Debates of 30 Nov 2009

MADAM SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:45 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:45 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:45 a.m.
Hon Members, item 1, Correction of Votes and Proceedings and the Official Report.
Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 26th November, 2009.

Hon Members, in the absence of any corrections, the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 26th November, 2009 is adopted as the true record of proceedings.

Shall we move to the Official Report

In the absence of any corrections, the Official Report of Thursday, 19th November, 2009 is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.

We move to Questions now. Is the Hon

Minister for Lands and Natural Resources present? We have two Questions.
Mr. John Tia Akologu 10:45 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister for Lands and Natural Resources is bereaved and therefore, unable to be present to answer these Questions. But he has delegated his Deputy, in the person of the Hon Member for Buem, Mr. Henry F. Kamel to answer the Questions on his behalf. So I want to ask for your permission and the indulgence of the House to allow the Deputy Minister to answer the Questions.

Thank you.
Madam Speaker 10:45 a.m.
Yes, unless we have any objection, I think he can.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:45 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we do not have any objection. If the Deputy Minister is there and he is purposed to answer the Question, I believe we would grant him space.
Madam Speaker 10:45 a.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy
Minister. The first Question stands in the name of the Hon Member for Atwima Nwabiagya.
Mr. Benito Owusu-Bio 10:45 a.m.
Madam
Madam Speaker 10:45 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, ask your Question.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 10:55 a.m.
MINISTRY OF LANDS AND 10:55 a.m.
NATURAL RESOURCES 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the plantation development strategy will include the following 10:55 a.m.
woodlot establishment;
planting of fruit trees;
rehabilitation of mangrove forests;
and
urban forestry and fire management.
The programme will be carried out in both degraded forest reserves and outside forest reserves. In the case of degraded forest reserves, over 400,000 hectares of land areas has already been identified and mapped out by the Forestry Commission.
However, since the programme has been designed to cover all districts in Ghana and many districts may not have forest reserves, the option will be to negotiate with landowners for off-reserve areas to be planted. In this connection, District Assemblies will lead in the negotiation process. The land in this case will not be acquired by Government but special arrangements will be made with the landowners for the sharing of benefits from such plantation areas.
Funding sources for the programme have been identified as follows:
Mining levy;
HIPC;
District Assemblies Common Fund;
Plantation Development Fund;
NREG; and
Mineral Development Fund;
Madam Speaker, I wish to entreat my Colleagues to fully participate in the programme since it has a great potential for job creation, improvement in rural incomes, restoration of forest cover and maintenance of environmental quality.
Mr. Owusu-Bio 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, from the Hon Deputy Minister's Answer, it seems they are going to put in place an expansion of the programme. But then one thing that is not clear is how they are going to tackle the supervisory aspect of the plantations because during our previous visits round, we realized that supervision
Mr. Kamel 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, to be able to address some of the shortfalls realized in the implementation of the first programme, the Ministry has put in place an implementation committee. This committee is to come out with modalities and arrangements for implementing the programme and reducing the shortcomings as far as possible. The committee will very soon submit its report for scrutiny and study.
Mr. Owusu-Bio 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
in the Hon Deputy Minister's Answer, he says that the programme will start in 2010. 2010? Fair enough; looking at this, it is estimated that at least, they will need about 51 million seedlings to be able to undertake this programme before the rains start coming next year. What plans has the Ministry put in place to provide these seedlings before the rains come in March to June next year?
Mr. Kamel 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we have
already asked the Forestry Commission, which is the implementing wing of the Ministry to submit its proposals to the Ministry by the close of today. At the end of today, we will be able to appreciate how many seedlings we are going to procure through our nurseries for the programme. If the Hon Member may exercise patience, very soon, we will be able to tell this House how we are going to deal with this problem.
Thank you.
Madam Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Yes, Honourable,
any other question?
Mr. Owusu-Bio 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I
think that this is a very laudable idea. I
just want to ask the Hon Deputy Minister, in the past, since the inception of this Government, some of these job creations are being occupied only by National Democratic Congress (NDC) youth. Will he assure me this time round, that this job creation is not only going to benefit NDC youth?
Mr. Kamel 10:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am not
very sure about where vacancies are being occupied by only NDC youth or NDC activists. But as regards this particular programme, to ensure transparency and fairness, we are going to involve Hon Members of Parliament, the District Assemblies, traditional landowners, National Service Secretariat and NADMO. The stakeholder regime is very broad to ensure that we arrive at fairness and transparency in the recruitment of Ghanaians for the jobs.
Mr. S. K. B. Manu 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I rise to find out from the Hon Deputy Minister how sure is he about what he has told us, given the directive given by His Excellency the President, that National Democratic Congress (NDC) folks should be attended to by their Hon Ministers; he is telling us it will involve all Ghanaians? How is he going to assure us that this directive notwithstanding, every Ghanaian will still benefit from this project?
Mr. Kamel 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am
at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. I am not aware of any directive from His Excellency the President to this effect. But I am saying that with respect to this programme, we are involving civil society groups, we are involving parastatal organizations, we are going to involve Hon Members of this House and we are going to involve the District Assemblies in seeing how far we can recruit people to work in the forest, in a very transparent and in a very fine manner and that is what

we are going to do.
Mr. C. S. Hodogbey 11:05 a.m.
Madam
Speaker, I would like to state a portion of the Answer which says:
“The land in this case will not be acquired by the Government but special arrangements will be made with the landowners . . .”
My question is, knowing the nature of our chiefs in land control, how effective does the Hon Deputy Minister think these plantations will serve the purpose they are meant for?
Mr. Kamel 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is
true that Government will not or does not have interest in acquiring this land. We are going to negotiate with land-owning groups. We are going to negotiate with private individuals; we are going to negotiate with areas where chiefs have authority over land to acquire to get this land for the programme.
There will be benefit-sharing arrange- ments to ensure that landowners who release their land for this programme also have a share in the programme. Under this arrangement, every process is well documented and so later on, nobody can revenge on his responsibility under the arrangement..
Madam Speaker 11:05 a.m.
The last question.
Mr. Andrews Adjei-Yeboah 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I would like to know from the Hon Deputy Minister how he is going to ensure that the funding he says they will get under the District Assemblies Common Fund, is obtained as a Ministry.
How are they going to get the money and what will be the role of the District Assemblies in it, even as they are ceding
Mr. Kamel 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we have
had negotiations with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and there is every assurance that that arrangement will come to pass.
Madam Speaker 11:05 a.m.
I said last question
but once again, last question, then we move on.
Mr. Kwame Osei-Prempeh 11:05 a.m.
Thank
you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, is the Hon Deputy Minister aware that workers who were recruited to work on these plantations have not been paid for the past four months, therefore, forcing them to leave the farms to the vagaries of the weather, rodents and others and also wasting the funds put in the project? Is he aware of that and if so what is the Ministry doing to safeguard and protect this national property?
Mr. Kamel 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am
aware that there are certain outstanding payments in respect of the workers on these plantations. I am, however, not aware that they have abandoned the plantations. We are, however, working very hard to ensure that all the arrears are paid as soon as possible.
Madam Speaker 11:05 a.m.
I did say last
question, last question, last question and I think let us stop here otherwise, I will be saying it three times.
Let us move on to the next Question, which stands in the name of the Hon John Bennam Jabaah, Hon Member for Zabzugu/Tatale.
rose
Madam Speaker 11:05 a.m.
I do not think that
is your name but --
Mr. B. A. Nitiwul 11:05 a.m.
Rightly so, Madam Speaker, that is not my name but the Hon Member has travelled to his constituency to solve an emergency issue and I have his permission to seek your indulgence to ask the Question on his behalf.
Madam Speaker 11:05 a.m.
All right, kindly
ask the Question.
Iron Ore Deposit at Shieni (Mining)
Q. 238. Mr. Dominic B. A. Nitiwul (on behalf of Mr. John Bennam Jabaah) asked the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources when the Government would start mining the iron ore deposit at Sheini in the Zabzugu/Tatale District.
Mr. Kamel 11:05 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the
Sheini deposits are located in the Northern Region, apporoximately 160 kilometres east of Tamale. The deposits contain total resources of 1,270 million tonnes at 30 per cent iron which can be upgraded using beneficiation. 200 million tonnes of the deposit is estimated to contain a higher grade of 45 per cent.
In the past, energy requirements for ore beneficiation and transportation were major challenges. However, it is expected that additional energy from the Bui Dam project and the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) Project will address the energy challenge. The Volta Lake is also some 48 kilometres away, and the development of a lake transport system could improve accessibility to the Shieni deposits. The lake port of Yapei is about 96 kilometres southeast of the deposit.
Madam Speaker, Government is not in the business of doing business. However, Government has been facilitating development of such resources by the private sector. In view of this, currently, a company (Inland Ghana Mines Limited)
Mr. Nitiwul 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, my last question. Madam Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister goes ahead to say that in view of this, currently, a company by name Inland Ghana Mines Limited has been granted a six-month non-exclusive due diligence permit over the area.
Madam Speaker, I want to find out from the Deputy Minister what went through, whether it went through the proper channels, that is, whether they did public tender and if so, which were the other companies involved in doing this or they just selected the company to do it. Did they go through the tendering process -- that is what I am asking?
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy
Minister can you answer?
Mr. Kamel 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, if the
Hon Member could come again -- I do not understand his question?
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Hon Member, can you repeat your question?
Mr. Nitiwul 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, what I
asked was, the Hon Deputy Minister says that in view of this, a company called Inland Ghana Mine Company Limited had been given a six-month non-exclusive due diligence permit over the area. In selecting the company to do due diligence, did the Minister go through the normal process of
selecting, like public tender or what did they do or they just selected somebody they found was a good consultant?
Mr. Kamel 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, for exploration purposes, there is no tendering procedure.
rose
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Yes, I thought you
had your three questions.
Mr. Nitiwul 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the last
Mr. Kamel 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, usually
for exploration purposes and for mining rights, there is first of all an expression of interest and then the process is invoked by the Minerals Commission and if there are no encumbrances, one is given the licence for exploration or a mineral right.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I will like to continue from where my Colleague from Bimbilla just stopped. Government is not in the business of doing business. This is a very general statement. Will the Deputy Minister explain to me why GNPC is searching round the world looking for money to buy out Cosmos?
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Hon Member, I do not know whether it is under his Ministry. Will he be fit to answer?
Mr. Prempeh 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, that is
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Well except that

it says question must relate to the Hon Minister's job. So if he is Deputy Minister for Lands and National Resources, would he know about the petrol business? Ask another question.
Dr. Prempeh 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I
will rephrase the question. Will the Deputy Minister kindly tell the House if Government will not, through any agency contract loans to indulge in business in the mining industry?
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Hon Deputy
Minister, did you hear the question?
Mr. Kamel 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, if you
will give me the chance, I think the Hon Member can come on a proper substantive Question and I will give him the Answers to that.
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
The Hon Deputy
Minister says, if you come by a substantive question, he will be prepared to answer it.
Dr. Prempeh 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in
this matter, I will rather listen to your direction because you gave permission for the Question to be asked. It is not the Hon Deputy Minister who decides which Question to answer or not. It is you who will admit it or not. I will rephrase my question if he did not answer it.
Madam Speaker 11:15 a.m.
I think I better
answer that one -- [Laughter]. Yes, if I see a glaring departure from the rules but if you ask him and he says that even if it is within his Ministry, he needs notice -- because he must come here and tell you nothing but the truth of the position.
So if he says that even if it is to do his business and that you give him time, he is perfectly entitled to ask -- [Inter- ruptions] -- He said he got your question but he has to prepare to come here. Was that not the answer? He is not going to hazard an answer that he is not very sure of. I think I support that stand.
Mr. S. K. B. Manu 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
Mr. Kamel 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, if you look at paragraph 2 of my Answer ,we are talking about energy requirements for mining the Shienu deposits. We are talking of improving transport, especially lake transport for the area. It will also enhance the whole process of mining in the Shieni deposits. What we are saying is that, government puts in the infrastructure and private investors do the mining. That is what I mean by indicating that government does not mine, we create the necessary infras-tructure and this is what I have put in paragraph 2; we are making sure that lake transport is enhanced; we are making sure that the energy requirements that will be needed to boost this intervention is enhanced.
When we say that Government is not in the business of doing business, what I mean by that is that, we do not mine directly but we create the environment for private investors to take advantage of.
Thank you.
Dr. A. A. Osei 11:15 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I just need further clarification on this matter, “government not in the business of doing business” because I am aware that government owns at least, ten per cent tariff rights in all these mining licences. By implication, Government is doing business. So what does he mean by Government is not in the business of doing business? If Government has legislated a ten per cent tariff rights, what does that mean?
Madam Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Member, I think that they need an explanation because you yourself have said that government builds infrastructure but then you say Government is not in the business. So I think he wants an answer.
Mr. Kamel 11:25 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I
believe the Hon former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is aware of what I am saying. What I am saying is that we are not in the business of mining directly, we create the necessary environment; we put in the necessary infrastructure. This is what we are doing in respect of Shieni -- good roads, energy requirements, sending light -- this is what I mean.
Dr. Osei 11:25 a.m.
Then I think the response to
the Question is clearly misleading. Would the Hon Deputy Minister agree to come back and answer the Question properly? [Inter-ruption.] This is because he says -- [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Member, un-
fortunately, the rules say that when the Question is answered, we do not argue it. So if you yourself think that you must ask another question another time then do that, but I think we have to accept this.
Mr. Kwame Osei-Prempeh -- rose
-- 11:25 a.m.
Madam Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Members, we

have to move on to the debate, so this is the very last question. Because the Hon Minister is here, we have to move -- We are finishing tomorrow, you know.
Mr. Osei-Prempeh 11:25 a.m.
Thank you,
Madam Speaker. The Hon Deputy Minister has answered well in saying that Government is not in the business of doing business. How does he reconcile this with his Party's ideology as social democrats?
Mr. J. T. Akologu 11:25 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I
do not know; it is you who has the right to admit this question or not but I think that we should help you to be able to make the right ruling.
Madam Speaker, the question is out
of place. We are not dealing with NDC Manifesto here. The question is out of place. We are talking about a project. So Madam Speaker, I think you should rule him out.
Mr. Osei-Prempeh 11:25 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
Madam Speaker 11:25 a.m.
No, honestly, the
question is out of place. I will not accept it.
Mr. Osei-Prempeh 11:25 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Thank you for your
question, anyway.
Now, Hon Deputy Minister, we thank you. Come again when we call you.
Thank you for coming.
Hon Members, we now continue with the debate on the motion to approve the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for year ending 31st December,
2010.
I have a list of the Hon Members who would speak today. If I may impress upon you that we are finishing this debate tomorrow on the Policy; so we are going to have, at least, five from either side, and if we may take 10 minutes as we have decided. I think the last time we had to start from this side. So Hon Alfred Agbesi, Ashaiman.
MOTIONS 11:25 a.m.
Mr. A. K. Agbesi (NDC -- Ashaiman) 11:25 a.m.
Madam Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Yes, 10 minutes.
Mr. Agbesi 11:25 a.m.
Madam Speaker, thank
you for the opportunity to rise to support the motion, that this House approves the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 31st December,
2010.
Madam Speaker, the Financial
Statement and Policy of the Government which was delivered on behalf of the President by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning had made provisions for the running of this State for the coming year.
I want to make my contribution and refer to issues on the administration of justice, Parliament, civic education and

to some extent, on health.

Mr. Speaker, the NDC came to power

to provide better Ghana and conditions contained in this Budget contain provisions that would make conditions in this country for the citizens to have a better Ghana. We are all aware that to have good governance, we need the institutions of administration of justice.

The former Administration engaged in a system which they termed ‘Justice for All'. By that system, the people who found themselves wrongly or otherwise, on remand or in prison had the chance to be taken out and justice meted out to them. I want to say that it is a good policy, that it is a good system that gave relief to those who were denied justice. U n d e r t h e present administration, our Government also continued that policy to give relief to those who are on remand.

Madam Speaker, we are aware that even in the remote areas, people find themselves on remand for days, for months and sometimes for years without justice being given out to them.

Mr. Speaker, the current Government continued what the previous Government started and I am saying that it is a good policy and a government that wants to provide better Ghana must necessarily give out justice to the people of this country.

Madam Speaker, one issue that has been recurring is the issue of conditions that pertain in Parliament. Over the years, we keep on giving lip-service to the idea of the renovation of the Job 600 to provide offices for Hon Members of Parliament. It is a pity that Parliament continues to pass the budgets of various Ministries but it cannot make provision for its Hon Members of Parliament.

I want to say that, in this Budget Statement, it is said, as it was said in the 2009 Budget that renovation of the Job 600 would continue, to get offices for Hon Members of Parliament. I want to believe that that statement in the present Budget Statement is not going to be a statement for nothing, that by the close of the year, Hon Members of Parliament want to see

Mr. Speaker, it is a pity that sometimes when we have to sit late in the day and we are given food, we do not have places even to sit down and take the food. Hon Members of Parliament have to go to their cars, if they are lucky to have one, and sit in the car to take their lunch. I think that the situation has come that we Hon Members of Parliament must be our own keepers. We need to provide for ourselves. We cannot love others than ourselves; we must love ourselves as we do to others.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:35 a.m.
On
a point of order. Madam Speaker, I would not want to dispute what my Hon Colleague is saying but because he ended up by saying that the project appears every year in our Budgets but nothing has been done, I want to assure my Hon Colleague that indeed, something is being done.
Madam Speaker, at the very outset, we were not too sure about the strength of the facility and so we had to engage consultants to undertake a study into the integrity of the structure. They have come out with a clean bill of health for the structure, and so there were a few contractual problems which we have managed to now sort out, that will leave the award of the contract, which is now in the pipeline, and Madam Speaker has presided over two meetings to determine the way forward.
Madam Speaker, we hope and trust that by the close of the year, the contract would be awarded and work will begin in earnest such that in the next year or two the rehabilitation could be completed for use by Hon Members of Parliament (MPs).
So something is being done by way of assurance to my Hon Colleague.
Mr. Agbesi 11:35 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I thank
the Minority Leader very much but -- the “something” that he says is being done is too slow and it is something we cannot even recognise. Madam Speaker, I am saying seriously that it is unacceptable that I have been in Parliament for four, five years and there is no office for Hon Members of Parliament and the Minority Leader says “something is being done”. How long?
If we pass this Budget, we expect that by next year something must have been done. It is unacceptable; we have oversight responsibilities for Hon Members of Parliament (MPs). Madam Speaker, I hope that by next year this time, every Member of Parliament will be given offices. I think that what he is saying is not that he just wants to say it but it must be done and very soon.
Madam Speaker, we were also in this House when the President appeared before us here and promised that Members of Parliament were going to be given constituency offices. It is just about a year now Members of Parliament have not had those constituency offices.
Mr. C. S. Hodogbey 11:35 a.m.
On a point of
order. Madam Speaker, as a matter of fact,
Mr. C. S. Hodogbey 11:35 a.m.


when my Hon Colleague spoke about the Job 600, the Hon Minority Leader stood up and confirmed that Government was doing something in relation to that facility. Also, having made mention of offices for Members of Parliament, the statement was made last year and the project is only beginning in January. Therefore, I will plead that my Hon Colleague should wait for the mid-year Budget, then he can criticise whether the promise is being carried out or not.
Madam Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Hon Member, can
you continue now?
Mr. Agbesi 11:35 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am being told to wait for the mid-year Budget. I will wait, Madam Speaker, we shall wait, we want to see action and not words, Madam Speaker. [Hear! Hear!]
Madam Speaker, it is provided in paragraph 587 of the Budget that Government remains committed to educating the populace on their civic rights and responsibilities in order to empower them to participate effectively in the democratic process.
Mr. Albert Abongo 11:35 a.m.
On a point of
Mr. Agbesi 11:35 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I thank
the Hon Minister very much because he has allayed my fears. But I can assure him that the more they delay in renovating a structure, the more it will go back.
Mr. Dominic B. A. Nitiwul 11:35 a.m.
On a
point of order. Madam Speaker, the Hon Member says that officers from the Castle are presently occupying that building. Madam Speaker, is the Parliamentary Affairs building now turned into an annex of Castle? What type of people are there?
Madam Speaker, I am reliably informed that they are aides; what they will normally call cadres are occupying the place. So I want further elucidation from him on that particular point. The President promised us that there were not going to be Special Assistants. But today, we have aides who are parading in cars that were bought by the NPP Government and seized from Government Ministers. These cars are also given to cadres or aides and serial callers. I am just supplying him with the information so that he can embellish his debate and make it more interesting for us.
Thank you.
Madam Speaker, my only concern is
Madam Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Your time is running, can you finish?
Mr. Agbesi 11:45 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is my wish that under this Budget, Members of Parliament would get offices. If there is any building within the vicinity of Parliament, we should do everything possible to get that building for the use of Members of Parliament. [Hear! Hear!]
Madam Speaker, I want to say, as I was saying, that we have operated the Constitution for some years now, if you go down to the schools, to the elementary or basic schools, some students do not even know what is the Constitution, much more to know its contents. I am happy that the Budget is talking about creating awareness in understanding the Preamble of the Constitution, in understanding the Directive Principles of State Policy as contained in Chapter 6 of the Constitution.
Madam Speaker, I want to encourage
that this thing should be done more, our students, our pupils in the schools should be encouraged to learn the Constitution as the Bible is learned in the Bible schools. The Constitution is the basic law of the land and everybody should be en-couraged to learn it.
Madam Speaker, I want to say that this Budget that we have has a lot of promises. This, I am sure, by the close of the year, would be fulfilled particularly, those areas which concern human rights provisions, particularly those areas which concern the empowerment of people in the country.
Madam Speaker, I want to say finally
that there is a provision in the Budget on the issue of traditional medicine practice. Madam Speaker, I am happy that this Budget or the President finds it necessary to talk about the promotion alongside orthodox medicine of traditional medicine practice.
Madam Speaker, I am aware that there are a lot of traditionalists, our old men
who know much about how some of our sicknesses and diseases can be treated but because of lack of support most of them are not practising to the best of their abilities. Madam Speaker, I want to urge that enough money should be devoted to this sector.
Madam Speaker, I am aware that even when people have fracture of the leg, they go to these people and within a short time, they are healed. Madam Speaker, I want to say that sometimes when we go to the SPAs to be treated, some of these things are improvement on our tradition at systems. I say this because in the olden days, when somebody was sick, they heat water, put in the leaves, covered the person up and within a short time he was healed. But we are no more practising these things, we are rather taking to Chinese treatment, Chinese medicines and these things have been taken over from our traditional men.
Madam Speaker, I want to urge Government to give much attention and enough funds to this sector because they can do wonders. Even for those who need children, they have herbs which they can give them and within a short time, the person can pick seed. I am saying that it is good that traditional medicine practice is brought on board and I want to urge that Government should give more attention to it alongside the orthodox medicine.
Madam Speaker, with these few words,

Let us support this Budget, I urge the Hon Minority Leader, all of us to vote for it because it brings the promises to the fore.

Mr. E. A. Debrah (NPP -- Tano

North): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity to contribute to the debate which is for the approval of the Financial Policy of the Government

for the year ending 31st December, 2010, which stands in the name of the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.

Madam Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate the Hon Minister for his long staying power, he gave a very long speech and he was able to stand and I thank him very much for that.

Madam Speaker, I would first want to touch on some discrepancies and inconsistencies in the Budget, which some of us are not comfortable with. Madam Speaker, I would be quoting extensively from the 2010 Budget Statement and the 2009 Budget Statement.

First, let me talk about cocoa production and urge Hon Members to turn to page 316, paragraph 917 and it says:

“The specific areas of focus will be to double cocoa output from its 2008 level by 2012 . . .”

So they are going to double cocoa production by 2012 from the level that we did in 2008 and the same document, when you go to page 73, paragraph 245, it reads:

“Government intends to increase cocoa production from 750,000 metric tonnes to one million -- [Acoustic failure].

Madam Speaker, I was talking about cocoa production and I said if you go to page 316, paragraph 917 its says:

“The specific areas of focus will be to double cocoa output from its 2008 level by 2012 . . .”

And if you go to the same document, page 73, paragraph 245, it says:

“Government intends to increase cocoa production from 75,000 metric tonnes to one million metric tonnes by 2012.”
Mr. Agbesi 11:55 a.m.


Madam Speaker, the target for cocoa production by the year 2012 is not clear. It looks like we are not sure where we want to go and if we are not sure where we want to go, then we are like Alice in the Wonderland. If you do not know where you are going, any road would take you there. So if we do not know where we are going, whatever we put in this Budget would take us there. This is something that I want us to ponder over.

Second point about the inconsis-

tencies. Page 316, paragraph 917, and that is on Tono Irrigation Project, and it reads:

“. . . promote large scale commercial farming through private initiative and rehabilitate irrigation dams, particularly Tono and Vea Irrigation Schemes . . .”

The same document, at page 66, paragraph 221, reads:

“The rehabilitation of the Tono Irrigation Project was also comple- ted for commissioning.”

Madam Speaker, are we going to commission the completed Tono Irrigation Project in 2010, and again rehabilitate the same Tono Irrigation Project in 2010? It seems we do not know where we are going, Madam Speaker.

The third one, and I would not continue

from there because there are a lot of them, is page 65, paragraph 216, and it reads:

“To this end, two warehouses, one each in Tamale and Yendi were rehabilitated and a total of 900 metric tonnes of maize was stored using the pro-cocoon technology.”

Madam Speaker, these two warehouses in Tamale and Yendi were rehabilitated in

2007/2008 and I do not know how come we are going to rehabilitate them again.

When you go on to the growth in

the agricultural targets, that is page 18, paragraph 49 of the 2010 Budget, the targets are there and you would see that for crops and livestock, first, the target was 5.7 per cent and then it is said that the provisional outturn was 6.2 per cent.

Crops and livestock, provisional outturn was 7.0 per cent, target was 6.5 per cent. Cocoa production and marketing -- target 3.5 per cent, provisional outturn was 5.0 per cent. Forestry and Logging -- target 3.5, outturn 3.5; fishing -- target 5.0, outturn 5.0.

Madam Speaker, when we go back to the 2009 Budget, some targets were set and that is on page 226 -- 42 per cent for maize, rice 22 per cent, groundnut, 25 per cent, cowpea, 27 per cent, soyabean 11 per cent. If you move to page 64, paragraph 213 of the 2010 Budget, you would see that all these targets except one miss the point woefully. In maize, we wanted to get 42.2, that was the target, we did 5.0 per cent.

In rice, 22.8 per cent, we did 20 per cent; in groundnuts, we targeted to produce 25.4, we did 3 per cent; cowpea, 37.7, we did 20 per cent. It was only in soyabean that we projected to produce 11.5 per cent that we did 20 per cent. But Madam Speaker, with all these big shortfalls, all these wide variances, we still managed to get a provisional outturn higher than the target that we set and this becomes amazing to me.

More so, when you go to fishing - with the poor management of pre-mix fuel that led to most of the farmers not going to sea at the time that we had a lot of fish, we still had a pin-point achievement of 5.0. In forestry and logging, the target was 3.5 and we still had 3.5.

Madam Speaker, in very advanced countries where there are a lot of gadgets for data collection and for analyzing, it is even very difficult to get pin-point achievements. So is this a question of
Mr. A. W. G. Abayateye 11:55 a.m.
Madam
Speaker, on a point of order. My Friend on the other side, in quoting his figures said, “for cowpea, we produced 3 per cent”. The Budget says it increased by 3 per cent, so it was not that we failed to -- “increased by,” so he is misleading the House. “Increasing a figure by” does not mean that that was the production. It increased on what was projected, so he should come rightly.
Mr. Debrah 11:55 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I think
he does not seem to understand what I said. You are supposed to increase production by 3.5 per cent. All the indices, all the targets, we were not able to achieve them, we fell short. How are we going to get the 3.5 per cent increase when we fell short of the targets that we set ourselves?
Madam Speaker, as I said, if you look at the fishing sector and the forestry and logging sector, which had pin-point achievements, it looks like when we used to do geometry in secondary school, you do Pythagoras' theorem and then you say that the squares on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides and they say, prove it; and then when you finish proving it then you write QED -- quod erat demonstratum. What -- I was supposed to demonstrate, I have demonstrated it.
This is how come these figures represent something like this, so pin-point, I am doubting how we were able to arrive exactly at these issues.
Madam Speaker, I want to talk about
continuity of projects. We have practised the MTEF budgeting and the MTEF budgeting says that what we intend to do in one year, at the end of the year when we go to the next budgeting year, you must show what we achieved, what we did, what we did not achieve and the reason
rose
Madam Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Let us have less
interruption, unless it is a very procedural thing. It is better to hear --
Mr. Charles Hodogbey 12:05 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the former Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture continues to deceive the House and the whole nation by jumping, making comparative economic analysis but he failed to compare the Budget of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration with that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). When he was, excuse me to say, the Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture, how many irrigation projects were completed. But every year, the same irrigation projects came to the Budget -- [Uproar.]
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Hon Member?
Mr. Hodogbey 12:05 p.m.
When he was the Hon
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Order! That is not
a point of order. I think I would stop you here.
Yes, Hon Member, can you continue?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:05 p.m.
Madam
Speaker, I am grateful that you have stopped our Hon Colleague in his tracks from unleashing himself on us. Madam Speaker, but the very words he started with, that the Hon Member is deceiving this House and the entire nation, impugn improper motives to the Hon Member. It is unparliamentary and he must withdraw.

Madam Speaker, it offends our Standing

Orders and he must withdraw.
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Hon Member,
I think the word “deceive” has been objected to. What did you mean? Did you mean “mistaken” or what?
Can we give him time, maybe, he is

Let us give him time and hear what he

Hon Member, they are objecting to

the word “deceive”; have you got another word for what you really meant?
Mr. Hodogbey 12:05 p.m.
Madam Speaker,
I can only withdraw and replace that with “misleading the entire nation and the House”. I can only withdraw that of “deceive” but the “misleading”, I will never withdraw it.
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
But you were asked
to withdraw the word “deceive”.
Mr. Hodogbey 12:05 p.m.
Yes, I withdraw the
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Hon Member, I
said that was not a point of order, so I stopped you.
So, thank you for withdrawing the
word --
Mr. Hodogbey 12:05 p.m.
I withdraw the word
“deceive” but I replace it with “mislead”.
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Yes, he has
withdrawn the word “deceive”.
Mr. Debrah 12:05 p.m.
Thank you, very much -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Kofi Frimpong 12:05 p.m.
Madam Speaker,
when you look at the Oxford English Dictionary, “misleading” is synonymous with “deceiving”. “Misleading” here means “give a wrong impression or wrong information to . . .” - [Uproar.]Wait! Then, let us see “deceive”.
Deceiving -- [Interruptions.] [Mr.
Abayateye: But that is true.] Oh. Abata Yei -- [Laughter] -- “Deceive” here means, and I read, Madam Speaker, with your indulgence:
“Giving wrong information to deceive people.”
So, here Madam Speaker, if he is
replacing “deceiving” with “misleading”, he is saying the same thing.
So, Madam Speaker, he must say a
better word in place of the “deceive” and the “mislead” that he is talking about because the two mean almost the same thing.
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Well, except that the
Speaker accepted it.
Mr. Frimpong 12:05 p.m.
Well, I respect your
Madam Speaker 12:05 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member,
can you continue?
Mr. Debrah 12:15 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I was
talking about credit to farmers when I was interrupted by my Hon Colleague from the other side.
Madam Speaker, funds are very
important for every business. When it comes to agriculture, it is even more important. So, when you talk about expansion of farms and modernisation
of agriculture, then we need funds. And if you are talking about our peasant farmers who constitute about 88 per cent of our farming population, they live in the rural areas and funds are very difficult to come by. So, availability, accessibility, timeliness and cost of credit are very important for our farmers.
Madam Speaker, there is no programme
in the Budget that provides for affordable, timely and accessible credit to our smallholder farmers. There is talk about our commercial farmers being granted facilities from the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF).
But Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, our smallholders, those who work on about a hectare of land, that is about two and a half acres and who constitute about 88 per cent of our farming population need to be supported. We talked about this last year and I think we need to really put in place a programme to ensure that our farmers get credit to support their businesses.
Madam Speaker, I want to talk about inadequate budgetary allocation, and on this, I want to move to page 49, paragraph 157 of the 2010 Budget. And it says:
“The Crops and Livestock sub- sector, the largest contributor to agriculture output, is expected to witness the highest growth in the sector to close the year at 7 per cent on the backdrop of improved productivity . . .”
Madam Speaker, productivity in agriculture is very important for deve- loping countries -- [Interruptions.] Madam Speaker, improved productivity is underpinged by technology dissemi- nation and adoption, and technology dissemination and adoption, Madam Speaker, call for extensive services, it calls for training both offstage and onstage, and it calls for seminars and others.

These are supported in the Budget through Item 3 which is called Services. Madam Speaker, if you go to the 2009 Budget, page 305, Services was given GH¢3.1 million, that was last year. This year, with the expectation of highest growth riding on the backdrop of improved productivity, one would have expected to see a bigger budget for Services, that is Item 3.

Unfortunately, this has been dras- tically cut to GH¢2.5 million and this is at page 352 of the 2010 Budget. So with this drastic cut Madam Speaker, one doubts very much whether the expected 7 per cent that we are looking for can be achieved. What happens is that when targets are set then activities are carried out to achieve those targets and if the activities are not carried out then you do not expect to meet those targets. And with the drastic reduction in the amount for Services, one really doubts whether the targets would be achieved. Having said that, I want to touch on some policy initiatives.

Policy initiatives for 2010 means that we are putting in new policies in 2010 and the first one which has been talked about is reactivation of the Kumasi Jute Factory and this, it is said at page 318, paragraph 922 and Madam Speaker, with your permission, I quote:

“As a further step in strengthening linkages in the economy, linking agriculture to industry and also a source of job creation, Government will support COCOBOD to establish a new jute factory in Kumasi.”

If it is establishing a new factory, then the reactivation of Kumasi Jute Factory, that is the heading for this paragraph, is not correct. Secondly, this project Madam Speaker, is not a project that links agriculture to industry. It is purely an
Mr. Debrah 12:15 p.m.
Madam Speaker, Aveyime --
“ . . . as I speak now, the Aveyime Rice Project is on course, and in June this year, it had produced 2,500 metric tonnes of rice”.
This is page 304, paragraph 876.
My only comment on this, Madam Speaker, is that Aveyime Rice Project was reactivated in 2008. It was registered as a public-private partnership company in the first week in May, 2008; it has a shareholding of 30 per cent for Govern- ment, 30 per cent for a subsidiary of Ghana Commercial Bank and 40 per cent for Prairie Texas of United States of America.

Modernization of Agriculture. Madam Speaker, page 316, paragraph 915 says,

“Beginning in 2010, the agricultural sector will be modernized and diversified by promoting the development of crops such as
Mr. Debrah 12:15 p.m.
mango, pineapple, papaya, cashew and soya . . .”
Madam Speaker, modernization of agriculture was one of the pillars for poverty reduction in the administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government. Towards that, quite a number of farm machinery and equipment were brought in to support our farmers; in fact, by January, 2009, we had over 700 tractors, 20 rice mills with de-stoners, water pumps ready for the 2009 farming season; by January, 2009, all these had been brought in to support agriculture.

Madam Speaker, I will talk a little about cocoa. It has been the backbone for the economy in the pre-colonial days and now, on page 71, paragraph 237, Madam Speaker, I quote, that is, the 2010 Budget. With your permission, I quote:

“Government will continue to implement pol icy measures within the cocoa sub-sector such as increased producer prices, effective diseases and pests control programme, bonus payment, hi-tech programme, (fertilizer application),

and replanting of denuded areas to enable the sub-sector contribute significantly to the growth of the agricultural GDP.”

Madam Speaker, to pay a producer price of GH¢2,208 effective October, 2010 for a tonne of cocoa to our farmers when the world market price at that time was GH¢4,818, is ridiculous to the cocoa farmer. [Hear! Hear!] Madam Speaker, the result we see is the massive smuggling of cocoa on articulated trucks -- [Interruption.]
An Hon Member 12:15 p.m.
Speak into the microphone.
Mr. Debrah 12:25 p.m.
On articulated trucks, canoes and even on heads across our borders to neighbouring la Cote d'Ivoire and Togo.
Madam Speaker, what worries me is that if you go to page 12, paragraph 28, the Finance Minister himself says, and Madam Speaker, with your permission, I quote:
“ U n l i k e m o s t a g r i c u l t u r a l commodities, cocoa prices moved sharply upwards from the first quarter of 2009 at an average price of US$2,597 per tonne to US$3,360 in October, 2009.”

Madam Speaker, if you look at cocoa
Mr. Debrah 12:25 p.m.
production from 2000 to 2009, you will see that the tonnage improved from 340,000 metric tonnes in 2000 and 2001 to 720,000 metric tonnes in 2008.
If one cares to compare the prices, and we have done a very extensive research on this, prices from London Cocoa Futures, prices that we have obtained from Bank of Ghana, producer prices from Cocoa Board; everything is here, you will realize that in 2001, the world market price of cocoa was $1,045 per tonne, we produced 340,000 metric tonnes, Govern-ment paid a producer price of GH¢620 per tonne converted and therefore, if you do a (and please listen to me) straight percentage between the producer price and the world market price then Government paid 82 per cent.

The result is the massive smuggling that is going on. Ghana is losing, the economy is “haemorrhaging”; our neighbours are gaining; our farmers are crying.

I will end by entreating the Government to revise the cocoa price upwards to ensure that Ghana gains, our farmers gain and then our neighbours do not gain on the toil of our farmers.
Madam Speaker 12:25 p.m.
The next Hon
Member to speak on the list is Hon David Tetteh Assumeng, Shai Osudoku.
Tetteh (NDC
Mr. David Assumeng 12:25 p.m.


Shai Osudoku): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity. I would be very brief and for that matter, I will want to concentrate on the following areas: water and sanitation, housing sector, and the development of the Accra Plains Irrigation Scheme.

This country can only move forward in the right direction when governments continue with projects and programmes of preceding governments. I believe that the President, Professor John Evans Atta-Mills must be commended for taking the initiative to continue with programmes and projects of the previous Administration. .[Hear! Hear!] This is a good leader who never abandons good projects and this is the only way by which we can move forward in the right direction as far as development programmes are concerned. The first NDC Administration brought about the Community Water and Sanitation Agency. This Agency initiated a lot of borehole projects in this country to provide quality water to our people in the rural areas. Believe me, we have to agree with this.
rose
Madam Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Honourable, may I
take a point of order?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:25 p.m.
On a point
of order. Madam Speaker, just to correct a factual inaccuracy made by our Hon Colleague on the floor. He says the first
NDC Administration gave birth to the Community Water and Sanitation Agency. That is a factual inaccuracy; it was rather the second NDC Administration and not the first.
Mr. Assumeng 12:35 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I am
talking about continuity. The initiation was started by the first Administration and it was then finalized in the second Administration of the NDC. So first and second, the equation that was - [Laughter] -- So I just said that I will also want to commend the previous Hon Ministers who headed the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing. They came out with this three-district water project scheme at Aveyime and during the launching, we were even invited to that programme. I think that this is what we should be seen doing.
We should commend where necessary and then where we need to also criticize, we should. It is like we are debating this Budget as if there is no iota of truth or development in it. I cannot agree to that; this Budget has its strength and at the same time, we can talk of some weaknesses. Nobody is perfect. I believe that what we have before us now can actually propel this country in the right direction.
The Government is also going to
continue with the affordable housing scheme. This is a programme or project that was also initiated during the previous Administration. We have housing facilities that are scattered all over the country. If one goes to Kpone near Tema, one can get some of these facilities over there; one goes to Koforidua and they are also there; if one goes to Tamale, we have these projects over there and I am very gratified that the Budget has made provision to complete these projects to enable the people of this country have affordable housing facilities. This is something that we need to commend.
I am also very glad that the development of the Accra Plains has taken off. This is a programme or project that has been on the drawing board for so long a time. But we are talking about sustaining growth. We can only sustain growth when we are able to develop the agriculture sector. This is the time that we have these vast hectares of land that are just lying fallow and at the same time the Volta River has been flowing continuously into the sea.
We have Ministers, Professors and intellectuals who could sit down and bring this project to fruition and so, I am very happy and gratified that under this President, His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills, the development of the Accra Plains Irrigation Scheme has finally taken off.
-- [Pause] Why do you not give me a cheer for that? [Hear! Hear!] Yes, that is a good project.
Madam Speaker, we need to develop this project and I believe that this will also offer employment for our youth. We are talking about employment and we are not looking at areas where we can do it. Everybody is struggling over some menial jobs that will not sustain the youth of this country.

I have the hope and belief that by developing the Accra Plains Irrigation Project, many of our youth, our teeming youth, who are parading the streets of our capitals will find jobs in this country. I also have the belief that we can create a food basket for this country and that is the reason why I am also happy that this Budget has made provision to increase the tax on importation of rice. It is something that must be commended.

Madam Speaker, I was at a lecture in Legon just last Sunday and I raised the issue with the students and it was overwhelmingly supported that we can only develop if we are able to tax imported rice. The rice farmers in my constituency, Shai Osudoku, Asutsuare for that matter and other areas, can sustain this country as far as rice production is concerned. So why do we not give it an encouragement? This is where I am also happy that the project started by you . . . -- [Inter-ruptions] whoever is concerned -- to subsidize fertilizer for farmers is being sustained. I believe that this programme has now provided the incentive for rice farmers to increase production.

Madam Speaker, as I am speaking now, there are tonnes of rice, paddy rice that is lying on the drying fields at Asutsuare. I, therefore, want to use this opportunity to invite persons who are into the rice industry to turn their attention to the Kpong Irrigation Project and then patronize the rice that is being produced in that place. At the same time, Members of Parliament should also take advantage and begin to eat local rice; let us see local rice on our tables. When we are doing this then we will get to move the nation forward.

Madam Speaker, this nation must move forward. It must move faster than we are moving now. Madam Speaker, all of us, most of us do travel outside this country and when we travel outside this country, we see a lot of things. When we come back, implementation becomes a problem. Such things that we have been seeing, this is the time for us to put them into practice and I believe that this Budget has started that process. So let us all give support to this Budget to make sure that the vision of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the vision of the country -- let us have a national vision.

The national vision that we are all trying to pursue now will lead this rich nation into some better development than we are seeing now.

Madam Speaker, I am very happy that this debate is moving smoothly and in order not to run into any further difficulty, I should be winding up by now.

I am also pleased that we want to

solve the water supply problem of Accra. Therefore, another project that was initiated by the previous Government, that is, the Teshie Desalination Plant -- I have my Ranking Member there, she is nodding. It is true, is it not? This is a project that has been embraced by this Administration and I believe that at the end of it all the water situation in Accra shall be solved.
Madam Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Yes, try and sum
up now.
Mr. Assumeng-Tetteh 12:35 p.m.
Thank you
very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I just want to urge my Hon Colleagues to let us support this Budget because there are good things within. There may be some shortfalls, no one is perfect. [Interruptions.] However, I believe that the advantages in the Budget should far outweigh the shortfalls that we are talking about. So we want to just urge all of us to give this Budget the serious support that we can give to make sure this country moves forward in the right direction.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Thank you,
Honourable. The next Member to speak will be Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchway.
Ms. Shirley A. Botchway (NPP -- Weija) 12:35 p.m.
I thank you, Madam Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the motion on the floor which is the 2010 Budget. Before I start, I would like to commend the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and his team for bringing to the House, this Budget before the end of the year as stipulated in our Constitution.
Madam Speaker, my submission will be touching briefly on a few areas that have direct implications for our foreign policy. As we are all aware, foreign policy of any nation has to do with how we interact, how we deal with other nations. The fact is that diplomacy is a very important aspect of governance and any diplomatic actions taken by a government must have economic prosperity as its end result.
Madam Speaker, the 2010 Budget looks or reiterates Government's focus on economic diplomacy. This is intended to bring in foreign direct investment (FDI). It is also to promote tourism. It is, therefore, not surprising that His Excellency the President, in sending out envoys, ambassadors, charges them to go out there and pursue economic diplomacy in order to bring that “Better Ghana” that he promised all of us.
Madam Speaker, if we all agree that economic diplomacy is about maximizing our national gains to bring in, like I said earlier, investment, trade and other economically beneficial exchanges, then I believe it is important that any government that embarks on economic diplomacy
must walk the talk and it should not just be mere words.
In the 2009 performance, paragraph 598, government stated that Ghana's international image in 2008 was boosted by peaceful political transition and that as a country, we maintained a high profile diplomatic presence, which yielded appreciable levels of FDI.
Madam Speaker, in 2008, the peaceful political transition was as a result of the work done by the then Government in power, in making sure that we did have a peaceful election. If we are yielding results today because of that, it is because of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government and I will touch on that a little later.
Madam Speaker, it also links that peaceful atmosphere that we enjoy to foreign direct investment (FDI). Unfortunately, as we speak, Madam Speaker, FDI has gone down. If you go to page 382 of the Budget, under Direct Investments 2008, it was GH¢2.1 billion.
Mr. Gershon K.B. Gbediame 12:45 p.m.
On a point of order. Madam Speaker, I wish to draw the attention of the Hon Member to the fact that the conditions that prevailed in 2008 are not the same as those that are prevailing in 2009. Therefore, the comparison cannot hold.
Ms. Botchway 12:45 p.m.
Madam Speaker,
indeed, comparison -- But the facts are the facts and they are stated in black and white. About the discrepancy that I men- tioned, you go to page 85 of the Budget, precisely, paragraph 270, and the heading is “Investment Promotion”. It states, “One hundred and seventy-five new projects
Ms. Botchway 12:45 p.m.
were registered in 2009 with total FDI component of GH¢260,378 (US$185,987 million)”.
Madam Speaker, we jump to another part of the Budget, precisely, in paragraph 945, under the same “Investment Promotion”; you will find that what is stated is the GI Centre which registered a total of 199 projects with an estimated investment value of US$393.7 million. Madam Speaker, these are two very different figures which are quite difficult for anybody to reconcile. Now I am wondering what kind of Budget has been brought to us, Madam Speaker. This is very worrying.
Madam Speaker, going back to what a good foreign policy can yield a country, it is quite clear that good diplomacy yields very positive results. Like I said earlier, we can testify to this with the results of the elections and how the whole elections went and how there was a peaceful transition. It is because of these credentials that President Obama chose Ghana over all the other African countries -- [Hear! Hear!].

Madam Speaker, the 2009 Budget says Government will pursue policies and programmes in its engagement with the international community, with optimal benefits while promoting and protecting the interest of Ghanaians. It also talks about respect for international law and
Mr. Albert Abongo 12:45 p.m.
Madam Speaker,
the Hon Former Minister is telling us that Government is missing when it comes to foreign diplomacy and that under the NPP, they were involved in conflicts here and there.
Madam Speaker, we cannot go out there and create conflicts in order that we mediate. There are no conflicts, so we do not need to get ourselves involved in mediating conflicts that do not exist.
Ms. Botchway 12:45 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I did
say conflict resolution and I think the Hon Member is being a little mischievous. But that is all right.
Madam Speaker, like I said, we have been promised that our nationals will be protected all over. Madam Speaker, today, as we speak, 44 Ghanaians who were murdered -- brutally murdered in The Gambia, of which His Excellency the Vice President who used to be a Member of this House was a crusader -- 44 Ghanaians.
On the 2nd of March 2007, he put in an Urgent Question. Madam Speaker, and in a supplementary question he asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration a question. He asked:,
“I would like to ask the Minister what the value of a Ghanaian life is.”
And he went on to talk about whether it was more important or whether our diplomatic relations were more important. Madam Speaker, as we speak, the NDC did campaign on that particular issue, that they will bring justice. As we speak today, they have negotiated with The Gambian Government and they have accepted the report that says that only six out of the 44 people were Ghanaians and the bodies have been brought and they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Gambian Government . Is that the promotion of the welfare of Ghanaians abroad?
Mr. Gbediame 12:45 p.m.
On a point of order.
Madam Speaker, I want the Hon Member to tell this House whether they confirmed that they were actually 44 people who were involved in the event?
Ms. Botchway 12:55 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I will ignore that. I am not here to answer questions from the Hon Member.
Madam Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Member, wind up now. You are far gone. Can you please, let us finish with - Yes?
Ms. Botchway 12:55 p.m.
Madam Speaker, in
the area of tourism, the 2010 outlook, it is said that it is going to promote diversification and all that. We see a long list of achievements under tourism in 2008. We do not see anything under performance in 2009. Indeed, when we go to page 20, the targets under restaurants and hotels have gone down from seven per cent to two per cent, or it is projected
Madam Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Thank you thank you, Hon Member.
Mr. M. A. Puozaa (NDC -- Nadowli
East): Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the
Madam Speaker 12:55 p.m.


motion, which is, that this Honourable House approves the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 31st December, 2010. Madam Speaker, there is a lot to cheer about the new Budget and I expect all my Hon Colleagues will support the Budget very, very seriously.

A Budget that is agriculture-friendly, that is infrastructure-friendly, that is education-friendly is all right for the ordinary man in the street and if these indicators are really able to produce results, then it would go to impact positively on the lives of the ordinary people. Madam Speaker, I would limit my contribution to education.

In the 2010 Budget, Government intends to focus on making education accessible to all at all levels and to improve on efficiency and effectiveness in delivery at all levels in the country. Contrary to the views of some people that there is nothing new in the 2010 Budget, I see a lot of new ideas in it and I think it is so glaring that one does not need to look too hard in order to see the new ideas being introduced by the Government.

For instance, I am convinced that one of the best things that has happened to education in recent times is the mainstreaming of pre-school education into the basic education system introduced by the former Administration. By the -- [Interruptions] No. [Laugh-ter.] By the Education Act of 2008, Act 778, formal education has now become part of the educational system and education now begins at four (4) instead of six (6) years.

This means that the period of staying at school has now been extended by two more years. This is something that many people have failed to see when they are discussing the period for child education as stated in the new educational reforms. Now, it means that two additional years have been added to the nine (9) years that we have had in the former reforms. So

we have 11 years now instead of nine (9).

In order to ensure that the two years are effectively utilised as an integral part of the educational system, the Budget has made sure that 200 school buildings are put up in order to enhance the kindergarten education in the country.

I think that at the basic level Government has decided to put in a lot to make sure that education is really accessible and they are going to put up a number of schools. Government intends to improve on the structures that we have in the various schools in order to make sure that we have accessibility for all in the system.

Government intends to renovate a lot of schools by providing sanitation and other facilities to make sure that school buildings are friendly, especially to the girl-child. This should not be seen as frivolous because a recent tour of the Central Region and the Western Region by your Committee on Education revealed that as at now, there are still many contracts awarded for the construction of school buildings that do not include sanitary provisions.

Recen t ly, a s tudy by a non- governmental organisation (NGO), that is, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition has indicated that many people now run away. There is a high drop-out rate among school girls because they find facilities at the schools very unfriendly because in many schools, students have to share, both boys and girls share the same places of convenience, especially urinals and this scares away many, many girls from school.

During the tour of your Committee in the Central and Western Regions, it was realised that as of 24th December, 2008, contracts were still awarded for the

construction of school buildings without any of these facilities, that is, toilets and bathrooms are not added to them. One wonders why this should be so.

The Budget has also decided to provide for the pupils structures in order to eliminate shift system that is still prevalent in many schools. Government has also decided to provide for schools that are still operating in makeshift structures and very, very dilapidated buildings. This is to make sure that at least pupils in these schools have a fair chance of competing evenly with their colleagues in other public institutions.

Madam Speaker, the GETFund has become the sole provider of classrooms and therefore, through the GETFund the Ministry of Education intends to provide these facilities. Anyway, I would like to comment on the lopsided nature of the disbursement of the GETFund. The recent tour to the two regions revealed that -- and I beg to refer to these notes: Between June 2001 and 2009, Takoradi Polytechnic alone benefited from 20 projects and an amount of 6,528,932.22 Ghana cedis was paid to contractors.

All basic schools in the same Western Region had 157 projects and were paid an amount of GH¢7,089,629. In the Upper West Region, basic schools had 38 projects and an amount of GH¢3,832,993 was paid. Wa Polytechnic alone had 25 projects and an amount of GH¢8.536 million was paid. In the Greater Accra Region all the basic schools combined had 75 projects and an amount of 2,293,12 Ghana cedis was paid. Now, the Univer-sity of Ghana alone had 97 projects and an amount of GH¢34,426,183.20 was paid.
MR. SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr. Puozaa 1:05 p.m.
Accra Polytechnic had 28 projects and an amount of GH¢8,242,511.49 cedis was paid. Mr. Speaker, these figures are meant to draw the attention of Hon Colleagues to the lopsided nature in which the GETFund is being disbursed.
We are to choose between really enhancing the chances of our youth, that is, by building a strong foundation for them at the basic level so that they will proceed into the tertiary institutions more qualified and more ready for academic work than what we are doing now. At the moment, as we can see from these figures, it seems as if too much attention is being given to the basic level as against what we should rather be doing down there to ensure that at least, students are better prepared for the universities and other tertiary institutions.
Mr. S. K B. Manu 1:05 p.m.
On a point of
order. Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to the Hon Member saying that the Capitation Grant, having been increased from three cedis to four cedis and fifty pesewas, is an increase without taking into account the inflationary trend in the country. [Interruptions.] The Hon

Member did not say that the Budget said nothing about school feeding programme, is it a secret that the school feeding programme is not found necessary by the Government, that is why nothing was said in the Budget about it? I would like him to address that fact -- why the school feeding programme was not mentioned in the Budget. Has it been scrapped? Ghanaians want to know.
Mr. Puozaa 1:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not
think my Hon Colleague raised a point of order because I have not yet said anything on school feeding programme. So the Hon Member should limit himself to what I have said so far, anyway.
As already mentioned, there are a lot of new things in this Budget. For instance, Government will now go out of his way to subsidise fees on teachers who are involved in the distance education by as much as 100 Ghana cedis; though it will not take care of all the cost involved, at least, it is good to encourage teachers to do more.
Mr. Manu 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member
on the floor is misleading the House and Ghanaians when he says that the proponents of the three-year duration for senior high school (SHS) as well as the four-year duration for junior high school (JHS) have not concentrated on quality but on duration, it is not true.
He is aware that proposing the four- year duration period was a package, a package in the sense that even schools like vocational and technical institutions, which were not hitherto writing English, science and mathematics as examinable subjects were going to do that, and also kindergarten has been absorbed into the mainstream because it was found out that the basics are weak and that is why the sub-structure also gets weak. So for you to say that no attention was given to quality, is not correct. He must reorganise himself and tell Ghanaians why the four-year duration was proposed.
Mr. Puozaa 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if the Hon
Member was really listening, he would have noticed that my emphasis was really on the teacher and I talked of quality of education during the period. And I said the emphasis was misplaced because instead of talking of the quality, people were rather talking of the period or the four-year duration. We are talking of two different things.
Mr. Speaker, among the reasons that the proponents gave for the four-year duration was that a fourth year would enhance the selection of programmes at the SHS level which now occurs at the JHS. They also argued that a four-year period would give the students more time for remedial work due to poor quality of education at the basic level, that is the JHS level. These are really very genuine concerns, Mr. Speaker, but then, they turn to forget that
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order?
Dr. Prempeh 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on
a point of order to bring my Hon Friend's attention to the fact that, yes, we are talking about quality teachers at the centre of education; would he care to tell this House why the responsibility allowance was reduced by this Government and why the car maintenance allowance was reduced by this Government this year -- from GH¢1 to 30 pesewas? Why did the Government decide to do that?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Hon
Member, please, continue.
Mr. Puozaa 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think
Mr. Manu 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, talking about motivation for teachers, teachers are the prime agents of education. As intimated by the Hon Member, what is more demoralizing than a teacher's paltry allowance or responsibility allowance of GH¢1 being whittled down to 30 pesewas? What is more demoralising for the teacher than the car maintenance allowance of GH¢40 to be whittled down to GH¢7.
rose
Mr. Manu 1:15 p.m.
And I would like to advise Government - the Hon Minister is up -- that he should go back to the drawing board and if it is not a Government policy, then, they should quickly pay the money to the teachers and even increase it as they used to campaign to win the support of teachers. We even hear that the allowances that are being given to teachers in training are being removed. All these things go to demoralize teachers and the Government should take care of that.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Hon Member, do not turn your point of order into another contribution. Hon Minister for Education?
Mr. A. N. Tettey-Enyo 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker
on a point of information. Mr. Speaker, I wonder why some Hon Members are refusing to accept the explanation that it is not the policy of this Government to reduce -- They are still doing it. [Interruptions.] They have refused to understand that Government policy is not to reduce the paltry allowance that is being paid to the teachers. And I will appeal to those who support the blackmail campaign -- [Interruptions] -- to stop because it is simply not true that Government has reduced maintenance allowance and responsibility allowance.
These allowances are so low and so ridiculous that I do not understand why some Hon Members of this House will still believe, after all, the explanations we have given that these allowances have not been reduced. Quarterly grants -- if we have time for further explanation, quarterly grants were released for the payment of these allowances. In some areas -- we know that the existing allowance is GH¢1 and how can we reduce it? Some Hon Members are laughing but it was there for the past eight years -- [Interruptions] -- and it is the intention of this Government to raise and review these allowances -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Order!
Order! The Hon Minister is on the floor. I believe we want explanations.
Mr. Tettey-Enyo 1:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it
has been there for the past eight years and we want to revise it upwards and that is what we want to do as soon as it is possible. Therefore, we would not accept the blackmail campaign that these ridiculous allowances have been reduced by Government.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:25 p.m.
Most grateful, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, it is good that the Hon Minister wants to give information to this House and to say that
the levels of the allowance have been there for the past eight years, he knows it is incorrect. It goes further beyond the eight years, the Hon Minister knows that.
To restrict it to the eight year period makes it appear as if it was only the NPP Administration that fell foul. Mr. Speaker, that is the first thing.
The second thing is the language of
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Order!
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:25 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, that certainly seeks to impute improper motives and the Minister knows that that language is unacceptable. He then goes on to say that “it is a blackmail campaign”. Again, Mr. Speaker, that also introduces improper motives and he either substantiates the improper motives that he is alluding to or withdraws and the debate would continue.
Mr. Speaker, on these three counts, the Minister must respond appropriately and I expect the Hon Minister to withdraw those words -- [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, I saw the Minister beating his chest that he would not, I do not want to believe that. I believe he is capable of performing better; I do not want to believe that. Mr. Speaker, may you call on him to withdraw?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon
Minister, you intend to respond to that?
Mr. Tettey-Enyo 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I really
do not understand the Majority Leader's -- [Uproar] -- Minority Leader's position on this matter. My Colleague has raised the issue, a very serious issue that my Government -- [Some Hon Members: “Our Government”] -- has reduced what
the Government itself considers ridiculous allowances of 30p and so on and so forth and he was told that that is not the case, and he was insisting.
Therefore, I got up to add to the defence of government policy and I do not see how I can withdraw a defence of government policy, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to my Colleague, I totally understand his defence. That is not my concern. My concern is the vehicle he used to convey this information.
Mr. Speaker, I am only saying that the words he used in the conveyance is unacceptable -- [Interruptions] -- I am not talking about the relevance of the information. I believe that it is very relevant for our edification. Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely acceptable. What is unacceptable is the language, imputing improper motives and Mr. Speaker, I believe my Hon Colleague understands this. I want him to do the honourable thing by withdrawing.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon
Minister, can there be some rephrasing because it appears “refusal to understand” is what is creating a problem to your Friend on the other side. Is it possible to have -- I know you are so capable that “refusal to understand” can be so phrased that you would still have your import without any difficulty.
Mr. Tettey-Enyo 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, what I wanted to tell my Colleague Member of Parliament was that he was still finding it difficult to understand the explanation that Government had not reduced the allowances. In view of that, I withdraw the earlier statement that “he had refused to understand.”
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
To
my mind, there may be a difficulty in
Mr. Puozaa 1:25 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Now science -- [Interruption.] --
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:25 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Sir --
Mr. Puozaa 1:25 p.m.
Oh!
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Well,
I would like to give Leadership the opportunity.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, there were two legs to the issue that I raised, the first one, he has withdrawn. The second one relates to the use of the rather offensive language, “a campaign of blackmail”. Mr. Speaker, I want him to withdraw that one as well and let him do the honourable thing. I know he is capable of doing that -- [An Hon Member: “And the third one”] -- I know he is capable of doing that.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon
Minister, I think a rephrasing would save us some difficulty.
Mr. Tettey-Enyo 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I
would need some assistance from the Minority Leader. I want to know the extent to which an expression like “a blackmail campaign” which gives a vivid expression to what is really happening -- If he can explain to me how he understands, it will help me to rephrase and change that impression.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon
Minister, for the guidance of all of us, it appears any expression that might give
Mr. Tettey-Enyo 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
for want of a better expression and the impression that that statement has created, I withdraw and apologise to Members affected.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon
Minister, you have acted most honourab-ly and we appreciate that.
Hon Member, please, continue.
Mr. Puozaa 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you
for allowing me to continue.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
And
if Members would not ask him to wind up but to continue. The debate on the Budget is a very important business. Hon Member, please continue.
Mr. Puozaa 1:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the former administration gave a lot of publicity -- I am now on science and technology. The former administration gave a lot of publicity on trade and business in general, no one can doubt that fact. The statement “Industry is the engine of growth”, really became a very very sacrosanct statement just like a verse in the Qur'an or the Bible.
Unfortunately, the administration failed to provide the fuel that would make that engine move and for that matter, the growth never came because the engine could not move. This is because science and technology which really is the fuel that make industry grow was really relegated to the background throughout the period and for that matter, our laboratories were empty, our scientists in the laboratories reluctantly left for greener pastures and
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon
Balado, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr. Manu 1:35 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. The Hon Member is misleading the House when he says that we made - he even compared what we said to a verse in the Qur'an or in the Bible and yet the previous administration did nothing about science and technology.
Mr. Speaker, he was part of the
Committee on Education I chaired at the time that toured the whole country to teacher training colleges and he knew and the Hon Minister knows himself that in all the teacher training colleges in this country, laboratories were being built so that the teacher who will come out to teach the science and mathematics will be well trained to come and handle science. Again, some teacher training colleges which are now tertiary institutions were designated specifically for science training of teachers.
So, for him to say that we just said it,
the previous administration just said it ‘without giving the fuel' -- that was the term he used -- for the industry to move forward is to say the least, an economy of the truth.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Thank
you very much, Hon Member, for the point of correction.
Please, Hon Member, proceed.
Mr. Puozaa 1:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if I may
correct my former Hon Chairman, it is only 15 teacher training colleges that are
being given science laboratories. I believe we were together; not all the 38 teacher training colleges - [Interruption] -- that is less than half -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Kofi Frimpong 1:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
thank you for allowing me to stand on a point of order. I refer to Order 92 (1) (a); the Hon Member there is seriously misleading this House by inferring that during the eight years in office, science teachers left for greener pastures. Mr. Speaker, I beg to differ. It was during the NDC period that a lot of people, workers and teachers migrated from Ghana to the neighbouring countries and not the last eight years. Mr. Speaker, he must upgrade his stuff and come properly.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon
Member, if you may please wind up at this stage -- [Interruptions.] Order! Order!
Mr. Puozaa 1:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to
admit that this Budget has really given or intends to give a lot of push to science and will make the teaching of science more effective in our schools. And if I may refer to paragraph 444 of the Budget Statement and with your permission, I will read it:
“Government will continue rehabili- tation works on Science Resource Centres and will relentlessly pursue programmes like STME Clinics to increase students' interest in the study of Science.”
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon
Member, if you may, please, wind up at this stage.
Mr. Puozaa 1:35 p.m.
All right. Mr. Speaker, the pressure on our six
public universities is quite alarming. Only about 46 per cent of those who
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon
Member, please, wind up.
Mr. Puozaa 1:35 p.m.
All right.
In short, tertiary education is very, very important to every nation and this Government and for that matter, the Budget intends to continue with all the abandoned projects and other ongoing projects in these universities.
Mr. Speaker, I would end up by putting
in a word for non-formal education.
The Government considers all levels
of education for its citizenry with equal degree of importance and therefore, non- formal education has not been forgotten. It is going to revamp all the programmes that have been left abandoned and then make sure that the public begin to have a renewed interest in non-formal education.
The recent event that we went through
during the 2008 elections, is an indication that illiteracy can be very, very expensive. Perhaps, if the large number of ballot
papers that were wasted had really been transferred into actual votes, we might not have had to go a second round and the country would not have borne such a big cost.
I, therefore, think that non-formal education is just as important as any of the other sectors and Government is giving due regard to that.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon

Hon Minority Chief Whip, do you have

any difficulty?
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 1:35 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, if you cross-check the list we submitted, the third person is Hon Kofi Adda.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Hon
Kofi Adda?
Mr. J. K. Adda (NPP -- Navrongo
Central): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, while my interest is in the
energy sector as well as the establishment of the Northern Development Fund, I would like to make a few general comments before I get to those subject matters.
Mr. Speaker, generally speaking, I share the view of some of my Hon Colleagues that the Budget was uninspiring. But I disagree with those who said it was a go-slow Budget. Rather, I would say, it is either a standstill Budget, a marking time Budget or a Budget that is moving us in the wrong direction.
Mr. Speaker, when the Hon Minister for
Finance and Economic Planning read his
first Budget earlier this year, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, saying that this was the first time they were coming back after eight years and therefore, perhaps, they needed to do some homework to be able to get on top of certain things. But this is the second Budget that the President of the Republic is reading to this nation.

Mr. Speaker, I took the pains to compare these Budgets with the Budgets that were submitted when the NPP Administration took over in 2001 and the two comparisons are like day and night. When you look at the 2001 and 2002 Budgets, you could see a Budget that is bold, a Budget that is direct, a Budget that handled all the issues in a forthright manner.

If you look at the Budget that was presented earlier this year, it was basically a recounting of some of the things that the NPP Administration had done, accepting that they would continue to do what we were doing. One, therefore, expected a set of new ideas, a set of initiatives that would come up this year. But Mr. Speaker, to my disappointment, when I heard what the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning read as President Atta-Mills' Budget, was nothing to write home about. I do not think it is going to move us in the direction that we all expected.

Having said that Mr. Speaker, and I do not want to bore the House with a commentary; some of it has already been done by some of my Hon Colleagues, especially the Ranking Member for Finance as well as the former Deputy Minister and the Hon Member for Wenchi, Prof. Gyan-Baffour. These things are very clear; they show that the Budget is not in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, having said that, there are a couple of things that I think were a little encouraging from the outset. The fact that
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Hon Members, order!
Mr. Adda 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to single out some of my Hon Colleagues from the other side in Government, particularly, the Deputy Minister who is sitting here as well as the current Controller and Accountant-General for pushing these ideas through. The implementation of the BPEMS, Mr. Speaker, would no doubt improve efficiency and transparency and I think we would get some dividends from there that will help support the development of this country.
The streamlining of the payment processes under the Ghana Revenue Authority and the setting up of the Commissioner-General position are things that would help us in the revenue section.
Mr. Speaker, in the area of agriculture, I was also happy about what the Minister for Food and Agriculture has been able to do by way of continuing the imple-mentation of the Youth in Agro-Business Model of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP). But I must add that the NPP Administration had actually started with about 900 hectares of rice cultivation up in the Fumbisi or “Overseas” Valley of the Upper East Region. For him to continue with several hectares of cultivation of various crops, I think it is something in the right direction and I commend the Minister for Food and Agriculture for that.
Also, with the 900-plus tractors that have been imported by the NPP Administration that were in stock earlier this year, I think the Minister for Food and Agriculture has done very well in

deploying most of these tractors and indeed, has been able to reduce the deposit amount for them. At least, some of Colleagues on the NDC side have been able to benefit from them with very low deposits to acquire tractors. I trust that they would do the same for all Hon Members of this House and also for the entire nation.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr. Gbediame 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My Hon Friend is misleading the House by saying that “Hon Members from the NDC side”. I must say as a matter of fact that some on the other side also bought the tractors and I know on authority because such a person who also benefited told me personally -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Adda 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my Hon
Friend may be right; but some of us, and I am one Member of this House who was able to facilitate the acquisition of some of the tractors for my constituency. But Mr. Speaker, the deposits we put out there were far higher than the ¢10 million each that was put out by the NDC Members of this House. So there are two different things. We did not have it on a fair deal as far as I am concerned; they had it on a cheaper level.
Mr. Speaker, on the rice and poultry matter, I happen to be a rice grower and a poultry farm manager as well and I was looking forward to a day when we would be able to get Ghanaians producing these two products in big volumes to replace what is being brought from outside. But in my view, Mr. Speaker, there is no
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Hon Adda, if I may interrupt you for a moment at this stage.
Hon Members, having regard to the state of business in the House, I direct that Sitting be held outside the prescribed period of Sitting provided for under Standing Order 40 (3).
Thank you.
Hon Member, you may continue.
Mr. Adda 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with regard to rice and poultry provisions in this Budget, I see no real incentives in there for the local producers to be able to compete favourably against the foreign rice that is being brought into the country nor the poultry products as well. Therefore, in my view, Mr. Speaker, this is not encouraging for farmers in these two areas. Mr. Speaker -- [Interruption.]
Alhaj i Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka -- rose --
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Hon Member for Asawase, do you rise on a point of order?
Alhaji Muntaka 1:45 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I am very surprised at the comments coming from my Hon Colleague, saying that he did not see any incentive for the rice and poultry industry. He had heard, when the Budget was being read, the tariffs that are going to be put on imported rice and poultry. [Interruptions.] Yes, it is because you are discouraging the importation to enhance the local production of these products and you are saying that this is not an incentive; that is an incentive.
Mr. Adda 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if my Hon Colleague had just been patient, he would have waited just a moment to hear me say that what is being levied, CIF on poultry and rice is a figure that is simply going to attempt to stop the importation of these products, but it is not something that
would give the local producers the strength to be able to produce bigger volumes. Those are two different things; stopping the importation is not enough for us to increase our local production.
Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I think this is what is going to cost higher prices down the road and I think the inflation is going to be higher eventually because there would be a gap between what we can stop from outside and what we can produce locally. I do not think it is something that would really yield the results. But having mentioned earlier that my real interests are in the energy as well as the Northern Development Fund areas, I would like to concentrate on that.
Mr. Speaker, when one goes through what was presented earlier this year for the energy sector, and compare it with what was presented recently for the 2010 Budget, you would see a presentation that is incomplete, with scanty information that does not equip you to be able to compare what it is they have promised to do this year and what it is, have been able to achieve and what we can build on next year. That provision is clearly not there and I can run through a lot of items that were said that they would be done in 2009 and there has not been any assessment of that, yet we say we are moving into 2010 to do certain things.
Mr. Speaker, in my view, we cannot really tell whether the Minister for Energy has met its target. It is unclear whether we are making progress in that area or we are marking time.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to power generation, the NDC Government said in its manifesto -- President Atta-Mills said it in this House and the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning also mentioned that they were targeting 5,000
Mr. Adda 1:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in our contributions to the 2009 Budget this year, we made it very clear that medium and long-term plans had already been embarked upon to generate 4,300 megawatts of power; so what was left was just 700 megawatts that this Government would have to add to get the 5,000 megawatts.

Mr. Speaker, as we speak, there is no concrete measure that has been pursued by the NDC Adminstration of Professor Mills to show that that gap of 700 megawatts is going to come on board. There has been some general statements made about encouraging the private sector, IPP (Independent Power Producers) encouragement to enter generation of power which were things that the NPP Administration was doing anyway, but nothing specific.

But what is even worse is that with the sort of programme the NDC had gone into with the IMF and the World Bank, restricting the Government from giving sovereign guarantees to major credit facilities, it means that their hope that some of these power companies through the Independent Power Producer Programme would come in and be able to generate additional power would not be there. What bothers me is that out of the 4,300 megawatts plant that we had put in place, some of them may not even be coming on board anymore because of the actions of the NDC Administration.

The Kpone combine power projects that should give us about 330 megawatts of power, it is at risk right now. The T-2 combine cycle completion in Aboadze is at risk because the companies that can come in and do this for us, will require sovereign guarantee. The IMF has

told the Government that a three-year programme will not be able to provide sovereign guarantee for these projects. That means we are talking about some 500 megawatts or so right there that will be deducted from the 4,300 megawatts of power that had been planned for by the NPP Administration of President Kufuor.

The lack of concrete evidence of new projects to generate the extra capacity to hit the 5,000 megawatts,in my opinion, is a sign that the NDC Government cannot meet that target and they are not going to be able to get us out of the problems of power that we are in today.

As we speak, the water level at Akosombo is at nearly its maximum level, yet we have blackouts, intermittent light outs here and there.

When I was the Hon Minister for Energy, I was being chastised for these blackouts even though we had a planned load shedding programme that made every community to know when the lights will be off or when the lights will be on.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Order!
Mr. Adda 1:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, when you
go to rural electrification, increasing access through electrification schemes, in the 2009 Budget, a total target of 946 communities were set for us. The National Electrification Scheme was to connect 130 communities to the grid extension. The SHED 4 Programme was to give us 200 communities, 600 communities coming out of the 5 plus, that is 5 districts plus or 5 communities plus per district which were
Mr. Adda 2:05 p.m.
Then under the Upper Denkyira programme which came under the facility, 16 communities were going to be connected. If you add all these together, you get 946 communities. One would have expected that in this year's Budget, you would see a review of that so that we know, out of the 946 communities, maybe, 500 have been connected or the entire 946 have been connected -- [Interruptions] -- I connected a lot more and I gave you poles. There is no information on this matter at all and therefore, we cannot tell the whole nation whether we are making progress, whether we are adding access to the electrification that we have now.
Mr. Speaker, under the Ghana Energy and Development and Access Programme, a credit facility was approved by this House. We had targeted about 800 communities to be connected within two years. Materials had arrived. We also hoped that 412 urban and peri-urban communities would also come on board. Nothing has been said about that, so we do not know what has happened to the materials, we do not know whether the communities have been connected, we have no clue what is going on. The Ministry of Energy's budget does not give us any information on how to assess the power situation.
Mr. Speaker, it has been said on air these days that the transmission and dis- tribution companies are fighting or rather they said, one is blaming the other for the intermittent light outs that we have now. When you refer to the outlook for 2009 Budget, again, nothing has been said about transmission.
We know that we have created a new company called GRIDCO. They are responsible for all the transmission network. They are supposed to get all the
assets from VRA transferred to them and they are supposed to take full responsibility for improving the transmission network. Nothing has been said about that in this Budget, so we are at a loss as to what is going on with respect to the transmission.
To also make the distribution very
efficient, plans had been in the pipeline for the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Northern Electricity Department to be restructured. Not a word had been said about that in this year's Budget. There are a number of other things, the energy sector regulations that were mentioned in the 2009 Budget, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programmes, the completion of independent power producers policy framework, again, we have nothing to be able to report on these matters. Where are we with them?
I know for a fact that the Solar Energy Programme that the NPP Administration entered into with the Spanish Government is being rolled out but nothing is being said about that here. Have we completed the independent power producer policy framework? We do not know. Are we pursuing the energy efficiency and conservation programmes? We do not know. What about the regulations for that sector? Zero.
I was encouraged about what the Minister said earlier this year. And it is something that the NPP Administration actually started but I was happy that he was continuing with it, that he will continue with the power sector financial restructuring and recovering study and come out with a comprehensive recovery plan for the three power utilities.
I invite my Colleagues to look in the 2010 Budget and see if there is any report on that. One would have hoped that this will lead us into how we will really manage the resources for the power sector.
Not a clue, not a word has been said on this matter. That is why I said that the 2010 Budget has given us scanty information, it is incomplete and it is not helping us to move forward.
Whether it is the cause of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that cut out a lot of submissions from Energy, I do not know. Whether the Ministry of Energy failed to report on that because they did not meet their mark or their targets, I do not know. But the fact of the matter is that this Budget does not compare favourably with the way that the NPP Administration reported on the energy sector projects when we came to Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, when we move on to the petroleum sector, we all know that we were promised lower prices for petroleum products, that has not happened. The Government is blaming it on smuggling. Mr. Speaker, there is already smuggling in this country and our Government talked about it at length but allowed the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to work in a manner that it could control it. But what is being smuggled is nowhere near what is supposed to come into the country.

The fact of the matter, Mr. Speaker, is that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration did not import the crude oil that was required for us to be able to refine and supply enough petroleum products for the use of the consumer.

Mr. Speaker, a lot has been said about the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debt but I repeat that, as we said in other circles, when financial institutions deal with any entity or business entity, for that matter, or a country, they look at confidence. If they have confidence in the Government, if they have confidence in the way the economy is moving, then they are willing to support you with financing.

I think that the lack of confidence in
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Order!
Mr. Adda 2:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, having said that, I still wish to commend the Hon Minister for Energy for continuing with the steps that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration took in completing the Phase I plan of development for the oil exploitation. I only hope and pray that we will be here for the first oil to come in the last quarter of 2010 and we would be celebrating the efforts of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration.
Mr. Speaker, with regard to the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company, the plan for 2009 was that they will continue with the expansion and work has gone on there that has resulted in the construction of landing bays and debris in the Northern Region and also a booster station at Savelugu. All these again are part of the programmes of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration.
But Mr. Speaker, not a word has been said about the expansion of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). Mr. Speaker, if you go back to last year's Budget, the 2009 Budget, paragraph 443, it said and I quote:
“. . . In addition to expanding the capacity of the Tema Oil Refinery to meet the growing demand, the Ministry will also support private sector initiatives in the establishment of a second Export- oriented Refinery.”
Mr. Speaker, the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) Administration under President Kufuor signed at least, three Memoranda of Understanding with the various companies to construct additional refineries in this country. Not a single word has been said by the status of those arrangements. And the efforts that I thought that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration would put in place to expand TOR are also not being reported on this year.
Mr. Speaker, perhaps what is most important to all of us is our oil and gas discovery. The Administration of President Kufuor reported that we wanted to work as hard as we could to make sure that this does not become a curse but a blessing. And so his Government moved on to start to draft the Oil Policy Framework. It is being reported here that, last quarter of next year, we would be able to get the oil and gas flowing.
Mr. Speaker, this should be guided by policy. As we speak, we have no clue as to what is going on with that policy. So much noise was made about transparency as if the Government of President Kufuor was not transparent. Indeed, the move to bring about the policy was to ensure that we do the right thing for everybody to benefit from it.
Mr. Speaker, I hold in my hand today publication from Public Agenda that talks about Government's double talk on transparency; meaning that they have been holding the draft policy to their chest, not making it available to anybody to make any contribution. We are in November
2009; it is the last quarter of this year.
If we are talking about gas and oil coming out in the last quarter of next year, we are talking about a year, yet the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has gone ahead to make a tender and to award a contract to a construction including Oando, Modek, Utochu who had reported that within eighteen months they can build a gas infrastructure that would give us gas for domestic use, whether household use or used in generating the power to meet 5,000 megawatts target, that is the additional 700, not the 4,300 that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration put in place.
Mr. Speaker, we have no policy, even though we are talking generally about zero flare policy with regard to gas. Mr. Speaker, having been a former Minister for Energy, I am privy to a lot of information and I have done a bit of research to know that no gas infrastructure plant can be built within eighteen months. Indeed, I should be saying now, within twelve or so months, we are in November. I think November next year will be the last quarter of next year and they say first gas will come with first oil. One year, not eighteen months; one year, it does not happen anywhere in the world.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr. Ahaligah 2:05 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon former Minister was in charge of Energy and he promised this House that gas would be available even in the 2008 Budget. Why is he telling us about the Budget coming in 2009 when he promised us in 2008 and he did not deliver? So why is he blaming us now? Why?
Mr. Adda 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was in elementary school when my Hon Colleague was Manager for Ghana Commercial Bank in Navrongo. I have a lot of respect for him but I think he knows very well that when I was the Hon Minister for Energy and we had the crisis, we joked about “31st September” being the deadline when we would end the crisis and we did end the crisis. [Hear! Hear!] On the 30th of September, I think he has forgotten. There is an age difference between me and him. I call him “Youngman”, Mr. Speaker. I think he has forgotten that I delivered on that count and indeed, I did put in place short, medium and long-term plans that were meant to give the 4,700 megawatts. So the only 700 that I have been talking about is what his Party and his Government should bring and they are not saying anything about it.
Mr. Speaker, I go back to the gas. Zero gas as a general policy, no concrete oil and gas policy coming out for debate now; no consultation being made. What happens after eleven months, if the tender that had been awarded to Oando, Modek and Utochu are not able to deliver? Are we going to re-inject the gas into the wells? Would we not be losing money from that? Would we not be losing a resource that we

can use to power the energy sector?

Nobody is disclosing this to us, nobody is sharing with anybody. I take the opportunity to say that the Energy Committee would invite the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to come and make a detailed submission on this matter. But that should be reported in detail in the Budget to let us know what is going on. The bottom line, Mr. Speaker, no oil and gas policy and the way it is being kept in their chest makes us all suspect that there are issues with transparency as being reported by the Public Agenda.

Mr. Speaker, I also refer to a factual error on the part of the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning. On page 93 of the Budget, Mr. Speaker, paragraph 302 and I quote: Mr. Speaker.

“It is worth noting that as a result of intensive negotiations by GNPC with the support of the Government, the partners agreed that the first 200 billion cubic feet of gas that will be produced in association with the oil and that would be the share of the partners of gas produced from the field will not be sold . . .”

And I go on Mr. Speaker, to the last bit. Mr. Speaker, if they wish to know, I will continue:

“. . . the first 200 billion cubic feet of gas that will be produced in association with the oil and that would be the share of the partners of gas produced from the field will not be sold at US$4. per thousand cubic feet, as had been envisaged as of December 2008, but will be
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon Member, if you may please, wind up.
Mr. Adda 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, nothing has been said about what is happening with the Volta Basin that has the prospects to give us more oil and gas and we would not know whether any of these have been captured in the gas-oil policy because
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon Member, you may now please, wind up.
Mr. Adda 2:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will wind up. The bottom line is that, under the NPP, we would have earmarked five billion cedis for the three northern regions, and Brong Ahafo and the Volta Region -- The North has been sold rather cheaply to the NDC.

The NDC is not keeping their promise. They promised 25 million cedis instead of 200 million for the first year. This year, 2009, not a single penny has been sent to the North to help the Northern Development Programme. Are they deceiving the North? If I may use my Hon Colleague's word -- [Interruption] -- and I will withdraw if you want me to withdraw -- but that has not been done at all. Mr. Speaker, it is important that the North should rise up and tell the NDC, “they had us cheap, they did not do what they are supposed to do” -- 200 million versus 25 million -- that has not been done.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly recommend that the SADEC concept be scrapped and we go back to the Northern Development Authority under the NPP Administration which earmarks the three regions. Mr. Speaker, you were not forthright with them and that is why I am telling you to honour your word. 2009 -- zero. Mr. Speaker, I think a separate programme” that is called the “support the middle belt programme should be done for the other parts of the North, Brong Ahafo and northern Volta.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon Member, you have a minute to wind up.
Mr. Adda 2:15 p.m.
Yes, I have finished, Mr. Speaker. All I am saying, Mr. Speaker, is that even the small “akpeteshie” that Ghanaians would drink to get appetite and rest, they are placing 20 per cent tax on that, that is not fair -- [Laughter.] I think they should take away that tax.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I think this Budget is below standard. Ghana was
Mr. A. W. G. Abayateye (NDC -- Sege) 2:25 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak to the motion and to lend my support that this Honourable House approves the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 31st December, 2010, moved by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and ably seconded by the Hon Majority Leader. I will not talk much.
I want to say that many are saying that there is nothing new in this Budget Statement but I want to put on record that it is time we learnt to complete a job before we do a new one. I am saying this because experiences in the country have shown that when there are successive changes of government, things are left and the nation loses. I can talk of when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown, the silos at Tema were left -- I mean it is the nation which has lost. Therefore, the Government of President Atta Mills has realised that the national interest is paramount than partisan issues.
I can cite on record that the Tetteh- Quarshie-Madina road is ongoing, it has not been completed. It is the duty of the current Government to see to it that that is completed because the loan which we are using in constructing that road is not for a Party; it is for the nation and for us to benefit and our children to benefit because some of us would die off and our children will come and pay for these roads; if we leave these works undone, it is the nation which will suffer.
Hence, if some of us are saying that this Budget has nothing new, I think they must appreciate that when you cook the food, you prepare the meal, you have to complete it before you prepare another one.
Mr. Kofi Frimpong 2:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my Hon good Friend is seriously misinforming the whole nation. He knows very well that all these projects that were started by the NPP Adminis-tration can never be stopped because they are projects that have been paid for and are already committed. We are saying that there is nothing new in the Budget because the NDC Government has not started any new project apart from the projects that we started.
It is common knowledge that under no circumstance can they abrogate those contracts that have been entered into by the NPP Administration. So the point we are making is, let the NDC tell us the new projects that they are executing in their Budget.
Mr. Abayateye 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will ignore him but I will give him specific examples of works started by the NDC
which were completed by the NPP Government and the nation is a beneficial. I have stayed in the Ashanti Region. The Kejetia market renovation was started by the NDC Government; it was completed by the NPP and inaugurated. Hon Maxwell Jumah can bear me witness. [Interruption.] Kejetia lorry station. Kejetia lorry station project was started by the NDC, completed by NPP -- [Interruption.] Please, whatever it is -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Order.
Mr. M.K. Jumah 2:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member is grossly misleading this House, seriously misleading this House by bringing in this Kejetia issue. I think it contradicts the statement he just made, that programmes started by the NPP Government, they will supervise and make sure that they are completed. That contradicts the actions of the present Government . For example, the school feeding programme, they came in and told everybody appointed by the NPP Government to leave so that they would be replaced by NDC members. Why does NDC not continue on the path by NPP?
Mr. Abayateye 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think I will ignore my Hon Friend. He is not getting the point I am making. I am saying national interest must be paramount than partisan interest, hence if it is being taken that the Budget of the NDC for 2010 has nothing new -- when I gave the illustration that you can only prepare a new meal after you have finished the old one -- and I am citing an example of works which were started by the NDC which were completed by NPP, hence if NPP had started a project the new Government has to complete it because the money being used for the project is national and not partisan.
The Budget is a Budget of hope, full
Dr. M. O. Prempeh 2:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my Hon Friend, I agree with him on a lot of things. A Budget should not be a Budget of hope for regions; it should be a Budget of hope for a country and the people of Brong Ahafo, people of Ashanti Region insofar as they can clap to just a SHEP or electricity project -- they are crying for maternal mortality figures in those regions. The Budget does not bring hope; it takes us back so he should be careful.
Mr. Abayateye 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think my Hon Friend is not getting me. I am talking of energy and he is talking of health. He has missed the point.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Member, please, advance your arguments; continue.
Mr. Abayateye 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, again,
about 79 -- I am talking of -- Towns and regions make up the country, so we stretch our hands and you are at home.
Mr. Adda 2:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my Hon Colleague is misleading this House. In my submission, I made it clear that a credit facility was approved by this House for electrification to be done. They planned in their Budget and made it very clear to this House that they were going to do all these things and they have not reported on a single one. That is the point I am making, Mr. Speaker. Is it the practice that the NDC Administration should come here and put things in the Budget and turn round and not do them and not report to us?
This is a serious House. He should tell us why all these projects were not executed, Mr. Speaker; even though some of the materials came in, we approved the credit facilities, the moneys were released.
Mr. Abayateye 2:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think I have to ignore my Hon fellow Brother because he has come on the floor of this House to tell us that the West Africa Gas Pipeline would be operational in 2008. He has forgotten and today I am talking on what we expect to do next year and he is -- You see, he is trying to eat his own cake.
Mr. K. Agyeman-Manu 2:35 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity. Mr. Speaker, I just want to provide information to my Hon Colleague here: $30 million EBID facility for electricity in Brong Ahafo and Ashanti, this is the Finance Committee Report dated 28th October 2008. Is it new in your Budget? Is this what you are telling us that there are new things in the Budget? This is a facility that this House has already approved and you come and tell us that this is new. You can check the report.
Mr. Abayateye 2:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, when you are always late to a programme, you always jump into it. I stated earlier that national interest must be paramount and therefore, we are following or continuing projects which the previous Government had started and this was a loan agreement to us in October last year. The money is coming in and it is going to be used for some of these things. So if he were here earlier, he would not have made this statement he is making. You must always try to be present and be part of the beginning of the class and not to come in the middle.
Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare 2:35 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, as I was listening to my Hon Colleague, I observed something that I think needs your attention. There are only 11 or 12 Members on the other side of the House and 24 Members on this side of the House. Are we saying that the Budget is of no interest to the Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)? Are they saying that this Budget has nothing to offer and therefore, they are not showing interest?
Mr. Abayateye 2:35 p.m.
I believe we have an extended Sitting and there are some meetings but do not forget that when we were passing the Educational Bill we were 12 Members in the whole House.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 2:35 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, the Hon Member for Sege has just made a very serious statement. In fact, I believe it is inaccurate and he either substantiates it or withdraws it. The record is going to reflect that he said in this House that only 12 Members passed the Educational Bill, it is incorrect.
I believe the record of proceedings on the said day will show otherwise. So if the Hon Member cannot substantiate that 12 Members were in this Chamber when that Bill was passed, then he should withdraw it; because I believe the Votes and Proceedings of that day will show otherwise. And if, indeed, he sat in this Chamber and was part of the 12 Members who approved a Bill in this country, then he did a great disservice to himself, his constituents and to this nation.
Please, withdraw.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Hon Member, please, before you respond, there are matters that can become elongated
Mr. Abayateye 2:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, please, I want to place on record that as we are Sitting now, attendance has already been marked, so when we are counting the number of people in Parliament today, it is not the number of Members in the Chamber at the moment; likewise on that day, in the morning, but at the actual time when we were pushing final things through, you knew the number of Members in the Chamber? So Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue my contribution. I did not say when we passed the law but -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Hon Member, you cannot continue yet. Hon Minority Chief Whip and then you can come in.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 2:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on January 7, 2005, I was in this Chamber with the Hon Member and we swore to protect and defend the Constitution of Ghana. Which specifies the quorate number that Parliament needs to do business. As far as I am concerned, there was a good number of Members of Parliament present when all this business was going on If the Hon Member knew that we did not have the requisite number, why did he renege on his oath and not get up and say in this Chamber that we did not have the necessary number to do business and he is bringing it up today?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Hon Members, I want us to be very, very careful about certain statements that are made, which can later be captured to the derogation of Parliament. I think unless the Hon Member seriously wants to protract this, for which matter he may
want to substantiate certain things and draw Parliament back, then he may as well curtail this as I think I have advised.
Mr. Abayateye 2:35 p.m.
[Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, I withdraw that statement.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Hon Member, please, let us act to curtail this.
Mr. Abayateye 2:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I withdraw that statement and I want to continue.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Hon Member, please, having withdrawn, you may continue and please, go to the point and endeavour to wind up.
Mr. Abayateye 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am saying this Budget is a Budget of hope, a Budget which will lead us to be stable, a Budget which will help us to realise that we need to do things in order. Mr. Speaker, even on the national scene, in October this year, Ghana had been rated by the external bank trade in UK as the number one emerging policy out of 24-- in October this year. This is something we have to be proud of as Ghanaians.
The currency of Ghana has been rated as the number one among 24. Mr. Speaker, this Budget has the potential of positioning our country for sustained growth through modernization in agriculture. We are going to assist farmers, fishermen and everyone in agriculture to be on his feet to produce -- I am a cocoa farmer, fisherman and with the incentives, things will be on their right path.
Mr. Speaker, I was in this House when we amended the taxes, when the taxes on the importation of rice with the hope that things will change but it ended up crippling my poultry business and I can no more produce poultry because some of the poultry products which come on to the scene in Ghana have reduced my production, such that it has made my production cost to be high and we end up
a losing farmer.

Many of us in the poultry business, our businesses have collapsed including that of my Hon Friend, the former Minister for Energy. And with the restoration of some of these taxes, in fact, it would put a little burden on that and the accrued benefits, some of them might be used in cushioning the Ghanaian farmer and interest would be generated in our business.

I believe I am going back into my poultry business to produce proper Ghanaian poultry fed with “keta school boys” which make the meat very good and not like the Russian fish which gives off some scent in poultry. It would encourage the Ghanaian poultry farmer and things would be well.
Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. I would like to know from my Hon Friend on the floor whose school “keta school boys are”? What species of plants or animals are “keta school boys”?
Mr. Abayateye 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, this is not Question time -- [Laughter.] But if he does not know it, I would school him. I come from the coast; we have a type of herrings -- they are not like herrings, they are not like tantama or Amani, but they are smallish and very, very nutritious -- [Laughter.]
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, for his education, they are called anchovies.
Mr. Abayateye 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank him very much. That is the word for them but he does not know it. I am a fisherman and I come from the coast and the common name that when you mention in Ghana everybody knows is “keta school boys” -- [Interruptions.] The scientific name that he has mentioned, I cannot pronounce it. [Laughter.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Hon Member, do not be distracted and please, proceed.
Mr. Abayateye 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to end by saying that we must all give our energy and strength to support this Budget and it would be in the interest of the country. Mr. Speaker, the performance of the economy in the short nine months of the existence of the “Better Ghana” is such that, unless you do not agree to it, you would not see anything good of it. But I want to put on record again that the national goal is our priority, the only thing is that all of us are trying to achieve the goal from different perspectives.
I am speaking as a social democrat and not a property-owning democratic person, hence my eye in perspective of seeing is different from the one who is a property- owning democratic person. But the national interest is what is paramount.
Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah (NPP -- Bantama) 2:45 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute and support the motion on the floor of the House that, this Honourable House approves the Financial Policy of the Government for the year ending 31st December, 2010.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start with comments on the delivery of rural water. As we all know, majority of Ghanaians
Mr. Albert Abongo 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, on the Hon Cecilia Dapaah's statement that for
Ms. Dapaah 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, can I go on? Mr. Speaker, I wanted to quote from page 105, paragraph 327 and with your permission, I quote:
“To improve upon rural water supply and sanitation, 280 new boreholes with hand-pumps were constructed.”
That is a fact. If the Hon Minister had waited, he would have appreciated the next statement that I was going to make because -- [Interruption.] I stated earlier on that I do have a problem with the figures quoted because I know the field, I have been there before.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if I heard the Hon Minister very well, the Budget Statement captures a figure of 280 boreholes that have been constructed for the fiscal year, that is 2009. Now, the Minister, in trying to correct this, says that some figure was put down there for them. Mr. Speaker, is it not a serious indictment on the preparation of the Budget when he says that some figure has been put down there for them? Mr. Speaker, this is too serious to be allowed to go away. Who put it there, and for what purpose?
Mr. Abongo 2:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think that the Hon Member got my argument very
well. He got it right. What I have tried to say is that the figure stated there is what was completed within the fiscal year and so the reflection there is right. But we are also rolling out some boreholes and not until they are completed, they cannot be captured as being completed. That is what I want to say.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the explanation that, maybe, they were not able to capture the entire figure because for some of them work was still in progress. Mr. Speaker, so maybe, at the end of the year December, they may be able to capture the appropriate number. I think that is a very good way of stating it. But for him to say that some figure was put down there for them, that is where I have my beef. Who put down the figure for them, for the Ministry? Mr. Speaker, he is laughing, but this is no laughing matter.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister, this is a matter of national interest so -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Abongo 2:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have not said that some figure was just put there. What I have tried to say is that the process is ongoing and at a particular point of reporting on progress, you would have to state that particular figure that is complete. So the figure there is for the execution within the period up till the preparation of this Budget. But some are ongoing and not until they are completed they cannot be captured as completed boreholes, that is what I am saying -- [Interruption] -- They are not cooked figures.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Hon Member for Bantama, please, continue.
Ms. Dapaah 2:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the Hon Minister was too quick to be on his feet. I have just said that in his own Press Conference, the document he
used, and I quote - Hon Minister, please, listen so that I would not be interrupted by you again. Mr. Speaker, I quote the Hon Minister's document that he used at the Press Conference, on page 3 -- [Interruption] -- It was held before the Budget, definitely:
“As at the end of the second quarter of this year a total of 1 …” -- [Inter-ruptions] - Chairman, why?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Hon Member, please, continue.
Ms. Dapaah 2:55 p.m.
Whether it is before or after, the facts are the same, so please, let me go on.
“As at the end of the second quarter of this year, a total of 1,087 boreholes had been drilled.”
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Hon Member for Bantama, you are addressing me not your Friend on the other side. So please, just look here and continue.
Ms. Dapaah 2:55 p.m.
Yes, I know, Mr. Speaker.
That the figures dovetailed the following year's figures, so we should always situate figures in their right perspective, otherwise, we give ourselves the wrong impression. That is what I want to point out.
Mr. Speaker, for instance, he just confirmed that 280 boreholes were the ones that had been finished and I dare say that they were finished at a slow pace because, as I said, the figures show that
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Hon Minister, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr. Abongo 2:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the point of order is that, when it is stated that you have a borehole drilled and fitted with pumps, it is different from drilling of boreholes. One would give an indication of not being complete. If it is stated that a number of boreholes are drilled, you must look at the description carefully as to whether they are drilled and fitted with hand-pumps, that is the difference. So in the reporting here, if it is stated that about thousand and something boreholes were drilled without the addition that pumps have been fitted, the complete reporting on it would come. So what I used at the “Meet-the-Press” was to give an indication of progress of work.
Ms. Dapaah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not see my Hon Minister's point because whether the boreholes have been fitted with pumps or not, they would be stated there in the Paper, so I do not see his problem anyway.
I want to point out that the outlook for the year 2010 seems to be quite ambitious and I pray that he gets the time and funds to give Ghanaians the much-needed water, especially in the rural areas. The slow pace of government delivery, Mr. Speaker, seems to be because of a number of problems. I believe there is lack of a clear cut road map for new projects to come on- stream.
As we all know, most of these rural water delivery systems, those rolling out now, were started by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government and their life spans would soon run out and he knows.

And I want to urge my dear brother that the NDC Government should also initiate projects so that when the NPP Govern- ment assumes power in 2013 -- [Inter- ruptions] -- we will also have projects to supervise.

Mr. Speaker, the one most important serious issue that I want to talk about is the rush announcement of the abolishing of the five per cent community con- tribution towards the provision of rural water by H.E. the President, to fulfil the NDC Manifesto promise. Mr. Speaker, this announcement was done without proper consultation with stakeholders. It was also done without any sustainable alternatives in place.

It must be pointed out that our rural water is donor-driven. In fact, they provide about 90 per cent of the funding for rural water. With the announcement, communities have refused to pay up the five per cent and I do not blame them because our own father has said that it should be abolished.

What my beef is, Mr. Speaker, is that about two years ago, donors threatened that if Ghana did not become the main driver of the provision of rural water, they would pull out. The Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning at that time started putting things in place to make sure that Ghana started putting funds aside to provide rural water. I hope the Government being lean will not be mean and find the money to provide the funds for the Hon Minister to carry out the project in the rural water sector.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member?
Mr. Assumeng-Tetteh 3:05 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would not have interrupted the debate on the floor by the Hon Ranking Member. What I want to state here is that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a social democratic party and this is what you should know and appreciate. The social democratic party will always want to feel for its people. So if the President abolishes the five per cent contribution, it shows the commitment of the President to the people of this country.
rose
Ms. Dapaah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe, once again, my Hon Chairman -- [Inter- ruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member, do you have a point of order or correction or information?
Mrs. Osei-Opare 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I heard my Hon Colleague say something that I think needs clarification. We want to understand who is more socially concerned; the one who operated “cash- and-carry” or the one who brought National Health Insurance Scheme to address the needs of the poor and vulnerable; the one who introduced capitation grant so that children, no matter poor they are, can go to school; the one who introduced school feeding so that the poor child will have a warm meal a day or -- Who is socially concerned? Who is concerned about the welfare of the downtrodden? I need further explanation from the Hon Member.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon
Member for Bantama, if you may continue.
Ms. Dapaah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, like my Hon Colleague said and I will continue -- it is true universally acknowledged that the NPP Government is more socially- inclined than even the much-touted socialist parties. So I would go on.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member, if you may start winding up.
Ms. Dapaah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is also true that the water systems funded by the ADB, World Bank, and KfW will be stalled because funding is not flowing to these projects vis-à-vis the five per cent that the Government of Ghana should put into these projects.
Mr. Speaker, with these developments, the proposed 60 per cent by the year 2010 will not be achieved. I urge the Government to fill in the gaps for funding and quickly so because the situation is very, very worrying and worrisome.
Mr. Speaker, like I said, I have dwelt
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member, are you on a point of order?
Mr. Hodogbey 3:05 p.m.
Rightly so.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to intervene on the issue of five per cent reduction in water -- What is happening is that water is actually a demand-driven situation.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order or correction?
Mr. Owusu-Ansah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my Hon Friend on the other side was making a contribution. When it is his time to debate the Budget, the floor is his. But that was not a point of order, Mr. Speaker. So he was wasting the whole time of the House.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member for Bantama, if you may --
Ms. Dapaah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, like I said, even in our time, communities that were not able to come out with the five per cent, we used HIPC funds to pay for them. So this is nothing new.
My beef with the whole process is that the five per cent is not forthcoming. Government should be up and doing. The Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning should find the money to fill in the gap so that the Hon Minister can go
on with his project to provide the water that we all need for our rural folk. It is a matter of concern. It is not to do politics with it. We are so concerned and we were so concerned that this Government saw the rise in the percentage of water at the most needed time and we need you to match up in deeds and not only in words.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member, if you would begin to wind up.
Ms. Dapaah 3:05 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, this disease, we all know is quite debilitating, it can cripple its victims and we need to root it out completely. I am expecting money to be given to the Hon Minister to make sure that support is given to UNICEF and the Carter Centre to eradicate this disease.
Mr. Speaker, I would touch briefly on urban water because I believe that the situation in urban water supply is more serious now than ever before. I have had the opportunity to discuss this with Committee members and we are at a loss as to how we can bring up ideas to help the Ministry in its water delivery.
A look at the 2009 performance and outlook for 2010 with regard to the delivery of urban water is disturbing because most of the projects listed in the Statement have been projects that are almost getting completed. I believe that, for instance, when Kpong II comes on board, we will have a lot of water in the system to ease the hardships that people are going through in our towns and peri- urban areas.
Mr. Speaker, when water is scarce, then the sanitation situation worsens. I had opportunity to represent Ghana in Egypt and in all the 53 African nations, Ghana was about five from the bottom. I took the document, argued with the organisers and said no, we are not there. But they showed me statistics to prove that indeed, sanitation is very poor in Ghana. And I expect that water delivery will come on board to improve the situation so that we will not have outbreaks of diseases like cholera, et cetera.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:05 p.m.
Hon Member, you will wind up, please.
Mrs. Dapaah 3:15 p.m.
In short, Mr. Speaker, we used to joke that the “Kufuor gallons” are around town. Now, it is “Mills tankers”, and I believe the Hon Minister would do a lot of good to His Excellency the President by getting water to the people so that this situation will be eradicated. Mr. Speaker, I believe in the area of water supply Ghanaians are having a very bad time and -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:15 p.m.
And in conclusion, Hon Member?
Ms. Dapaah 3:15 p.m.
Is this the “better Ghana” we pray for? Is this the Ghana that will flow with milk and honey? Mr. Speaker, I urge all of us to help with fresh ideas and initiatives. The Government should be bold to go in for funding for major projects to make sure we ease the water problem.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:15 p.m.
Hon Members, in conclusion?
Ms. Dapaah 3:15 p.m.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to say a few words on housing, because the deficit of housing in Ghana is close to one million and I believe and I agree that Government alone cannot do this. But what we have in hand is like a bird in hand, which is worth two in the bush. What we started three years ago should be completed. Moneys should be found to make sure we finish the over 5,000 units to give them out to Ghanaians who are suffering from landlords.
We visited the Koforidua Water Project; they are in the bush. I do not know what the Hon Minister is going to do about this. But in the Budget Statement, it is stated that revenue or funding is going to be sourced. Mr. Speaker, we are now going to look for funding. When are we going to get the funding to get the project finished?
If we do not act quickly, the “better Ghana” we are looking for will only be a mirage or an illusion. Again, there should be a clear policy initiative towards the provision of good, safe and affordable housing for Ghanaians. The NPP Government started these ones, the NDC Government should also make sure that initiatives are brought on board to provide the much-needed housing that we need.
With these words, Mr. Speaker, I thank you and I support the motion on the floor of the House.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:15 p.m.
The final contribution would come from the Hon Member for Amenfi East, Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo.
Mr. Joseph B. Aidoo (NPP - Amenfi East) 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
Mr. Joseph B. Aidoo (NPP - Amenfi East) 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my contribution would touch on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and I am going to do an inductive presentation and then place it within the context of the overall fiscal policy of the Government.
Mr. Speaker, with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the 2010 Budget outlook is quixotic -- [Interruptions] Don Quixote, yes -- that is unrealistic and fanciful.
To appreciate my position, it is imperative to place the Budget results of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for 2009 relative to 2008 in perspective. Mr. Speaker, the general performance of the Ministry in 2009 was abysmal. Its set targets of completing the drafting of a new Lands Bill was missed.
Mr. Speaker, the new Lands Bill which is to update and consolidate existing laws on land-related matters was a well-thought legacy of the NPP Administration. The foundation of the Lands Bill was laid in 2008 and foundation was flagged for completion in the 2009 Budget Statement. Whereas nothing serious happened to the Lands Bill this year, the Ministry envisages not only to enact the new Lands Act, but to implement it as well in 2010.
Mr. Speaker, another legacy which the NPP Administration handed over to the NDC is the Lands Commission Act, Act 767 which was passed in 2008. It is to bring the various departmental institutions dealing with land, namely, the former Lands Commission, the Land Title Registry, the Survey Department and the Land Valuation Board under one roof of administration.
The construction of the new Lands
Commission head office, Mr. Speaker, which is very critical for the take-off of the new establishment, was targeted to start in 2009. In fact, when you look at the 2009 Budget Statement, page 77, it is clearly stated there that the construction was going to start. Mr. Speaker, what happened? Nothing took place; I am talking about 2009.
Mr. Speaker, in the display of another quixotic exercise, the Ministry is said to have begun the construction of the new head office and two regional office buildings for Accra and Kumasi. Meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, there is no indication that the counterpart funding of €1.8 million to unleash the €3 million donor support for the new head office alone could be secured.
Mr. Speaker, the ongoing institutional and administrative re-alignment of the new Lands Commission is messy. The validation of the reform has been slow and information systems and reforms plan are not existing. Mr. Speaker, it would interest you to note that promotions and administrative placements under the new Lands Commission Reform are now taking place without regard to meritocracy. We must remember that the land sector contributes around 90 per cent of GDP and therefore, if its management is messy then our economy is in trouble.

In the forestry sector, the Ministry in 2009 targeted the raising of twenty-six million, six hundred thousand seedlings in terms of both public and private effort. What happened? It ended up raising only four million seedlings. Without putting any extraordinary effort or initiative in place, the Ministry now dreams of raising the same old target of twenty-six million, six hundred thousand seedlings for the year 2010. And that is why I am referring

to the 2010 outlook of the Ministry as being quixotic.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, do you stand on a point of order?
Mr. Akologu 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, indeed, I did not want to interrupt my very good Friend but you see, he is repeatedly using the word “quixotic”. I think that it is unparliamentary. He cannot just use this Budget and then have his way like that, so he should refrain from using it if even he would not withdraw it, he should refrain from using it so that we do not compel him to withdraw it. But I think that it is not proper and he should refrain from using it.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Hon Member, if you may proceed without belabouring any word that may attract interventions.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe my Deputy -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Time is far spent, just proceed with your points.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you know Don Quixote so -- Mr. Speaker, the provision of guidelines for the utilization of stool lands revenue by the District Assemblies as a set target for 2009 never materialized and the 2010 Budget is still silent on it. The 2010 Budget talks about raising corporate tax on mineral royalties from 3 to 6 per cent.
Meanwhile, there are teething problems
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Order! Order.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, under the tutelage of almighty IMF and the influence of a deficit scare is pursuing a tight fiscal policy, that is to limit fiscal deficit by reducing public sector investment -- [Interruption.]
Mr. G. K. B. Gbediame 3:25 p.m.
Hon Member, do you stand on a point of order?
Mr. Gbediame 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of relevance. Very soon, the estimates of MMDAs will be brought and we are going to debate on figures, so I want to urge my Hon Colleague to stay on policy and when the figures come, we shall work on them.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Hon Member, policy matters may be supported by figures. Please, continue.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:25 p.m.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker, for ruling him out.
Mr. Seth Terkpeh 3:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I beg to make -- [Inter- ruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Order!
Order. Hon Deputy Minister?
Mr. Terkpeh 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to make two factual statements. Correction, please.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
He wants to make a point of correction.
Mr. Terkpeh 3:25 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member did indicate that GDP rose consistently in the last eight years. It is on record that GDP has risen consistently since 1984 when the structural adjustment programme was launched. The last time the economy recorded negative growth was in 1983. The GDP growth rate has been consistently positive since that time.
The other factual correction I would like to make is that a deficit which is not unfounded as we have with the 15 to 20 per cent deficit, does not necessarily foster growth. As we speak, the news for this week is, Dubai which has expanded but it is experiencing difficulties because it is unable to service her debts. This is the lesson of deficits which we are pointing out in the Budget.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:25 p.m.
Hon Member, please, continue.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the intervention by the Hon Deputy Minister was not necessary. I believe that he does not even have the facts and if he will care to take his pen, I am going to give him all the information.
Mr. Speaker, if you draw a linear curb of the growth rate over the period, you will realize that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) growth rate in National Democratic Congress (NDC) I, that is some years back, was up and down, up and down, up and down.
But that of the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) Administration was consistent, positively going up. Now, let me give you the figures. Mr. Speaker, in 1996 -- [Interruptions.] In 1996, the growth rate was 4.6 per cent -- take note -- 4.6 per cent. In 1997, it came down to 4.2 per cent. In 1998, it went to 4.7 per cent; 1999, it came to 4.4 per cent. In 2000, it was 3.7 per cent. [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Order!
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, 4.6 per cent, 4.2 per cent, 4.7 per cent, 4.4 per cent and then 3.7 per cent -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Hon Members, order!
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, now, let us come to the eight years I talked about and I believe the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is listening to me. Mr. Speaker, in 2000 when they left us with a rate of 3.7 per cent, in 2001, we moved it up to 4.2 per cent. In 2002, we took it up to 4.5 per cent; in 2003, it went to 5.2 per cent; in 2004, it went up further to 5.6 per cent. In 2005, it went up again to 5.9 per cent. Mr. Speaker, in 2006, it was 6.2 per cent and then in 2007 -- In 2006, it was 6.3 per cent and 2008, 7.3 per cent. [ Hear! Hear!] And what happened thereafter? If you look at -- [Inter-ruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Order! Order!
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:35 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minister, what happened in 2009? From 7.3 per cent, you pulled it down to 4.7 per cent. And you think we can industrialize?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Hon
Member, if you may want to conclude.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the point I am making is that we want to
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minister, you want to make a point of clarification or correction?
Mr. Tekper 3:35 p.m.
A point of clarification and correction, please. Mr. Speaker, the figures quoted are inter-related to higher economic figures. And if you relate them to the deficit over the same period, you will realize that most of the growth that the Hon Member was talking about is actually unfounded, which is the reason why we have the deficit situation that we have -- [Uproar.]
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker -- [Inter- ruptions.]
Mr. Owusu-Ansah 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister made a categorical statement that since 1984 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country has been consistently rising. Now, figures have been given to him indicating that on the contrary -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Order!
Order! Hon Members, this will remain a House of debate and learning. If you have a point to make, you will have a good chance to contribute to learning but please, let us not shut people down. Please, continue, Hon Deputy Minister. You will definitely have an opportunity to respond because this is the way to conduct the debate.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with the figures that the Hon Member has kindly given to the House, it is clear that the GDP in this country has not been rising consistently from 1984. On the contrary, is from 2001 onwards that the GDP had risen
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Order! Order! Hon Members, order! One at a time.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah 3:35 p.m.
Will he admit that the information that he gave to the House was misleading, the whole information was wrong and that he has misled the House?
Mr. Terkper 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the point I sought to make was that from 1983 when the economy experienced negative growth, there had been consistent positive growth for the period and it made a very firm foundation for the growth that the Hon Member was talking about. I also did not say that the growth was dependent on deficits. What I said was that the growth also relates to other economic factors. I used the word “relates”, please. I said it related and it was in that context that I pointed out that part of the growth with 15 per cent deficit means that it was not founded.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Hon Member, you may continue with your contribution. Hon Member should wait once the Hon Minority Leader is on his feet.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:35 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to point this out; you indicated to the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning that he may have ample opportunity to relate and respond to some of those issues that
are raised. Really his entry is not a point of order at all; it is a point of argument and really where he came from should not -- Of course, with deference to him, Mr. Speaker, I believe that he should not have really been given the permission to make that intervention in the first place because it was a point of argument under a point of order.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Nevertheless, we shall always acknowledge the presence of Ministers who may want to make points of correction and prosecution or relevant contribution.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:35 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member, your point?
Nana Akomea 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, there is a little misunderstanding on the part of the Hon Deputy Minister that I will like to correct. Mr. Speaker, it is true that since l984 the growth rate has been positive. That is very true. But that is not the point being made by the Hon Member -- what the Hon Member is saying is that the rate of growth has not been consistent and it is only after 2001 that the rate of growth had been consistent.
But before this period, we would have 4 per cent, then it goes to 3 per cent, then it goes to 2 per cent. So even though it is increasing, the rate of growth has been increasing. A very simple point, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member. Hon Members, on all such occasions, it pays for us to be patient. It becomes really a house of learning.
Hon Member, you may please, wind up.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe you are taking into consideration all the interruptions.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Hon
Member, we shall now move from that area and listen to your main argument.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am making a distinction between growth and then deficit. What I am saying is that the NDC Administration is scared of deficit and that is why the Government is not pursuing concessionary contraction of loans. The Government is not pursuing expanded investment, social expenditure and all that we are seeing are the old, old public investment of the previous NPP Administration.
These are the investments that are there because they are resorting to public expenditure cuts. Mr. Speaker, with that it will be extremely difficult for this country to breakthrough and then reach the middle income status that we are all yearning for. Mr. Speaker, the elders say in Akan that woanya bibiara amma wo ase a, wo nnbo no krono -- to wit, you do not steal from your mother-in-law when you have nothing to offer her.
Mr. John Tia Akologu 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my Hon Friend opposite used some local language phrase and tried to translate it. But I think that again, even though he is just trying to translate a saying from somewhere, it is not the type of language that is expected from him and on this floor of the House. To use the word “steal” -- I think it is not proper and I think that he should find a different example to give, that will not - The word “stealing” is not expected to be used here the way it was used. He should find a different example and we will get along with him.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the point I was making is that the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Fifi Kwetey unfortunately stood on the floor of this House to deride the significance of the 7.3 per cent economic growth achievement simply because the fate of our national economy has been entrusted in his hands. Now, he is a co-manager. Mr. Speaker, he went on further to say that he understands the economy but Hon Dr. A.A. Osei, Member of Parliament for Old Tafo does not. Well, we were all here -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Hon Member, I will prefer that we make progress and matters that may create difficulty should be avoided so that you can make your main point.
Mr. J.B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is important. We are talking about a growth rate of 7.3 per cent and for us to industrialize, we have to move towards 8 to 10 per cent -- [Interruptions] -- We were very close; we went to 7.3 per cent -- Where have you brought us? You have pulled us down to 4.7 per cent. How many years is that going to take us to move out?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Order! Hon Member, you address me and you ignore other --
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, but they are all relevant. Mr. Speaker, that is why the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Fifi Kwetey deriding this significant achievement is of concern to all of us. Mr. Speaker, the weight of -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Akologu 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am insisting on making my point because I did not even ask the Hon Member to withdraw those words. I said he should desist from using them further but if he is now referring to the Hon Deputy Minister, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey who was here -- We have gone past that and we should not try to go back to it because after him others may contribute tomorrow and then they may begin to be using those words and we say because it was done by the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Fifi Kwetey, we are allowed to use it. Please, I said that the use of the word “steal” is not fine.
If he had said that “deny somebody this or that,” no problem. So do not let us go back on this path. If he wants to insist that he was right, maybe, I will have to go back to the rules and demand that he withdraws but at this stage, I want to ask him to desist from it.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Hon Member on your feet, I think sometimes we may well take a cue from the Chair and then we make progress. Hon Member, if you will continue your main line of argument and you will not go backwards again -- I believe you have a lot of good points in you; just make your good points.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, that is a good Friend, he knows and -- [Inter- ruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Hon Member, please, go on with your main
line of argument.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:45 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the weight of this sad time we must obey -- Some rise by veiled propaganda and some by virtue fall. So we must allow such people to say what they feel and not what they ought to say.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I will say that the 2010 Budget Statement and the Financial Policy of the Government, particularly the outlook of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, look unrealistic.
Mr. Speaker, Ghanaians should not expect anything better than what we have experienced this year, if at all it is going to be worse for all of us.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:45 p.m.
Hon Members, it is well past 2.00 p.m. So we will not need any motion to adjourn. Nevertheless, if the Leadership have anything in particular to say, we will yield to them accordingly.
Mr. J. T. Akologu 3:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think that Hon Members have indulged their time and some want to prepare for tomorrow, so we would rely on your direction to adjourn the House.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:55 p.m.
I do not know whether the Hon Minority Leader has anything to say in that direction.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with my Hon Colleague that we have worked very hard. On our part we have been very much prepared to debate them on the Budget. It appears they are not prepared and they want to beat a hasty retreat. It is difficult to allow them to beat a hasty retreat from a document that has been presented to this House.
We expect to close this debate tomorrow. Traditionally, what we have
done is for the winding up to be done by the Hon Majority Leader and the Hon Minority Leader and oftentimes when it comes to that, we have accorded them enough space to do the winding up. It is most untraditional to have, maybe, three, four Hon Members who want to contribute to precede the Hon Minority and Majority Leaders in their winding down enterprise.
As it is now, we still have a tall list of Hon Members from our side who are prepared like ever-ready batteries to debate. So I may want to sound that given the circumstances -- and I know one other Hon Member wanted also to contribute on the other side. Given the circums-tances, perhaps, we may not be able to wind up tomorrow - just so that we bear that in mind.
Unfortunately, we do not also have the Estimates which would allow Hon Members in the various committees to fan out and do the consideration. That being the case, I want to plead that if Hon Members are still poised to debate, as we are poised to debate on our side, it may not be possible to conclude the debate tomorrow.
I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for this opportunity.
Mr. Akologu 3:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thought
that my Hon Colleague opposite would have understood where we are coming from -- me and you. We have discussed this matter and we thought that we should end proceedings for now and then go and consult and see whether we would continue or wind up tomorrow. So I do not see where the problem is. Actually, this is for the Business Committee to decide and he is on the Business Committee, the Hon Majority Leader is there. After this, we would put our heads together and see --
As to the question of the Majority side contributing or not contributing, it has always been so. When you are in Opposition, you are always saying that
you are ready to talk because you have no other business anywhere, anyway. [Laughter.] So it is not surprising. We are prepared to meet them tomorrow.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:55 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I take strong exception to the Hon Deputy Leader saying that the Minority has no other business than to talk. If indeed, they had no other business than to talk when they were in the Minority, we are a different breed. We have gainful employment for our time and we apply our time to matters of serious national concern. That is why we are prepared to debate them. If they dare us, we would sit and continue the debate. Let them produce Hon Members to face us. We are prepared to continue even as we speak.
But Mr. Speaker, I take it that what he said was in the lighter vein and I forgive him his trespasses, so we would wait for tomorrow to continue business.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:55 p.m.
Definitely, we would not want to give our countrymen and women the impression that we in Parliament will only want to criticise. I think Hon Members should be in a good position to come out with good analysis as to the strength of the Budget and that should also contribute to learning. So I believe that should do for now.
Hon Members, the House would stand adjourned.
ADjOURNMENT
  • The House was adjourned at 4.01 p.m. till 1st December, 2009 at 10.00 a.m.