the poor. But more importantly, what it does is, it gives some predictability to the poor as to how much kerosene would cost. So in that sense, yes, it stabilizes the expenditure of the poor and that is also part of the process of mitigating the impact of the ups and downs of the poor.
Dr. Kwame Ampofo 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in his Answer, the hon. Minister refers to cross-subsidy levy to be revenue-neutral. I want to know in what respect it is revenue- neutral.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, what I mean here is the situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Whatever is subsidized for the poor is taken away from the rich. So in that case, it is revenue- neutral.
Dr. Ampofo 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, revenue- neutrality means that when you add all what you took away and what you added you should get zero. Never have we ever gotten zero in these calculations and I have raised that issue over and over again. Therefore, currently it is actually not revenue-neutral and something has to be done about it -- [Interruption.] Mr. Speaker, I am only asking the hon. Minister to explain why in this definition “revenue-neutrality” really is not neutral, but positive - they are generating revenue from it.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. Member is looking at the details of this analysis, but I do not think the details are here. But the objective is to make it neutral and therefore we painstakingly calculate it based on the fall and then the demand on both sides. “Neutrality” means that, there is an equal and opposite reaction from both sides and therefore it neutralizes; and that is the
import of what I am saying. Payment of Salaries on Weekly/
Bi-Weekly Basis
Q. 941. Mr. Charles S. Hodogbey asked the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning when workers in Ghana would be privileged to be paid weekly or at least, bi-weekly instead of the present monthly pay structure.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is the ultimate objective of Government through Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) to pay workers weekly or bi-weekly. This idea, good as it may be, requires a thorough costs and benefits analysis to ensure that currently it provides maximum utility to the society.
Mr. Speaker, the payroll running system takes about seven working days, and during this processing period everything else comes to a halt. The process has huge related costs such as the distribution of materials including pay slips, vouchers, bank advice, et cetera.
Paying workers bi-weekly will mean a doubling of the payroll processing period and the cost involved. Weekly payment will mean four times as much and unless the current process is improved very well through the use of very sophisticated technology, the difficulty that we will encounter may outweigh the benefit.
Mr. Speaker, this is a major fiscal policy issue which must be laid before Cabinet for approval before definite timelines could be set. The CAGD would also have to confer with various stakeholders such as the banks in order to get their views before we could be firm on implementing this novelty.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in his
Answer, the hon. Deputy Minister stated that the process has huge related cost such as the distribution of materials including pay slips, vouchers and bank advice. I would like to know if his Ministry has done some feasibility studies and if that has been done, how much is the cost?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
what I said was that a decision has not been made yet. Therefore, we do not have the cost benefit analysis done yet.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think
when we talk of payroll systems, we have two categories, the public sector and the private sector. In the hon. Deputy Minister's Answer, it seems to me that he is relating it to only the public sector. Has he floated this idea to the private sector, and has the private sector told him it would cost them too much to implement?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
the hon. Member is right. My focus here was on the public sector. The private sector as he really stated it, is the private sector. They have the right to pay their workers daily or monthly or weekly. The Govern- ment does not have much control over that.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
process is now being implemented in the Ghana Armed Forces. In his Answer, he is trying to say that the cost is so much. Is he trying to say that the cost to the Ghana Armed Forces is more than the benefits that the Ghana Armed Forces is enjoying?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, if the Armed Forces is doing it, then the benefits exceed the cost there. Maybe, the hon. Member when he was with the Ghana Armed Forces, they were paid twice a month. But what I have been told is that they are no more paid twice in a month. Rather, they are paid currently on the 15th
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:50 a.m.


instead of at the end of the month. So it is 15th to 15th, and that is one month.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the workers of Ghana because they are paid monthly, before the month ends they are forced to go to relatives and friends to borrow money. Therefore, I think as a government policy, it would be better to think of the workers than the cost involved.
Has the Government got any plan that will alleviate the problems of Ghanaian workers borrowing money at a wrong time so that in future, this issue could be resolved? The question is, what plans has he got in terms of alleviating the problem of borrowing money by Ghanaian workers?
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I said that that is the ultimate goal but then we will have to study the cost and benefits to ensure that we do not do it just because we have to do it. We have to do it well analyzed, making sure that we are actually giving to the society the maximum utility. Mr. Speaker, that is the position.
Ms. Dansua 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, from the hon. Minister's response, it is obvious that a lot of work will have to be done before workers can be paid weekly or bi-weekly. But recently, the Public Sector Minister went out to announce that Government was going to pay workers on weekly or bi-weekly basis.
So I want to know from the hon. Minister whether it was their Ministry that gave the Public Sector Minister the go-ahead to make the announcement, when the work had actually not been done.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish the Public Sector Minister could have answered this question, because I do not know about what the hon. Member is
Mr. Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon. Deputy Minister, thank you very much for appearing to answer these Questions. You are discharged.
At the Commencement of Public
Business -- Item 5 -- Committee Sittings. Majority Leader?
Majority Leader/Minister for Parlia 10:50 a.m.
None

Adjapong): Mr. Speaker, today being the first day, I believe the Chairmen of the committees would want to have some consultations with their members here and there. Therefore, it is appropriate that we adjourn the House till tomorrow at ten o'clock in the morning. I therefore beg to move, that this House do now adjourn till tomorrow at ten o'clock in the morning
Mr. Lee Ocran 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT 10:50 a.m.