Debates of 23 May 2008

MR. FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:17 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:17 a.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:17 a.m.
Hon. Members, correction of Votes and Proceedings for Thursday, 22nd May, 2008. Pages 1. . . 8 [No correction was made.]
Hon. Members, we also have the

Majority Leader/Minister for Par-

liamentary Affairs (Mr. A. O. Aidooh): Mr. Speaker, before that may I seek your indulgence to have item 6 done first?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:17 a.m.
You want
to have the 6 done first?
Fair enough. That is, the Commence- ment of Public Business.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 10:17 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
I do not have any problem with the hon. Majority Leader wanting us to take this matter over any other business. We should be very careful. I am the Ranking Member for the Business Committee that plans business for this honourable House. Yesterday, we were at the Business Committee meeting and nobody indicated to us that any business of this nature will be done. We should be very careful. This House is not an appendage of the

Executive, and the Executive should not be planning business for this House. It is a very dangerous development.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:17 a.m.
Point
well made. Yes, any reaction from you, hon. Majority Leader?
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 10:17 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I
take notice of his concern. Mr. Speaker, but ordinarily in parliamentary life, urgent government matters do arise and they are handled this way. And in fact, this morning he made a point and I explained it to him before Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, may I have them laid as requested?
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:17 a.m.
Very
well. Yes, former Majority Leader?
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:17 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
Member of Parliament for Sekondi -- [Laughter] -- Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the point raised by the hon. Deputy Minority Leader, but certainly to give the impression that this House is being governed from the Castle is most inappropriate. We know that some of these things arise. He has been in government before but to make certain statements like this on the floor, Mr. Speaker, I do -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:17 a.m.
I do not
know why you have a problem with what the hon. Deputy Minority Leader said. I think the point he made has been well made. It has been accepted by the current Majority Leader, that he has taken notice of it and he understands it. The point he was making was that as the Ranking Member for the Business Committee, any matter that would be brought before this House, at least, he should be given wind of it, and therefore, it is a point well made. I do not see your problem, hon. Member for Sekondi.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:17 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
my problem is that yes, the point he made is valid. But on the floor of the House, to make a statement that this House is now governed from the Castle, is most unfortunate. That is the point I am making. The Majority Leader has made his point. I, as a Member of Parliament have also made my point. That is the point.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:17 a.m.
Hon. Member for Sekondi, the Deputy Minority Leader has not made any statement that is wrong. He is making a statement of fact. He says our business is not planned from the Castle, that is all. And do not think he is indicating that it has been planned from the Castle. Let us continue. Commence- ment of Public Business -- Item 6.
BILLS -- FIRST READING 10:17 a.m.
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE 10:17 a.m.
Majority Leader/Minister for Parliamentary Affairs (Mr. A. O. Aidooh 10:17 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Committee met yesterday, Thursday, 22nd May 2008 and determined Business of the House for the Second Week of the Second Meeting.
Mr. Speaker, the Committee according- ly submits its report as follows 10:17 a.m.
Arrangement of Business
Question(s)
Mr. Speaker, the Committee has
programmed nineteen (19) Questions to be answered by various Ministers during the week.
The details are as follows:
No. of Question(s)
i. Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing -- 6
ii. Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Environment --
6
iii. Minister for Transportation -- 7
Total -- 19
Mr. Speaker, in all, nineteen (19)
Mr. Speaker, the Committee according- ly submits its report as follows 10:17 a.m.
Questions are expected to be answered in the Second Week.
Papers and Reports
Mr. Speaker, Papers and Reports may be laid and presented respectively for consideration by the House.
Bills
Mr. Speaker, Bills may be presented to the House and those which have already been presented would be taken through the various stages of passage.
Statements and Motions
Mr. Speaker may allow Statements and Motions may also be debated.
Reminder to Committees with Referrals
Mr. Speaker, the Business Committee wishes to remind Committees with outstanding referrals to expedite action on them.
Mr. Speaker, the Standing Orders Committee has commenced a review of the Standing Orders of the House. Mr. Speaker, a report would be presented to the House as soon as deliberations are completed for consideration by the House.
Mr. Speaker, Leadership is in the process of inviting officials of the Electoral Commission to brief the House about the latest preparation and its programmes for the conduct of the 2008 general elections. Hon. Members would soon be informed about progress of negotiations with the Electoral Commission. Conclusion
Mr. Speaker, in accordance with

Standing Order 160 (2) and subject to Standing Order 53, your Committee submits to this honourable House the order in which the Business of the House shall be taken during the week.

Questions --

Minister for Health -- 1313, 1338,1339,1341,1342,1345 and

1349

Committee Sittings.

Questions --

Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing -- 1244, 1255, 1286, 1310, 1328 and 1332.

Committee Sittings.

Question --

Minister for Local Government Rural Development and Environment -- 1409, 1444, 1460, 1493, 1494 and

1510.

Committee Sittings.

Friday, 30th May 2008.

Questions --

Minister for Transportation -- 998, 1002, 1009, 1013, 1014 and 1015.

Committee Sittings.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon. Members, that is for you, the proposed Business for the week. Any comments thereof? In the absence of any comments on the proposed Business as read by the
Majority Leader and Chairman of the Business Committee, we will adopt it for the interim, and then subject to any changes that may come we will amend that.

Then we move on to Question time -- Minister for Transportation if he is here. Come and answer a few Questions.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 10:30 a.m.
MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION 10:30 a.m.
Minister for Transportation (Dr. Richard Anane) 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to first clarify that these Questions were submitted some long time ago and therefore, there have been some few changes.
Mr. Speaker, the Ts i r i Kasa- Kwamekrom which is 6.0 kilometres, the Akaa Yaw No. 2 to Bompa road which is 5.0 kilometres and Tadiani Junction to Tadiani Ahombrase -- 6.0 kilometres, really are not roads but tracks located in the Biakoye District of the Volta Region.
Mr. Speaker, these tracks currently do
Minister for Transportation (Dr. Richard Anane) 10:30 a.m.


not form part of the classified 42,000- kilometre feeder road network in the country. Mr. Speaker, it would be very helpful to us if the hon. Colleague could through the District Assembly get these tracks prioritized in order for them to attract the necessary technical assistance from the Department of Feeder Roads for their development.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know if the normal process is for a District Assembly to prioritize roads in a particular area before the Ministry takes over.
Dr. Anane 10:30 a.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this recommended procedure is actually in recognition of the country's decentralization process which always promotes a bottom-up development process instead of a top to bottom process and therefore, this has always been recommended.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know, if it is the people who normally use these roads, why should the initiation come from the District Assembly instead of the people.
Mr. Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon. Member, what is your question? What kind of question are you asking? Would you ask some other question?
Mr. Hodogbey 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the question I am asking is, it is the people who use these roads who are supposed to initiate -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon. Member, how will they do that? Will you ask another question?
Mr Hodogbey 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, why should the demand come through the District Assembly?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Very well,
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.


hon. Minister?
Dr. Anane 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate my hon. Colleague also does understand that the District Assembly concept is a process of bringing governance to the doorstep of the people. And therefore what is done from the District Assembly really is a representation of the needs of the people. They have Assemblymen who are supposed to be in touch with them and therefore whatever the needs are, the Assemblymen will normally transmit through the District Assemblies.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, listening to the hon. Minister carefully, he did indicate that the District Assembly should put it on its priority road list. Is it the case that the District Assembly must put it on priority road list because the Department of Feeder Roads is decentralized and therefore, they will then choose the roads that they wanted to do? And where the District Assembly does not choose that road then where does the Member of Parliament who represents the people stand -- to bring their concerns to the floor of this honourable House?
Dr. Anane 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
Department of Feeder Roads is undergoing decentralization and constitute part of the District Assembly. The hon. Member of Parliament for the area is a member of the District Assembly and therefore, whatever happens in the district normally involves both the Member of Parliament and the Department of Feeder Roads which is just the technical agency advising the District Assembly on the development of the feeder road network in the particular district.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Bowiri Odumase-Fabiakobo
(Lakeside) etc, Roads
Q. 960 Mr. Hodogbey (on behalf of
Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua) asked the Minister for Transportation when the following feeder roads in the Biakoye constituency would be constructed:
( i ) B o w i r i O d u m a s e - Fabiakobo (Lakeside)
( i i ) B o w i r i A b o a b o - Bowiri Aboabonyigbe
(iii) Bowiri Takrabe-Bowirikubease
(iv) Okrabe-Apesokobo
Dr. Anane 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, again, these listed feeder roads from Bowiri Odumase to Fabiakobo (Lakeside), Bowiri Aboabo to Bowiri Aboabonyigbe, Bowiri Takrabe to Bowirikubease and Okrabe to Apesokobo are also tracks located again in that particular district in the Volta Region.
Mr. Speaker, these four tracks as I stated earlier do not constitute a part of the pattern of feeder roads classified network in the country and therefore, it will be very helpful to us if the District Assembly could prioritize them and seek the necessary technical assistance from the Department of Feeder Roads for their development.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to call on our hon. Colleagues to be involved in the selection of such projects for our attention but if there is any difficulty we should be contacted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Hodogbey 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, now that we all know that it is the District Assemblies which have to initiate these roads, how long does it take, after the initiation process come to his Ministry, to initiate progress on the request.
Dr. Anane 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the District Assemblies may prioritize the projects but the status of the projects may determine the length of time that it will take for their execution in addition to the possibility of funding sources. If they are tracks and they are to be mainstreamed into the feeder road network, they have to go through studies, design and other things to help us determine the cost; and then we have to go in for costing and seek for finance; then we may execute after the appropriate procurement process.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Manso Amenfi-Kwaboakrom, etc. Roads
Q. 965. Mr. Emmanuel Owusu- Mainu (on behalf of Mr. George Kofi Arthur) asked the Minister for Transportation when the following roads would be reconstructed:
(i) Manso Amenfi-Kwaboakrom
(ii) Manso Amenfi-Subriho
(iii) Manso Amenfi-Jordan
(iv) Bonuama-Agave
( v ) K o f i e k r o m - Nkwantanan/ Semkrom
Dr. Anane 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Manso Amenfi-Kwaboakrom, Manso Amenfi- Subriho, Manso Amenfi-Jordan, Bonuama-Agave, and Kofiekrom- Nkwantanan/Semkrom feeder roads are all un-engineered and are located in the Amenfi West District of the Western Region. Mr. Speaker, these roads which are all un-engineered were not recommended through the District Assembly for our implementation under the 15-kilometre district road surfacing programme. However, because they are part of the feeder road network, they will
receive some routine maintenance to make them motorable.
Mr. Speaker, in line with the decentra- lization programme, it is hoped that the District Assembly would prioritize them in order for them to receive longer-lasting interventions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Dwirigum-Kakra Feeder Road

Q. 966. Mr. Emmanuel Owusu-Mainu

(on behalf of Mr. George Kofi Arthur) asked the Minister for Transportation why construction works on Dwirigum-Kakra road (via Prestea) has not started.
Dr. Anane 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
Dwirigum-Kakra feeder road forms part of the Prestea-Dwirigum-Pensanum feeder road which is 52 kilometres. This road is engineered and is located in the Wassa Amenfi West District of the Western Region.
The Prestea-Dwirigum-Pensanum feeder road together with other roads within the same area totalling 74.6 kilometres were awarded for routine maintenance in February 2007 at a contract sum of GH¢62,000.
The project which should have been completed in August 2007 is only 31 per cent completed due to the slow pace of work by the contractor.
Works done are the reshaping of 17 kilometres of road from Pensanum to Dwirigum section and the construction of two halves of culverts.
The contractor on the project, Messrs Dauda Salia Abdulai & Company Limited is yet to put in claims for works done. And Mr. Speaker, since no certificates

have been presented, the question of non- payment for works does not therefore arise.

Mr. Speaker, this project has been recommended to the District Tender Review Board for termination since February, 2008. The Ministry has not taken kindly to the delay in terminating the contract, and consequently, the offending officers are to be sanctioned appropriately.
Mr. Owusu-Mainu 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the hon. Minister how soon the offending officers will be sanctioned.
Dr. Anane 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, we have some internal processes which will have to go through. However, I think the main problem for my hon. Colleague is the start and completion of the project, and that is also being taken care of through the District Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Alfred W. G. Abayateye 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. Minister, due to the delay of the cost of the work, has the contract sum not changed and how is it going to be funded?
Dr. Anane 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, contract sums may change over time. However, in this particular case, there has been non- performance as well and this project has been terminated for reaward. Now, post- termination, the project will be revalued and the evaluation will give us the cost that it will entail. But we do expect that it may cost higher than what it was originally awarded for.
We may also have to put it on record that even over time when the contractor is still executing a project we may still
Dr. Anane 10:40 a.m.


have fluctuations leading to increase in the cost. So it is not so much the fact that this has been delayed but price changes over time may cause changes in the cost of the project.

Non-payment of Compensation for Properties Destroyed

Q. 968. Mr. Emmanuel Owusu-Mainu (on behalf of Mr. George Kofi Arthur) asked the Minister for Transportation why compensation due to persons whose properties were destroyed during the construction of Manso-Amenfi-Asan- kragwa road had not been paid.
Dr. Anane 10:40 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, Bawdie-
Manso-Asankragwa forms part of R123 and constitutes an important link between Wassa Amenfi East and Wassa Amenfi West Districts in the Western Region. Mr. Speaker, the Manso-Asankragwa section which is 34 kilometres was awarded to Messrs PW Civils for rehabilitation at the sums of US$6.4 million and GH¢1.7 million. The project commenced in December, 2002 and was completed in October, 2005.
In the course of executing the works, several crops and buildings were affected along the road. Payments of compen- sation to various claimants were made in phases with the approval from the Lands Valuation Board. These payments were made at the Takoradi Office of the Ghana Highway Authority. The total compen- sation including administrative charges was GH¢631,289.79. Mr. Speaker, the total amount paid to claimants to date is
GH¢602,206.38.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, GH¢26,132.12 has been expended on administrative charges. Mr. Speaker, out of the total number of 698 claimants, 677 have received full payment since July, 2007. The
remaining 21 claimants have all received part payments. The outstanding payment to the 21 claimants total GH¢2,951.29 and is lodged in the Takoradi office of the Ghana Highway Authority.
The Valuation office of the Ghana Highway Authority in Accra is still making efforts to organize the remaining 21 claimants who reside in different towns along the road from Manso Amenfi to Asankragwa for final payment.
A number of reasons have accounted for the delay in payment to the rest of the claimants. Prominent among them are, dispute among some claimants over the right ownership of property, and also some of the claims are so small making it unattractive for claimants to travel and collect them. The Valuation Office of GHA has been advised to find the most convenient way of paying the rest of these claims.
Western Region Roads
Q. 794. Mr. J. Z. Amenowode (on behalf of Mr. Evans Paul Aidoo) asked the Minister for Transportation what plans the Ministry had put in place to make roads in the Western Region motorable all year round.
Dr. Anane 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Western Region lies in the rainfall belt of the country and therefore experiences heavy rainfall pattern throughout the year. Most of the land, especially the mangrove areas of the south are swampy and clayey in nature. As a result, most of the gravel roads in the region are rendered un-motorable in the rainy season.
The Western Region has a total road network of 7,607 kilometres
Dr. Anane 10:50 a.m.


The Department of Feeder Roads has put in place strategies and programmes to ensure safe and all-weather accessibility of feeder roads in the Western Region. Some of the strategies are as follows:

Improvement of un-engineered to engineered status through rehabi- litation and spot improvement.

Stage development of feeder roads through the construction of bridges, box culverts and culverts.

Preservation of the engineered network through routine main- tenance, sectional gravelling, resurfacing and resealing as well as bridge maintenance.

Mr. Speaker, in collaboration with the COCOBOD and as part of Government's programme to tar 15 kilometres per district, 196 kilometres of feeder roads have been scheduled for surface dressing this year alone under the Department of Feeder Roads.

Works Executed between 2001 and 2007

Some of the road work activities carried out between the periods from 2001 to 2007 in the Western Region under the Depart- ment of Feeder Roads are as follows:

Surfacing: 122 kilometres

Rehabilitation: 445 kilometres Spot Improvement: 931 kilometres

Bridges 31

Major Box Culverts 16

Mr. Speaker, the following feeder road projects are currently ongoing in the Western Region and are meant to ensure that roads in the region are motorable:

Routine Maintenance

This year a total of 1,443 kilometres of feeder roads are to be reshaped and critical culverts installed on engineered network at an estimated cost of GH¢1.4 million. Out of the 1,443 kilometres of feeder roads, 993 kilometres have already been awarded while 450 kilometres are yet to be awarded.

Surfacing Projects

A total of 196 kilometres of feeder roads have been programmed for surfacing this year.

Out of the 196 kilometres to be surfaced this year, 71 kilometres are currently under contract at a total cost of GH¢11 million.

Under the Cocoa Roads Improvement Projects, 31 kilometres of roads have also been awarded at a cost of GH¢5.3 million, while 125 kilometres of roads are at various stages of procurement for award.

Rehabilitation

A total length of 67 kilometres of feeder roads are currently under contract at a total cost of GH¢2.7 million. All the projects are at various stages of completion.

Spot Improvement

A total length of 214 kilometres of feeder roads are currently under contract at a total cost of GH¢5.4 million. All the projects are at various stages of completion.

Steel Bridges

A total of 16 steel bridges and one box culvert are currently under contract at a total cost of GH¢9.3 million.

One bridge has just been completed while the remaining ones are at various stages of completion.
Mr. Amenowode 10:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. Minister for his comprehensive report on his Ministry's activities in the Western Region from 2001 to date. But the Question the hon. Member of Parliament asked was very simple. What steps are being taken to make roads in the Western Region motorable all year round.
In the hon. Minister's Answer, he rightly said that it is the gravelled sections that are not motorable all year round. His response on the steps being taken on most of over 1,500 kilometres are gravelling and regravelling. Only about 200 kilometres did I hear him talk of surfacing.
Now, if he concedes that it is the gravelled roads that are not motorable all year round and he is telling us that his efforts to make them motorable all year round are gravelling and regravelling, is he telling us that that is the solution to the problem?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Member, that is your opinion but maybe, the hon. Minister would have some opinion on that.
Dr. Anane 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, road develop- ment is very capital intensive. We do recognize the difficulties in the Western Region. One would have wished that all the roads in the Western Region had been tarred and we believe that would be the ultimate. But since there are limitations in capacity, there is the need for interventions which would make these corridors accessible and motorable.
Mr. Speaker, when we speak about spot improvements alone, by insertion of culverts and drains, these help to make these roads motorable and some of them are motorable. It is not all the roads which
are not motorable. What we said was that because of the clay and swampy nature of some parts of the Western Region, roads which have been gravelled in these areas are not motorable all year round and not all parts of the Western Region.
rose rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11 a.m.
Let us move on to the next Question. [Inter- ruption.] Hon. Members, we have only one hour, we have already passed that but we have two more Questions on the Order Paper. We should allow other hon. Members to ask their Questions. Hon. Aidoo, I believe you also want to ask a question?
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 11 a.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11 a.m.
Mr. Amenowode, if you have another question, I would allow you to ask it.
Mr. Amenowode 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am not a technical man on roads but as a road user, I would want the hon. Minister to tell me if it would not be more prudent going for a permanent solution than every year gravelling and regravelling, and sometimes they remove all the gravel until I said here once that we would get to oil. Would it not be better - [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon. Member, the hon. Minister has also already answered that question. He did say that left to him all roads in the Western Region ought to be tarred but it is capital intensive and for that reason the best method is gravelling and regravelling and so on and so forth. You are asking the same question and seeking his opinion. Do you not think it is the same question?
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 11 a.m.


you for giving me the opportunity to ask my supplementary question. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister has given a very compre-hensive report about the roads in the Western Region. We must thank him for that. Mr. Speaker, the trunk road from Tarkwa to Ayamfre, that is the Tarkwa Bogoso Ayamfre road is in a very bad state. Could the hon. Minister tell us what the Ministry is doing immediately to improve the situation of this important road which is part of the golden triangle?
Dr. Anane 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes, we do recognize that that is a very important corridor. But Mr. Speaker, as I speak now, the European Union which is supporting us has virtually completed the studies on this road and we are in the negotiation with them to see if we can start the construction quickly enough.
From the processes, it appears the project would start in 2009 but before the project itself starts, we have to make the corridor motorable. So it would receive some routine maintenance as we await the procurement processes to get the roads constructed as we want them to be.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, may I know from the hon. Minister, how soon would the routine maintenance start?
Dr. Anane 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, a lot of projects are being advertised and I am sure he will see it advertised very soon. It is a countrywide programme that is being undertaken. I cannot give him particularly for one project when it is going to start. But I do know that we are going to start a lot of routine maintenance programmes countrywide.
Juapong-Dofor Adidome-Volo Road (Tarring)
Q. 996. Mr. C. S. Hodogbey asked
the hon. Minister for Transportation when Juapong-Dofor Adidome-Volo Road in the North Tongu District would be tarred.
Background
The Juapong-Dofor Adidome-Volo feeder road is 55 kilometres long. The road is located in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to clarify that, to us, it is a very important corridor and therefore we wish that we finish work on that as early as possible.
In 2003 the DFR constructed two bridges on the Juapong-Dofor-Adidome- Volo road to shorten the travelling distance from Juapong to Adidome by as much as 100 kilometres.
Prior to the construction of the bridges people travelling from Juapong to Adidome had to use the Juapong-Ho-Adidome road which is about 150 kilometres or the Juapong-Afienya-Sogakope-Adidome road which is about 175 kilometres.
The construction of the bridges had not only shortened the distance but has also reduced the travelling time and transportation cost between Juapong and Adidome.
The Juapong-Dofor Adidome-Volo road has been programmed for surfacing in phases.
Current Programme
The phase 1 contract involving 16.7 kilometres of the Juapong-Dofor Adidome-Volo feeder road was awarded for surfacing in March 2007 at a contract sum of GH¢2.1 million.
The project which commenced in June
Dr. Anane 11 a.m.


2007 is expected to be completed in June,

2009.

The project is being executed by Messrs M-Galant Ghana Limited and is currently about 35 per cent completed and payment to date amounts to GH¢577,000.
Mr. Speaker, works executed to date are 11 a.m.
construction of 3,100 metres of concrete U-drains, construction of 19 culverts, laying of 9 kilometres of sub- base and earthworks of about 9,700 cubic metres.
The project which should have been 50 per cent completed is behind schedule due to slow pace of work by the contractor.
The contractor has therefore been warned to expedite progress of work to ensure early completion of the project.
The remaining 38.3 kilometres will be programmed for surfacing after the completion of phase one contract.
Mr. Hodogbey 11 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, in an earlier question on 7th June 2007 about the same road, it was promised that the road would be completed by July this year. Now it is has been reviewed and it states that it would be completed by 2009. Which one does the hon. Minister want me to take now?
Dr. Anane 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the contract was awarded for surfacing in March, 2007. Therefore, I would want to believe that it might have been a typographical error if it was said that it was going to be finished in July 2007 as the hon. Member said. But if he is saying it is July 2008, that is acceptable. However, because of the pace of work and because of the quantum of work required of the contractor, this has been reviewed and that is why a new completion date has been set.
Mr. Hodogbey 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, according to the hon. Minister the delay has been caused by the slowness of the contractor. I spoke with the contractor about five minutes ago. He is claiming he has failed to pay him. So which one does the hon. Minister wants me to take? Is it the failure to pay the contractor to continue the work or it is the fault of the contractor?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon. Minister, the hon. Member says that two minutes ago, he has talked to the contractor before he asked the Question. [Interruptions.] Did I hear him say two minutes or five minutes?
Mr. Hodogbey 11:10 a.m.
Five minutes.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:10 a.m.
What is
the difference? Hon. Minister, react to that.
Dr. Anane 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is presumed that when a contractor takes on some works he may have a line of credit to execute the project. But we also do sympathise with the contractor when his certificate has not been honoured. So when I said due to the quantum of work and due to the slow pace of works the project has been reviewed, these are some of the reasons taken into account for the extension of time.
But Mr. Speaker, I want to assure you that most of the contractors have now been paid. With your support at the close of the last Meeting of Parliament, you helped to secure some funding and these contractors have now been paid. So I do not think the contractor has any problem by way of funding.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon. Members, we move on to the next Question, which stands in the name of hon. Member for Ketu North (Mr. James Klutse Avedzi).
Abor-Xevi, Tadzewu-Agbozume,

Penyi-Ehie Roads

Q. 997. Mr. James Klutse Avedzi asked the Minister for Transportation when the following feeder roads in the Ketu North Tongu Constituency would be rehabilitated:

(i) Abor-Xevi

(ii) Tadzewu-Agbozume

(iii) Penyi-Ehie.
Dr. Anane 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Abor-Xevi feeder road is 28 kilometres long. The road is engineered and is located in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region.
Current Programme
The first 5 kilometres of the Abor- Xevi feeder road was awarded for routine maintenance in August 2007 at a contract sum of GH¢47,000.
The project which was executed by Messrs Evanmike Multipurpose Limited was completed at a cost of GH¢33,000.
Mr. Speaker, works executed under that contract were the clearing and reshaping of 5 kilometres and construction of 7 culverts.
Mr. Speaker, this stretch of road has been covered under the Millennium Challenge Account Programme to be tarred.
Tadzewu-Agbozume
The Tadzewu-Agbozume feeder road is 24.7 kilometres long. The road is engineered and is located in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region.
The road consists of three sections namely:
Tadzewu-Adoatsi (13 kilometres),
Adoatsi-Ehie (2.4 kilometres), and
Ehie-Agbozume (9.2 kilometres).
Tadzewu-Adoatsi Section (13 kilometres)
The Tadzewu-Adoatsi feeder road was awarded for reshaping in December 2007 at a contract sum of GH¢49,800.
The project which was executed by Messrs Gohez Construction Limited was completed in April 2008 at a cost of
GH¢42,800.
Adoatsi-Ehie Section (2.4 kilometres)
Mr. Speaker, the Adoatsi-Ehie feeder road has also been programmed for surfacing in phases.
The phase one contract from km 4.2 to km 9.2 was awarded for surfacing in November 2007 at a contract sum of GH¢492,000 under an IDA funding.
The project which is being executed by Messrs Blaise Construction Works Limited and was expected to be completed in November 2007 is about 60 per cent completed.
Mr. Speaker, works completed to date are 11:10 a.m.
construction of 443 m of concrete U- drains, laying of 5 kilometres base course and primer sealing of 4.6 kilometres. Payment to date is GH¢205,000.
The contractor has been warned to expedite progress of work to ensure early completion of this project.
Future Programme
The remaining 4.2 kilometres from Ehie to Agbozume and other roads including Ehie-Dzodze feeder road (6 kilometres), Agbozume town roads (3 kilometres) and Tadzewu town roads (3 kilometres) have
Mr. Speaker, works completed to date are 11:10 a.m.


been programmed for surfacing under the surfacing of 15 kilometres District Assembly roads programme in the country for the year.

Penyi-Ehie

Background

The Penyi-Ehie feeder road is 9.2 kilometres long. The road is engineered and is located in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region.

The Penyi-Ehie feeder road was not captured for implementation under the 15- kilometre District Assembly road programme. But in line with the decentralization programme, it is hoped that the District Assembly will prioritize the road for consideration in our future programme.
Mr. Avedzi 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, according to the hon. Minister, the five-kilometre road from Abor-Xevi was awarded for routine maintenance. I want to know from him which section of the Abor-Xevi he is referring to. Is it from the Abor side or from the Xevi side?
Dr. Anane 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am unable to specify currently. But I do know that it is the Abor-Xevi and therefore it will start from the Abor end.
Mr. Avedzi 11:10 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the hon. Minister that that five- kilometre Abor-Xevi road he is referring to is coming from the Xevi side, but there is no actual work going on, on that particular road now. There are culverts that have been constructed but there has not been clearing and reshaping of the road. That is the information for him.
Mr. Speaker, when you come to the
second part of the Question that deals with the Agbozume-Ehie area, the future

programme for both roads -- the Agbo- zume town road is not part of the Ketu North District but he included it in the Answer here. So I want to inform him that that is also not part of the Ketu North District. Agbozume is in the Ketu South District but the road leads from Ketu North to Agbozume.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Very well. Now, the very last Question, hon. Member for Sege (Mr. A. W. G. Abayateye)?
Lolonya-Kablevu Road (Rehabilitation)
Q. 1001. Mr. Alfred W. G. Abayateye asked the Minister for Transportation when the Lolonya-Kablevu road would be rehabilitated.
Dr. Anane 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Lolonya- Kablevu feeder road is 4.2 kilometres long and is located in the Dangme East District of the Greater Accra Region.
The road was awarded for rehabilitation in February 2007 under an IDA funding.
The project which involved the construction of three major culverts and the gravelling of the entire 4.2 kilometres stretch was completed in December 2007 at a cost of GH¢348,000.
The project was executed by Messrs Ba-Iseng Enterprise Limited.
Mr. Abayateye 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, indeed, the road has been done. But it has been narrowed and I would like to know what would be done to it. The layout was there for it to be widened but it has rather been narrowed.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon. Member, what is your question?
Mr. Abayateye 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, my question is that the road has been narrowed and so when will it be widened? [Laughter!] I want to say that the road has been narrowed now -- Earlier, before the construction it was wider but it has been narrowed now. So what is he doing about it?
Dr. Anane 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy my hon. Colleague concedes that the road has been done. But the road was done under the Department of Feeder Roads and the various departments have their various specifications for their corridors. So this is the Department of Feeder Roads' specification. So that is acceptable.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon. Members, that would be the end of Question time. Hon. Minister, thank you very much for coming to give Answers, comprehensively to Questions that hon. Members have posed. Is that not correct? Comprehensive and to the point. The Questions have been well answered.
Now we go back to Public Business again. Papers to be laid. Item 7 (a).
PAPERS 11:20 a.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:20 a.m.
No. 7 (b) -- Chairman of the Committee?
Minister of State (Mr. Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu) 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, if we may defer that one, it is not ready yet.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Do we defer both? That is 7 (b) (i) and (ii)?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:20 a.m.
Both.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Very well. The two of them are therefore deferred.
Hon. Members, we will now go back; there are two short Statements. We would take one for now and, one is in the name of hon. Member for Cape Coast, Ms. Christine Churcher - Chairperson for the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The Statement is in relation to the African Union Day. Hon. Christine Churcher, if you are ready, we are all ears.
STATEMENTS 11:20 a.m.
Ms. Christine Churcher (NPP -- Cape Coast) 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity given me to make this statement on the occasion of the celebration of African Union Day observed on the 25th of May, every year.
Mr. Speaker, the decision to create an African Union -- as the successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) -- was taken after quite complex negotiations in Sirte, Libya in September 1999, as was the adoption of its Constitutive Act in Lome, less than a year later (July 2000). Eventually, a compromise was reached between adherents of a federal Union endowed with supra-national competencies and those who estimated that this vision was precipitated.
With this minimal consensus, that nevertheless allowed a step forward, African States chose a gradual approach, letting further evolutions decide on what should be adapted. On several fronts, the AU demonstrated during its first mandate that the move from the OAU to the AU was appropriate.
Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, the move from a Secretariat to a Commission is one of the major innovations of the AU Constitutive Act, embodying the will to make a qualitative jump towards greater integration. The AU Commission has been conceived as a collegial institution independent from Member States, which has the competence to represent the Union.
It also plays the role of coordination and harmonization of activities and of implementation of inter-African coopera- tion, which was previously carried out by inter-governmental institutions (the OAU Assembly and the Council of Ministers). In certain policy areas, the Commission proved that it was in a position to offer real added value to Member States.
Mr. Speaker, this year the Africa Day will be celebrated under the theme 11:20 a.m.
“Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation”. The objective of this theme is for Africa to address critical fundamental social issues.
Mr. Speaker, in a statement to mark the day, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H. E. Jean Ping indicated that the objective of the theme is for Africa to address the persisting and emerging social issues such as access to potable water, sanitation and health care in the context of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is in view of the acknowledgement of the increasing disease burden on Africa attributed to environmental deterioration, extreme poverty, and inadequate personal and community hygiene.
Mr. Speaker, I am particularly excited about the fact that this year, we are celebrating Africa Day by recommitting ourselves to confronting principally, basic social issues relating to water, sanitation and health. For healthy people can offer their quota to development in a better way.
Mr. J. D. Mahama (NDC -- Bole / Bamboi) 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support my hon. Colleague who is the Chairperson of Foreign Affairs on a significant Statement that marks a significant day for the people of this continent.
Mr. Speaker, the African Union since its formation has done commendable well or should I say since its transformation from the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union has done commendably well.
While the focus of the OAU was the total liberation of the African continent which has been achieved and an attempt made at achieving continental unity, Mr. Speaker, the focus of the AU is multi faceted, improving the quality of lives of Africans, improving the economic circumstances of the continent and also working towards an integration of the continent.
Mr. Speaker, since the formation of
the AU very commendable work has been done in many areas. We all know about the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the last time I went to the Pan-African Parliament we had a briefing from officials of NEPAD and one would be surprised at the volumes of very excellent feasibility studies that have been carried out on projects which if executed would help to integrate this continent further in terms of railway lines linking countries to each other; in terms of sharing power amongst each other; in terms of big projects that would sort of bring Africa closer together.
Mr. Speaker, we also have the African
Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) which is playing a very good role in terms of good governance on the continent. Just, not too long ago, the AU passed the Charter on elections and democracy in Africa which seeks to ingrain Conven- tions of good governance in all African countries.
Mr. Speaker, just recently, our own
President completed a very successful term as a Chairman of the African Union (AU) during which a major summit was
held in Ghana to deliberate on the matters of continental unity. That is a Union Government. While not much progress was made, at least that summit managed to put the question of Continental Union Government firmly on the agenda and I believe that work is still being carried out to be able to achieve this.
But Mr. Speaker, while looking at the bright side we must be failing in our duty as Members of Parliament on this continent if we do not point to certain worrying issues that the AU needs to deal with.
Mr. Speaker, we have seen flawed elections in several countries, the most recent being the Zimbabwean elections which have been full of problems and have resulted in increased migration from Zimbabwe into neighbouring countries.
Mr. Speaker, we have human right
abuses still existing on the continent. There are countries in which opposition members are still languishing in jail and these are issues that we need to draw attention to.
Mr. Speaker, only a few years ago,
several of our citizens were brutally killed in The Gambia. All attempts by our Government to investigate this matter and bring it to some kind of conclusion have been frustrated by The Gambian authorities and I think that on this day we must renew our energies to continue to seek justice to these our poor citizens who were so unlawfully killed in The Gambia.
Mr. Speaker, only recently the President
of Cameroun sent a Bill to Parliament and they have removed the constitutional limit on the term of the President, leaving him to stand as many times as he wants and become a life President. All these developments in the 21st Century when
we are emphasising on good governance and allowing the people to participate in our democracy are not the best; and I think that Presidents are probably not in the mood to peer review, to speak to their colleagues when they do things like this.
Mr. Speaker, we also have difficulties
with peace-keeping. Darfur is not doing too well. The small African Force that has been there is doing its best but it is clearly overwhelmed by the responsibility that it faces. We have a similar problem in Somalia. Several countries including our own pledged to send troops to Somalia but eventually we left it on the shoulders of only the Ethiopians and they are battling very seriously there with the insurgents. I think that these are things that we need to look at.
But Mr. Speaker, for me AU Day today
is a sad occasion because of one very worrying development that has taken place on the continent and that is the very brutal attacks that are taking place on foreigners in South Africa. It is reported that some of our citizens have died. We do not have any confirmation of that but at least it is estimated that 50 foreigners, emigrants in South Africa have been killed.
Mr. Speaker, this is particularly
worrying because everybody knows the history of South Africa. All African nations gave succour to South Africa when they were in their period of struggle against apartheid.
We in Ghana remember the many South
Africans who lived here, who were given scholarships, who were given diplomatic passports and assisted in their fight against apartheid.
Zimbabwe was one of the frontline
states and many of the present leadership of the ANC were in exile in Zimbabwe and conducted the armed struggle from Zimbabwe. If today the tables have turned
Mr. J. D. Mahama (NDC -- Bole / Bamboi) 11:40 a.m.
and there is crisis in Zimbabwe as a result of which refugees from Zimbabwe are residing in South Africa, I think there is absolutely no justification for the kind of attacks that are taking place.
Some of them are so brutal; I watched a few on TV yesterday and this thing about putting tyres around people's necks and putting petrol on it and setting them on fire are some of the incidents that are occurring. So I think it is not a South African affair only. I think that the AU and member states of the AU including most especially the President must intercede with the Government of South Africa and ask them to take very stern action not only to bring this barbarism to an end but also bring perpetrators of these acts to justice.
A lot of them have been caught on film. I saw on the film the people who were just brutalising and killing somebody and so it would not be difficult to identify who are the ones who have been behind this.
Mr. Speaker, as I wind up, I will
just start from the theme. The theme is “Achieving Millennium Development Goals with regard to Water and Sanitation” and I think that we should use this day as a wake-up call for all of Africa to reflect on the issue of water. It is said that water is going to become one of the most important commodities in the world in the very near future. Access to water is going to be critical. Wars are going to be fought over access to water and we have seen it happening already in certain places.
In Ghana we have problem with access to water. Especially there has been a decline in access to urban water, especially in the urban centres and I think that this should be a day where we reflect and see how we can increase our people's quality of life by increasing their access to water.
Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I wish to support my hon. Colleague's Statement and commend her for the presence of mind and diligence in reading this Statement today.
Dr. Kwame Ampofo (NDC -- South
Dayi): Mr. Speaker, I also rise to add my voice to the very useful and appropriate Statement made by the hon. Member who is also the Chairperson of Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I think we would all admit
that the AU as an institution is a very laudable one that is charged with the duty of moving the different states of Africa on the path of gradual progress to continental integration.
Mr. Speaker, the work of the AU is
not an easy one. The road will be very winding but the objectives set before the Commission is one that must be supported by all countries and governments.
The ideal situation that is being anticipated or is being hoped for is the full continental integration that will seek to political harmonization on the continent, economic integration of the various countries and economies and the social policy harmonization on the continent.

For economic integration, areas that are already being looked at and that must be speeded up are the areas of energy so that the continent can share and trade in energy resources in order that the energy crisis that are happening all over the continent can be mitigated. Because it is known that in some areas there is energy excess and in other areas there is energy deficiency; but when we have integrated our energy infrastructure then there can be free flow of energy resources from one area to the other and those countries that have the resources can then freely trade in this commodity for the general betterment

of the various states in the continent.

Another area that needs to be done is infrastructure development, particularly in the area of transportation so that African countries can freely move amongst themselves from one country to the other and also communicate with each other. So transportation is an area that the various governments forming the African Union (AU) must look at and try to promote so that we rapidly get physical integration of our continent.

Trade is another area that governments of the continent must look at so that we speak with one voice on the World Trade Organization in order that our economies can be protected from the aggressive attack of international trade policy.

The role of individual nations in seeking to achieve the vision of the AU is one of high importance because the functions cannot be left to the Commission alone. Each country must accept the vision of the AU and must strive as individual countries working within our country in the local scene but looking at the collective benefits of integration and working towards that.

In that respect, we need to realign the political thinking of various governments, thus the Executives in various governments must have the AU agenda as one of its own local or indigenous agendas so that we can bring forward and table the AU agenda, so that individual countries will be working towards what we collectively want to do.

So what I am calling for also will mean that the various individual Parliaments -- the national Parliaments of the member states ought to also engage themselves proactively in alerting their Executives and educating their nationals in order that they will have the psychological thinking of belonging to a union which we call

the African Union, and strive through parliamentary activities to attain the laudable goal of continental union.

To this end, I propose that perhaps it

would be useful if the various Parliaments would establish either standing or select committees that focus on African Union matters. I believe that is what the Foreign Affairs Committee is doing but foreign affairs has a broader mandate and if we want to zoom in on this particular issue of speeding up the process of getting to the continental government or integration then, perhaps we can look at Parliaments having a dedicated committee that will be more proactive in pushing the countries towards other nations and looking at the various problems that affect Africa as a continent.

Already, the hon. Member for Bole- Bamboi has spoken about the effects of xenophobia on the continent and it is something that is extremely worrying. Looking at things that are happening in South Africa, it is difficult then to speak of Africa wanting to integrate and so have exchange of goods and people freely flowing from one area to the other. I think our Parliament in Ghana must make a strong statement against this xenophobia, not only in South Africa but elsewhere on the continent.

Now, speaking about the theme, I think it is a welcome theme, and it is a theme that we have to analyze critically. I would like to link the theme which is “Water and Sanitation” particularly, the part of water, to the effects of climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana has analyzed the possible effects of climate change on Ghana specifically. And one thing they have said is that climate change in a few years' time -- in fact, it has started already affecting the amount of water that is flowing through our rivers and lakes, and it has warned that water is going to be a very big problem in
Mr. J. B. Aidoo (NPP -- Amenfi East) 11:40 a.m.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. I am also rising to associate myself with this important Statement on the floor of the House today.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to join my hon. Colleagues who have earlier on spoken about what is happening in South Africa. Indeed Mr. Speaker, what is happening there is very unfortunate and we must, with one very strong accord, condemn the attacks on foreigners in South Africa in no uncertain terms.
Mr. Speaker, a union means each being his brother's keeper, and at some point in time we were the keepers of the South Africans. Today, if you look at what is happening, the price we are paying for keeping them safely when they were in trouble then it goes beyond every reasonable understanding.
Mr. Speaker, what is happening should become a wake-up call on the leaders of the Union because from my own perspective and my understanding, I think the people of the Union at the local level do not really understand what the African Union is. Maybe to the elite, to the enlightened, amongst the politicians we know what is African Union. But when you go to the local level, to our rural areas, to the farmer, he does not know anything about the African Union, and that is where
Mr. J. B. Aidoo (NPP -- Amenfi East) 11:50 a.m.
The African Union concept should be passed on to our children who are coming up. The whole concept should be sent to the schools, to educational institutions for them to appreciate what the African Union is. So that when they grow up then they will understand this concept of being our brother's keeper.

Mr. Speaker, I think that this House, as the hon. Member for South Dayi, Dr. Ampofo mentioned, should send a strong message to the South African Govern- ment, condemning what is happening there. It is not only barbaric but also uncivilized to say these things in this modern world.

Mr. Speaker, with these I thank you for the opportunity.
Ms. Josephine Hilda Addoh (NPP -- Kwadaso) 11:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the hon. Member who made this Statement for bringing this issue to the floor of the House. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to commend the African Union for the work done so far to bring Africa to the level that it finds itself today.
But Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw attention to developments in Africa, especially developments with reference to elections in Africa. African Union will have to do more there. I am saying that because of my experience when I went to Zimbabwe as the elections observer. I need to say that AU will have to take more interest in what happens before elections in Africa.
We see observers going in to help during the elections or shortly before the elections, and we are witnesses to what happens after so many elections in Africa. I am saying this with the Zimbabwean

Elections in view. I went to South Africa recently and the question was, “New observers from Pan African Parliament, you have come to observe. What next? Now, we do not have peace, you asked us to vote peacefully and we have done that; what is next?”

My question is, what next? What can AU do to prevent situations like this in Africa? When in Kenya for instance, the mediation team led by our own man Busumuru Kofi Annan said that yes, we need this peace, so you take this and the Opposition hold that view. I think it is very good. It was good under the circumstance but not good enough for Africa. This is my personal view.

We should be able to hold elections, come out with results and announce whoever wins the results. That I think should be the position but that was the contrary in Kenya. We could not come out with who won. The same thing is happening in Zimbabwe.

Mr. Speaker, I am just drawing attention to that and I will touch on the theme for the celebration.

Mr. Speaker, throughout Africa potable water is a problem. Not only in Ghana, not in Nigeria but most of the African countries. But in the face of this problem of getting potable water, Africans destroy our water bodies and so attention must be drawn to that. We should desist from doing that so that government's efforts will not be in vain.

Mr. Speaker, on sanitation, throughout Africa even in some developed African countries -- I was surprised to see something in a developed African country I do not want to mention here. I went to a certain area in this country and I realized that the place was, sorry to say, as filthy

as any other place that I know in some areas in Africa. I did not expect that in that country.

What I am saying is that we must take this seriously and people must be taught to do the right thing. We should not just throw rubbish anywhere, when walking around or when we are in vehicles. We must have an agenda for African countries to work in this direction. We are not going to say that we are in Africa and therefore, in the streets we can throw rubbish anywhere and everywhere.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the hon. Member who made the Statement and wish all of us the best. “Long live AU and long live Ghana.”

Thank you.
Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu (NDC --Nanton) 11:50 a.m.
Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I would like to support the Statement made by the hon. Chairperson for the Foreign Affairs Committee.
I would like to say that it is always good to celebrate old age and experience and therefore, it is legitimate for us all to celebrate Africa Union Day.
I am particularly enthused by the theme for this year's celebrations which is about water and sanitation. It has often been said that water is life and whether water is life or not, it is another thing. I think that the situation in Ghana is certainly desperate as our water bodies are done up by the day due to siltation and indisciplined settlement patterns, et cetera.
I think that if the African Union is taking interest in such a subject, it must do so with real programmes and projects that can discipline us Africans to ensure that we can protect our water bodies because if we do not do that we would be killing the bird that is going to lay the golden egg.
Minister of State, Water Resources, Works and Housing (Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah) noon
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the chance to associate myself with the Statement on the floor of the House, which was made by my hon. Sister, Member of Parliament for Cape Coast. I believe the theme is very timely because the up and coming AU Summit in July will focus on water and sanitation on the
African continent.
But before I go on this theme, I want to touch on the good governance that some of our leaders are giving to us on this continent. I wish to commend them. I wish to place on record Ghana's pioneering role in the area of the Peer Review Mechanism which our Excellency, President J. A. Kufuor humbly and willingly submitted himself to be reviewed by his peers. I believe this is a very good example and we need to encourage all our leaders to submit themselves from time to time to the scrutiny of the peers and the people that they govern.

I also want to touch on the escalating fuel prices and we need to encourage the producers of oil to at least have mercy on the people of the world because of the rippling effects that escalating fuel prices have on the economies of the world, especially on developing countries.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say Ayeekoo to all of us in Africa for positioning ourselves strategically because without this we all could have perished. If we leave things for others to do for us, we will not get far but I believe we have now positioned ourselves to make sure that we will take our destiny into our own hands through our leaders and the good leadership that they are providing for us.

Mr. Speaker, if you take water in Africa, there are many sources of water in Africa; for instance, the River Nile, the River Congo, Volta River, et cetera. The only thing that we have not done as a continent is that we have failed to harness the good things and provisions that God has given to us with regard to water. Each man for himself and God for us all.

I want to use this occasion, the African Union (AU) Day, to urge all African States to try and work together within the basins that they have. Ghana has been lucky, we have the Volta Basin now which comprises six States; Ghana is a member. Our Head of State has just signed the Authority in place and we will urge all Basins like the Niger Basin, the Nile Basin to continue the good work that they are doing. We also have the Lake Victoria Basin which is doing a good work in Eastern Africa.

Mr. Speaker, I want to see the River Congo used to provide the energy needs of Africa because this is feasible and this can be done. At the Africa Water Week in Tunisia, this idea was mooted and it is being looked at that African Development Bank (AfDB) is prepared to give money for the feasibility studies and I believe very, very soon we will hear something positive on this.

Again, we all know that River Congo divides Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and very soon, I heard there is going to be a bridge because right now as I speak, if one wants to move from one Congo to the other you have to go by boat. This is not good enough but by air it takes about ten minutes and I think this bridge is most welcome.

I also want to commend donor partners like AfDB, European Union (EU), GTZ and others for what they have helped Africa to achieve, with regard to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on water and I want to emphasize that without achieving the MDG on water, develop-mental issues would be difficult to carry out. And I urge all Governments to seriously consider putting more money in their budgets to provide water for industrialization and potable water for the people of Africa.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to touch briefly

on sanitation because I believe it is an area that we have a lot of problems. We thank private companies like Zoom Lion for doing a great job and I believe all African States are also tackling this sanitation issue. We say that good water gives life and sanitation gives dignity. I think this year will be a year of sanitation which would be taken seriously to help us launch onto neater and a more dignified environ- ment and personal hygiene as well.

I wish to commend UNICEF for launching this programme. I was privileged to launch it two weeks ago on data harmonization because I realized that each organisation or agency is using different criteria to set out what sanitation points are. And I believe the harmoniza- tion will help Africa to achieve a good status in sanitation.

I also want to commend the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment for establishing the Sanitation Board last week because we believe that at the district level there is no ownership of sanitation projects. So this is also timely and I use this occasion, Mr. Speaker, once again to commend all of us for making Africa the enviable continent that it is.

Thank you.
Mr. Isaac K. Asiamah (NPP - Atwima Mponua) noon
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for this opportunity. Mr. Speaker, I would first of all want to congratulate hon. Christine Churcher for this great Statement.
Mr. Speaker, integration is key to sustainable development in Africa. Mr. Speaker, I believe that over the years, African Union has spoken about integration but really we do not have very meaningful effective integration on the continent. Economic integration is
possible and will enhance the well-being of Africans. Mr. Speaker, we have large market potential on the continent which is key to economic integration. We must diversify our economies to make sure that we promote sustainable economic development.
Mr. Speaker, there are other very important challenges that confront the continent. The HIV/AIDS scare is something we must critically look at. Mr. Speaker, this is attacking our able-bodied men and women. The most economically active segment of our population is being attacked by this menace. Mr. Speaker, I believe that policy makers of the continent should really look at how we can tackle this serious 21st Century threat. It is important because whatever we do if we do not have the human resource to carry them along, Mr. Speaker, we would not make any meaningful progress.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker noon
Hon. Christine Churcher, are you on a point of order?
Ms. Christine Churcher noon
Rightly so, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did hear the hon. Member say that Africans are not proud even of their food. I know that in my constituency, Cape Coast which is known for adopting so many things and actions which were acquired because of our first brush with the Whites, even to
Ms. Christine Churcher noon


eat a balanced meal without a slice of kenkey is not only an abomination but unacceptable. I know that for instance, in Cape Coast what we call tilapia, the small, small ones is a delicacy.

I know that in Cape Coast, Mr. Speaker, what we call fante fante is something that everybody loves. And I also crossed over to Assin. Ampesi and fufu are so good. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member is exaggerating in that statement. He is out of order.
Mr. Asiamah 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was saying this because if you place value on what you produce on the continent, we would be making more progress. That is very important. Mr. Speaker, for me, I believe that we should be able to develop more interest in our local staples. Konkonte is important, fufu is important, akple is important, tuo zaafi is important. These foods are very nutritious.
Mr. Speaker, this fried rice and others, they will only give you headache, diseases and hypertension -- (An hon. Member: And diabetes) -- Yes. Mr. Speaker, even there is one thing, talk of the drinks, we prefer things imported -- alcohol, the so-called packaged ones. But I can tell you that akpeteshie and pito compared to those are more important than those that we import.

Vodka is akpeteshie in local parlance, is that not so? Vodka is akpeteshie but look at the premium we place on Vodka and we condemn our local akpeteshie producers. I am talking about the effect of all these things. I am not saying that Ghanaians should be drinking akpeteshie. I am talking about the effect of all these things on the human being. If you think that you will drink Vodka, then I would
Mr. Kojo Opare-Hammond 12:10 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I want to urge my hon. Colleague to be careful not to be seen to be promoting alcoholism and encouraging people to drink more akpeteshie in this country.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:10 p.m.
I am not of that impression. I do not think that is what he is driving at. Hon. Member, can you continue?
Mr. Asiamah 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have said that I am not promoting alcoholism but what I am saying is that those who drink, instead of drinking Vodka and then promoting the economies of those countries, why do they not drink akpeteshie and pito in Ghana here so that we would be promoting local industries. That is all that I am saying.
Mr. Speaker, it is important because this leads me to the issue of culture and development. Culture is key to development. We must appreciate some of these cultural values that we have as a country because if we begin to do that then Africa would be making a headway.
Mr. Speaker, another key point I want to raise is about good governance. Africa for the past 15 years is making some progress in that direction but there are still key challenges with regard to good governance. For me, strengthening Parliaments on the continent is key. Parliaments in our respective countries should be positioned in such a way that they would protect the interest of the citizenry, making sure that they provide accountable leadership; the Executive becomes more accountable to the people. That is what Parliament is supposed to do and African Parliaments should aim at
Mr. Asiamah 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, civil society is key in democracy. Whatever you do, you must have a very active civil society, a very responsible one of course, and not a jealous civil society. Not a civil society that sees an hon. Member of Parliament in his official car and he is condemning it. We must have a very purposeful focused civil society that would promote the quality education that is needed to enhance our democracy.
Mr. Speaker, a vibrant media is important. Yesterday, we talked about the role of hon. Members of Parliament. It will shock you to hear that some FM stations would call an hon. Member of Parliament and the first question they ask is, “Honourable, have you seen that road network? It is dilapidated, what are you doing? The road network is poor, what are you doing?” You hear a journalist asking an hon. Member of Parliament about a road network.
So what do you expect the electorate to do? The media is critical. The kind of information provided out there will inform the electorate of what they should do. If you the journalist sees the hon. Member of Parliament as being responsible for physical development projects, construction of roads, of markets, construction of all these things, how do you expect somebody out there to also perceive hon. Members of Parliament?
So it is important that we ourselves are informed, to know the role of hon. Members of Parliament. This is because the moment you undermine Parliament, you undermine democracy because these are the people's representatives. So it is critical for all stakeholders to provide quality education that would enrich our democracy.
Mr. Speaker, the role of the National

Commission on Civic Educat ion (NCCE) is important and the role of this Commission in our democracy should be well checked. We have mandated bodies to provide education on our democracy. These people should let Ghanaians know what is expected of the Executive, the Legislature and, of course, the Judiciary. It is important that they provide that right education. You may talk about resources but within the constraints, let us know what we can do.
Ms. Akua Dansua 12:10 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I am wondering what I have to do in this matter and why my hon. Colleague is using me as an example and not somebody close to him.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Did he use you as an example?
Ms. Dansua 12:10 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. He said that if I do something wrong the police should arrest and prosecute me. Meanwhile, I have not done anything wrong.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:10 p.m.
He has not said you have done something. He said, “If you do something wrong …”
Ms. Dansua 12:10 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. So he should not use me as an example. There are people closer to him than me.
Mr. Asiamah 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is just
that we seem to be directly opposite and from the way she is looking at me, I am getting more -- [Laughter.] The confidence level is rising and rising, so I am happy for that.
Mr. Speaker, law and order are important and we expect the police to provide just that.
Our teachers - What kind of education are we providing to our children? It is important that all these stakeholders continuously provide quality education that is needed in Ghana.
Mr. Speaker, let me touch on the theme for the African Union (AU) Day - “Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation”. As other hon. Members who spoke earlier have said, water indeed is critical. Water is life; water is everything. It has been proved scientifically that if you drink plenty water all the time the likelihood is that you may rarely visit the hospital; that you may not even visit the hospital. We have water therapy. It is clear that those who drink plenty water have able bodies; they are able to function and function well.
Dr. A. A. Osei 12:10 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I know that my good friend is an hon. Member of Parliament but I am not sure he is an expert on water, to be able to empirically show that water enhances performance at all levels. Unless he provides the evidence to this House, I think for now, he should withdraw that statement.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Which statement are you asking him to withdraw?
Dr. A. A. Osei 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he said water enhances performance at all levels. As far as I know he is not an expert in any water or hydrology analysis but if he has the evidence and he can demonstrate it to this House, I think he should put it on the floor of the House so we can all see that that is true. Otherwise, he should withdraw that statement.
Mr. Asiamah 12:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have knowledge on water therapy. I read geography at the first degree level. Geography is about hydrology and all these things I do not hold a Ph.D in water but at least, I am knowledgeable in water issues.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, you can take water and that is it. You will be free. Mr. Speaker, what is critical is that we have many water bodies in this country and the key is, how do we protect these water bodies and that is fundamental.

Mr. Speaker, God is so good to Ghana that we also have abundant rainfall that we can tap. Rain water technology is missing. We have flood and we allow the water to go waste. Why can we not have a technology that would tap this water which has been given to us by God free of charge so that during the dry season we can lay hands on?

Mr. Speaker, I come from a rural constituency. I am happy this Government is constructing about 400 boreholes, that is fine. But Mr. Speaker, the management of these boreholes is becoming a problem after they have been provided. We have Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). So water is something that we must have a holistic policy on.
Mr. Asiamah 12:20 p.m.


Mr. Speaker, sanitation; plastic wastes are all over the place. This waste could become a resource if we should be more serious. Now, there is nothing like a waste. Even Mr. Speaker, human excreta is now a major resource which could be turned into electricity.

So there is nothing like is waste as far as hon. Isaac Asiamah is concerned. We call it waste in Ghana but who says it is a waste? It is not a waste; it is a major resource. [Laughter!] What is lacking is the technology to turn these things into more productive uses. So we do not have waste in Ghana. We must continue to have a programme or policy to turn this so-called waste as is being called in the country but which I call resource or resources into more productive use.

Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member for Bantama, Ms. Cecilia Dapaah congra- tulated Zoom Lion Company. This is an example of a very perfect relationship between the Government and the private sector or public/private sector initiative. Clearly, we are heading towards somewhere. Zoom Lion Company has done so well but Mr. Speaker, let us not stop there, we still need to do more about companies and how they handle the resource that I have spoken about in this country.

Mr. Speaker, Zoom Lion Company should go beyond collecting the waste. I know they have the capacity to turn the waste or the resource into more productive uses. So that is the challenge to Zoom Lion Company and the others.

Mr. Speaker, finally, what I want to say is that whether we like it or not Africa can only be developed by African themselves. It is a challenge to us that we can also develop ourselves. We need to depoli- ticize issues of national importance.

I am happy that when we met at Chances

Hotel at Ho, the senior Member of Parliament - I do not want to say the senior Minister, the senior Member of Parliament, hon. J. H. Mensah spoke about the vision of this country towards a 7-year development plan and he did invite all political parties and the contributions that came from them were superb. That should tell us that indeed Ghana is heading towards somewhere. That is the direction that Africa must take; a direction of hope; a direction of inclusiveness; a direction of law and enforcement and of course, a direction of peace.

What is happening in South Africa is so disturbing and bad and I challenge our leaders to come out boldly to condemn what is happening there. I know that the Government is not involved but at least, let us take the right actions so that we will protect innocent nationals in South Africa. This is because we have all suffered. Mr. Speaker, if I have not done anything at all I have prayed for South Africa.

We have all prayed; some have done a lot of sacrifices; some have provided real physical cash; we have trained human resources from South Africa with our hard- earned cash as a country. So we expect South Africans to treat other Africans with respect because what they are enjoying today comes from the labour of other Africans.

Mr. Speaker, what is more sad is that as the Chairman of Committee on Sports, I am more concerned about the image of South Africa because their image is critical towards the World Cup 2010. Already, there are little concerns about the security situation in Africa. So this should not confirm what earlier criticisms people had about South Africa. They should portray South Africa as a very peaceful
Mr. Asiamah 12:20 p.m.


country that can host a major World Cup tournament and this is very important.

Mr. Speaker, my hon. Deputy Majority Leader is whipping me, so with that, I would want to end here and thank the hon. Member who made this important Statement.
Mr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central) 12:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to contribute to the Statement ably presented by the hon. Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, African Union has always been a bane in Africa's organisation of its human resources and natural resources as well and water is natural resources that Africa has to organise.
Sanitation is a critical component of our lives and once we fail in organising and ensuring good sanitation, we are definitely in a bad shape and would not be able to match up with the rest of the world.
Mr. Speaker, when we talk about African Union, we talk about it beyond the fact that our African countries integrate, just an integration that can only be described in a physical way. We are talking about a situation where we would see Africa approaching developments in a united way and competing effectively and confidently with the rest of the world. Whenever we fail in this endeavour, Mr. Speaker, we do that at the detriment of the majority of African people who want to see their leaders take them to the next step in developments.
What we are witnessing today in Africa, the problem in Zimbabwe where one person after 28 years in office and 84 years old is still struggling to become a President and subjecting his people to all the rigours of life and the tribulations of being citizens of that country. Mr. Speaker,
it is not a good sign that Africa is waking up to its responsibility. The latest effect of what I am talking about is what is taking place in South Africa.
The situation in South Africa is another sour event taking place in Africa and killing the very spirit of Africa to live up to its responsibility.
Mr. Speaker, I am giving this example to cite the fact that when God gave us Africa, he did so knowing that he is giving us the best of the continent because it has the richest resources, it has the best water resources and what we are left with is the ingenuity to organise these resources and produce something that can satisfy our people.
Mr. Speaker, we are failing in all these and the failing is so painful, in fact it is more painful and biting into us so much that generations to come would still have the effect of what we are experiencing today. But the question of water and sanitation is a very crucial one.
Mr. Speaker, good sanitation alone would ensure that Africa will no longer spend that much money in curing malaria. Good sanitation alone will save the lives of two million people who die from malaria every year and good sanitation alone will ensure that Ghana will not spend $700 million as mentioned by the Minister for Health, in curing malaria. So sanitation is a critical component and must be looked at with all the seriousness that we can mobilise as a country and as a people who want to see our people live comfortable lives.
In making this Statement today and again with Africa making water and sanitation the focus of today's event as Africa's Day,
Mr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central) 12:30 p.m.


is something that we cannot overlook.

And it is important that we add our voice to the call for Africans to take them more seriously to ensure that we have good sanitation and potable water, not just water.

Water in its raw form can even be a source of disease to us. Our ability, our civilisation, our scientific and techno- logical competence in harnessing the water resource and ensuring that that resource is transformed from its raw state to potable drinkable state, is what we are talking about. And it is the area we have been facing a serious problem and also it is a danger to the lives of our people.

I have always made this statement that if we do not take care in Africa, we might be fighting water wars in the next generation. And I am not surprised that the last time when we had low level water in our Akosombo Dam, all the diplomatic efforts that we made, the shuttles that we did, were towards Burkina Faso to ask them to try to mellow in the usage of the dam so that upstream water would be allowed to flow downstream to Ghana so that it could turn our turbines and produce electricity for us.

Mr. Speaker, it is important under all these circumstances that, we define a policy approach that is going to take care of today and tomorrow. Our failure to do that is going to spell doom. And I would urge our leadership, especially the Government, to define a clear cut policy that is going to address our water and sanitation needs in years to come.

Mr. Speaker, when these Statements are

made, they must not be made in vacuum and they must not be made just for the sake of them. They must be made so that
Mr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central) 12:30 p.m.


they can give policy direction; it can give leadership an understanding that such a thing has become a focus of the generality of the people. The people cannot benefit from the Statement and all the things we say if those statements are not taken seriously by those who matter and those who are given the mandate and the will to take decisions on behalf of the people.

I would therefore urge the Executive to consider what is coming out here, from the Chairperson for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who has made a very important Statement in this respect and to formulate a water and sanitation policy; and not to take any kind of ad hoc approach to our water problem or to our sanitation problem. But a policy that will be concrete and that can be taken and implemented from generation to generation that will not necessarily be a peculiarity for only the present government.

That will be such that the next government, come 2009 when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is in power, we will also look at it as ours and possess it and use it; so that we can say that we have got this thing from a government that was serious about water and we are implementing it because it reflects the thinking of the majority of the people and has an understanding that water is a critical component of life. And good sanitation will not be seen as just a one day affair.

Our attitude towards sanitation must not also be seen as just a one day affair but something that is going to have a long lasting effect and that is going to reflect on a policy that eventually will be a culture of the people. So in all that we do, we should be careful about what we throw on the streets, we should be careful about where we throw our dirty waters, we should be careful about how our factories dispose of their wastes and we should be careful about how we ourselves dispose of from our bodies.
Mr. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central) 12:30 p.m.


Mr. Speaker, with this, I am done.
Nana Abu-Bonsra (NPP - Fomena) 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to join my hon. Colleagues, as we prepare to celebrate the African Union (AU) Day, in support of the Statement made by the Chairperson for the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, as a people, sometimes we have had to question the usefulness of celebrating days like the AU Day. Some people have the notion that it is not a day worth celebrating; and that it is more of a cosmetic ceremony than the consideration of meaningful issues for which reason some people think that we do not even need to spend money or waste time in celebrating these days.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot do without these things. I believe that such celebrations afford us opportunities to reflect soberly on where we are coming from, what we have been able to achieve and where we need to progress to in our onward journey.
Mr. Speaker, I was listening to radio the last time and sadly enough a commentator made a very sweeping statement to the effect that the AU itself is a toothless bull dog and therefore, he thinks that it must be disbanded and that it was of no significance.
I find that statement most unfortunate. Nobody can challenge the issue that yes, what we set out to achieve under the tenets of AU and the protocols and everything has not been realised because like human beings the fact that when a child begins to walk it begins to fumble does not mean that the child should not be encouraged to walk at all. And that is why I find such statements very unfortunate.
Mr. Speaker, the absence of AU, in my view, will lead only to dictatorship or segregation. In this era when the whole world is moving towards a global village, I wonder what we Africans will stand to gain if we decide that because we have not achieved the tenets of the AU, we should do away with it completely. I find that most unfortunate.
Mr. Speaker, it must also be established
that Africa lost out in the past centuries in almost all spheres of life and we were left behind, as it were. Sadly though, it is believed that Egypt, for example, in Africa is the birthplace of civilisation. And yet, when the world took off or came off the blocs for a quick start, Africa was left behind. What is the way forward then? We need to double up. And how do we do that?
Mr. Speaker, I would want to suggest a two-prong approach. That is, first, doing away with the negative things in Africa. Those negative things which have been hammered on very excellently by some hon. Colleagues who spoke earlier on such as the hon. Member for Bole/Bamboi (hon. John Mahama) who is the running mate of Prof. Evans John Attah-Mills, about civil wars, about ethnic conflicts and all these things amount to waste of lives and resources and everything that one can name.
Right now, what I think Africa should be hammering on is aggressive implementation of policies that will bring Africa out of the woods. And as we celebrate AU Day, I would like to make some few suggestions.
I think one of the things that can help Africa come out of the woods is to lay emphasis on good governance. Mr. Speaker, I am saying this because when one goes outside Africa then one begins to realise how blessed Africa is in terms of resources and everything. This is because countries that we look up to outside Africa
are countries that do not possess or that cannot boast of much resources as we have in Africa.
And yet, these countries are far advanced and ahead of Africa. And sometimes it is not difficult to realise that they are ahead of us simply because they have established a firm belief in democratic rule and in good governance. And I dare suggest that to our leaders that, let democracy work in Africa because that is one way by which we can come out of the woods.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing has to do with human resource development. We are talking about Africa trying to meet the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation - [Interruption.] If we have not been able to achieve these things, sometimes I want to believe that it is simply because we keep our people out of such celebrations. I believe that the celebration of African Union Day and whatever should focus on the people more than on our leaders. We should begin to work on the mentality of our people; take their minds away from leadership.

It is as if, if Accra is dirty then that is the doing of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, which is not the case. Whoever is there does not go around spreading litter. It is we the people and therefore we have to let our people begin to understand that if Africa wants to be where it wants to be we need a collective effort - [Interruption.] Mr. Speaker, I think I am being forced to abandon my presentation - [Laughter!] -- I am being threatened.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Very well, if you are being asked and you have
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.


also obliged that would bring us to the end of this Statement.
Nana Abu-Bonsra 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on that note and with due respect to my Leadership I take my seat.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Very well, hon. Members, that brings us to the end of comments on the Statement that was read on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Committee by the hon. Member for Cape Coast, Ms. Christine Churcher. Thank you very much, hon. Members, for the various comments that you made on the AU Day.
Now we go back to Public Business once again. Papers to be laid.
PAPERS 12:40 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon. Members, I believe most of you have copies of these two reports that have just been laid. They are sheets of two and I believe you might have gone through them as well. We will therefore proceed to consider them.
MOTIONS 12:40 p.m.
BILLS - SECOND READING 12:40 p.m.
Dr. A. A. Osei 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to
move, that the Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill be now read a Second time.
Question proposed.
Chairman of the Committee (Nii Adu Mante) 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to present to you the Committee's report.
1.0 Introduction
The Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill was laid in the House on Friday, 23rd May 2008 and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House.
To consider the Bill, the Committee met with the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, hon.

Dr. A. Akoto Osei, the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, hon. G. Gyan-Baffour and officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and reports as follows:

2.0 Rationale of the Bill

The object of this Bill is to ameliorate the effects of rising global commodity prices and its effect on the economy by removing the import duty on the following commodities:

1. Rice

2. Wheat

3. Vegetable Oil

4. Yellow Maize for Poultry.

3.0 Content of the Bill

The Bill contains two clauses as follows:

Clause 1 seeks to further amend the First Schedule of Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) Act, 1996, (Act 512) as amended as follows:

The import duty on the goods specified in column 3 of the scheduled below is hereby removed --

(i) Rice -- 20 per cent

(ii) Wheat -- 10 per cent (iii) Vegetable Oil -- 20 per cent

(iv) Yellow Maize for Poultry -- 20 per cent

Clause 2 states the duration of the Act.

4.0 Urgency of the Bill

The Committee considered and certified that the Bill is of an urgent nature. As a result the Committee recommends that the Bill is taken through all its stages in one day.

5.0 Observations and Recommendation

The Committee was informed that the Bill seeks to amend the First Schedule of the Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act 512) (column 3) so as to remove the import duty on some selected commodities.

The Committee was further informed currently these commodities attract the following import duty rates:

(i) Rice -- 20 per cent

(ii) Wheat -- 10 per cent

(iii) Vegetable Oil -- 20 per cent

(iv) Yellow Maize for Poultry -- 20 per cent

The Committee noted that the Bill seeks to zero-rate the import duty payable on these commodities.

The Committee observed that the Bill when passed would ensure that the prices of these selected products/commodities do not rise as fast as they currently do. The Committee was informed that for this year only the price of rice has risen by almost 70 per cent.

On the urgency of the Bill, the Committee noted that after the President's Address there is speculation in the country as to the direction of prices and this can create chaos on the market. Therefore there was the need for Parliament to quickly consider the Bill to help ameliorate the current price hikes in the economy and

prevent confusion that can arise.

On the impact this would have on the national budget, the Minister of State at the Ministry informed the Committee that there would be a revenue loss of GH¢38 million. However, Government is reviewing and reprioritizing the budgets of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) especially the development expenditure. MDAs have been asked to review their Item 4 so as to lessen its effect on the economy.

Members wanted to know how the changes in the taxes would impart on prevailing prices on the market. The hon. Minister of State informed the Committee that most of these items are kept in Bonded Warehouses and duties are paid when they are taken from there to the market. Therefore, with the changes in the duty rate it would immediately affect the next batch of these items going into the market therefore the changes in the prices would be felt almost immediately.

The Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning informed the Committee that Government has also made available GH¢11 million subsidy for the agricultural sector. This would basically go to support local production of these items so that the local producers would not be disadvantaged.

The Committee further observed that the Bill would ameliorate the effect of rising global commodity prices and thereby improving the general well-being of the people.

The Committee noted that clause 2 is superfluous and thereby should be deleted.

Amendment Proposed

The Committee proposes the following amendment:

Clause 1 - delete and insert the

following:

First Schedule of Act 512 as amended further amended

1. The Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) Act, 1996 (Act 512) as amended is further amended in the First Schedule as follows:

No. HS Code

Description of Goods Rate of Import Duty

1 1006

RICE 0

2 1001

WHEAT 0

3 1511 VEGETABLE OIL 0

4 1005 YELLOW MAIZE 0

Clause 2 - delete.

6.0 Conclusion

After carefully considering the Bill, the Committee believes that the Bill is in the right direction and hence recommends to the House to adopt its report and pass the Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill as amended.

Respectfully submitted.
Mr. Pele Abuga (NDC- Chiana/ Paga) 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we have carefully considered the measures that Government has tried to put in place to reduce the suffering of the people of this country, but I have my misgivings about this particular measure.
We all know in this country when you reduce taxes on the importation of certain items, it does not automatically translate into lower prices of those items at the market places and even at the retail level. We have known of situations where importers have imported some of the items from one country and in turn immediately have sent them to the next country because of the gain that can be made in that country.
We are surrounded by our neighbours and if you waive all the taxes at the port on say, rice it does not automatically mean that the importer would be selling the rice
on the Ghanaian market. Even if he does so where is the guarantee that these prices are going to automatically go down at the retail level? Mr. Speaker, I think that the Government would have to think about the issue very carefully and put many more measures in place.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I was a bit amazed that it has taken the Government almost two years to acknowledge one essential fact; that the prices of items have been increasing. It did not start today; since 2006 particularly it came to a time when the northern sector of this country had a lot of floods; there was a disaster in the North and pressure started bearing down on this country as far as the availability of food items was concerned on the open market. Mr. Speaker, one would have thought that many more measures would have been put in place earlier to ensure that the people of this country do not suffer to extreme levels.
Mr. Speaker, now that the taxes at the port on rice, wheat, vegetable oil

and yellow maize have been reduced, what measures are we going to put in place to ensure that when they get to the marketplace the prices are lower than we expect them? They can only translate into lower prices over a certain period. It does not take effect in one month, two months or five months and even any basic economics would teach us that unless the markets are flooded prices do not automatically come down.

So Mr. Speaker, what measures is the

Government putting in place to ensure that these importers sell the produce at a lower price to the ordinary Ghanaian? These are some of the worries that some of us have with some of these measures. And why did it have to take the Government so long to acknowledge the fact that prices were on the rise, people were suffering and that the so-called stability measures that were in place in this economy did not translate into any meaningful effect on the pocket of the ordinary Ghanaian? These are some of the concerns that some of us have about this Bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the

opportunity.
Mr. E. A. Agyepong (NPP - Abetifi) 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, usually price rumpuses in the whole world do affect developing countries more than the developed countries. It is only these American mortgage prices that have really affected them. But besides those countries, those of us in the developing countries do suffer from price changes in petrol, crude oil and food prices. What is worrying, and has been disturbing most of us is that when we build our economy or the micro- economic indices are put to a certain level, invariably it gets destroyed with these price changes and other things.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
I would plead with hon. Members to be brief in their contributions.
Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini (NDC - Tamale Central) 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity to contribute to the motion on the floor of the House.
Mr. Speaker, before I make any contribution I would seek your indulgence to remind this House and the general public about what President J.A. Kufuor said on the 12th day of January 2000 at the University of Cape Coast campus when he was addressing TESCON. Mr. Speaker, and this was in the Daily Graphic of Wednesday, 12th January, 2000. He said and with your permission, I quote:
“Mr. J. A. Kufuor has disclosed that the NPP Government would focus on agriculture, education and industry, among others to
Dr. A. A. Osei 12:50 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Good Friend is saying we are in the year 2007. Mr. Speaker, this year is 2008. So I do not know which world he is living in. I am surprised that he is saying it is 2007. Clearly, I am not sure where he has been this morning but I want to remind him - he has not gone to the Mosque yet but it is still 2008.
Mr. Fuseini 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, this was a slip of the tongue and I thank the hon. Member for correcting me. We are in
2008.
Indeed, what I sought to say was that we are seven years or seven and a half years down the line and today, on the 23rd of May 2008, President J.A. Kufuor has acknowledged the fact that we have economic hardships in the system and that he is seeking the indulgence of this House to remove taxes that we have imposed on certain commodities to reduce those economic hardships. That is the reality that confronts this country today.
Mr. Speaker, if these were the only problems we would have simply granted President J. A. Kufuor his wish without comment. But what is mind-boggling -
Mr. R. S. Quarm 1 p.m.
On a point of order.
Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleague on the opposite side of the House is trying to imply that economic hardship is of the 21st Century, and he is misleading Ghanaians and misleading the world. Mr. Speaker, 2000 years ago, at the time of Christ, in Matthew 26: 6-11, Mr. Speaker, you have this picture where Mary Magdalene, just two days to the time Jesus Christ was to be crucified, poured oil on the feet of Jesus Christ and wiped it with her hair.

That is 2000 years ago. So if somebody is talking about hardships - I do not know. Two thousand years ago when the population of the world was probably less than 100 million or even 10 million, there was poverty. So poverty is a relative term and if His Excellency President J. A. Kufuor acknowledged that in his 2001 State of the Nation Address, that is relative term - ‘poverty' and it will be with us till the end of time.
Mr. Fuseini 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you see
when politicians abandon their core mandate of representing the people and mount the pulpit to preach to the people, then we can have interjections like this which seem to suggest that poverty started in the year 2000.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon.
Deputy Minister, hold your fire for your turn and let him continue with what he wants to say.
Mr. Fuseini 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you
very much. Mr. Speaker, I was saying that if the President had simply come to this House to crave the indulgence of this House to remove the taxes, we would have graciously done so because he is the Chief Executive of this country, and he initiates policies and gets us to buy into the policy. But why we are bound to comment on this statement and on this Bill is simply that there is grievous inconsistencies in what the President is seeking to do.
Dr. A. A. Osei 1 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Good Friend is simply misleading this House. At least
if he is going to challenge the President, he should state the facts. This House did not do such a thing in 2007. Please, let us debate properly and let us not mix years. Mr. Speaker, this 2007 year seems to be sticking to his head. Everything he says, he says 2007. Is there something attached to 2007?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon. Minister, what specifically have you found wrong with what he said?
Dr. A. A. Osei 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he said
this House changed something in 2007. That is a palpable lie, it is false. He should state the right year.
M r. F i r s t D e p u t y S p e a k e r :
Hon. Member, I think you are using unparliamentary language. That it is incorrect.
Dr. A. A. Osei 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am
sorry. He is a good Friend of mine but I cannot help but notice that everything he says he refers to 2007. I just want to know if there is something important for him - he should state the right year, unless of course there is something about 2007 that is leading him to use it all the time. So I am just actually helping him; he keeps referring to 2007 but he did not mean to say 2007, he should correct himself.
Mr. Fuseini 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am most

Mr. Speaker, the principle upon which they came to this House is the subject
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 1 p.m.
On a point of order.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that was before the last Parliament, and he must know the implications.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not
know the implications except that we granted the President his wish. Mr. Speaker, after this honourable House granted the President his wish, he failed to implement the wish.
Mr. Speaker, he did even come back to this House to tell us why he had decided not to implement a law that had been passed in this House. He did not do so.

Mr. Speaker, this year he is coming again to tell us that we should remove tariffs on rice, wheat, vegetable oil and yellow corn. Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether we should grant this wish because the first wish that we granted he did not implement.

Mr. Speaker, that is the inconsistency of the agricultural policy of the NPP Government. In the year 2000, when the NDC Government was leaving office they
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Deputy Majority Leader, do you have a point to make?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon. Member, maybe it was a slip of the tongue.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I heard him say three Ministers - [Interruption.]
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it was a slip
- I said three persons. Two Ministers and a public servant. That is what I said.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Member, if it was a slip of tongue, continue.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speakier, I was a
defence counsel in the matter and I know that not three Ministers went to jail. I
defended the first accused person, Alhaji Ibrahim Adam.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
On a point
of order. Again Mr. Speaker, even if he said two Ministers, which is not what he said earlier on but I am happy that he has corrected himself, it is not known to this country that two Ministers were jailed; a Minister and a Deputy Minister were jailed and not two Ministers. He knows the difference.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I know that
Ibrahim Adam and Mr. Kwame Peprah were jailed. I do not know whether Kwame Peprah was a Deputy Minister or Ibrahim Adam was a Deputy Minister. Probably, what I did not add and which I am seeking to add is that they were former Ministers.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Member, do not get yourself involved in - You have said that you have been corrected and that there was a Minister and a Deputy Minister so please continue with that.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that the rice import bill in the year 2000 was one hundred million dollars. The desire to reduce this import bill led to the establishment of Aveyime. Seven years down the line, attempts are being made to revive Aveyime. The President did say yesterday that resources would be pumped into Aveyime. The rice import bill of this country is three hundred million plus.
Mr. Speaker, in 2001, when the Minister for Food and Agriculture made the pledge to reduce the importation of rice by 30 per cent, I did not think that the pledge was intended to enhance the rice importation
Mr. Asamoah-Boateng 1:10 p.m.
On a point of
order. Mr. Speaker. My hon. Colleague is misleading the House. The President did not say that resources would be pumped into Aveyime. He said the Aveyime project had been launched. That is what he said.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Well, I thank him so much
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Member, I will give you two more minutes.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, two more
minutes will be enough.
Mr. Speaker, in the year 2000, we were told that the Brong Ahafo Region and the three northern regions would be turned into bread baskets of this country. We all understood that to mean that the four regions would be producing the food crops that are needed in this country. Mr. Speaker, we are in 2008 and I am yet to see any policy direction in this endeavour.
Mr. Eugene Atta Agyepong 1:10 p.m.
On a
point of order. Mr. Speaker, one wonders what the hon. Member is up to. We were in the House when the Youth in Agriculture Policy was announced by the former President. If it had worked, would we have been where we are now?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Agyepong, you are out of order.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, parties
are voted into government based on alternative policy choices and leadership options. In 2000, National Democratic Congress (NDC) was pursuing a policy, in 2000, New Patriotic Party ( NPP) came with policy alternatives. The people of Ghana chose their option.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Asiamah what is your -
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 1:10 p.m.
On a point of order.
Mr. Speaker, I think my hon. Colleague is misleading this House. Mr. Speaker, the issue is that, we are to consider this Bill here, so we should not reduce it to comparison of regimes. If we should do that we will not end this debate and he

knows it himself. Mr. Speaker, the shocks that we are receiving, if it were their regime this country would have collapsed.

In their time, it was only about oil prices but now we are in fuel crisis but because of the resilience of the economy, because of the confidence that Ghanaians have in the economy, we have been able to maintain stability. If it were them, this economy would have collapsed. So comparison is neither here nor there. If it comes to that, then they are nowhere near NPP. So let us stick to this whole debate and let us conclude the debate.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon.
Asiamah, you are also out of order.
Mr. Fuseini 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I even agree
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Do you agree with him?
Mr. Fuseini 1:20 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Basically,
you have half a minute to wind up.
Mr. Fuseini 1:20 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Basi-
cally, this country must move forward not backwards and I believe that if you are running forward while looking backwards your progress will be impeded by the laws of gravity and progress. That is why this Government is seeking to run forward but always turning its head to look backwards and that is why it has been impeded by the economic forces that are bedevelling us today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
I will
allow two more contributions hon. Members. This is a very straightforward Bill. I will allow two contributions from this side of the House and one from the other side.
Alhaji Muntaka M. Mubarak (NDC
-- Asawase): Mr. Speaker, I rise to contribute to the Bill before the House and in doing so, I would want to start by reminding all of us of what the President said on January 12, 2000, that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government should not blame the difficulties of the country on the external shocks; namely gold, cocoa and oil prices shock -- that was in 2000.
Mr. Speaker, after the candidate, Mr. J. A. Kufuor, now His Excellency J. A. Kufuor had ascended to the throne his first State of the Nation Address which I hold here, page 6, paragraphs 6 and 7, this is what he said: Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I quote:
Dr. A. A. Osei 1:20 p.m.
On a point of order.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know which one of them is telling the truth. He read the same quotation and he said “we can what we cannot” and he is saying “We sell what we cannot”. Mr. Speaker, who is lying? Mr.
Speaker, one of them must come clean, either my Friend from Tamale is lying or my Friend from Asawase is lying.
Mr. Speaker, my confusion is that, they are both my friends and I do not want them to lie to this House. So maybe, they should meet together. In fact, they are using the same quotation and so I am not sure who is lying to this House. It cannot be the same.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Well,
hon. Ampofo, I could see you are agitated. What is your problem?
Dr. Ampofo 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the other
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
In this
context, it can be used.
Dr. Ampofo 1:20 p.m.
Oh! - [Laughter.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon.
Member, continue.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish
my hon. Colleague should have been listening. My Colleague was quoting the Daily Graphic upon a Statement that H.E. the President made when he was in Cape Coast addressing TEXCOM and I am quoting the State of the Nation Address. I gave him the page and the paragraph, so they are two different quotations.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon.
Member, are you sure about what you are saying because the hon. Member quoted two - Indeed he made reference to two quotations; one from the Daily Graphic and the other from the State of the Nation Address and exactly what it is.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon.
Member, let us continue. If you want to make your point please -- He said you made reference to two statements, one from the Daily Graphic and another from the State of the Nation Address.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I repeat
from the State of the Nation Address, what I am holding can be referred, and I am saying it is in paragraphs 6 and 7. And with your permission, I read:
“My Government will work hard to reverse the situation. We shall grow what we eat, eat what we can and sell what we cannot. Indeed, our ultimate objective is that Ghana becomes a leading agro-based industrial country in Africa by the year 2010”.
Mr. Speaker, we are only two and a
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, sir, we are dealing with the Second Reading of a Bill. Mr. Speaker, Order 127 (1) is clear on what we should do at the Second Reading of a Bill. Mr. Speaker, if I may quote:
“On a motion being made that a Bill be now read a Second time, a full debate shall arise on the principle of the Bill on the basis of the explanatory memorandum and the report from the Committee.”
Mr. Speaker, my Colleague is engaging in tedious repetition which has no relevance with the Memorandum or the Report. Mr. Speaker, he must be brought back on track. And Mr. Speaker, with your kind indulgence please rule such things out

of order and let us go on with the business before us, otherwise, we may not end today. It is not helpful to the substance before us. Mr. Speaker, I will entreat you to rule him out of order.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I can
understand my senior Colleague. If his Government is boxed to a tight corner, the only way he will want things to be done is to be rushed through. Mr. Speaker, if he is holding a copy of the Report of the Committee on the rationale of the Bill and with your permission, I quote. It says:
“The object of this Bill is to ameliorate the effects of the rising global commodity prices and its effect on the economy by removing the import duty on the following commodities…”
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Again, hon. Member?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, again. Now, the Memorandum talks about the effects of spiralling global commodity prices and we are talking about ameliorating the effects by this. Mr. Speaker, that is the pivotal consideration. Nobody is saying that our citizenry are burdened by this. Mr. Speaker, nobody is saying that but I am saying that the issue at stake is the skyrocketing global commodity prices. Mr. Speaker, that is the issue.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon. Deputy Majority Leader, I think you have made a point but he has also made his point and I am asking him to continue.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that in removing these import duties, we will only be looking at one side of the coin. We are not looking at the other side of the coin. Mr. Speaker, in our country, we have people who produce rice, we have people who are into vegetable oil production. Mr. Speaker, an attempt to remove the import duties on vegetable oil will have a dying consequence on companies like Lever Brothers who are producing Frytol.
Mr. Speaker, if you remove all these duties on vegetable oil, what you are indirectly doing is that you are discouraging the production of these commodities locally and the inconsistency with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration is in one vein they say the private sector is the engine of growth that must be encouraged to produce; in another vein, they are carrying out a policy that directly has an effect or kills these very industries that they claim to be building.
Ms. J. H. Addoh 1:30 p.m.
On a point or order. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member is misleading the House. The economic principle underlying what we are discussing is that - He is talking about reducing the taxes and therefore, maybe, killing Lever Brothers Company Ltd. and so on. He may have a point if Lever Brothers had been able to produce in excess and we are not consuming it. What we are saying is that the local people are producing but they are not enough. They are not enough partly because one - [Interruption.] Please, let me land.
We are encouraging. Comparing what we had sometime ago and what we are producing now, we have increased production but with a system like the free meals being given to pupils, we are consuming more rice and therefore, though we have increased production it is not enough to solve the problem immediately.
I think that is how the hon. Member would have to look at it. We are not going to kill industry; people will still produce and it is not going to be permanent. When we are able to solve our own problems; when the producers here are able to produce up to a certain level, we cannot be static for hundred years. We can go back and say we have enough.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon.
Member for Asawase, you have one more minute to complete.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
The hon.
Member has not said even a word and you are up on a point of order, I believe? What is your point of order?
Mr. R. S. Quarm 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we

Some hon. Members: We do not have
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon.
Member, do not keep shouting like that. Do not do that.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Let him continue. Later on, see him in chambers and he will give you the information.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I will do it for free.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at page 3 paragraph 3 of your Committee's report, it is clearly stated about how much the country would be losing in trying to remove these import duties - close to GH¢38 million.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon. Member, are you introducing import duty or you are introducing - What exactly are you driving at?
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we are removing the import duties, on the following commodities and I am saying
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon.
Asiamah, would you not allow your hon. Colleague to complete? You have had your turn.
Mr. Asiamah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you
for the opportunity. We all know that this Government packaged a very nice road policy for this year, 2008 and all of a sudden we are all confronted with this major crisis. We should not talk as if this is a normal period that we find ourselves in.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
You are
out of order, hon. Asiamah.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is
important that we all want to give some leverage, some comfort to the consumers at the cost of about ¢38 million and I am saying that this thing that we are going to do, having in mind that we have a liberal system where people sell at will, the final consumer is not going to benefit seriously from this as against the loss of revenue because one as we are speaking now so many imports have been done already and which are in the market. Immediately, you cannot expect people to start reducing prices.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon.
Hilda Addo, again, you want to correct an impression or it is a point of order?
Ms. Addoh 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to
correct an impression. The hon. Member is speaking some economics but I think there are some flaws.
He is saying that immediately the
consumer is not going to benefit. It depends on the elasticity of that commodity, and we are talking about rice. So the elasticity would determine. And looking at the commodity, if you understand, the elasticity of this commodity then you know it is going to benefit the people because the products would be there and there would be competition and it has an elastic demand and people are going to benefit.
Alhaju Mubarak: Mr. Speaker, I would have been very grateful if my hon. Colleague had mentioned the elasticity of vegetable oil, rice, for all of us to know. She knows very well that food is one thing, whether you are rich or poor, you must eat. So no matter the price that is put on the food you must find ways of buying food to eat. So it means that it is completely inelastic. [Interruption.] Yes, it is inelastic because - [Interruption.]
Dr. A. A. Osei 1:30 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr.
Speaker, I want to crave the indulgence of my dear hon. Friend that this is not the forum for economics lecture. Some of us have done our work in economics but this is not the place. If he is not sure he should stay away from it so that the statement he made that it is not elastic can get us into trouble. So Mr. Speaker, if you can advise him that he should stay away from those statements and just go on with his contribution.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
A free
piece of advice, hon. Member. Take it or leave it.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Thirty
more seconds, hon. Member.
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, Mr.
Speaker, I would not want to be dragging this issue but the most important thing that I want us to acknowledge is that monitoring the market to ensure that these reductions that we are now seeking to have would go down to the final consumer is a real mirage, and if we are not careful we would be losing so much revenue and at the end of the day we would not have the benefit for which we are seeking to make these reductions.
I would want to add that I believe that most of these products for which we are seeking reduction in levies like the rice, do not take too many years to grow. It would have been better if the Government had started targeting the production of rice with that amount of money than to say that they are going to reduce these levies.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon. Member, in the circumstance, what is your position? Are you in support of the Bill or you are not in support of the motion?
Alhaji Mubarak 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am speaking to the Bill and I am sounding this caution that as we seek to take these reductions, we should have at the back of our mind the challenges that we are going to be confronted with when the policy begins its implementation stage. Therefore, I think that if we insist to have it, then we should develop mechanisms to ensure that people are not going to take advantage of it to the detriment of the State losing so much money.
Several hon. Members-- rose --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Let us hear the hon. Minister for Food and Agriculture.
Minister for Food and Agriculture (Mr. Ernest Debrah) 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want first to say that when it comes to the question of food, we must put aside partisan politics because if you are hungry, it does not really matter which political party you belong to. That is the first statement.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon. Pele Abuga, do you disagree with him?
Mr. Abuga 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. He made a preliminary point and I think that I have a point of order on that because he is completely misleading this House and the whole nation. He as the hon. Minister for Food and Agriculture was on air and he made a categorical statement when everybody was concerned about the food crisis in this country.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon.
Member, there is nothing inconsistent about what he might have said and what he is saying here. Hon. Pele Abuga, I do not see the inconsistency.
Mr. Abuga 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, just

He was on air. I cannot give the exact date but he knows that he said it and many people here heard it -- [Interruption.] Mr. Speaker, today he is saying that when it comes to the question of food, we should be non-partisan and that it is a question of hunger. To say it is a question of hunger, it means he has now realised that there is hunger in the system - [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
He is talking about price, he is not talking about hunger. So let him continue.
Mr. Debrah 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, let me first
react to this before I go on.
One, please, when people speak we should listen to them very carefully. Ghanaians are too much fond of doing that. I gave a press statement and I stated that with regard to locally produced food, Ghanaians are lucky because even in the event of the floods and the drought that happened last year, we still have got great production figures in some of our food items and I quoted maize, cassava, yam, cocoyam and I ended up by saying that but with regard to imported food items, because we import them from outside and it has been hit by the global trend, there was nothing we could do about it.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon. Inusah Fuseini, you are on your feet. Is there any problem with that?
Mr. Fuseini 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
They are
fond of what?
Mr. Fuseini 1:40 p.m.
They are fond of not
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Make
your point and let us continue.
Mr. Fuseini 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, being so,
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
I think
you have made your point. Hon. Minister, I believe generalising Ghanaians as not listening enough, to some extent is not very good particularly when you are doing that in this House.
Mr. Debrah 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank
you. I would moderate it by saying some Ghanaians.
Again Mr. Speaker, sometimes when we speak in this House we must refer to facts. It is a fact that if we compare the agricultural growth figure -- and on this one we can go to the Statistical Service Department and check from 2000 to 2001 -- what we have right now, we can
see that there has been a massive growth in agriculture. This has come about as a result of certain policies that we have put in place.
Mr. Abuga 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a
point of order. Mr. Speaker, I have tried very hard to remain calm whilst the hon. Minister speaks but Mr. Speaker, the statement he just made clearly implies that there is enough rice in the system. If production figures on rice have gone very high, what accounts for the high cost of import bill of rice in this country? This is a clear inconsistency.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
I think
you should allow the hon. Minister to continue. It is a question of the way you understand it.
Mr. Debrah 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I said if he
cares, he can come to the Ministry, I would give him figures to support it or he can go to the Statistical Service Department and get figures to support it. People talk about Ghanaians bringing food from outside. If you look at the staple food that we have and eat in this country, what is important is that Ghana is a net exporter of agricultural products; we are not a net importer. We are net exporters.
If you go to even a country like United States (US) they also import some food items into their country. If you go to Britain, they also import some food items into their country. I think our farmers have done so well and they need commendation for the work that they have done. And as
Alhaji M. M. Mubarak 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
You said
it is not absolutely correct but it is to some extent correct?
Alhaji Mubarak 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if you refer to the Budget Statement, since 2003, all the investments that had been allocated to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, they have not been able to do more than even up to 40 per cent in all the years. He is here and he knows that is right, so the impression that he is creating that since 2001 the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has helped in the production of food in this country is not right, otherwise, we would not be where we are.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
It is your
opinion, I cannot stop you but you are out of order. Hon. Minister, you may continue.
Mr. Debrah 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I said
agriculture has done so well in this country and our farmers deserve commendation for what they have done. But to come back to the hon. Member's statement that since 2003 the Ministry has never done more than 40 per cent is not a correct figure. He should go and check his figures very well; it is not a correct figure.
rose rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon. Members, those of you who are still up standing, would you take your seats and let us make a little progress? Today is Friday and we have a lot of work to do. Please, let him continue.
Mr. Debrah 1:40 p.m.
We brought a lot of farm
power into the farming system; we brought in power tillers, we brought in tractors and others. We have collaborated with research and they have given us a lot of good varieties of planting materials, seeds and others and these have contributed in no mean way to increasing production in the agricultural sector.
But as I said earlier, it does not mean that we have done well in all the sectors but we are net exporters of food and not net importers of food. If we go to Bawku or Paga right now, we would see articulated trucks loaded with food stuffs leaving this country and we know that. So please, let us give some credit to the Ghanaian farmer for doing so well.
Mr. Pelpuo 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think that it is not correct for the hon. Minister to say that we are net exporters of food and not net importers. This is because, I have seen statistics telling us that we are net importers of rice, we are net importers of tomatoes and we are net emporters of - [Interruption.]
An hon. Member: Source?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon.
Member, would you allow.
Mr. Pelpuo 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my next
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon.
Member, he is also an hon. Member of Parliament or even an hon. Minister of State who is entitled to contribute to the debate on the floor. Now, you are asking him to address a point that somebody has raised. He chooses to make his point the way he wants it. And you are asking him to address what you think is relevant?
Mr. Pelpuo 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am saying
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
I
understand you, but let him continue.
Mr. Debrah 1:50 p.m.
Again, when I speak,
the hon. Member should please listen to me carefully. I said, Ghana is a net exporter of agricultural production; not individual products. On the whole we are net exporters. The hon. Member cannot mention one rice and one tomato and make it the whole. On the whole, we are net exporters. That is what I said.
And now, back to what is happening
this year. If hon. Members would recall, last year was a particularly bad year for Ghana. We had the drought in the northern regions and northern part of Brong Ahafo followed by the floods, followed again by the drought. But as a result of the good intervention that we put in place, a
lot of food items recorded surpluses even without the northern sectors because of the floods.
Shortages that we had were shortages in food items that are grown in the northern part of the country such as millet, sorghum, rice and so on and so forth. So if one looks at the balance sheet, even with the floods and the droughts, Ghana did better last year than the previous years in certain crops.
As a follow-up to what happened last year, the global climatic change, the rise in fuel prices and others, it has sparked a world food crisis and Ghana is even in a better shape than quite a lot of countries in the world. The intervention that is being put in place right now is to ameliorate the situation with regard to food items that are imported into the country.
I want to say here that people have been commenting on whether it is not going to affect the local industry; we must look at the balance sheet. If one removes a subsidy of 20 per cent on rice and then one subsidises fertiliser to the tune of 45 per cent then, we will see that we are doing well for the local rice farmer.
Somebody talked about policies. The
rice sector has seen a lot of framework being done to ensure that we move up. There has been a lot of research on nerica rice. We have worked on the seeds and multiplied them and this is the year we are rolling out and we are starting with ten thousand hectares of rice. That is the nerica rice only.
The Ministry itself has got a rice programme in the Fumbisi Valley and Nasia Valley and we are growing a thousand hectares in each of the two valleys. Agence France de Development has come out with a programme in the northern sector and in the northern part of the Volta Region beginning this year with 500 hectares and following up with 6,000
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon.
Minister, speak to the Chair and ignore the harassment.
Mr. Debrah 1:50 p.m.
Then with regard to
irrigation and others, my brother, the hon. Member for Avenor (Mr. Doe Adjaho) will tell you that some of the dams that were abandoned are being rehabilitated to support agriculture. But what happens this year that has led to the soaring food prices is a global issue and therefore, it is good that this Government has intervened to make sure that it does not go beyond us or beyond the means of the ordinary Ghanaian.
In that regard, I think I want to support the motion for the reduction and the removal of some of these tariffs or some of these duties on these items. What we need to ensure and what I would support some hon. Members on is that we should see to it that this reduction gets to the consumer. So we should all try and fashion out ways and means to ensure that after these taxes have been withdrawn the consumer will benefit from them.
With that said, I thank you, Mr. Speaker. I support the motion.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
I would take the hon. Member for Avenor/Ave and then the hon. Minister for State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
But hon. Members, let me tell you that we are having an extended Sitting today. We would not rise at two o'clock. And let me remind you as well that today is a weekend. So your contribution should be measured and brief.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho (NDC - Avenor/

Ave). Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this motion. But I do so because I do not intend to throw the baby away with the bath water. Looking at the Bill and the way that the Government has handled this whole matter of trying to bring out policy to reduce hardship in this country, together with the Bill before us, can be described as a panicky and an ad hoc measure by the New Patriotic Party Government.
Mr. A. O. Aidooh 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at the Bill, clause 1 reads:
“The import duty on the goods specified in column 3 of the schedule Bill is hereby removed.”
So what it is saying is that the rates, 20 per cent, 10 per cent, et cetera are removed. So that is it. I see the point that the hon. Member is making but as it is now, it makes sense. What we have to do is to write it by removing these ones. But in terms of language, what we have here is right.
Mr Adjaho 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you have to read the Committee's Report and the piece of paper that they brought for Consideration Stage which was not captured - [Interruptions] -- A piece of paper which was brought by the Committee Chairman and which was signed by him and that he was going to
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
The hon.
Member made some other points.
Mr. Adjaho 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I realised
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Yes,
continue.
Mr. Adjaho 1:50 p.m.
So Mr. Speaker, it betrays
the Government's real intention of ‘oh, let me just do this', and it is dangerous. I do not want to believe that they are doing this because it is an election year and then after the election - I know they will have the opportunity of coming to amend this law. But what we are having, the kind
of situation we are facing now, we must admit as a nation, it is a failure of our agricultural policy.
Mr. Quarm 2 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, this week the United States of America President, Mr. George Bush visited Saudi Arabia and was pleading with that government that at least, they should increase the output of oil on the world market. The response was that there is enough oil in the system.
So if he says that by abundance, prices should fall and that scarcity should force prices, at least, I am referring him this week alone to Mr. George Bush who was told in Saudi Arabia that there is a glut in the oil market and that prices are being pushed up by speculation on the financial market. That is for his information.
Mr. Adjaho 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have been a student of economics and not only of law; that is why I am saying all other things being equal. I qualified it by saying, all being equal and if he had listened to me carefully he would not have even risen to a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the truth - [Interruption.]
Mr. Quarm 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my hon. good Friend is saying that all other things being equal, but he knows very well that in economics all other things are not equal. He knows very well that all things are not
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Hon. Member, please allow. Continue.
Mr. Adjaho 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think that I was in this House and the God that we worship is a very wonderful God. In 2000 when we had external shocks in this country they described the Government as mismanaging the economy. Now, we are having hardships, they are saying it is due to global effects. As to the difference between global effects and external effects, we leave it to posterity to judge.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Colleague earlier on made a categorical statement to the effect that this Bill attests to the failure of the agricultural policies of this Government. Mr. Speaker, only last Tuesday, Ministers of Agriculture in the countries in the sub-region met at Abuja and it came out that in the entire sub-region price rises in Ghana relating to staples are the lowest.
Mr. Speaker, so for him to say that it is a mark of persistent failure of Govern-ment's policies in agriculture, really I am shocked by this assertion by my hon. Colleague. He is completely misleading this House and Mr. Speaker, he is misleading himself.
Mr. Adjaho 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that in 2000 when the prices of cocoa and gold collapsed at the world market, it was not only Ghana's cocoa and gold that collapsed. But the hon. Member who attempted to lead this country, to lead his party was here when they were on this side of the House and they described it as mismanagement. Today, the truth has caught up with them.
But Mr. Speaker, coming to the point that I was making before the intervention, we were being told that GH¢49 million was going to be lost to the State - [Interruptions] -- I am looking at the Committee's Report under “Obser- vations”. GH¢49 million from the passing of the Bill - [Interruption.]
Dr. A. A. Osei 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, there are two reports in front of us. Now, my good friend hon. Doe Adjaho, I do not know which report he is reading. The one we are debating is very clear. The amount is 38 and he says 49. Please, there are two reports. So the one we are debating is 38.
Mr. Adjaho 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, whether 38 or 49, let me make the point I want to make. Mr. Speaker, the point - [Interruptions] -- Yes, admitted; it is 38. The point being made is that this House is not being told which development projects are going to be cut and what is the direct impact? Who is going to suffer as a result of this measure. We are not being told - [Interruption.]
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in the report it stated that Item 4 on the Budget, we are going to cut back on expenditure on Item 4. I do not know what he is talking about. It seems as if my hon. Colleague has not carefully read the report; he is very assiduous; he should read
Mr. Adjaho 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, when they tell us that they are going to review the budget of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), we are the ones who have painstakingly gone through the estimates of the MDAs, one item by item and approved them on the floor of this House.
Now, they come back to throw away GH¢38 million in effect, because they are losing and they are not telling us that they are attaching this item - The President is going to reduce his travels outside the country, Ministers are going to reduce theirs, Parliamentarians are going to reduce theirs; we do not know where, which one - Yes, before they come to this House they should know where they are cutting. We have not been told; it undermines all the efforts that we put into the budget process. It totally undermines because we do not know; in whom are we vesting this discretion?
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Hon. Member, do you have the answer or you do not want the hon. Minister to react to that?
Mr. Opare-Hammond 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a completely different issue. I just want
Mr. Adjaho 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not want him to furnish me with any information. I do not need his information. [Inter-ruptions.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon. Member, please, hold on and let me control the House. Hon. Member, do you want to give an information?
Mr. Opare-Hammond 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he made a certain statement which I think we should not just let it pass because that would misinform the public and indeed the entire nation.
Mr. Speaker, he said that by investing GH¢38 million into Ghanaians we are just throwing away the money.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
That is not what he had said.
Mr. Opare-Hammond 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he said that this is money that we are throwing away. Mr. Speaker, we are not - [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon. Member, you are out of order.
Mr. Opare-Hammond 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is good that we clarify this. We are investing the money into Ghanaians. Mr. Speaker, Item 4 has to do with investments.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon. Member, please, you are out of order.
Mr. Adjaho 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have also observed that we have not been told of the holistic support that we are going to give to our local farmers in the area of maize
Mr. Adjaho 2:10 p.m.
We were told that subsidy is going to be given in the area of fertilizer and other things. But Mr. Speaker, have we actually sat down to weigh the impact because it is not immediately this law is passed that it takes effect and when are those benefits going to start flowing to the local farmer?
It is important for this House to know otherwise when they bring these commodities to the country, dump it in this country it will have effect, destroying the local industry completely and I think that start here if the President had not decided to use the media as a forum to address us and he has asked his Minister for Finance and Economic Planning as he always does through the Budget to come to this House we would have raised questions with this matter.
But he decided to dodge this House in a very funny way and therefore his statement is not before this House for it to be debated but rather using the media and only bringing us the Bill to pass in line with what he addressed to the nation yesterday. I believe that that is not the best approach to handle these matters concerning finance.
Parliament's role in the management of the finances of this country, as the keepers of the purse, should not be undermined by this type of tactics. We would expect that even as we raise this Bill through, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning will come and address this House on all the measures that they are adopting to resolve all these crisis and we also have to make sure that at the end of the day local farmers are also duly protected.

As we are here now there is no law stating that subsidy for fertilizer is coming into effect tomorrow, or this is coming into effect the next day as well as the quantum, et cetera, et cetera; we do not know, it is only one side of the coin that we are looking at. But as I said earlier on, we will support this motion because we do not want to throw away the baby with the bath water.

Mr. Speaker, it is with these words that I reluctantly support the motion.
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much and I want to thank my hon. Senior Colleague for saying that “with these words” he supports the motion.
I want to assure hon. Doe Adjaho that first of all there is an important reason for wanting to follow up with the revision of the taxes. If we do not do it for it to be implemented we would soon get speculators trying to take advantage. The Customs and Excise and National Petroleum Authority (NPA) who must administer these regulations need to know immediately to avoid speculation. I want to assure him, for example that one, we have been in touch with the major importers of rice in this country. This measure did not come out only in the last two weeks. There has been a lot of consultations.
The way the CEPS administers the rice programme, in fact, first to begin with, most of the effect is on the rice because that is a big item in our consumption pattern. The other ones are signalling Government's intention to help other producers but the revenue loss is not as much. When they import the rice to the bonded warehouses they do not pay any taxes until they are releasing it.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon. Minister, the hon. Deputy Minority Leader raised an issue. He talks about the - [Interruption.]
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you
notice that the word that are used here are carefully chosen--- “reviewing and reprioritizing expenditure” Mr. Speaker, if people are over-valuing purchases and you review it, you have not cut expenditure, you want value-for-money. After all value- for-money is not the job of Parliament. If we check the prices and we make them buy at lower prices, we are not in violation of Parliament's responsibility. This is what we are talking about, making sure that Government gets value-for- money in those areas.
Mr. Speaker, we know for example, that if Toyota sells a car for GH¢40,000 and the Ministry brings a Bill for GH¢50,000, that is not for Parliament to check. In fact, if we do not check the prices, we will not be doing our job. That is why, “reviewing and reprioritizing” are going to be put in place.
Mr. Speaker, we have experience, and we know that there are a lot of over- valuation that goes on. We think that those
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Are you
satisfied hon. Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr. Adjaho 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, clearly, I cannot be satisfied with the respond that is given with regard to the review. I thought that he will say he would come back to the House to tell us that the Ministry has done the review in this area within a certain period and this total GH¢38 million, this is where they cut it from; then we all become aware of it. Then we can effectively perform our oversight over the various Ministries for which appropriation has been made.
But the way that he is saying it, it will be difficult for the Select Committees of this House to perform their oversight role over the MDAs because we do not know what we are going to review and, what we are going to reprioritize.
We believe that what was approved by this House -- and given the background that all the MDAs were complaining that what was given to them was not sufficient and it runs through all the MDAs budget -- then it becomes very, very difficult.
If you are going to borrow, tell us you are going to borrow. So we should be sure that the GH¢38 million is going to be accounted from the “A”, “B”, “C”, from the MDAs, and this is the total. If he is able to tell us that he will come back to the House, then that is a compromise, we will give him the opportunity to go back, do their work and come and inform this House that they have done the reprioritizing, they have done the review, they have cut from “A”, “B”, “C” MDAs, and this is the total GH¢38 million, then
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon.
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, no. I said
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Not tomorrow but later on -- [Interruption.]
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
No, of course, we will be coming back when we know that it is important to cut. But the reviewing is not something that it can come now. Every time an MDA says this is $10 - [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
I do
not believe that is the language that he is speaking.
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think that one, I have taken note. That is something we do all the time. Yes, I have
taken note of that. Mr. Speaker, beyond what I have said, I have taken note of my Good Friend's thing. I want to assure him that this Bill is only one part of the packages that need to be implemented.
The fact is, to avoid price speculation, you need to get the procedure implemented; that is why we have come to this House. But we will come back and inform you, if you want to, we can even debate the President's speech.
Mr. Speaker, with those few words, I want to thank my hon. Colleagues from the other side of the House, I have heard their concerns, and I want to assure them that this measure just did not come yesterday. In fact, you notice that for the past three weeks some of us have been grounded, we have not been able to go anywhere. There is a Taskforce Com-mittee, let me assure you, that is charged with continuing the monitoring of the process that is ongoing and they will be coming back to you if and when there are further directives to be taken.
Question put and motion agreed to.
The Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill was accordingly read a Second time.
Suspension of Standing Order 128 (1)
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 128 (1) which require that when a Bill has been read a Second time it shall pass through a Consideration Stage which shall not be taken until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed, the Consi- deration Stage of the Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill may be taken today.
BILLS - CONSIDERATION 2:20 p.m.
STAGE 2:20 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Clause 2
- Duration.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Now, the Long Title.
The Long Title ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Suspension of Standing Order 131 (1)
Dr. Akoto Osei 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of
Standing Order 131(1) which require that when a Bill has passed through the Consideration Stage, the Third Reading hereof shall not be taken until at least twenty-four hours have elapsed, the motion for the Third Reading of the Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill may be moved today.
Nii Adu mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
BILLS - THIRD READING 2:30 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Now we move on to item number 14 on the Order Paper - Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.
Suspension of Standing Order 80 (1)
Dr. Akoto Osei 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to
move, that notwithstanding the provi-sions of Standing Order 80 (1) which require that no motion shall be debated until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the motion is given and the date on which the motion is moved, the motion for the Second Reading of the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill may
be moved today.
Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to
second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
BILLS - SECOND READING 2:30 p.m.
Dr. Akoto Osei 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker I beg
to move, that the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill be now read a Second time.
Question proposed.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Yes,
Chairman of the Committee?
Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to
present your Committee's Report. 1.0 Introduction
The Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill was presented and read the First time in the House on Friday, 23rd May, 2008. Mr. Speaker referred the Bill to the Finance Committee for consi-deration and report in accordance with Order 169 of the Standing Orders of the House.
The Committee was also tasked to
determine whether the Bill is of urgent nature pursuant to Order 119 of the Standing Orders of the House.
To consider the Bill, the Committee met
with the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, hon. Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, hon. Prof. George Gyan-Baffour, officials from the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and hereby presents this report.
2.0 Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to reduce the excise duty rates on certain petroleum products and to completely remove the excise duty on premix fuel to give effect to Government's fiscal measures aimed at ameliorating the effects of escalating global commodity prices.
3.0 Contents of the Bill
The Bill contains two (2) clauses.
Clause 1 seeks to amend the First Schedule to the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) Act, 2005 (Act 658).
The principal anactment (Act 658) is being amended to reduce the petroleum tax per litre of the products to the following levels:
Clause 2 deals with the duration of the Act, when passed.
4.0 Urgency
The Committee determined that the Bill is of urgent nature and must therefore be taken under a certificate of urgency. In this wise, the Committee recommends that the Bill be taken through all the stages of passage in one day in accordance with Order 119.
5.0 Observations
The Committee observed that when passed, the Act will remain in force and full effect until otherwise determined by an Act of Parliament.
As to how much revenue the country will lose as a result of this tax reduction measure, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning hon. Dr. Akoto Osei informed the Committee that the country will lose a total of GH¢49 million from the passage of the Bill.
Members wanted to know why Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) was not included in the Bill. The Minister of State explained that rather than being taxed, LPG is currently being subsidized and therefore, its inclusion would have meant additional subsidy.
The Committee enquired to know how this revenue loss will affect the

Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, clause 2, delete.

Question put and amendment agreed to.

Resolved accordingly.

implementation of the programmes and policies contained in the 2008 Budget. The Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, hon. Prof. George Gyan-Baffour explained that the Government is cutting back on non-essential expenditures under item 4 to ensure that the Budget is able to accommodate the measure.

It was noted that specified excise duty on Gas Oil is being reduced from 9.1 pesewas to 6.2 pesewas; duty on Kerosene from 6.4875 to 4.5375 pesewas; duty on Marine Gas Oil from 6.4945 to 3.9945 pesewas whilst the current 5.1456 pesewas duty on premix fuel is being completed removed.

6.0 Conclusion

The Commit tee has care fu l ly considered the Bill and found that it will help mitigate the effect of the spiralling global commodity prices on the Ghanaian consumer.

The Committee, therefore, recommends to the House to adopt this report and to pass the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill in accordance with article 174 of the 1992 Constitution and Standing Orders of the House.

Respectfully submitted.
Dr. Kwame Ampofo (NDC - South Dayi) 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and in doing so, I wish to make a number of observations.
The conc lus ion says tha t the
TABLE HERE (2.30 P. 5)
Committee has found that this Bill will help mitigate the effect of the spiralling global commodity prices. Now in line with the objective of this Bill, I think we all listened to the President and he stated that apart from the excise duty that is being reviewed, the debt recovery levy is also being reviewed for these particular items on the schedule. But in looking at the Bill and reading through the report, I did not see any reference being made to that aspect of what the President said.
I do not know. So when one looks at the figures that are stated, I do not see how that will actually mitigate much because if one looks at the Schedule the difference there is GH¢2.9 for gas oil and, if you work it out, you will get something of about a thousand, three hundred old cedis being knocked off on a gallon because these ones are stated in litres. You have to convert the litres to gallons by multiplying by say 4.5 and you will get 13 Ghana Pesewas as the difference which converts to 1,300 old cedis.
I am using old cedis because this is what the drivers and Ghanaians understand. We are still making the transition. Therefore conceptually, we understand exactly what we are saying.
So if a gallon of petrol or a gallon of gas oil currently is selling in the neighbourhood of say 50,000 old cedis per gallon and you are taking a 1,300 off and it will still be approximately 48,700 or let us say about 49. So you see that we have gone through all these troubles but the difference is not really worth it and that is why I think in the wisdom of the President he added the debt recovery levy.
So I am worried about why that has not been added and to get my full backing of this I think that addition must be made to be in line with what the President promised all of us and we heard it. What we do here must not be that different.
But I wish to say that finally, I think the Government has come to understand and accept what we have been saying all the time. This is not the first time we have been advising Government to reduce the taxes and levies that are put on the petroleum products. Currently, Govern- ment is behaving as if it has just suddenly realized that cost of living is unbearable and that the level of ex-pump prices are a bit beyond what we will consider to be affordable.
We have constantly advised and I will refer hon. Members to as far back as Daily Graphic, April, 2005. It is there when the headlines were reading; “Reduce taxes on petroleum products”, that is Daily Graphic page 17, you can check it, another one was on Saturday, April, 23rd 2005, on page 24. Again the public were crying to Government to reduce these taxes. At least for
want of time I will just shorten this.

If you look again, I think that is also in the Daily Graphic, on 1st May, 2005, that is on May Day, the Address delivered at the May Day celebrations at the Independence Square by the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) did not mince words in organized Labour's call on His Excellency President Kufuor and his Government to reduce the prices of fuel. All these things since 2005 the Government went unheeded as to the cry and call of the people.

But I am saying here that we need to help the Ghanaian citizenry further because what is on this Bill is actually in my opinion insulting and it is just like a window dressing. If we are serious and we mean business and we feel and care for Ghanaians, then I think we ought to consider the other taxes particularly the debt recovery levy that the President himself is saying he will reduce or abolish entirely.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you
very much. Mr. Speaker, first I thought my Colleague was talking about the debt recovery levy. I want to remind him about what his own Deputy Minority Leader reminded this House of. It was hon. Doe Adjaho who reminded this House that when we passed the Debt Recovery Legislation, it said up to 6.5. So if we are not exceeding it, we do not need to come back to the House. In fact, twice in a row it has gone down and we need not come back to the House.
This was the interpretation of a senior Member of the House. It is true that that is one of the measures that have been taken but because of the way we passed the law, it is an administrative matter as long as we are going down we did not bring it
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr.
Speaker, I do not know whether he is winding up.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Yes, he
is. Do you want to make a contribution?
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the motion
was moved and seconded by the hon. Chairman of the Committee who also presented his Committee's Report and he --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
The
Ranking Member for Energy also spoke. Hon. Member, are you not the Ranking Member for Energy?
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
He spoke, but he is not
the Ranking Member.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
But whatever it is he caught my eye.
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
So I thought one or two people -- This is a very important -
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon. Doe
Adjaho, do you yourself want to make any contribution?
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Well,
speak for yourself and let the others speak for themselves.
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if I could
get one person from our side --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
No, no,
please go ahead; I want to give you the opportunity, today is a Friday and this is not a very controversial Bill that we all
need to make contribution to. Please, you know normally I will allow you.
Mr. Adjaho 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is true,
but with regard to the debt recovery levy the way and manner that particular Bill was introduced, they gave a feeling to the Government that you cannot charge beyond a certain limit and so naturally if it is below that limit you do not need a piece of legislation in this House, but you need to know that once His Excellency the President has announced it to the people of Ghana, we have to take the liberty to know it because that is not a function of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) as to the current levels.
Now that we know the levels of the specific excise duty, we need to know the current level now for the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Debt Recovery Levy so that we can then determine what the cost of a litre of those petroleum products can be. If they do not tell us, we will not be able to know what the levels are. So it is a very valid and a very important point, even though I agree that they do not need a piece of legislation to be brought here. The President has announced that and we want to know as to what level he has reduced it to for the record purposes.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Fair
enough, it is finished. Hon. Minister, before I truncated it I will invite your contribution.
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was
going to give the House the implied numbers so I am glad you raised the issue. We are talking about four products. For pre-mix, the President's statement stated the following that the Excise Duty and Debt Recovery Levies have been removed. Mr. Speaker, as I speak, from the NPA the excise duty on pre-mix is 5.1456; the
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on marine gas oil or MGO local, today the NPA tells us that the excise duty is 6.49GHp. By reducing it we are reducing it to 3.9945, that would be the new excise duty on marine gas oil. The current Debt Recovery Levy on marine gas oil is 5GHp. The instruction from the President translates to a reduction to 2.5. So the new Debt Recovery Levy would be 2.5.
Mr. Speaker, on gas oil the current excise duty is 9.1GHP and the reduction takes it to 6.2. The Debt Recovery Levy on gas oil is 5GHp; the reduction takes it to 2.5 halved.
Finally on kerosene, the excise duty is currently 6.4875 and it is being reduced to 4.5375. Mr. Speaker, the Debt Recovery Levy on kerosene, which is now 3.5 is completely being removed. But for the consumer if Parliament passes these reductions together with the excise duty and debt recovery levy, then we expect the maximum indicative price for kerosene to go from 118.95 to 113.5. For gas oil if we approve these reductions, we will move from 125.4 per litre to 120 per litre. For MGO, local we will be going from 111.32 to 106.32.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, on premix, we would be moving from 83.48 per litre to 73.48 per litre. Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize the fact that these are the maximum indicative prices that the NPA as a result of removal of these taxes can publish, but there are other components and we do not have control over that and if Parliament is able to pass it we would be able to communicate this information

to the NPA and we expect that the next announcement will reflect these adjustments.

Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I want to thank Members for the information.
Alhaji Mubarak 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I
want to seek some clarification. If you listen to the way he is reading the figures, to be honest with you as a Member of Parliament who is seeking that Members of Parliament approve these figures, you walk out and someone asks you -
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon.
Members, he has explained.
Alhaji Mubarak 2:40 p.m.
But we do not have
the figures, if he could put them on paper.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Could you
hold on? The hon. Doe Adjaho asked that question and he explained that earlier on. He did explain that this House has agreed that if it falls beyond a certain level -- he did not come here formally to inform us but he asked that for his own benefit and for our benefit. That is what he was going through to tell us. It is not that he is giving us figures where we have it on paper to go and show our constituents. So your question is completely not here nor there.
Alhaji Mubarak 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I
perfectly agree with him that once it is not outside the rate that is approved, but approving the figure you do not even know the total for say gas oil; you do not know the total leverage and it is just mentioned there. It is important that if we could be provided with the figures so that at least we could educate or if someone asks us, we can talk about it rather than to say we approve without knowing the leverage, et cetera. That is what I am just seeking,
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, two pieces of information - Number one, the Committee members were given copies of the old and the new. Number two - as I sat here, one of the staff members was going round giving copies of both so I am assuming he has it. But the Committee members were given copies. He is a Committee member -- [Interruption.] He did not show up. He did not come to the meeting, but Committee members have that.
Mr. Speaker, there is no difficulty
making extra copies, but I saw a staff member passing around copies and I think he has seen it. The hon. Deputy Minority Leader has a copy.
Alhaji Mubarak 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he said
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
No, I
think we have understood each other.
Alhaji Mubarak 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he
said I was a member of the Committee, I am not.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
You are
not. It is all right. Anyway, hon. Minister, have you finished winding up?
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes. I
want to thank you very much for your time.
Question put and motion agreed to.
The Customs and Excise (Petroleum
Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill was accordingly read a Second time.
Suspension of Standing Order 128 (1)
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 128 (1) which require that when a Bill has been read a Second time it shall pass through a Consideration Stage which shall not be taken until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed, the Consi-deration Stage of the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill may be taken today.
Nii Adu Mante: On a point of order.
Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect, if I may introduce the Consideration Stage at this point just to make one or two amendments.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
What
amendment are you coming up with? We are not even at the Consideration Stage. We are now moving to that place.
Nii Adu Mante: That is why, Mr.
Speaker, I was asking your permission to inform you that I would, at the Consideration Stage, raise these matters.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
But wait,
let us get there. Indeed, if you had not told us, any hon. individual Member of this House can raise that issue or even propose an amendment. So please, let us continue.
Mr. Kwame Osei-Prempeh 2:50 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
BILLS -- CONSIDERATION 2:50 p.m.
STAGE 2:50 p.m.
Chairman of the Finance Committee (Nii Adu Mante) 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to
move, that clause 1, delete the words, “Act 658”, and insert “Act 685”. It is a typographical error.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Is that
all?
Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, it runs
through. If the Hansard Department would take care of that because it appears in the Long Title and it also appears in clause 1. It should read “Act 685”, and not “Act 658”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 1 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 2 -- Duration.
Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, clause 2, delete.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 2 deleted accordingly.
Long Title -- An Act to amend the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies), Act, 2005 (Act 685) to revise excise duty on specified petroleum products and to provide for related purposes.
Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to
move the same amendment. The figure should read “685” and not “658”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
The Long Title as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Hon. Members, that brings us to the end of the Consideration Stage of the Bill. Suspension of Standing Order 131(1)
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 131(1) which require that when a Bill has passed through the Consideration Stage, the Third Reading thereof shall not be taken until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed, the motion for the Third Reading of the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Related Levies) (Amendment) Bill may be moved today.
Nii Adu Mante: Mr. Speaker, I beg to
second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed.
Resolved accordingly.
BILLS -- THIRD READING 2:50 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Hon.
Members, that brings us to the end of business for the day. Thanks to you all for your endurance and the staying power for this to be done. Let me say that we wish you or wish ourselves a pleasant weekend. Come fresh. The House would therefore stand adjourned till Tuesday, 10 o'clock before noon.
Thank you very much.
ADJOURNMENT 2:50 p.m.