Debates of 15 Dec 2009

MADAM SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:50 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Monday, 14th December, 2009.
Pages 1 - 20.
Mr. Justice Joe Appiah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, yesterday the Special Budget Committee met with Office of Parliament but it has not been captured in the Votes and Proceedings.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Clerks to note.
Hon Members , the Votes and Proceedings of Monday, 14th December, 2009 as corrected is adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, we are going to vary the Order, so that we can do plenty of work today. We will move from item (2) to item (6) -- Laying of Papers. Item (6) (a), Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning?
Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister is still on his way and I want to request your permission and the indulgence of my Hon Colleagues to allow the Hon Minister for the Interior to lay the Paper on behalf of the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning. The Minister himself would be available when

it comes to the time to move the motion and to debate the issue. This is just laying so the Minister for the Interior could do that for and on behalf of the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Yes, no objection. Hon Minister, can you lay the Paper?
PAPERS 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Item 6 (b); Hon Majority Leader?
Mr. Bagbin 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want the Vice-Chairman, the Hon Member for Wenchi, Prof. Gyan-Baffour to finish going through it before we lay it. He has not gone through it yet, so if we could go to item 6 (c).
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Item 6(c) (i), Chairman of the Committee?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Finance Committee on the Fees and Charges (Miscella- neous Provisions) Bill, 2009.
Mr. James K. Avedzi 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the (c) (ii) is not ready yet; we are still working on that.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
What about (c) (iii)?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Budget Estimates of the National Development Planning Commission for the year 2010.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Item (c) (iv)?
Mr. Avedzi 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, item (c) (iv) is also not ready.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Item (d); Chairman of the Committee?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Joint Committee on Lands and Forestry and Mines and Energy on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the year
2010.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Item (e)?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Trade and Industry for the year
2010.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Item (e) (ii)?
Mr. Stephen Kunsu 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, Item (e) (ii) is not yet ready.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Item (f)?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Works
and Housing on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing for the year 2010.
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year 2010.
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Judiciary on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Judicial Service for the year 2010.
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for the year 2010.
By the Chairman of the Committee --
i. Report of the Committee on Defence and Interior on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2010.
ii. Report of the Committee on Defence and Interior on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of the Interior for the year 2010.
By the Chairman of the Committee --
i. Report of the Committee on Roads and Transport on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Roads and Highways for the year 2010.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Leader, we are now moving on to Statements if the Hon Minister is around.
Mr. Bagbin 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we
will have to move to 6 (b) now. It deals with the Annual Budget Estimates of Parliament and that of the Audit Service.
I just wanted to make sure that things were in proper perspective. I have cross- checked; they are ready and I would want to lay them before we move on to the next item.
By the Majority Leader/Leader of the House --
i . Annual Budget Estimates of Parliament for the year 2010.
ii. Annual Budget Estimates of the Audit Service for the year 2010.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Leader, I think
when we got to 6 (b), I said it was for distribution but I should have referred it to the Special Budget Committee. Item 6 (b) (i) (ii) referred to the Special Budget Committee.
Hon Leader, where were we?
Mr. Bagbin 11 a.m.
We now move on to Statements.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I heard you say you were referring 6 (b) (i) (ii) to the Special Budget Committee but this is their Report so -- [Pause] -- All right.
Mr. Bagbin 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I said that with your permission, if we could move on to item 5 -- Statements.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Members, I have admitted a Statement from the Minister for Energy. Can he read his Statement?
STATEMENTS 11 a.m.
Dr. A. A. Osei 11 a.m.
On a point of order. I thought I heard that there was a Statement by the Hon Minister for Energy and then a certain gentleman gets up and purports to speak. Madam Speaker, we did not hear you agree that the Hon Minister for Energy is not available. He is not known to this House as the Hon Minister for Energy. He is a Deputy Minister for Energy. So with respect, the House -- [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Leader, the trouble is that a Statement was brought and it was not said who was going to read it -- just the title. I looked here and I looked at the end and I said that, let me refer it to the Minister for Energy then.
Mr. Bagbin 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, that is so. I should have drawn your attention to the fact that the Hon Minister, as I stated yesterday, is caught up in an official duty in Kumasi and he has mandated the Hon Deputy Minister to come and read this Statement for and on his behalf. He definitely is not a “certain gentleman”. He is not a “certain gentleman” as Hon Akoto Osei said. He is a Member of
Dr. A. A. Osei 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, because he rose to represent the Minister for Energy I was looking at him in that capacity.
Madam Speaker, I do not know him as the Hon Minister for Energy. Now if he was introduced as a Deputy Minister, he is a good Friend of mine and I thought that the Leader will do the proper thing and at least, ask for the indulgence of the House. I did not hear all of that, so I was wondering that something had taken place that we were not privy to. And he was standing back there reading the Statement, all that confused me.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Well, I think he assumed a wrong title.
Dr. A. A. Osei 11:10 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
He is not the Hon Minister, is he?
Alhaji Sumani Abukari 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, he is not the Hon Minister. He is the Hon Deputy Minister -- [Inter- ruption.]
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
I did say the Minister -- [Interruption.]
Alhaji Abukari 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, but Hon Dr. Akoto Osei knows that he is a Member of Parliament, a Member of this House and he is the Hon Deputy Minister for Energy. He cannot refer to him as “a certain gentleman”. He ought to withdraw
that and apologize to the Hon Member.
Dr. A. A. Osei 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, with respect to my Senior Colleague, he rose in the capacity as the Minister for Energy. Madam Speaker directed the Minister for Energy -- In these days of all these rumours about reshuffle, anybody can appear and purport to be the Hon Minister for Energy. He is my friend, I know him as the Hon Deputy Minister for Energy, so I was completely confused.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Well, it is the word “certain” that -- It is not the point you are making, that one you are correct. It is the “certain gentleman” that they say - especially when you know him. He has a title in this House.
Dr. A. A. Osei 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, with respect to that, I did not mean any harm. [Interruptions.] We have had an occasion where an Hon Member of Parliament has tried to act as the Hon Majority Leader so these things are kind of funny. We have to be careful with the way we begin to assume titles but I did not mean any harm. Since he is a good Friend of mine and if he is offended by that I withdraw.
Thank you.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Buah 11:10 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will continue with the Statement on the causes of the power outages.
The system cannot contain many of the usual system contingencies such as loss of a generating plant, transmission line or component. Each of these events can result in severe system disturbances which may sometimes result in a total collapse of the system or may require that significant portions of the load are
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
He himself ruled himself out -- [Laughter] -- when he said he knew I had already ruled. So I think it was just that he missed the Hon Minister himself. Otherwise, he himself had acknowledged that I had ruled.
So thank you, Hon Member for -- but your comment could have come after he had read the Statement.

Deputy Minister for Energy (Mr. Emmanuel Armah Buah): Thank you, Madam Speaker.
STATEMENTS 11:20 a.m.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order in respect of procedure. The Statement being given by the Hon Deputy Minister is a policy Statement of Government. It is not a personal Statement. The Statement relates to a matter of government, energy, and he ought to use the Dispatch Box. The Dispatch Box -- that is the proper thing, it is not that he is being pre-sumptuous, that is the practice of this House.
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Thank you, Hon Member. Thank you very much. We must do the proper thing.
Mr. Buah 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, but I will continue with my Statement. Do you want me to start afresh? I will be happy to start afresh.
Mr. Kofi Adda 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I know you have ruled on this matter. This Statement is a Statement on a very serious matter such as the causes of the power outages that we have been having.
Usually on matters of this sort, Cabinet discusses these issues and take them at a very serious level. We are talking about four appearances that the Hon Minister himself should have been here to answer Questions and to make these kinds of Statements.

Causes of the Frequent Power Outages in the Country and the

Measures put in Place to Address Them

Introduction

Madam Speaker, the power supply situation in the country can be described as being critical. It is characterized by inadequate generation reserve margins, excessive transmission network constraints and poor voltage support, especially during the peak demand period of between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. each day. Voltage levels in Kumasi and northwards are below normal levels during the peak periods.

The system cannot contain many of the usual system contingencies such as loss of a generating plant, transmission line or component. Each of these events can result in severe system disturbances which may sometimes result in a total collapse of the system or may require that significant portions of the load are curtailed.

Madam Speaker, the Ghana power system has three sub-systems, namely generation, transmission and distribution. These sub-systems are connected in series such that a major deficiency in any of them can cause a power outage to consumers. The challenges, therefore, is to build and operate each sub-system with maximum efficiency.

Generation sub-system

Madam Speaker, the total installed generation capacity is about 1,945 MW. However, as at 9th December, 2009, due to ongoing scheduled maintenance activities, the total available capacity was about 1,425 MW which is to supply the current system peak demand of average peak demand of 1,300 MW. It is worth noting that the maximum peak demand recorded in 2009 is 1,400 MW.

Using the maximum peak demand gives a generation reserve margin of 2

collapse.

In order to avoid such a situation occurring, the system operator is forced to curtail some load to avoid system collapse and ensure that the system is stable. Besides, control equipment, known as Automatic Frequency Load Shedding (AFLS) facilities have also been installed to take off some loads anytime such a situation arises. It is noted that many of such incidence take place quite often.

Madam Speaker, the equipment at Dispatch Centre at Tema is quite old and obsolete such that once there is a system collapse, it can take as long as three (3) hours to restore the power system.

Several critical power transformers across the network are already over- loaded or are operating close to their rated operating limits during the peak load period of between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. each day. Furthermore, for most bulk supply points the loss of a single transformer may result in load curtailment. The most severe cases are the Achimota, Mallam and Kumasi Bulk Supply Points (BSPs).

Madam Speaker, Oil Circuit Breakers (OCB) inaugurated in 1965 in several substations are in a state of disrepair with defective operating mechanisms and a complete lack of spares and parts to maintain their optimal performance. Several SF6 circuit breakers installed between the 1980s and 1990s are also reaching the end of their economic useful life. A number of SF6 breakers and Oil Circuit Breakers (OCBs) will need to be replaced in the next three years.

Disconnect switches are the most defective of all major equipment within the transmission network. In many cases, the defective moving parts have been permanently bridged in the close position. The operating mechanisms (both manual

and motorized) are defective.

Measures to address the transmission challenges

Madam Speaker, the following are some of the short-term measures being adopted to address the challenges in the transmission network:

construct a fourth (4th) transmission line from Volta to Achimota Substation;

complete the Mallam substation expansion project;

intensify maintenance activities including right-of-way patrols, r e p l a c e m e n t o f s u b s t a t i o n equipment, et cetera;

complete ongoing system studies with the objective to improve upon system stability and minimize restoration time;

fast-track the construction of the Accra third (3rd) Bulk Supply Point (BSP) with additional transmission lines;

fast-track the construction of the Tema Dispatch Centre to facilitate speedy system restoration after the occurrence of a system collapse event; and

ensure that GRIDCO's system expansion programmes are carried out to the fullest.

Madam Speaker, in the long-term, GRIDCO has drawn up a five-year capital investment programme to cater for the construction of transmission lines and substations, installation of transformers and other substation equipment and provision of tools for maintenance and operations. The total cost of the programme is estimated at US$600 million.

Distribution sub-system

Madam Speaker, over the past ten years, electricity demand has grown at an

average annual rate of about 7 per cent. This means that to keep pace with the demand, ECG must find the resources to keep expanding the network in such a way that the size of the network infrastructure has to double every 10 years. Actual level of investment has, however, been far below the required minimum. Conse-quently, the sub-transmission and distribution systems have been plagued by the following inadequacies:

overloading of the power distribution network, including transformers;

non-availability of redundancies to provide for both planned and unplanned outage situations; and

inability to replace obsolete equipment as and when necessary.

Madam Speaker, the sub-transmission network which is the backbone of the ECG network comprises a ring or a loop system in the city centres and radial feeders towards the outskirts of the cities. This section of the sub-transmission network that supplies the bulk of power to the major load centres is currently hampered by undersized equipment which are no longer adequate to support the increasing demand. This has resulted in conductors and jumper cuts on the various lines. The existing cables are very old, multi-jointed and yet continue to form a critical part of the distribution network.

Additionally, the redundancies which used to exist in the network no more exist as they have been used to serve the ever- increasing demand. Consequently, in the event of routine maintenance of portions of the network or equipment failure, there is virtually no alternative means of serving customers.

Madam Speaker, the ECG has to maintain and use some major equipment which have far outlived their efficacy at the various sub-stations. These obsolete equipment, as well as undersized and multi- jointed conductors/cables, coupled

with the absence of redundancies in the network are the causes of most of the power outages in the distribution network.

There are significant sections of the network in the outskirts of the major cities and in rural areas. These lines are usually radial and very long with some being extended under the National Electrification Scheme and Self-Help Electrification Programme (SHEP). This characteristics result in low voltages on the line thereby affecting the quality and reliability of supply.

This situation is noticeable in areas like the Eastern, Northern, Volta, Western and parts of Ashanti and Central Regions. The rural areas also have the peculiar situation of power outages caused mainly by trees falling on the lines, especially in forested areas, bamboo growing into the lines in the swampy areas and bushfires in the savanna regions.

Measures to address problems in power distribution

Madam Speaker, there are a number of network improvement projects under various funding facilities which are aimed at tackling some of the problems identified in the distribution system. For example, a third (3rd) Bulk Supply Point (BSP) located at the eastern corridor of Accra is under construction and it is expected that upon completion, it would provide relief for the two existing overloaded BSPs in Accra. Preparatory works have commenced for the establishment of a second BSP for Kumasi to provide an alternative for the existing BSP.

There are twelve (12) switching/ substation projects being funded by GoG and these are expected to be fully completed by the middle of 2010. In addition to this, there are twenty-five (25) substations being constructed under GEDAP, French and Norwegian credits
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Thank you, Hon Deputy Minister. Any comments?
Mr. Joseph K. Adda (NPP -- Navrongo Central) 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I have listened to the Hon Deputy Minister, and frankly speaking, I do not find anything in what he has said that amounts to the causes of power outages that we are having now. These problems have been with us for a long time. [Laughter.] Indeed -- Yes. Yes, but we provided the light except for the generation problem we had.
Madam Speaker, the investments that have been pumped into the generation and transmission, in particular, as well as the distribution are huge investments. He kept talking about the amount of resources that are required now but so much has gone in there but he has not mentioned a penny about how much has gone into the transmission and distribution, with the rehabilitation.
One expected that over the last two, three years, all these resources that have gone to that area, we should have seen some significant improvement. Indeed, my view is that he should have come up to tell us how much has gone in there and how much was utilized last year and how much is going to be utilized this year for us to know what is still holding us back and why we should have the outages that we are having now. We have got investment through the European Investment Bank, from the Norwegians, from the World Bank , all these funds are in there --
and other supplier's credit facilities throughout the distribution network. Hundreds of kilometres of 33 kV lines are also being constructed to link these new substations.
Madam Speaker, in the Eastern Region where the 11 kV circuits are mostly very long, the distribution voltage is being converted from 11 kV to 33 kV. Northern, Volta, on the other hand, will have a voltage booster and a switching station on the very long 33 kV line from Hohoe to Nkwanta and Dambai to shorten the line and improve the voltage profile.
The problems with the forested areas and rapid bamboo growing areas are being corrected by improved tree pruning and use of insulated conductors to minimize outages. Wooden poles are being replaced by steel and concrete poles in the bushfire prone areas.
One other measure to minimize power outages is the introduction of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system which is used for the automation of the high and medium- voltage networks mainly deployed in Accra. This system is being expanded to cover Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi. The SCADA project, which is aimed at enhancing network operation and improving outage management, will eventually be extended to cover the entire distribution network.
Madam Speaker, while these works are expected to bring significant improvement in the distribution network, thereby reducing the incidence of power outages, it is quite clear that there is the need for additional investment to match the pace of demand growth. It is estimated that
Mr. Alfred K. Agbesi 11:30 a.m.
On a point of Order. Madam Speaker, my Hon Colleague has said that this problem has been with us for a long time. Madam Speaker, I would have wished that he told us how long. Madam Speaker, is he talking about eight years ago? Is he talking about -- Does a long period mean 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 or 2008? Is that what he is talking about?
If that is what he is referring to, Madam Speaker, it only means that “a long time ago” is related to when he was a Minister for Energy and he for that matter failed in delivering what we are now sustaining. So he should be very clear in his mind if he is talking about when he was a Minister for Energy and when he failed to deliver.
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Hon Member, he says if you can enlighten him on the “long time”-- He wants to be enlightened on the “long time”. Is it from when to when? I think that is really his objection; and he can ask, can he not?
Mr. Adda 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, indeed, in the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration, we had all these problems and the problems persisted when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration came to power and despite these problems, we were not having the sort of outages that we are having as a result of the transmission and distribution problems. We are having the outages because of shortage in generation.
Therefore , f rom the Nat iona l Democratic Congress (NDC) earlier Administration to now, this should not be a reason for us to say that it is a general outage. And I am specifying that the amount of investment that has gone into the transmission and distribution aspects
of the power sector are the things that he should have talked about and made us understand how much is left that we require to be able to resolve these problems permanently. And he did not talk about that.
All he kept talking about was how much we needed. Over US$300 million went in to the GEDA programme. Over US$100 million went in from the Norwegian Programme. The European Investment Bank has put in a significant amount of investment -- Madam Speaker, all of that was geared towards rehabilitating the bulk supply point and building new ones. The SCADA programme was approved by this House. All those things should have brought in significant improvement in the distribution and transmission system.
Therefore, the outages that he is talking about should not be an issue at all. In my opinion, he is suggesting that unless we bring in all the financial requirement that he is listing now, we are going to continue with the outages, for God knows, how long, which is not right.
We have adequate generation now. The amount of water in the Akosombo Dam is nearly 270 feet high. There is no problem with generation. Indeed, there are standby plants. Why do we have to deal with transmission and distribution problems now?
Madam Speaker, I think the Hon Deputy Minister is totally out of line. He does not have a good grasp of what is required for us to stop the outages that we are confronted with now. I think he should come back again and tell us exactly what amount of investment has gone into transmission and distribution. And what amount of work they have done to bring about improvement before we now look at what is left that is required for us to stop the outages.
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Thank you Hon Member.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah (NPP -- Atwima Mponua) 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, this issue of power outage is so serious and it demands urgent attention. When the Deputy Minister was delivering the Statement, he failed to talk about the impact of these frequent outages on industry. I think it is important and at least, a mention would have helped the country. For some of us, we are very much concerned because of its serious negative impact on industry, the fact that production levels are going down because of this frequent power outages. The country is losing so much.
Madam Speaker, the issue has become so worse since the beginning of this year. This time around, it is no longer dum saw, dum saw; it is rather like disco lights, almost every time. On and off, it is like this - disco lights. It is so often that - Madam Speaker, sometimes within two hours about twenty. Madam Speaker, we are losing so much from this. Our appliances, our equipment being damaged left and right.
Mr. Hodogbey 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, my Colleague at the other side made a statement which I did not hear very well -- if he could -- he made mention of “disco lights” and I want to know what “disco lights” are -- [Laughter.]
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon Member, we must be specific about what we say. Hon Asiamah, he wants an enlightenment as to “disco lights”. Not everybody goes to disco, you know -- [Laughter.]
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is light flickers. Madam Speaker, I believe sincerely that when you talk of “disco lights” and lights that give -- Madam Speaker, I would not want to explain, he knows it because I have caught him somewhere in a night club before, so he knows it -- [Laughter] -- Madam Speaker, he knows it.
Madam Speaker, I believe sincerely that as a country, we should demand quality service from our service providers. Madam Speaker, we are paying so much for electricity, so much to the Electricity Company of Ghana and to the Northern Electricity Department.
Madam Speaker, it is important that as politicians, we give these service providers some deliverable measurements so that at least, we can demand quality service from them. But most often what happens is that, we as politicians do not set the

Thank you for the opportunity, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon Member, if you want to ask a question then you could come back but this is really a Statement. So you are entitled to ask a question later on.
Mr. Charles S. Hodogbey (NDC -- North Tongu) 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I would like to make a small statement on the Statement presented by the Hon Deputy Minister. In his Statement, he made mention of several reasons or causes why we have these outages. Some include inadequate generation margin -- [Interruption.]
Dr. A. A. Osei 11:40 a.m.
On a point of order. I think our rules suggest that when there is a Statement we can only comment on it. My Hon Colleague is saying that he wants to make a statement on the Statement. He is introducing a new subject altogether. So if he can limit himself to comment on the Statement but not introduce a statement on the Statement.
Mr. Hodogbey 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to make a comment on the Statement.
In the Deputy Minister's Statement, he made mention of certain causes for the power outages. Some include inadequate generation margin, low voltage level, then he went on to say the transmission system was over-aged, overloaded and the dispatch centre at Tema was very old.
According to him also, the Oil Circuit Breakers built in 1965 are actually in a state of disrepair. In his conclusion, he said total -- to put in place will be about US$600 million.
benchmarks, we allow them to do what they like and at the end of the day we are blamed. So it is important that at least, we have the courage to also fire people we hire to deliver when they fail to deliver.
So if the President appoints a Minister and he fails to deliver, that Minister must be fired. If there is a team ‘B' Minister, that team ‘B' Minister must be done away with.
rose
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Is it a point of order?
Mr. H. Iddrisu 11:40 a.m.
Rightly so, Madam
Speaker. Hon Asiamah is contributing to a Statement by which the Deputy Minister for Energy sought to inform this august House about steps that are being taken to deal with the persistent power cuts resulting from transmission problems. Madam Speaker, he ought to be reminded that contributions to Statements should not provoke debate. I have seen him veer off to team ‘A' or ‘B'. He was not even an injury player but let him stay away from that.
Thank you.
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon Member, I think he is right. Look at the Statement and comment on it. You are now moving outside the Statement, to sacking Ministers. I think that is not what the Statement said. Your comments should embrace -- your earlier comments were very brilliant. So can you wind up?
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I respect your ruling but I believe that I am not here to score marks from, excuse me, -- what I am saying has got to do with producing or delivering results as a country and we are failing in this area. That is the point I am making and people are appointed to deliver on the energy
Mr. David T. Assumeng (NDC Shai Osudoku) 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Deputy Minister very well for having time to present this issue on the floor.
Madam Speaker, just as the former Minister for Energy said, this issue has been a long-standing one and there is the need for us to give some kind of holistic approach in solving this problem. That is why I think that we should not in a way try to politicise this issue.
Madam Speaker, all of us are suffering as a result of these outages and I believe that we need to come together to find a way out because in a way, just as Hon Asiamah said, he should have addressed it better than he did in the sense that people are not performing. I think that people who are placed in certain areas to discharge their duties must be up and doing.
Madam Speaker, if you talk of the service deliveries, areas like water delivery, electricity, we are short of our performances. Madam Speaker, I think we
need to do better in these areas. There are areas where people are doing better. You get to some areas, some countries that even lack what we have are doing better.
Dr. M. O. Prempeh 11:50 a.m.
On a point of order. Madam Speaker, I can understand, my Hon Chairman for the Works and Housing Committee; he is just returning from Seoul. Seoul is never a country; it is a city in South Korea.
Mr. Assumeng 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I said the city of Seoul. It is true I was in Seoul in South Korea. You will marvel. People are doing better. Apart from that, get to Beijing, another area, for example. We should be up and doing. I think this issue must not be politicised.
Let us take a critical look at it and where people are found wanting, let us put them at their appropriate places. It is not a matter of Minister or any other. But I think that those who are put in certain areas to perform must do better than they are doing now.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, for this short intervention.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Thank you. I think we are getting short of time today; we have a lot of things. I want to close the debate but I would take one last from the Hon Member. All right, one here, one there and then the Leader -- Yes, quickly because we have so much on our list today -- [Interruption.]
An Hon Member -- rose --
sector.
People are appointed to ensure that we have reliable uninterruptible supply of electricity. So the point is so germane to the Statement that has been read. What I am saying is that people must be held responsible. That is what I am raising. For me as a politician, as a Member of Parliament, somebody who is concerned about the welfare of Ghanaians, the issue of accountability and responsibility is something I must stress on.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Yes, but not sacking Ministers and team ‘B' and team ‘A', I do not understand.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the team ‘B' came from His Excellency, former President J. J. Rawlings, the founder of the NDC -- [Laughter.]
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Wind up now.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, my last concern is about compensation. As citizens, people who are losing so much from this lack of quality service, we demand compensation from those in charge.
Madam Speaker, if I buy a television set or a refrigerator and through the fault of ECG or through the inaction of somebody who is supposed to act and I lose, I believe that sincerely and fairly, I should be compensated. So I am calling on the Government, since it is clear from the Statement that there is no immediate solution, they should as soon as possible, urgently institute a compensation package for consumers and industry players who
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
But I thought you
interjected so we heard your voice.
Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah (NPP - Afigya-Sekyere West) 11:50 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity to comment on the Statement that has been made by the Hon Minister.
Madam Speaker, we certainly need enough electric power to be able to meet our developmental challenges and indeed, we were assured by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning when he read the Budget Statement a couple of months ago. He assured the nation and Madam Speaker, with your permission, if I may quote:
“I t i s the de terminat ion of G o v e r n m e n t t o e n s u r e t h e development and sustenance of an efficient and viable energy sector that provides secure, safe and reliable supply of energy to meet Ghana's development needs in a competitive manner.”
That, Madam Speaker, was very reassuring.
Your Committee on Energy subse- quently met, and indeed, yesterday they presented a Report to the House. The Committee noted that in spite of the promise to give sufficient attention to this particular subsector, that was not what they found when they went through the figures. And they quoted in their Report that in the 2009 Budget, an amount of GH¢344 million, for instance, was allocated as investments in that sector, an amount which was considered inadequate and we did say so on the floor.
During the year, out of this GH¢344 million which we thought was inadequate, your Committee noted that the amount actually released was about ¢113 million. That did not give the impression that the Government was giving that serious
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, “nothing that would provoke debate,” that is what the Order says.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I
but for a Statement like this, it is just humble comments, humble comments do not introduce -- I know him very well. I was here as Member of Parliament when he was Director of Finance at Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) and he appeared before my Committee many times. So I know his views on the subject matter, but he should wait, when we come to debate, we will debate the issues.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, your time is about up.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 11:50 a.m.
Yes, Madam Speaker, I have not attempted to debate the matter -- [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Thank you.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 11:50 a.m.
The Hon Deputy Minister has come here to make a Statement which is supposed to allay the fears of the public with regard to power outages that are ongoing. I did not hear and nobody here heard something which will give any hope to the general public -- [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
I thought the Majority Leader said he was invited to come and tell us the cause of the outages but of course, you can comment on them?
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 11:50 a.m.
Well, Madam Speaker, I do not know and I did not want to believe that the Hon Majority Leader wanted, in fact, to say what he was saying that, yes, let us just say that the Hon Deputy Minister has come here to confirm that there are power outages, that we should expect to live with the power outages for sometime and that we should not expect any solution soon and that it is not to be debated. If that represents the view of Government, then Madam Speaker, what else will I say than to say that we have taken note of the information they have given us and to the country?
attention to the sector.
Again, Madam Speaker, we were also informed in this House that as a condition for a loan that was contracted by Government, the Government was going to present to us a financial recovery plan which was going to update us on the real nature of the problem within the sector so we can find solutions. This has not been done up till now.
Indeed, in the Report yesterday, the Committee noted and again, Madam Speaker, with your permission, I want to read:
“The Committee noted that the Government has over the years approved a number of loans for purposes of improving power and the transmission and distribution. The Committee however, observes that despite these few investments in the sector, the quality of service has not seen any significant improvement.”
Indeed, your Committee went on to demand that the power utility companies should provide the Committee with a comprehensive report on their expansion and refurbishment programme. I thought that the Hon Deputy Minister was going to respond to this.
Mr. Bagbin 11:50 a.m.
On a point of order. Madam Speaker, I want to draw the attention of my Hon Colleague to the fact
certainly do not want to provoke debate. The Hon Majority Leader knows my views on this matter that we should try to find some bipartisan approach to solving this. All that I am doing is quoting from the Committee's Report. These are facts.
The Hon Deputy Minister has come to give a Statement in the House on the causes of the power outages and the efforts that they are making to put a stop to them. I am saying to the Hon Deputy Minister that all that he told us would not allay the fears of the public. Industry would not be encouraged by what he has done.
Mr. Bagbin noon
Madam Speaker, even his first statement that “this Statement will not allay the fears of many people”, he mentioned the industry; that statement alone is debatable, so you do not say this to introduce debate. That is subjective.
Who told him that it will not allay their fears? That is his view, so he is trying to -- please, that is why I said that he should not -- [Interruptions] -- when you quote a Committee's Report, a Committee's Report is to be debated.
That is a motion to be debated and the statements we make here are all debatable,
Madam Speaker noon
No; that is not the point, Hon Member. The point is that we do not say anything that will generate debate. You are permitted to make comments, to say what is going to be done, to make comments and nobody is going to debate that or challenge you. You have a right to make comments and comments mean anything touching on the Statement.
So I would not say that you just listen to it and say all right, thank you for making that Statement. You can make comments but the comments must not be such that it will provoke debate. I do not know where we draw the line but when we come there, we will see; but you can make comments.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah noon
Well, Madam Speaker, as you know, I cannot debate what you say, so I do not want to debate that either.
Madam Speaker noon
I think it is time to close, we have a lot of Ministers here and we have a lot of Questions, urgent ones too, so I think this is the end of Statements.
Hon Members, let us please, move ahead and go back to -- Hon Majority Leader, are we taking item 3?
Mr. Bagbin noon
I think so. I think we have to go back to Question time and then allow Hon Esther Obeng Dappah -- yes, she is over there to start the ball rolling with an Urgent Question.
Madam Speaker noon
Yes, Hon Minister for the Interior. Yes, Hon Esther Obeng Dappah, can you put your Question?
URGENT QUESTION noon
Minister for the Interior (Mr. Cletus A. Avoka) noon
Madam Speaker, the recent rainstorms that hit New Abirem and Nkwateng in the Eastern Region affected 283 people in all. Madam Speaker, in June 2009, relief items with the following breakdown were given to the affected victims: 30 mattresses; 20 blankets; 20 plastic bowls; 20 buckets; a carton of cooking oil; 4 mini-bags of rice; one carton of soap; and a bale of used clothing.
Again, in December 2009, the following relief items were also presented to the affected communities: mattresses were 100; blankets 200; plastic bowls, 100; plastic buckets, 100; cooking oil, 5 cartons; mini bags of rice, 20; 5 cartons of soap; and 3 bales of used clothing.
Efforts are, however, being made by NADMO to send more relief items to the affected people in the communities mentioned.
Ms. Dappah noon
Madam Speaker, may I know from the Hon Minister, exactly when these items were released. As at yesterday, the affected victims were still complaining to me that they had not received any item and whether they are in Koforidua or whether they have been released to New Abirem District Office.
Mr. Avoka noon
Madam Speaker, I do not have the exact date when they were released but these are my instructions that they have been sent to the affected communities; we can find out later which day they were sent there.
Ms. Dappah noon
Madam Speaker, it is very urgent that I know where the items
Minister for the Interior (Mr. Cletus Avoka) noon
Madam Speaker, on 12th June 2009, the Police Administration issued a public statement suspending enlistment into the Service for the year 2009. The decision of the administration was taken mainly because of lack of residential accommodation for personnel already in the Service.
It must be explained that, a number of personnel are putting up in dilapidated buildings and make-shift structures while others sleep in police station premises. Furthermore, some officers have embarrassingly become squatters, staying with relations and friends in different towns close to their stations.
Madam Speaker, this state of affairs significantly affects performance of personnel, as it lowers their morale and demotivates them. In fact, as a result of these extreme accommodation difficulties, most married policemen, especially the young ones, cannot live with their spouses and families.
Madam Speaker, the Ministry deems it urgently necessary to put its plans of recruiting more personnel into the Service on hold in order to avoid compounding an already precarious situation of housing the officers and men of the Service. It is therefore, the priority concern of the Ministry to take steps to improve the acute accommodation shortfalls before embarking upon a new recruitment exercise.
Madam Speaker, it must be emphasized, in this regard, that the enlistment process has not been cancelled, but only been temporarily suspended for the reasons explained above. The exercise can be revisited. Meanwhile, the training schools will re-train personnel already in the system to improve their professional effectiveness and competence.
are because these are poor people whose houses were washed away. I have done what I can. I have given them mattresses, rice, cooking oil and a few items to help them. So I am not sure whether the Hon Minister is referring to the items that I released or items from his end that have actually been released. I would like to know where they are.
Mr. Avoka noon
Madam Speaker, these were items that were released by NADMO to the affected communities or victims. These were not the items that are contemplated to have been personally taken by the Hon Member of Parliament. The source is from NADMO.
Ms. Dappah noon
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister for taking personal interest to find out where the items are and keep me informed.
Madam Speaker noon
Hon Members, we move on to the next Question which stands in the name of Hon Yaw Baah, Member for Kumawu.
Maj. D. Y. Oduro (retd): Madam Speaker, the Hon Member for Kumawu, Hon Yaw Baah is unavoidably absent and he has asked me seek your permission to ask the Question on his behalf.
Madam Speaker noon
Granted.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 12:10 p.m.
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, efforts are being put in place by the Ministry to be able to secure some type of accommodation for the personnel. As soon as we address some of these issues, we would lift the ban and recruitment would take place in not too distant future.
Maj. Oduro (retd): Madam Speaker, I want to find out from the Hon Minister, what provision has been made in the next year's Budget to ensure that recruitment resumes early next year.
Mr. Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, in fact, we have made provisions in the 2010 Budget and the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has accepted and the first thing we are going to do in the Budget is to be able to complete the uncompleted structures that were started some years ago and are still standing idle.
It is our conviction that if we are able to complete those structures, we would be able to provide some type of accommodation and the suspension would be removed. Besides, we are also making contact with other investors to be able to secure funding to provide accommodation for our personnel in the security services.
Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Hon Members, because this is not constituency-specific, we will take two questions from each side.
Prof. (Emeritus) S. K. Amoako 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to find out from the Hon Minister if he has considered any plans to recruit police personnel who would live outside the barracks of the police. They will live in their
own accommodation and be paid rent allowances because I know in other jurisdictions, it is done and it does not deter the Ghana Police Service from the discipline which they generate from living in barracks. Does he have any plans to accommodate such an arrangement?
Mr. Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, it is not just we having plans or not but currently, there are a lot of policemen or security personnel who are staying in rented premises and the exercise is still ongoing. In any district or any place where we get decent accommodation that we can rent and put in the personnel, we shall do so.
Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I would want the Hon Minister to confirm whether from now on, it has become a policy of his Ministry to get accommodation before they recruit policemen. This is because what he is saying is that they suspended recruitment because they had problems with accommodation. I want to know from him whether the policy now is that they would only recruit policemen when they have accommodation for them.
Mr. Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, with the greatest respect, I cannot confirm that. I only said we had temporarily suspended the thing so that we can put our house in order and do the recruitment. So it is not a policy that we must have or we should have adequate accommodation for everybody before we recruit. It is going to be difficult to confirm that.
Mr. C. S. Hodogbey 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, would the Hon Minister, consider reviewing the suspension decision, now that we have too many criminal activities, with so many people going round attacking people?
Mr. Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker,
admittedly, there are security challenges in some parts of the country or in the country generally. But while trying to address that issue, we should also take into account the welfare of the security personnel who have to fight the criminals that we are talking about. So if you have a policeman sleeping at the counterback of a police station as if he is also a suspect or an arrested person, if you have a young policeman who has a wife, and has no place for them to lay their heads, it would be difficult for them to deliver. So we are balancing the two; we are trying to ensure that we get some type of accommodation for them and at the same time, ensuring that we take care of criminal activities in the country.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Well, we have had two from this side so we move on. We shall move on to the next Question which stands in the name of the Hon Seth Kwame Akyeampong, Member of Parliament for Mpraeso.

Personnel of Criminal Investigation Department

(Mass Transfer)

Q. 255. Mr. Seth Kwame Acheampong asked the Minister for the Interior why the Ghana Police Administration embarked on mass transfer of the personnel of the Criminal Investigation Department in the Greater-Accra Region recently.
Mr. Avoka 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, it is trite knowledge that, transfers are done at a point in time in various departments in organizations among other reasons to achieve efficiency and efficacy of work by the organization in its field of endeavour.
The t ransfers were pure ly an administrative action taken to enhance
efficiency in criminal investigations within the Greater-Accra Region.
Mr. Acheampong 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, my Question was emphatic on mass transfer. I asked why the mass transfer. I really accommodate the Minister's Answer when he is talking about trite knowledge which we all agree. But I am asking why the mass transfer, that is not being addressed in the two paragraphs that have been stated on the Order Paper.
Mr. Avoka 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, if I may allude to this. One, they were not even mass transfers. They were just about 23 people who were affected generally and then it was throughout the country. You do not call a Service where there are about 23,000 personnel and 23 people are transferred as mass, that would be a misuse of the word.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Yes, your next question, please.
Mr. Acheampong 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, in the second paragraph of the Minister's Answer, the Minister did state that it was an administrative action taken to enhance efficiency, emphasis on “efficiency”. I want to find out from the Hon Minister whether the personnel who are being transferred to Accra are over and above, well trained than those leaving Accra since he is saying it is to enhance efficiency -- [Interruptions.]
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister, he wants an answer.
Mr.Avoka 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I do not appreciate the question that he is alluding to.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon Member, he wants the question repeated but bear in mind that you cannot ask him for his
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.


personal views, and you are saying that “are they better than this” -- Oh, ask your question, but I say bear that in mind.
Mr. Acheampong 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, in the second paragraph, if with your indulgence, I may quote:
“The transfers were purely an administrative action taken to enhance efficiency in criminal investigations within the Greater- Accra Region.”
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
What is your question?
Mr. Acheampong 12:20 p.m.
My question is, I want to know from the Hon Minister whether the police officers who are being transferred to Accra and those who are leaving Accra, those being transferred to Accra, are they well trained over and above those leaving Greater Accra, that is just all about my question -- [Interruptions.]
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
I do not think this is a question that the Minister cannot answer. So Minister -- [Interruptions] -- Minister, I just said I do not think it is a question that you cannot answer so in other words, can you answer it?
Mr. Avoka 12:20 p.m.
Yes, Madam Speaker, let me say that all the personnel under reference are well trained. All the personnel under reference are trained, or well trained for that matter. Administratively, no matter how competent and efficient you are, once in a time you may have to shift people from point “A” to point “B”.
The fact that you have shifted somebody from Greater Accra to Ashanti Region or
from Ashanti to Accra or to the North does not make the person less competent. So they are all competent, this is mother Ghana, wherever we send an officer, we expect that he would deliver the same.
rose
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Have you finished your questions? I think you have a last question to ask.
Mr. Acheampong 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I am happy the Minister is giving such good information. I want to find out whether these transfers -- I am still very particular about the second paragraph because it is enhancing efficiency in the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service. That is a special unit of the Ghana Police Service and I want to find out whether their inefficiencies are reflected in their record of service.
Mr. Avoka 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, with the greatest respect, I did not say that they are inefficient. I did not say that. I said that we were moving people from place to place to enhance efficiency. That does not connote inefficiency.
Mr. C. S. Hodogbey 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I would like to know from the Minister, can officers overstaying at a particular station lead to compromising their position in investigative process.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister, he says “can it happen?”
Mr. Avoka 12:20 p.m.
Well, Madam Speaker, it is possible. It is possible sometimes that when you stay at a place for too long you make friends, you make acquaintances, you may compromise your position. But this is not the issue.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 12:20 p.m.
Madam
this is Criminal Investigations Department (CID), we are talking about CID. There is good reason why they do not wear uniforms -- you know it. There is good reason why they do not wear uniforms -- yes. So when they are talking about investigation, it is not just only about the capability or otherwise of the personnel, it goes beyond that.
So Madam Speaker, the insinuations and attempts to play some criminist conduct here is unacceptable. It is not talking about the personnel, it is talking about the totality of investigations which go beyond personnel.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Well, Standing Order 67 (b):
“a Question shall not contain any arguments, . . .”
I think Hon Opare-Ansah's question contains an argument and that is why I will ask him to ask another question.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the first part of the Hon Minister's Answer makes specific reference to efficiency and efficacy of work and this was in reference to the personnel who are being transferred.
So, I am sure we are all very clear in our minds that we are talking about personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department, the efficiency and efficacy of their work as the basis for transferring them. And the question is, the level of the efficiency and efficacy of their performance, is it recorded in their service records?
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister. There are service records everywhere but is it recorded? I think the question is that, do they have a service record which keeps

There was a certain level of efficiency which the Minister wanted to enhance. It is clear then that the personnel at post were not performing at the level that would give the Minister the desired effect.

In fact, if you go to the first paragraph and you take the word “efficacy”, “efficacy” means applying something to get a certain desired effect and that is why it is ordinarily used in the medical field and when you take drugs, they measure its efficacy.

So if you have personnel at post who are not working to give you a certain desired effect, then clearly, you would want to transfer these persons.

So I believe that was the import of the Hon Member's last question, asking you whether those particular personnel who were transferred, these lack of efficiencies and efficacy reflected in their service records, if the Minister can answer that for us.
Mr. Bagbin 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the word “efficiency” used here is with respect to the criminal investigation, not the personnel -- [Interruptions.] There are so many things that go into investigation, not the personnel -- [Interruptions] -- I am going to quote:
“The transfers were purely an administrative action taken to enhance efficiency in criminal investigations within the Greater- Accra Region.”
Madam Speaker, they are aware that
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, every
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
I think you got your
answer.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the tail end of the Hon Minister's Answer trailed off -- [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
All right.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 12:30 p.m.
But just to help the Hon Minister understand my question clearly, we agree with him that every police officer and indeed, every security officer has a confidential file. What we are saying is since -- and he alluded to the fact that when you get to doing promotions, you make reference to what is on this file.
Since we are talking about efficiency and efficacy of work and the possible lack of it, the question is, the basis for these transfers, do they reflect on the records of these personnel who have been transferred?
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
The answer is, no.
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Hon Opare-Ansah, you know you cannot debate an answer?
I think, Hon Members, let us move on to the next Question which stands in the name of the Hon Robert Sarfo-Mensah, Hon Member for Asunafo North.
Mr. George Boakye 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I am George Boakye, Member of Parliament for Asunafo South.
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Yes?
Mr. Boakye 12:30 p.m.
Hon Sarfo-Mensah is not around and he has asked me to crave your indulgence to ask the Question on his behalf. -- [Interruptions] -- [Some Hon Members: Where is he?] -- National assignment.
Ghana Police, Ghana National Fire and Ghana Prisons Services
(Accommodation)
Q. 256. Mr. George Boakye (on behalf of Mr. Robert Sarfo-Mensah) asked the Minister for the Interior what practical steps the Ministry had taken to provide decent accommodation for the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Fire Service and the Ghana Prisons Service.
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the housing situation in the Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service and the Ghana Prisons Service admittedly is not the best. Government is facing financial challenges in relation to building barracks to accommodate the personnel. Most of the officers occupy single rooms with their families while others do not have accommodation at all. This unfortunate situation leaves much to be desired as it has the effect of lowering the morale of the personnel.
Madam Speaker, as I explained to this august House earlier, the Ghana Police Service has estimated the housing needs for the attention of the Ministry. The Ghana National Fire Service was also requested by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) to submit all ongoing contracts under the Service to the Ministry. The information was to enable the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning establish a comprehensive database for future consideration.
As a short-term measure, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, and the Ghana Prisons Service
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I do not have figures as to how much rent they pay. We will confirm that and let him know.
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member, your last question.
Mr. Boakye 12:30 p.m.
You are not required to tell me in person but you are required to tell the House.
Madam Speaker, thank you very much.
Mr. T. T. Chaie 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, in his Answer to the Question, the Hon
Minister stated that 12:30 p.m.
“Strategic prospective investors have been contacted for possible construction of mass houses nationwide for the staff of the Ghana Police Service as well as the Ghana Prisons Service and Ghana National Fire Service.”
My question is, how soon is this project going to take place?
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I am confident that during the course of next year, that is 2010, it should be possible for us to complete our work with the strategic investors that we have in place.
Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah 12:30 p.m.
Madam
Speaker, I would want the Hon Minister to confirm whether Government has considered paying them well to be able to rent their own accommodation.
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the policy, as far as the security services are concerned, is to provide them with accommodation. It is not part of the policy to pay them so that they can provide their own accommodation. If it is the suggestion of the Hon Member, then as a country, we can look at that.
Nii Armah Ashietey: Madam Speaker, I want to ask the Hon Minister if he has any plan to involve the District Assemblies
have rented a number of private houses (barracks annexes) for the officers and Government has been paying rents regularly to the landlords/landladies.
Strategic prospective investors have been contacted for possible construction of mass houses nationwide for the staff of the Ghana Police Service as well as the Ghana Prisons Service and Ghana National Fire Service.
Meanwhile, the Government has constructed 48 (forty-eight) out of the 128 new housing units for officers of the Ankaful Prison. This project shall be replicated in all the ten (10) regions of Ghana when funds are available. Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, the acute accommodation problem facing the Ghana Prisons Service would be ameliorated.
Mr. Boakye 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I am glad the Hon Minister has admitted the seriousness of the problem and that it has the effect of even lowering the morale of the servicemen. And indeed, the morale of the Service is very low.
In view of this, I would want the Hon Minister to tell this House how much was allocated for housing for these servicemen in the 2009 Budget and how much has been used out of the amount and how much has been voted for 2010.
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I do not have the figures offhand. They are available in the budget estimates that we will be moving tomorrow.
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Another question, please. He has no notice of this.
Mr. Boakye 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister's appreciation of the problem indicates he knows how much is paid in rent every month to landlords. So, I would want him to tell this House how much is paid in rent to landlords for the three Services.
Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Minister if constituencies such as Ayawaso West Wuogon where residents of East Legon contributed and built a police post which later, the Ministry of the Interior also assisted, would be something that he can institutionalise to partner with willing sub-metros, constituencies or otherwise, so that we can bring part of our Common Fund -- Residents, associations may contribute and his outfit also may contribute so that we can accelerate the provision of such facilities.
I am interested in partnering to provide accommodation for the police station in Legon, if he would like to consider that.
Mr. Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Madam Speaker, this is a mouth-watering incentive, that if Hon Colleagues are able to organise their constituencies or their respective districts and begin some projects, we would definitely intervene. At worse, we would post personnel to manage the facilities you have created. But we would contribute to the structural development of those areas; we shall do so.
Several Hon Members -- rose --
Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
One here, one there, then we move on.
in the provision of accommodation for the security services.
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I am very grateful to my Hon Colleague, the Greater- Accra Regional Minister.
Madam Speaker, I have had an occasion on this same platform to appeal to my Hon Colleagues that they should take the destiny of housing security personnel into their own hands.
I gave an example of my own district, the Bawku West District and said that we used the District Assemblies Common Fund to build a modern police station. We used the District Assemblies Common Fund to build barracks for police personnel. We used the District Assemblies Common Fund to build a court house so that our people do not travel miles for them to try cases.
I am using this occasion to appeal to my Hon Colleagues that we can make judicious use of the District Assemblies Common Fund. I know the Fund is not inexhaustible; there are other areas that we need to use the Fund for.
But if we appreciate the role of security in our respective districts, and we give ourselves a three or five-year period, I am confident that we would not even come to ask the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to give us money to build houses for police personnel or Ghana Prisons and Ghana National Fire Services.
If we give ourselves a five-year period that, by the end of five years, we would be able to build a police station or a fire station extra or even provide basic accommodation like compound houses for these personnel, they would easily do it. We can also arrange with the Minister for Local Government and Rural
Mr. David T. Assumeng 12:40 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I have good news for the Hon Minister and I would want to find out whether he would take advantage of the good news.
I want to find out from the Hon Minister if he would take advantage of the programme by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to construct about 200,000 houses in conjunction with a Korean company in Ghana; would he take advantage of that arrangement?
Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Yes, that is a question. Do you want to take that?
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
Madam Speaker, it is not just the Ministry of the Interior taking advantage, but it is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, that the security services would benefit from this facility.
Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
So the answer is yes, is it?
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
It is yes, Madam Speaker.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 12:40 p.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister, coming from the Korean connection -- The Hon Minister is a Member of Parliament -- [Interruption] -- No, he just got some Korean connection. The Hon Minister just got some Korean connection. [Laughter.]
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister is a Member of Parliament and as he is aware, we have a committee in the House which holds Government Ministers accountable for what they say here and that is why it is important that in answering Questions, the Answers be as specific and measurable as possible. [Interruptions.] Yes, specific and measurable.
In the last paragraph of the Hon
Minister's Answer, he says 12:40 p.m.
“in the not- too-distant future”. [Laughter.] Madam Speaker, considering that the Hon Minister's own existence as an Hon Minister is subject to the whims and caprices of the President and indeed, this House -- [Laughter.]
Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Go on.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 12:40 p.m.
-- this House and the people of Ghana, if you assume that the Hon Minister would remain at post for the next three years, then I do not know how I measure the “not-too-distant future” in relation to that.
So if the Hon Minister can be a bit
more specific.
And while at that, can the Hon Minister assure us that Government, indeed, is not owing any landlord because in the third paragraph, he says rents are paid regularly. Can the Hon Minister confirm and assure us that Government is not owing any landlord in respect of rent for accommo- dation for Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana National Fire Service?
MR. SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Minister?
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, as and when
rents are due, Government ensures that they pay.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, there were two legs to my single question and the first leg was the definition -- the actual measure of the “not-too-distant future”.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Question No. 257, which stands in the name of the -- [Interruptions.] Hon

Minority Leader, I was directed that the -- Oh, very well; there is a question standing.

Hon Minister, I thought that was the last. Sorry, Hon Minister.
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thought you had graciously overruled him. [Laughter.]
Yes, I believe that when we stand here and make commitments, we make commitments not on individual basis, but on behalf of the Government of the day. So whether I am there or not, if somebody takes over, I am confident that they would pursue the efforts to get accommodation for our security personnel. So when I say “in the not-too-distant future”, I mean during our tenure of office.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Question No. 257, which stands in the name of the Hon Member for Zabzugu/ Tatale, Mr. John Bennam Jabaah.
Mr. Joseph K. Adda 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my Hon Colleague from Zabzugu/Tatale is not able to attend upon the House this day, so he has asked me to seek your permission and ask the Question on his behalf.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Very well, Hon Member, you may go on.
Police personnel and their families in Zabzugu/Tatale
(Accommodation)
Q. 257. Mr. Joseph K. Adda (on behalf of Mr. John Bennam Jabaah) asked the Minister for the Interior when the Ministry would provide befitting accommodation for the police personnel and their families in Zabzugu and Tatale.
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, notwith- standing the acute accommodation problem facing the Ghana Police Service as explained earlier, the Ministry is collating proposals from real estate developers and investment companies
for the provision of residential accommo- dation for the Ghana Police Service. When negotiations are completed and approval given, Zabzugu and Tatale would be included in any future plans for residential accommodation.
Mr. Speaker, this is also an appropriate time, once the question is coming from a constituency or a district, to appeal to my Hon Colleagues to ensure that their districts also assist in the provision of accommodation for police personnel in their respective districts.
Mr. Adda 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to ask the Hon Minister, whether there is a time line for the negotiation processes and also including the completion and approval for the plans to build the residential accommodation for the police officers in Zabzugu/Tatale.
Mr. Avoka 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, these are international matters and I am confident that between January and June next year this negotiation would have reached a point where we can certainly say when we would start constructing accommo-dation.
Mr. Adda 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to ask the Hon Minister for assurance on the inclusion of Zabzugu/Tatale in these future plans beginning middle of next year when the negotiation process would be completed.
Mr. Avoka 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have already indicated that when the plans are in place, Zabzugu-Tatale District would be considered.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Minister, I think that is all for now.
Thank you very much for attending to the House and answering our Questions.
Mr. Bagbin 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was just going to say that the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is at a meeting now. I am told the Ministry is considering a number of matters that were referred to them. But that Paper you referred to -- item 6 (g) has not yet been laid so the Chairman of the Committee on Health would lay that Report.
PAPERS 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, if you may direct us as to -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Bagbin 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we now move on to motions and the first will be motion numbered 13.
CONSIDERATION OF ANNUAL 12:50 p.m.
ESTIMATES 12:50 p.m.
Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing (Mr. Albert Abongo) 12:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the total sum of GH¢178,008,902 which is broken down into a GOG component of GH¢23,141,670, Donor Component of GH¢138,857,802, Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of GH¢ 845,430 and HIPC Investment Funds of GH¢15,154,000 respectively.
The GOG component of GH¢23,141,670 is broken down into:
i. Item 1 - Personal Emolument
-- GH¢8,478,339.00
ii. Item 2 - Administration Expenses - -
GH¢984,524.00
iii. Item 3 - Service Expenses
-- GH¢342,807.00
iv. I t em 4 -- Inves tment Expenses - -
GH¢13,336,000.00.
The donor component of GH¢138,- 857,802 made up of grants and loans is also broken down into:
i. Item - Services Expenses
-- GH¢15,000,000.00
ii. Item - Investment Service - -
GH¢123,857,802.00.
The Internally Generated Funds (IGF) component of GH¢845,430 is also broken down into:
i. Item 3 - IGF Service Expenses
-- GH¢168,581.00
ii. Item 4 - IGF Investment Expenses -- GH¢676,849.00.
T h e H I P C c o m p o n e n t o f GH¢15,164,000 is meant for only investment programmes in the area of the provision of drainage, construction of culverts, water expansion, coastal protection works and the construction of affordable housing in the country.
Mr. Speaker, during the 2009 financial
Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing (Mr. Albert Abongo) 1 p.m.
Rural Water
Access to potable water for rural communities has increased from 51.7 per cent in 2007 to 57.1 per cent by the end of 2008. This figure will see tremendous increases of investment to attain 60 per cent by the end of 2010.
Mr. Speaker, with the support of the development partners, the Ministry acting through the Community Water and Sanitation Agency will commence the drilling of 1,000 new boreholes, rehabilitate existing 100 boreholes with hand-pumps, construction of 34 small towns pipe systems and train 2,000 WATSAN, 20 DWSRs as well as 20 Partner Organizations and Technical Assistances.
Urban Water Supply
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry acting through the Ghana Water Company Limited will commence the construction of the following water projects: 40 mgd Kpong Water Expansion II, 4 mgd Abesim Water Project, 4 mgd Koforidua Water Project, 2 mgd Bolgatanga Water Project, 3 mgd Wa Water Project, 2.5 mgd Damango Water Project, and undertake the Berekum Water Supply Expansion as well as the Winneba distribution network. The rehabilitation of minor and low capacity treatment plans in various parts of the country will also commence to ensure the production and delivery of safe water.

Affordable Housing Programme.

To sustain the programme, Mr. Speaker, the Ministry has decided to extend the payment period to the end of June 2010, after which the Ministry would not have any choice than to make new offers to the current tenants in occupation. It is the hope of the Ministry that, the Assemblies and the institutions would take immediate steps to clear their indebtedness towards the Ministry.

National Flood Control Programme

Mr. Speaker, the Ministry will continue the annual national flood mitigation programmes that is, widening, deepening and regrading of 20 kilometres stretch of primary drains in Accra, in the other regional capitals and some selected district capitals as well as construct culverts and corresponding inlets and outlets of all storm water drainage systems to protect life, property and other infrastructural facilities.

Keta Sea Defence Project (KSDP)

Mr. Speaker, the Ministry plans to contract out 160 houses of various designs (that is, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom types) as well as ensure the connection of water supply, sewerage and electricity to these completed houses at Kedzi, Vodza and Adzido.

Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP)

Mr. Speaker, the relocation programme involving the removal of commercial and industrial activities from the KLERP area to Adjen Kotoku will be continued by the Ministry during the period. Work will be completed on the 4.2 kilometres access road from Medie residential as well as social infrastructures areas. Work will be continued on the 13 kilometres periodic maintenance programme on the Odaw/Onyasia drain as part of the overall KLERP, since the function of the former

year, the Ministry was granted a total amount of GH¢186,956,800 broken down into GoG funds of GH¢16,665,318, donor funds of GH¢110,024,935, IGF funds of GH¢709,399 and HIPC funds of GH¢33,985,000 respectively.

Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing has as one of its roles, the responsibility to supervise the following Government departments and agencies: Water Resources Commission; Community Water and Sanitation Agency; Ghana Water Company Limited; Hydrological Services Department; Rent Control Department; Department of Rural Housing; Public Servants Housing Loan Scheme Board; Architects Registration Council ;and the Public Works Department for the implementation of its policies, plans, programmes and projects.

It also has an oversight responsibility for the fol lowing non-subvented organizations: Tema Development Corporation, State Housing Company Limited and the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited.

Increasing access to infrastructural facilities especially for the provision of potable Rural and Urban Water, Coastal Protection, Hydrological, Affordable Housing Scheme, Sewerage and Storm Water Drainage Projects are also some of the priority programmes outlined in the Ministry's sector Medium-Term Develop- ment Plan.

Mr. Speaker, in 2010, Government will continue to increase access to safe water and water-related sanitation facilities in the rural and urban areas and also undertake other activities including the construction of affordable housing units, operational hydrology, coastal protection and drainage improvement.

Affordable Housing

Mr. Speaker, rapid population growth coupled with an uncontrollable rate of urbanization continue to make housing one of the most critical issues facing Government. Available data suggests that, housing deficit figure is nearing the threshold of 1,000,000 units, while supply figures have started to fall as against an annual average requirement of over 100,000 units.

To be able to address this imbalance, Government will require an amount of GH¢120 million in the year 2010, both from GOG Budget and other donor sources, for the continuation and completion of the ongoing affordable housing projects at Borteyman, Kpone, Asokore-Mampong, Tamale, Koforidua and Wa.

Additionally, in the year 2010 fiscal year, Government will continue to create the enabling environment to attract and support the private sector into the housing sub-sector (e.g. Ghana-Korea Housing Project for 200,000 units, Messrs Agnus Dei Foundation of USA for 10,000 units, Messrs Agu Resources for 10,000 units, to mention but a few) to commence the construction of over 200,000 various types of decent, safe and low income affordable housing units in the country and to create jobs for the people.

Sale of Government Low Cost Houses

Mr. Speaker, as stated in the Budget Statement, most MMDAs and several government institutions to which offers for the sale of Government Low Cost Houses in 2006 and 2007 were made have failed to purchase them. It will be recalled that, funds from the sale programme was to be ploughed back into the Affordable Housing Programme. The non-payment by these Assemblies and institutions has virtually derailed the Government's
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. David Tetteh Assumeng) 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion and in doing so, I want to present the Report of the Committee.
1.0 Introduction
The Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing were referred to the Committee on Works and Housing for consideration and report in accordance with Orders 140 (4) and 180 of the Standing Orders of the House. This followed the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for 2010 to the House by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor on 18th November, 2009, pursuant to article 179 of the Constitution and Order 140 (1) of the Standing Orders of the House.
To consider the estimates, the Committee met with the Hon Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon Albert Abongo (MP) and his two deputies, and officials from the Ministry, its departments and agencies. An official from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning also attended the sitting. The Committee is grateful to the Hon Minister and his team for their assistance.
safe water;
b. to promote rural and urban infrastructure development and the provision of basic services;
c. to strengthen and support human resources training,
d. to promote the provision of adequate sanitation facilities,
e. to increase access to safe, decent and affordable shelter.
.
5.0 Departments and agencies under the Ministry
The Ministry seeks to achieve its objectives through the combined efforts of the underlisted departments and agencies:
a. Rent Control Department;
b. Hydrological Services Depart- ment;
c. Ghana Water Company Limited;
d. Department of Rural Housing;
e. Public Servants Housing Loan Scheme;
f. Water Resources Commission;
g. C o m m u n i t y Wa t e r a n d Sanitation Agency;
h. Architects Registration Council; and
i. Public Works Department.
6.0 Budgetary Allocation for Year 2009
For the 2009 financial year, the Ministry was allocated the sum of two hundred and eighty-five million, nine hundred and
2.0 References
The Committee availed itself of the following reference documents during deliberations on the Budget Estimates:
a. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
b. The Standing Orders of the House;
c. The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government for the 2010 financial year;
d. Report of the Committee on the 2009 Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.;
e. The 2010 Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.
3.0 Mission Statement of the Ministry
The Ministry exists to formulate and implement policies and programmes for the provision of adequate housing, other landed properties, potable water and the development of infrastructure facilities in the areas of water and flood control systems, drainage and coastal protection works and operational hydrology for the benefit and improvement of the welfare of all people living in Ghana.
4.0 Objectives of the Ministry
The Ministry has outlined the following objectives among others for the attainment of its mission:
a. to accelerate the provision of
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. David Tetteh Assumeng) 1 p.m.


1.00 p.m. Page 8

the above-mentioned deficit.

While the Agency's projected administration expenditure is three million, three hundred and ninety-six thousand, four hundred and fifty Ghana cedis (GH¢3,396,450.00) for year 2010, an amount of five hundred and sixty-two thousand, one hundred and ninety Ghana cedis (GH¢562,190.00) has been allocated to the Agency.

This is woefully inadequate and would affect administration activities. The Committee therefore recommends that the administration expenditure for the Community Water and Sanitation Agency should be given serious attention.

8.3 Hydrological Services Department

For year 2010, the department has been allocated an amount of one million, six hundred and eighteen thousand, four hundred and one Ghana cedis (GH¢1,618, 401.00) as against five hundred and thirty-four thousand, seven hundred and eighty-one Ghana cedis (GH¢534,781.00) for year 2009.

The Committee noted that the investment allocation of two hundred and twenty-five thousand, three hundred and fifty-five Ghana cedis (GH¢225,355.00) to the department for the 2009 fiscal year had not been released although the intended projects have been executed. Certificates for the execution of the investment projects have been prepared and lodged at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning awaiting disbursement.

The Committee further noted that there has been a substantial increase in investment allocation to the department from two hundred and twenty-five thousand, three hundred and fifty-five Ghana cedis (GH¢225,355.00) in 2009 to one million, one hundred and forty thousand, five hundred and forty Ghana

increment of the investment figure for 2010 is largely attributed to the inability of MOFEP to release last year's investment allocation of six hundred and thirty-seven thousand, seven hundred and sixty-eight Ghana cedis (GH¢637,768.00).

The Committee expressed concerns about the inability of the Public Works Department to effectively recover debts and urged the department to critically address the situation. In the same vein, the Committee found that it would be prudent to find a way of strengthening the department to enable it enhance its IGF to help address the lingering challenges of the department.

8.5 Public Servants Housing Loan Scheme Board

The Committee noted that a total amount of seven hundred and forty-four thousand, nine hundred and ninety-two Ghana cedis (GH¢744,992.00) has been allocated to the Board for the performance of its activities for year 2010 as against a total allocation of four hundred and fifty- four thousand, five hundred and fifteen Ghana cedis (GH¢454,515.00) for year

2009.

It is however important to indicate that out of the approved allocation of four hundred thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢400,000.00) for investment for year 2009, one hundred thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢100,000.00) was released to the Board. This resulted in the Board's inability to meet the overwhelming requests of applicants.

The Committee is of the view that the loan facility is a source of incentive to Public and Civil servants and therefore, recommends that the total investment allocation to the Board should be released fully and on time to enable it assist more applicants.

8.6 Water Resources Commission

The Water Resources Commission

allocation is attributed to the continued priority given to water and sanitation issues by the Government.

The Committee, however, noted that in view of the current intermittent water shortages in the country, there is the need for a higher investment allocation and prioritization of programmes to enable the Agency improve its service delivery. This would go a long way to address the water supply problem, especially in Assin Fosu, its environs as well as other parts of the country.

The Committee noted that the service allocation of thirty thousand, five hundred and thirty-three Ghana cedis (GH¢30,533.00) for 2009 had not been released to the Agency and this affected its service delivery. The Committee appeals to MOFEP to ensure the total release of the service allocation to the Agency for 2010.

The Committee further observed that

at the end of the 2009 fiscal year, the Agency's budget deficit in respect of its administration stood at one million, four hundred and eighty-nine thousand, eight hundred and three Ghana cedis and thirty- six Ghana pesewas (GH¢1,489,803.36). Whereas an amount of four hundred and one thousand, five hundred and seventy- five Ghana cedis (GH¢401,575.00) was approved for administration, the sum of two hundred and ninety-eight thousand, six hundred and forty-three Ghana cedis (GH¢298,643.00) was released for the year.

However, by the end of October, 2009, the Agency's actual expenditure for Administration was one million, eight hundred and ninety-one thousand, three hundred and seventy-eight Ghana cedis and thirty-six Ghana pesewas (GH¢1,891,378.36), thereby resulting in

cedis (GH¢1,140,540) in 2010. The increment is partly attributed to the inability of MOFEP to release the 2009 investment allocation. The department is encouraged to prioritize its investment programmes to ensure value-for-money.

8.4 Public Works Department

The Public Works Department exists to implement government policy on good construction practice, effective management and maintenance of public buildings, contract administration and to offer technical advice to Government at central and local levels.

The Committee was informed that there are a total of 11,000 government bungalows nationwide, and for effective maintenance, each bungalow must have some form of rehabilitation at least, once every five years. The Department would therefore, be required to rehabilitate at least, 2,000 bungalows a year to meet this demand. Consequently, it has programmed to undertake routine works on 1,500 bungalows with periodic works on 240 bungalows this year.

To carry out its objectives for the 2010 fiscal year, an amount of five million, eight hundred and seventy-six thousand, one hundred Ghana cedis (GH¢5,876,100.00) has been allocated to the Department.

The Committee was informed that no releases were made for investment activity for the department for year 2009. It however noted that the investment allocation for year 2010 is one million and seventy-six thousand, two hundred and seventy-two thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢1,076,272.00) representing an increase of four hundred and thirty-eight thousand, five hundred and four Ghana cedis (GH¢438,504.00).

The Committee was informed that the
Nana Abu-Bonsra (NPP - Fomena) 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to support the motion on the floor in relation to the budgetary allocation for the services of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing. In so doing, I would like to situate my contributions and comments in the domain of accommodation and works, being the basic human needs.
It is quite interesting that when I had the opportunity to go through the NDC's Manifesto, in fact, the section that dwells on the first intended achievements for the first hundred days. Shockingly, I did
was referring to. I specifically said, and I situated my comments on the first 100 days promises or intentions of the NDC Government. And therefore, to refer to page 84, which is over and above and far beyond the 100 days, I think it is neither here nor there.
Mr. Speaker, I was just talking about accommodation, and the Budget telling us that Government continued with the construction of the affordable housing. Mr. Speaker, meanwhile, the Committee has on several occasions visited the sites of these affordable housing projects. At least, we have visited the two sites in Accra and we have also visited another site in Kumasi -- [Interruption] -- in Koforidua, sorry, Mr. Speaker. The picture that one sees on the faces of these affordable housing project contractors was one of frustration, dejections and total sadness -- [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon Member, do you stand on a point of order?
Mr. Assumeng 1 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I would have loved that the Hon Member consulted the then Minister who was in charge of the sector to advise him on what he is saying, because he knows very well that what he is saying is not correct.
The Ministry is making efforts and has even had meetings. Some moneys have even been released to some contractors; and they have been paid. And they are making efforts to, at least, continue with
8.10 Rent Control Department
The department has been allocated an amount of two hundred and ninety-two thousand and seventy-three Ghana cedis (GH¢292,073.00) for year 2010 as against an amount of two hundred and ninety-five thousand, seven hundred and ninety- one Ghana cedis (GH¢295,791.00) for year 2009, thus representing a reduction of three thousand, seven hundred and eighteen Ghana cedis (GH¢3,718.00) or 1.27 per cent.
The Committee observed that the decrease will have serious repercussions particularly on investment which has been reduced from one hundred and forty-four thousand, seven hundred and eighty-two Ghana cedis (GH¢144,782.00) to one hundred and nineteen thousand, one hundred and seventeen Ghana cedis
(GH¢119,117.00).
The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should endeavour to timely release the funds due the department to enable it carry out its activities effectively.
The Committee was surprised to hear that the department presently has only one vehicle that operates throughout the country. All other vehicles are completely broken down. This situation exerts so much pressure on the only remaining vehicle and causes intermittent break- down. The Committee recommended that the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing should as a matter of urgency address this problem.
The Committee was further informed that the department has enormous potential to generate revenue. It is of the view that measures should be put in place to enable the department place reasonable charges on its services in order to generate and
not see anything or read about anything concerning the area of works and housing. At least, I was expecting a passing comment which would have gladdened the hearts of troubled Ghanaian workers as far as accommodation or the issue of housing is concerned.
Granted that it was an oversight, one was expecting that, at least, in the subsequent statements and budgetary allocations, something concrete would have come out as far as solving the accommodation needs of Ghanaian workers, if not all Ghanaians, is concerned. But interestingly, if I may crave your indulgence, on page 108, paragraph 330 in next year's Budget:
“Government continued with the construction of 5,140 safe, decent and affordable housing units . . .”
Mr. Assumeng 1:10 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member referred to the NDC Manifesto which I have over here. On page 84, there is an area that covers housing; that is expanding infrastructure for growth. In fact, I would want him to go and take it and read it well because, there are a whole lot of areas that cover provision of housing. So please, this is the Manifesto of the NDC, and if he wants to refer to it, he should just do the proper reference.
Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Member, you may continue.
Nana Abu-Bonsra 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would have loved to have heard from my Chairman of the sector Committee referring to or giving us an indication of which version of the NDC Manifesto he
Nana Abu-Bonsra 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, having been at the site myself, and as -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, we have a tall order of items before us and we need to work our way through as fast as we can. So, I will plead with you that if a person comes on a point of order and somersaults to do some other things, we should not encourage it at all. Because my Hon Colleague, whenever he has intervened, really provides information, so it is a point of elucidation which could only be granted if the person on the floor yields to him.
Really, he does not tell us any Order which the person has breached, and his own conduct offends the provisions of our rules of procedure. As the Chairman, he should rather be interested in facilitating a smooth debate on this. But his own interventions are falling foul of our orders. Mr. Speaker, may you bring him to order and stop any such future intrusions or attempts to intrude, which would not be properly situated in our rules of procedure.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Member, if you may please, continue.
Nana Abu-Bonsra 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about serious issues -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Member, please, continue with your arguments.
Nana Abu-Bonsra 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, shelter for Ghanaians, and more especially for our hard-working staff, I mean public and civil servants, that is my concern. That is what I am dwelling on.
Mr. Speaker, to further illustrate my point, and with your indulgence, I would want to refer to paragraph 8.5 of our Committee's Report, and we see clearly that whereas in the 2009 Budget, a total amount of GH¢744,992 was allocated to the Public Servants Housing Loan Scheme Board for award of loans to assist public servants put up their own houses, in the Budget under consideration, this amount has been reduced so drastically, in fact, by 40 per cent to GH¢454,515.
Mr. Speaker, the seriousness of the whole thing is that, currently as we speak, the figures that we have been told, the shortage in housing units, stands around 500, 000 to 1,000,000. Mr. Speaker, therefore, we need to do something about it. The consequences of such shortages lie in the fact that landlords and landladies are having a field day and terrorizing helpless and poor tenants with arbitrarily huge rents and huge rent advances.
Mr. Speaker, as we speak, we have been told and we have read from the media and also in the press that the prices of land now in Western Region, are skyrocketing. Indeed, only yesterday, a Colleague alluded to that part.
Last week in the media, we were told that now accommodation in Takoradi is becoming a serious issue whereby those who are already in rented premises are being compelled to pay new advances, the failure of which you lose the accom- modation because pressure, as far as demand is concerned, has been brought to bear on these few accommodations.
Therefore, Mr. Speaker, we really need to do something about that and Government needs to do something about that as far as provision of accommodation is concerned.
Mr. Speaker, another aspect of it is the fact that at the Committee level, we have been told that the Rent Control Department, which is one of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), is in dire need of staff as well as equipment for their work. For example, the whole department has only one vehicle, in addition to the fact that it has no offices in various parts of the country. Meanwhile, everyday tenants are faced with the threat of eviction and ejection.
That is why I would want to advise the Minister and the Ministry to address themselves to that problem. Worse still, Mr. Speaker, we are being told that Government is making efforts to provide accommodation. But --both in our sittings and in the Budget Statement, no mention was made of any support whatever to State Housing, which we know today as a government agency responsible for providing affordable housing. The Minister may have to address himself.
Mr. Speaker, during the early days of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration, as far as drainage work was concerned in flood control, the previous Government was referred to as the “gutter, gutter” Government because it undertook to construct a lot of drains in neighbourhoods and other places which were threatened by floods.
Mr. Speaker, as we speak, at least, we know that that enterprise brought flooding under some kind of control in Accra and
other areas in the country. But once again, that project has completely been stopped. But we know that the rains have not stopped pouring. Therefore, I would like the Ministry to address itself to that.
Mr. Speaker, another disturbing
trend in the 2010 Budget is the fact that projects which were listed under sectors and Ministries in 2009 are surprisingly repeated as outlook for 2010 in the Budget. A clear example, Mr. Speaker, can be found in page 172 on comparison to page 179, where you see just a repetition.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Member, if you may start winding up.
Nana Abu-Bonsra 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
with your kind indulgence, I would like to refer to paragraph 8.0 - Observations and Recommendations.
“The Committee observed that there was a decrease of 62.26 per cent of the total budgetary allocation to the Ministry, its Departments and Agencies.”
Whereas in 2009 fiscal year, the Ministry received an amount of two hundred and eighty-five million, nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand, five hundred and forty-seven Ghana cedis (GH¢285,929,547.00), an amount of one hundred and seventy-eight million, eight thousand, nine hundred and two Ghana cedis (GH¢178,008,902.00) has been allocated for the operations of the Ministry in the 2010 fiscal year. This is a reduction
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member.
Mr. Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi (NPP -- Asante Akim North) 1:30 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the chance to contribute to the motion. I beg to support the motion on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, section 2 (3) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1963, Act 137 defines necessaries as goods suitable to the condition of life of an individual and at the time that the goods are delivered to him.
Case Law had expanded this to mean food, shelter, water and clothing. Out
of the four I have mentioned, with the greatest respect, two, water and shelter, come under this Ministry. With respect, it tells you how important this Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing is and to Ghanaians in general. Surprisingly, with the greatest respect, you realize that the allocation that is given to this Ministry is reduced by 62.26 per cent. That is from GH¢285,929,547 to GH¢178,008,902.00. It means that the Ministry is going to find it very, very difficult to actually achieve the mandate that is given it by the State.
Among other things, the money that was released last year, out of which there had been a reduction, you will realise that most of the money had not yet been allocated to the Ministry, and all this is embodied in the Report.
We hope that approving this budget with the small amount that is allocated to the Ministry, we are not going to face this problem that had been persistent and that reoccurs almost every year with lack of releases and lack of funds by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
I remember the Leader of this House saying that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must be taken to task if Parliament approves a budget and they go contrary to what Parliament had said. With respect, water, as I have said, is very important to every citizen of this nation.
One would say, or it is common knowledge that water is a problem in all the urban cities in the country, especially in Accra. And we do not know the Minister himself or the Ministry in general does not have an answer to how this problem is going to be solved. The immediate solution that would come into mind is
have already mentioned.
With these few words, and the greatest respect, I would want to support the motion on the floor.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Minister, if you may please, sum up briefly.
Mr. Abongo 1:30 p.m.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker. I wish to thank my Hon Colleagues for their positive contributions -- [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Minister, please, a moment.
Hon Minority Leader, do you intend to make a contribution?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:30 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. Just a few observations.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Sorry, you did not catch my eye.
Hon Minister, I will come back to you, sorry.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:30 p.m.
I was indeed thinking that somebody was going to contribute.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
There was no one.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:30 p.m.
That is why I was sitting down.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
You may make your contribution, Hon Minority Leader.
Minority Leader (Mr. Kyei-Mensah- Bonsu) 1:30 p.m.
Very well. Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, just a few observations -- [Laughter] -- Mr.
that the Ministry will be well equipped in order that they would attempt to tackle the problem. I am impressed that the Community Water and Sanitation Agency is given a budget that has been increased by one million Ghana cedis, but I would urge that this should have been increased ten fold.
Why do I say so? The Community Water and Sanitation Agency is given a mandate to solve problems of water shortage in our rural areas.
I live at Old Ashongman and I have had water for 24 hours, seven days a week as a result of Community Water and Sanitation Agency because what they do within the rural areas is extended to the cities. I am of the view that if Community Water and Sanitation Agency is well equipped, their activities would have an overflow to solve the urban problem in the cities.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Member, you will be trying to wind up.
Mr. Ayimadu-Antwi 1:30 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. But the Hydrological Services, it is sad to also realize that out of the moneys that were allocated to them for this year no releases have been made so far as investment is concerned and if this spills over the year in which we are going to enter, it would lead to serious problems in Accra city and Ghana in general.
Mr. Speaker, there has been the approval of a loan to cover the Konongo, Kumawu and Kwahu Ridge in respect of water allocation. We hope that the Ministry would expedite action on this loan provision in order that the problems that we are facing in Accra would not be extended to the towns and villages that I
Mr. Ayimadu-Antwi 1:40 p.m.
Speaker, I have seen the entreaties from my very good Friend the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing so I will just make some innocuous remarks even though I had several that I wanted to talk about.
First of all, the point has been made by my Colleague who spoke early on, the Hon Member for Fomena about the quantum of releases to enable the Government to facilitate these public servants' housing projects. We realized that only one hundred thousand Ghana cedis was released and this does not paint a good picture.
Mr. Speaker, one hundred thousand Ghana cedis translates to about one billion old cedis and we do know that one billion cedis or one hundred thousand Ghana cedis cannot provide more than two decent bed-room accommodation and so what are we doing? If Government is constrained, Government has difficulty, then we might as well use the money elsewhere instead of pretending to be facilitating the construction of these houses and yet releasing just one hundred thousand Ghana cedis to construct houses for public servants.
I think it is a great disservice and I will plead with the Ministry to sniff around. There are many facilities out there that I believe he could tap into, because the Minister was for a very long time on the Committee on Works and Housing, and is aware of some of these facilities. I plead with him to be more enterprising in pursuit of these facilities. It would do the public servants a world of good.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad that out of the provision to Ghana Water Company Limited, Government only has to provide two million Ghana cedis as counterpart funding, the rest of it, about GH¢69
million cedis is going to come from donors. The unfortunate situation however, has always been that even though donors would always be ready to provide their counterpart releases, Government which is often called upon to pay, oftentimes, less than three per cent of the amount required fails to provide the counterpart funding. As I said, we have an excess of 69 million coming from donors which translates to over 690 billion.
Government only has to provide 20 billion or GH¢2 million and yet we will be found wanting. We want clean potable water to be delivered to our people. I noticed that the statement indicates that they are going to supply enough potable water to Accra. Mr. Speaker, I do not know the statistics that the Ministry is depending on. What statistics is the Ministry depending on to ensure and assure that enough water will be delivered to Accra?
Mr. Speaker, as we Sit here today, nobody even knows the number of houses in Accra. We are not too certain of the number of houses in Accra, for which the potable water will have to be delivered to. So it is important that first, we establish the number of houses in the country.
Mr. Speaker, this brings me to my next point, the deficiency in the housing stock. We are often told that it ranges between 500,000 and 1,000,000 and in my opinion that estimate is very outrageous.
It means that we do not know what we are doing and if we do not know the deficiency in the housing stock, then where will we be working to?

It is the reason why I would want to plead, if it is not too late, that the impending census could include that link so that we can have a census on housing stock in the country. If we have that, then we would begin to work towards that. So

one looks at what is going to be done in this year's Budget and you compare it with what was programmed to be done in 2008, you will see about the same thing as in 2008. Let me just remind us of what was said in the 2008 Budget Statement, paragraph 602, found on page 165 of the 2008 Budget. Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, let me quote:

“Mr. Speaker, the Ministry will continue the coastal protection programmes to protect life and property in Ada, Ngyeresia, Dixcove, Princess Akatakyie, Sakumono, Axim, New Amanful Kuma/Funkoe, Osu/Castle, Elmina, Anomabu, Nkontompo, Prampram, Ningo and Senya Bereku.”

Mr. Speaker, what we have captured in this year's Budget is just a repetition of just what was said in the same order as we did. [Interruption.] The point being made, which has met the raucous interjections by my Hon Colleagues is that -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Order! Order!
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:40 p.m.
If we
continue to do the things that we did -- 2007, 2008, 2009 -- they will not help us, as far as coastal protection is concerned, to protect life and property. That is all that I am saying.
Indeed, for 2008, it even included Ada which is not part of the 2010 Budget. That is even most serious because Ada happens to be suffering most of all these communities that have been listed, that is in respect of this year's -- the Hon Minister is pointing something out to me.
I know we have a loan in respect of that, but I thought that we would emphasise that, given the fact that the loan has not come. Given the fact that it has not come, I thought that we should
I would plead with the Hon Minister to -- maybe, this decision has to be taken at the Cabinet level -- determine whether the population census would have to bear the census on housing stock in the country. Mr. Speaker, I think it is of crucial importance.
The other thing that I want to talk about is coastal protection. We all do know that after the construction of the projects at Keta, the tidal drift is shifting westwards. That is why the erosion at places like Ada, Ningo, Prampram is becoming accentuated and we do not need to treat this with kid gloves.
We have been told in the Budget that Government is going to continue just routine maintenance of our coasts -- routine maintenance and it is here, page 109. The Hon Minister is shaking his head, it is here that they are going to continue routine maintenance and they have mentioned Ngyeresia, Dixcove, Princess Akatakyie, Sakumono, Axim, New Amanful Kuma/Funkoe, Osu, including the Castle area, Elmina, Anomabu, Nkontompo, Prampram, Ningo and Senya Bereku.
Mr. Speaker, the point I am making is that routine maintenance cannot protect the coast which is really suffering from the aggravation of tidal waves. It is important that we confront the problem and take a very bold decision on the way forward. If we have to contract loans to do turnkey projects as happened at Keta, we have to do that because no thanks to climate change, water levels will be rising. If they do rise by even half an inch, it will have serious adverse effects on these communities that we have listed. That is why it is important that we confront the problem in a very drastic way.
Mr. Speaker, what is unacceptable, if
Mr. Abongo 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank my Hon Colleagues for their positive contributions towards the approval of the sector's budget. However, with a few comments, I must say that the Hon Deputy Ranking Member said that we were not registering any progress on the affordable housing project because contractors have not been paid. I will like to give him the assurance that they have been paid now and the slowdown will change to improvement in progress from now onwards.
I also realised that there was a figure put for reduction in the Budget by the Committee that for this year, there has been a reduction of 62.26 per cent. I will urge my Hon Colleagues to go back to look at the calculations. I think that that is wrong. I know some of us are seriously challenged when it comes to mathematical calculations but the figure stands at 37.7 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, on the delivery of water, we have the ATMA rural programme that will start soon. The contractor is mobilising and so that will augment water delivery to Accra area. We are also going through the details for the Kpong II Water
Project. We are seriously working now with the provider of the turnkey facility. Hopefully, early next year, that facility will be put before Parliament for approval.
On the housing census that my Hon Colleague talked about, the Hon Minority Leader, I think that the housing census goes with the population and so when the population census comes on, we will then have a good figure to be dealing with. I think that that also affects the population of this country. For now, we would always give a rough figure and not an exact one. So when that comes to take place, we would have a good figure that we can rely on. But definitely, this is in excess of 500,000 units.
On the issue of the emphasis on the coastal protection works which he said we failed to mention, this actually has been captured in my submission, but for time, Mr. Speaker directed that I should go to the summary. This has been fully captured.
The Ada coastal protection works will begin early next year and we will be tackling the critical section, that is five- kilometre square and so Ada coastal protection works is on course. We have signed the consultancy agreement and we are on the contract agreement. The details to the contract are under discussion and that will be signed. So hopefully, early next year, that will take off.
Also, it was mentioned in the Budget, at page 113, we have it there -- “Ada Coastal Protection Works and Volta River Estuary”. It is clearly indicated there that project will come on board.
Having made these comments, Hon Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration is the principal organ of State responsible for the initiation, formulation and management of Ghana's foreign policy. It consists of the headquarters, fifty-six (56) diplomatic and consular missions and three (3) subvented organizations, namely, Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA), National African Peer Review Mechanism- Governing Council (NAPRM-GC) and All African Students Union (AASU).
The Operation of the Ministry's 2010 Budget seeks to achieve the national goal of attaining the Millennium Development Goals and middle income status within a decentralized democratic environment as captured by the National Development Planning Commission.
The Ministry will continue to advise Government on the formulation of Ghana's foreign policy and implement its objectives in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. In accomplishing this, the Ministry will be guided by Government's vision to prosecute a dynamic and people-centred foreign policy in which ordinary citizens see the social, economic and cultural benefits of Ghana's relations with the rest of the world. To attain this, the Ministry requires a professionalized, focused and well- resourced foreign service able to deliver world-class diplomacy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration was given a total discretionary budget allocation of one hundred and five million, three hundred and eighty-one thousand, three hundred and seventy-five Ghana cedis (GH¢105,381,375.00) for the 2010 fiscal year in spite of the fact that the Ministry requested to be given one hundred and eighty-five million, seven hundred and sixty-six thousand, eight hundred and twenty-four Ghana cedis and forty-six Ghana pesewas (GH¢185,766,824.46) to enable it operate effectively and
Question put and motion agreed to. Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢178,008,902.00 for the services of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing for the 2010 fiscal years.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, with regard to the time now and having regard to the state of business of the House, I direct that Sitting be held outside the prescribed period.
Hon Majority Leader?
Mr. Bagbin 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we take the motion on the estimates of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, which is motion (9).
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in view of the volume of the business, if all Hon Ministers will briefly address all the various areas and the Chairmen of the Committees allow relevant areas to be captured by Hansard, since we all have the Reports, so that we will make progress.
Yes, Hon Minister, you may proceed.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 1:50 p.m.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni) 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢105,381,375.00 for the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Minister, particularly for your brevity.
Chairman of the Committee?
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. F. Y. Osei-Sarfo) 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion ably moved by the Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs and
v. 2009 Committee Budget Report.
3.0 Mission Statement and Medium- Term Objectives
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration exists to advise and assist Government in the formulation and implementation of Ghana's foreign policy objectives, including the offering of advice on policy options in response to unfolding international situations and events.
The objectives of the Ministry include the following:
helping forestall external aggression and safeguarding Ghana's territorial integrity and contributing to international peacekeeping efforts;
promoting and protecting economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution and all Africa and Internat ional Human Rights Instruments to which Ghana is a State party;
promoting fruitful political and economic relations with all countries, especially Ghana's neighbours, in the interest of peace, stability and economic develop-ment;
enhancing Ghana's image abroad through active participation in international organisations;
u p g r a d i n g t h e h u m a n a n d institutional capacity of the Ministry within the context of the capacity building of the public and civil service for accountable, efficient and effective performance as well as timely service delivery; Improving Ghana's position in global and regional markets; and
Regional Integration to approve the sum of GH¢105,381,375.00 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
Mr. Speaker, in doing so I want to present the Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 In accordance with Order 140 (1) and (2) of the Standing Orders of the House and article 179 of the Constitution, the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor presented to Parliament the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2010 financial year on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009. The Annual Estimates for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was accordingly referred to the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for consideration and report in accordance with Standing Order 140 (4).
The Committee met on Thursday, 10th December 2009 with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon Chris Kpodo, accompanied by officials from the Ministry. An official from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) was also present.
2.0 Reference Documents
i. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
ii. The Standing Orders of the House;
iii. The Budget Statement and
Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for 2010 Financial Year;
iv. 2010 Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
-- 1:50 p.m.
GOG IGF 1:50 p.m.
-- 1:50 p.m.
Ms. Shirley A. Botchway (NPP -- Weija) 2 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support motion number 9, which is to do with approval of the sum of GH¢105,381,375 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. And in so doing, Mr. Speaker, I wish to highlight the trend of serious cuts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration budget requirement and to state that this is a very worrying trend.
Mr. Speaker, from the Report, you can deduce that the Ministry's requirements were cut by 55 per cent and Item 2, Administration, was severely affected. Mr. Speaker, the Ministry requested GH¢100,734,234.10 and was given a
or access consular services and I think that when these things happen, the staff are not in a position to offer the kind of services that they should be offering.
Mr. Speaker, when you go to Item 3, which is Service, the amount has also been cut quite considerably and I believe that that is also going to affect the conferences, meetings and the like that Ghana has to participate in. And it is very important. Some of them are extremely vital to our participation or being part of the international community. I think this also should be looked at. It is not good enough for foreign travels in terms of our participation in multilateral organizations to be cut to suit budgets.
But then looking at the trend and all these issues that we are dealing with in respect of general cuts, I think the Ministry should be seriously considering revenue from Internally Generated Funds (IGF). I think it is extremely important and they must necessarily find new ways.
In the Report, the Committee looked at the issue of VIP services at a fee. I think that is extremely important, because when we go out to other countries, VIP services at airports are at a fee, they are not for free. Meanwhile, our VIP here, we do not charge people who use the lounge at all.
Also, I would suggest that the Ministry gets a policy -- and I am sure they are considering it -- where they would charge the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who use VIP services outside this country and not to leave the burden on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration at the missions but rather take those responsibilities because one person pays about US$100 at some airports. So I think that this is one way of the Ministry taking that burden off because all these things add up to quite a bit.
iii. Foreign Service Allowance;
The anomaly provides a clear indication of the difficulty that the Ministry is likely to face in the 2010 fiscal year budget implementation. The Committee views this as an omission and recommends that MOFEP addresses the irregularity to allow the Ministry to meet its full obligation under the P.E. in 2010.
Biometric Passports The Committee expressed concern
about the delays in the acquisition of Ghanaian passports and its associated malpractices, especially regarding exorbitant fees charged by middlemen in the process. The Hon Deputy Minister informed Members that the introduction of the proposed biometric passport, with enhanced security features, would significantly reduce the problems of fraud, forgery, duplication and its associated malpractices.
This would further eliminate middlemen in the application and acquisition of passports since the applicant would have to be available for his or her thumbprint to be taken for identification purposes before the passport is issued. This, the Ministry would do, in collaboration with the National Identification Authority.
The Committee applauded the idea and urged the Ministry to expedite action on this matter to enable the country meet the international standards.
8.0 Conclusion
Mr. Speaker, cons ider ing the importance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in ensuring that there is a dynamic and people-centred foreign policy in which ordinary citizens see the social, economic
paltry GH¢15,823,132. Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable.
Why do I say this? This is because the Ministry's administration budget which is Item 2, is where the Ministry's allowances in terms of the staff allowances, rent, utilities and all these things are captured. And therefore, when you see a huge cut in their requirement like this, it means that it is going to affect them very much and we would still have a continuation of embarrassment of Ghanaian diplomats outside our country.
It is so embarrassing that some of them have been evicted, some missions have court cases pending and this cannot be allowed to happen. Apart from that, staff allowances are also affected. What does this mean? It affects the morale of the staff, it demotivates them and this is a serious problem that I believe the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should address.
I know that this year they were not given
enough but then in the Supplementary Budget it was topped up. But Mr. Speaker, with this kind of uncertainty where our missions go through periods where they do not know whether their moneys are coming or not, there is a problem, because this whole thing of unavailability of funds creates major problems for them.
I think that it must be looked at seriously because the embarrassment, like I said earlier, is just too much, not just for the Foreign Service but for Ghana because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration is supposed to be the face of Ghana outside the country.
For most investors, the first point of call is our missions outside where they get
Ms. Shirley A. Botchway (NPP -- Weija) 2:10 p.m.


Also, I think we are going to be earning quite a bit from issuing of biometric passports. I am particularly worried because as one of the requirements to obtaining a biometric passport, we would have to produce national identification cards. We are working according to the International Civil Aviation Authority deadline of April, 2010 and as we speak, we do not have national identification cards. The services have not even covered the whole country and even those who have registered do not have cards. I do not see how this will happen before April and I have a feeling that it is going to affect the issuance of biometric passports.

I know that once we go through this, then it would be much easier for the biometric passports to be issued. So I am hoping that the collaboration between the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Ministry will be closer so that we can meet this deadline.

Also, another area for Internally

Generated Funds (IGF) is the local component of generated IGF which is not part of the 25 per cent retention that the Ministry enjoys. I think this should be looked at because if we look at passport issuance in this country locally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration is very much involved and yet I believe that they do not get any revenue from that area. So that is another area that we should be looking at seriously.

I know that with the proposed increase from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, we would have to visit the law again because the law would have to be amended and I hope that when it comes to the floor, we would all support it.

Mr. Speaker, like I said earlier, the budget has been cut by 55 per cent and that is not good enough. One might not see the fruits of foreign policy; it might not be tangible but this is why we have reached where we are today in Ghana because of the good foreign policy, the economic diplomacy measures that government is actually pursuing.

I think that we should pay a lot of seriousness to this and not say that because we do not see the benefits immediately, this is the first area that we cut in terms of the Ministry. I think it is not good enough. We should do something about it and I urge the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to make sure that in the Supplementary Budget, it increases both Item 2 and Item 3 - The Deputy Minister is smiling, I hope he is not smiling because of what I am saying.

So Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I would like to support the motion and urge all Hon Colleagues to support the estimates for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini (NDC - Tamale Central) 2:10 p.m.
Thank you so very much, Mr. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to the motion on the floor of the House.
Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that our foreign missions are probably the first places of call for any person wishing to come to Ghana, either on a visit or to do business. So it behoves all of us including Government to take prudent steps to ensure that we invest in those areas.
Indeed, Mr. Speaker, my visits outside the country have shown clearly that the amounts of money that are released to these Embassies over the years have not been adequate. In some instances, they face scarce resource constraints and they are unable to perform their daily
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, that is not a point of order. Hon Member, please, continue.
Mr. Fuseini 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, indeed, all persons including Parliament must live in decent accommodation to accord with our present status. But it behoves the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to take steps to be able to empower our Missions outside.
Mr. Speaker was living in far away India as a High Commissioner and I am sure it is because -- [Interruptions] -- I am sure when Mr. Speaker was in India as the High Commissioner, representing Ghana's interests, he had difficulties, which were probably because the Ministry was not sufficiently resourced and that is why we need as a country to take a decision on this matter -- that look, yes, in consolidating our democracy, we must ensure that it reflects on our Missions outside the country.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, if you rise on a point of order, you might have been overtaken by events because your Colleague is in his seat.
Dr. A. A. Osei 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was trying to catch your eye. My good Friend was trying to mislead the House and I thought I would catch your eye but you kept looking there, so you could not see me. If you would allow me to make my point.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Do you want to make a contribution?
Dr. Osei 2:10 p.m.
No, just for the records. People keep saying the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning should resource -- Mr. Speaker, this Budget is given on behalf of the President. It cannot be the Minister for Finance and Economic
assignments, chores and activities that they are mandated by their profession and calling to perform outside the country.
This is why I rise to support the budget and to urge the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to do all that is in his power to ensure that we empower our Ministries and Embassies outside the country. For instance, in Burkina Faso, the Burkinabe Government has decided that it is relocating all Embassies to an area called Burkina Dimi. Now, the Ghana Mission in Burkina Faso has got land in this area demarcated for an Embassy. The land is lying fallow, all other Embassies are building and we might need investment funds to be able to put up those structures. Indeed, Ghana's position internationally is very high and this must reflect in our Missions everywhere.
When people go to visit our Missions, they must be convinced that in this country we are making progress and that we are setting the standards, not only for West African countries but for all countries in Africa. In order to continue to set the standards, we must ensure that our Missions and the Ministry itself is properly resourced for it to reach -- that is the gateway actually for persons coming into this country.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am so much happy that our Hon Colleague is appreciating the value of decent accommodation for our Ambassadors and other high ranking officials and that is the more reason why some of us do not believe that our President should be living in the slave dungeon.

Planning's responsibility to resource the Ministries.

I agree with that sentiment; we need to help the Ministries. But we should not be asking the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning; he does not have that authority. The authority vests in the President. So if we are making an appeal, we should be appealing to our President. Stop harassing my dear Hon Deputy Minister.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon. Minister, you may want to wind up.
Alhaji Mumuni 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my Hon Colleagues for their positive and constructive contributions. I would like to assure them that we would factor some of these suggestions into our policy- thinking and implementation.
Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a major problem for the Ministry in terms of the shortfall that we have in prosecuting the mandate of the Ministry and we are grateful for Parliament's concern. We do believe that when we address our request for an upward adjustment or enhancement of the retention of the IGF that would be in the province of Parliament, it would receive sympathetic consideration from this Honourable House.
Mr. Speaker, I do thank my Hon Colleagues most sincerely for their support.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢105,381,375,00 for the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader?
Mr. G. K. B. Gbediame 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, motion numbered 7 on page 3.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, is that it?
Mr. Gbediame 2:20 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Minister? And if you shall continue to have brevity as we all have all the papers.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Minister, if you could please, give us a summary, a précis.
Mr. Asum-Ahensah 2:20 p.m.
All right.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
We have got the main Paper and your Chairman will also speak to the document before the House.
Mr. Asum-Ahensah 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you would agree with me that our traditional leaders, who are the custodians of our culture, constitute an integral part of our democratic governance and development. There is therefore the need to adequately resource them to enable them perform their function as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana to effectively partner Government in the area of peace making.
Mr. Speaker, I therefore, wish to urge this Honourable House to consider and approve an amount of GH¢15,250,565.00 allocated for the Ministry's activities in
2010.
Mr. Speaker, I pray that, in view of the shortfalls, this Honourable House will not hesitate to consider a Supplementary Budget for the Ministry when one is laid before this House in next year.
Mr. Speaker, I so move.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Hon Chairman?
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. S. M. E. K. Ackah) 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion ably moved by the Hon Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture. And in doing so, I wish to present your
Commission and with the support from GTZ is also conducting this project and it is being facilitated by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture. The National House of Chiefs with support from Konrad Adeneur Foundation has organised a workshop to train chiefs on the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759). The National House of Chiefs, Regional House of Chiefs and then the Traditional Councils continue to collaborate with the agencies and structures of the local government to partner Government in the development of the nation.
The Culture Division -- Mr. Speaker, a number of activities for the cultural sector, as indicated in the Report of your Select Committee, were undertaken with support from the European Union.
The Ministry also participated in the second Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers with a contingent of 64 delegates comprising officials, artists and scholars. Delegates from other African countries also participated.
The programme for 2010 -- Mr. Speaker, the Ministry, in the year 2010 will continue to promote Ghana's cultural diversity as a rich asset which the nation can exploit for growth, employment and wealth creation through the following activities:
1. declaration of 2010 as the national Festival of Arts and Culture Year;
2. culture will be integrated into the national development planning process to accelerate poverty reduction and wealth creation in fulfilment of the constitutional provisions;
GOG IGF 2:20 p.m.
-- 2:20 p.m.
- - 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Asum-Ahensah 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the figure is GH¢15,250,566.00.
Mr. Ackah 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, what is captured in the Budget is “566”, so the one on the motion is correct.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Very well, it is “566?” We would correct it accordingly.
Hon Members, the motion has been moved and seconded and it is for consideration of the House.
Question proposed.
Mr. Isaac K. Asiamah (NPP -- Atwima-Mponua) 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to the motion on the floor and to support the request by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture for the sum of GH¢15,250,566.00 for 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Minis t ry of Chieftaincy and Culture is a relatively new Ministry and as such demands the necessary attention. Since the Ministry was created the Ministry itself has been lacking in the requisite funding for its general administration. So when we met the officials of the Ministry and the Hon Minister, they asked the Committee to plead with the House to ensure that we create cost-centres for the Ministry, especially in the area of general administration; that is very important for the Ministry. We were told by the Hon Minister that the whole of this year, 2009, he has not been able to properly monitor and supervise his Ministry. That is because the money for general administration is not there. Except on a few occasions, when
since it has a potential of affecting work performance.
Capacity Building
Mr. Speaker, capacity building is crucial for effective management of every organization. Unfortunately, capacity
building has not been addressed in the 2010 budget of the Ministry. This situation would negatively affect the intensity of training chiefs and officials of the Ministry to be sufficiently equipped to control conflicts in their local communities.
The Committee is of the view that considering the effect of culture on tourism in the country and the important role chiefs can play in alternative conflict resolution in our traditional communities, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should consider making adequate funds available to the Ministry to enable it achieve its objective particularly to
support chiefs to address the numerous conflicts.
8.0 Conclusion
The Committee is of the view that in order to promote sustainable and responsible tourism in such a way to
preserve historical, cultural and natural heritage of the nation, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture must be well resourced to administer the sector.
The Committee, therefore, wishes to
recommend to the House to approve an amount of fifteen million, two hundred and fifty thousand, five hundred and sixty- five Ghana cedis (GH¢15,250,565) for the fiscal year 2010.
R e s p e c t f u l l y submitted.
Mr. Ambrose P. Dery 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, just a point. The motion talks about GH¢15,250,565.00 which is at variance with what is stated in the motion numbered 7. So probably he should just see if we can rectify it before somebody seconds it. Because what we have here is “566”, but the motion is for “565”, if I heard him right. So he has to amend one of them.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
On the motion paper, we have “566”. Are you moving as per the motion paper? Are you seconding as per -- In fact, you are seconding it, the Hon Minister has moved already?
Mr. Ackah 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am seconding as to what we actually discussed and approved. So what is in the Report is the right figure.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
What is it?
Mr. Ackah 2:30 p.m.
It is GH¢15,250,565.00, not “66 . . .”
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon

Time 2.20 p.m. Page 6

His Excellency the President travels round the country and then he meets the chiefs, that is where he can only see and feel his presence. That, for us, is not the best.

Mr. Speaker, another issue is about inadequate staffing. The Ministry has very few staff and according to the Minister and his staff, it is really affecting the performance of the Ministry. So they urged the Committee to ask His Excellency the President to make more funds available to the Ministry to recruit more staff.

Mr. Speaker, page 6 of the Report talks about some allowance for certain category of people and with your permission, I want to read that portion, last paragraph of page (6):

“The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture explained that the percentage increase in Personal Emoluments was to cater for the Single Spine Salary Structure as well as the Queen Mothers' allowance which would require more funds to meet its obligation.”

Mr. Speaker, here, we urge the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture to be a bit cautious here. It is talking about funding for some allowance for our queen mothers. Mr. Speaker, I want the Ministry to inform this Honourable House what category of queen mothers they are referring to and which traditional areas are they coming from. We need a full list of those queen mothers that the allowances so being requested for would be paid to. It is important that this House is furnished with a full list of queen mothers and if possible the House should approve of the “so-called” list when presented to the House, so that it reflects the entirety of the country, everywhere in this country is represented. This is because so long as we

are concerned, at least, many parts of this country have the role of queen mothers.

Even if we do not have, at least, we have some other women playing very important roles which could be considered so that the programme reflects the national mood and character. It is important we have a full report on the allowances being paid to the queen mothers.

Mr. Speaker, the other issue is about culture and tourism. It is clear that the Tourism Ministry is feeding on the Culture Ministry. The Tourism Ministry can only survive on the progress of the Culture Ministry. So the progress of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture would positively affect that of the Ministry of Tourism. It is better that that kind of inter- sectoral approach -- the co-ordination should be there and if possible whatever is being generated from the Tourism Ministry should be used to support the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, because the Ministry, indeed, is suffering.

So it is important we look at these two critical Ministries and how they complement each other so that the Culture Ministry will survive and continue to survive and will continue to support the Ministry of Tourism.

Another issue is about capacity building

for the staff; Mr. Speaker, this was a concern raised but after a careful look at the performance in 2009, it is clear that the little money they had, most of them were used for organizing conferences, workshops and seminars. So one would wonder whether at least those workshops were not meant to build the capacity of staff over there.

If you look clearly at page 3, the performance in 2009, it is clear that every single activity has got to do with either a workshop or a seminar or memorial
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon
Asiamah, if you would please, wind up.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, let us
make use of that document ourselves and I urge all Members of Parliament here to
have a copy of that document, the cultural policy of Ghana and let us appreciate the essence of culture.
Mr. Speaker, lastly, if we are talking
of decentralization and this is a point raised by an official from the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, that indeed, we should have cultural officers in every district. It is important that we have cultural officers. So here, I urge the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to support the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture to make sure that each district in this country has at least -- a cultural officer who is there promoting culture in this country.
With these few remarks, I urge this Honourable House to indeed, approve the sum of GH¢15,250,566 for the 2010 fiscal year.
I so support.
Mr. Dominic B. A. Nitiwul (NPP -- Bimbilla) 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion ably moved by the Hon Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, that this House approves the Ministry's budget for the year 2010.
Mr. Speaker, I have looked at our Committee's Report and I am particularly enthused about the fact that the Ministry believes that and they have every reason to believe that they have not been well resourced. I am sure the first two Hon Members who have spoken on this motion have already pointed out that the Ministry is not well resourced and because of that, they are having difficulty in carrying out their mandate. And I would just want to refer this Honourable House to page 246 of the Budget that clearly gives out the role they played in 2009.
When you look at the performance in 2009, Mr. Speaker, you would get to realize that mostly they did workshops, evaluations and visits. If you read out the

points under culture and the points under chieftaincy, they are so numerous, I do not want to go reading all of them.

But you would realize, basically, that they organized Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures, training workshops were held for cultural officers and administrators; workshops on culture and development to discuss the integration of culture and relevant aspects of life; evaluation of small grants allocations and monitoring visits to -- I believe that core business of this Ministry has not been achieved because they have been under- resourced and Government will quickly have to look at that because one of the cardinal points that any country should be proud of is her culture.

You go to any country, be it China or Japan, it is the culture of the people that sells that country. It is the culture of the people and the way the people behave that gives her the face that anybody would want to look at and say, yes, this is Ghanaian. If you ask yourself what is Ghanaian about us? It is our culture.

We are losing our culture gradually to the Americans or the American way of life, the British way of life, all because we are not sticking to what we believe we should be doing as people. Even though I do know -- [Interruption] -- somebody is pointing that I am not wearing a Ghanaian shirt. It is the culture of Parliament and so what do you want me to say? But when you come on Friday, you will see me in fugu.

Mr. Speaker, if I want to look at it, I believe that the Ministry would have to relook at its role, especially in prevention of chieftaincy cases. All over the country, most of the conflicts that we have are directly related to chieftaincy cases and I am happy that one of the cardinal points
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon Minister, you may wind up.
Mr. Asum-Ahensah 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank Hon Members for their laudable comments and contributions and we hope to take them on board in the course of our duties at the Ministry.
I would like to allay the fears of Hon Members that the allowances that are going to be paid to the queen mothers will go only to those Queens in the paramountcies because the present allowances that are paid to chiefs go to the paramount chiefs. And we will make sure that a full list is given to Hon Members before that exercise takes off.
With the establishment of district culture centres, we have them in the districts with the exception of the newly created districts and we hope to cover them in the course of the year.
On the chieftaincy cases pending before the judicial councils, these cases are piling up at the paramountcies just because the chiefs are not properly resourced. It is based on this fact that we want to appeal to Hon Members to assist in approving the budget so that we can resource the chiefs to help them adjudicate these cases, at least, to bring them to a minimum, that will go a long way to curtail that kind of chieftaincy cases that are mounting in almost all parts of the country.
On this note, I thank Hon Members for their contributions.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢15,250,566.00 for the services of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Gbediame 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we will now take motion 14 -- Ministry of Information.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:50 p.m.
Minister for Communications (Mr. Haruna Iddrisu) 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum GH¢71,925,756.00 to support the Ministry of Communications and its agencies for the fiscal year ending 31st December, 2010.
The Ministry of Communications remains committed to deploying modern ICT infrastructure in order to transform Ghana into an information and knowledge-
Minister for Communications (Mr. Haruna Iddrisu) 2:50 p.m.


based society.

The Ministry in the coming year, wil l facil i tate the process which fundamentally will transform government and governance, using ICT. Notably among them is, what Mr. Speaker may be aware of as a former Minister for the sector, will be for an extension of high speed broadband capacity to all district capitals. Additionally, over five hundred and fifty Ministries and departments will benefit from it.

Under the e-Ghana Project, Parliament will benefit from this programme under an e-Parliament initiative where an intranet portal will be built to support the activities of this august House.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to note that before the end of the 2010 fiscal year, the Ministry of Communications, under the same e-Ghana Project intends to make laptops available to all 230 Members of Parliament -- [Hear! Hear] -- to facilitate the work of Members of Parliament. [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Order!
Order!
Mr. H. Iddrisu 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I look
forward to next year November when Hon Members can contribute to the debate of the Budget using pen drives and can log on specifically to other provisions of the Budget and that will be done.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Hon
Member, do you stand on a point of order? I thought you heard good news?
Dr. Prempeh 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we are in
a House where information is essential.
Information is actually knowledge and to hear such information from my Hon Friend, a laptop means very, very little. What kind and brand of laptop? We want to know so that we can factor - and we want internet access. We want to know the brand, the type and the capacity of the laptop so that we can factor into our programmes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Hon
Minister, please, continue.
Mr. H. Iddrisu 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the commitment of Government to promoting transparent and accountable government remains central to the Ministry of Communications.
The Ministry of Communications in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has reached a conclusive stage in an agreement under the e-Ghana initiative. Only yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I was referring to your earlier notes for administrative approval on this issue and I am again happy to announce that Government has reached an agreement with GCNET to facilitate the automation of the revenue agencies -- The Internal Revenue Service, Value Added Service, Registrar-General's Department, the Large Tax Payers Unit and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board under a digitalization programme. It is expected that that will facilitate speed and allow for easy tax assessment and more transparency in our tax administration.
In the coming year, we would also be working on a number of legislations including the data protection and privacy legislation, a cyber security legislation and then intellectual property legislation. We would be forwarding this to Cabinet and then to Parliament for your consideration.
Under the Telecom sector, we have
made tremendous progress. We currently have about six licensed mobile phone operators with a teledensity of 64.8 per
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3 p.m.


Very recently, two persons lost their lives as a result of it. And under Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFTEL), the co- location platform would encourage --

The Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence would continue to provide training for public service workers within that particular entity.

Mr. Speaker, finally, under the GIFTEL and with support from them, the Ministry of Communications will initiate the establishment of National Data Centre so that we can have digital storage of all public information. In the wake of the burning of the Foreign Ministry, Government thinks that having a digital system to store all public information would be protective enough. We will therefore commence work on a National Data Centre.
Mr. Speaker, in addition, finally, under the e-Ghana Project, four regions 3 p.m.
Western, Volta, Northern and Upper East will all benefit from four major information resource centres that will be housed. I admittedly, excluded other regions because the Ministry would also collaborate with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to launch an e-school project to increase access to the use of computers by pupils in schools.
Mr. Speaker, if you recall, there was what was called the Baah-Wiredu initiative of one laptop. We want to launch a comprehensive e-school project which will seek to make computers available. We would continue to develop the business process outsourcing industry and make Ghana an attractive destination.
Mr. Speaker, with these few comments, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢71,925,756.00 for the Ministry of Communication, and

its agencies for the 2010 fiscal year.

Mr. Speaker, I beg to move.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Hon
Minister, before you take your chair, we have on the Order Paper -- we have 754, you have said 756, shall we have this duly reconciled and then we proceed?
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
Chairman of the Committee will do that, but I will be doing the arithmetic myself. I trust that the 756 should be the appropriate figure. I did my additions today based on the -- if you will indulge me, Mr. Speaker, you have GH¢8,085,473 which will come from the Government of Ghana sources, GH¢2,420,000 from IGF sources and GH¢61,420,283 from donor sources, that together should give us the exact figure. But I trust that the Chairman of the Committee will deal with it while we do the arithmetic.
Vice-Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Herod Cobbina on behalf of the
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
So,
Chairman of the Committee, should we have the relevant amendment made to substitute 756 for 754?
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Thank
you, proceed.
Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
we have to be very careful here. The amount in this book that was presented to this House said 754. Now, if we do any changes here, we may be causing serious damages to the entire Budget. So
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, according
to the Report we had at the Committee meeting -- This thing came up -- [Interruption] -- and then the explanation we had was that we should use the figure
“56”.
Dr. A. A. Osei 3 p.m.
You cannot just say the
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I said at the Committee level.
Dr. A. A. Osei 3 p.m.
But the Committee is
working for the House, and the House is using this book, and the Committee is varying it upwards. It is unconstitutional.
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, by the way, the Hon Minister is saying that he is making some calculations and he will come out with the final thing -- [Interruption.]
Dr. A. A. Osei 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, then we
should stand it down.
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if that is
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Please,
the Hon First Deputy Speaker is on his feet.
Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, at
times there are problems with the figures at a certain level. It is normally the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that will have to settle on that figure. At times you may get a figure which is wrong in
the main budget document. Then you will find out from the Ministry, normally, the schedule officer, and then they will give you that figure and then it is amended.
So, if the figure that the Hon Member is talking about is not from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, then we cannot work with that figure. But if it is the figure which has been provided with by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, then we can work on it -- [Interruption] -- yes, it does happen. It has happened on several occasions on this floor.
Dr. A. A. Osei 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, even though what he is saying may be correct, the schedule officer on his own cannot because the additions for several committees should add up to what has been approved. Even though it is two cedis, you may find that if you try to do some arithmetic, we will be messing this up, and it will cause great havoc to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. So, we have to be very careful. The schedule officer has no authority. This is what we approved in principle, so we have to be very careful.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Hon
Minister, I think the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is here; have you put your heads together?
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have
conferred with the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, the figure should read GH¢71,925,754.00 as reflected in the Budget Statement.
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes, and
as reflected in the motion.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Chairman for the Committee, you may -- [Interruption] -- Please, just be very brief. We have the documents.
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to
second the motion moved by the Hon Minister for Communications, for the sum of GH¢71,925,754 for the services of the Ministry for the year 2010.
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Hon
Member, are you Chairman of the Committee?
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am the
Vice- Chairman of the Committee.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Leadership, please, advise us. And please, in the future, just do the right thing by asking permission for appropriate persons to speak to this instead of simply letting others do it without informing the House. It is just right and proper.
Mr. Gbediame 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he is the
Vice-Chairman, and I take your advice.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
So
you seek permission of the House for the Vice- Chairman to second the motion in place of the Chairman. You may proceed.
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Communications were referred to the Select Committee on Communications for consideration and report in accordance with Orders 140 (4) and 182 of the Standing Orders of the House.
This followed the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for 2010 to the House by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009 in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Order 140 (1) of the Standing Orders of the House.
The Committee met on 10th December, 2009 to consider the referral. The Minister for Communications, Hon Haruna Iddrisu (MP), accompanied by officials of the Ministry and its agencies attended the sitting. The sitting was also attended by an official of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
2.0 Reference Documents
i. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
ii. The Standing Orders of the House;
iii. The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for the 2010 Financial Year;
iv. Report of the Select Committee on Communications on the Annual Est imates of the Ministry of Communications for 2009.
3.0 Mission Statement and Objectives of the Ministry
The Ministry of Communications (MOC) exists to facilitate the development of a reliable and cost-effective world- class communications infrastructure and services, driven by appropriate technological innovations to enhance the promotion of economic competitiveness in a knowledge-based environment.
In pursuance of this mission statement, the MOC has the following objectives among others:
i. to promote the development of nationwide communications and technological infras-tructural backbone and services;
ii. to support the creation of a broad-based communication and technological environment that maintains a balance among stakeholders;
iii. to facilitate the provision of quality meteorological data and forecast in support of weather sensitive sectors of the economy;
iv. to strengthen the institutional and human resource capacities for quality service delivery;
v. to rev iew and deve lop policies that will enhance well functioning and self- financed regulatory bodies in a competitive Information and Communications Technology (ICT) environment;
vi. to facilitate the application of computer systems to improve the quality and efficiency of public services; and
vii. to develop and promote commu- nications technology culture at all levels of the society.
4.0 Agenda under MOC
The MOC has the following agencies for the implementation of its programmes and policies:
i . National Communications Authority (NCA).
ii. Ghana Post Company Limited.
iii. Ghana Meteorological Agency
(GMA).
iv. Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (KACE).
v. G h a n a I n f o r m a t i o n a n d Communication Technology Directorate (GICTD).
vi. Postal and Courier Services Regu l a to ry Commis s ion
(PCSRC).
vii . Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunicat ions
(GIFTEL).
v i i i . I T E n a b l e d S e r v i c e s (ITES) Directorate.
ix. Ghana Multimedia Centre
(GMC)
These agencies are tasked to handle specific functional areas in line with the objectives of the Ministry.
5.0 Performance in 2009
In spite of the low budgetary allocation, the Ministry made significant achievements which include the following:
5.1 Automation of Revenue Generation Agencies
To i m p r o v e e f f i c i e n c y a n d effectiveness of tax administration, the Ministry concluded the contract award process for the automation of the revenue agencies to ensure speed in tax assessment, transparency and citizens' friendly oriented public service system for revenue generation.
5.2 Telecom Penetration
The Ministry achieved a total telecom penetration of 14,509,908 with 14,242,476 mobile and fixed line services of 267,432. There was an expansion of telephone facilities to the rural areas which increased access to telecommunication, enhanced employment generation and improved Quality of Service (QoS). 5.3 Improving Weather Services
The Ghana Meteorological Agency successfully carried out the trial testing of the Automatic Weather Station (AWS) sensors in order to improve weather forecasting reports and provide reliable climate data to support national development.
5.4 Provision of Modern ICT Infrastructure for Growth
The Government secured a US$30 million facility and a consultancy for the construction of a National Data Centre to efficiently deliver converged ICT services for the objective of extending fibre optic infrastructure to all district capitals and provide broadband capacity to facilitate e-governance activities.
5.5 Universal Access
To support the extension of ICT
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.


infrastructure and services to underserved and unserved areas of the country, GIFEC assisted five (5) first and second cycle institutions with connectivity and ICT equipment. Six (6) new ones are being undertaken at Akwasiho, Ayomso, Agogo, Oppong Valley, Agona Amenfi and Ajaaka Manso. The intention is to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural areas, improve private sector participation in the provision of ICT solutions and to establish common telecommunications facilities.

5.6 Development of ICT Park

The Ministry procured consultancy services for carrying out feasibility study, drawing business plan and strategy, and promoting activities for the purpose of constructing an ICT park with the view to generating 300 BPO companies to create job avenues.

5.7 Community Information Centres (CICs)

To monitor the construction of CICs in all the 230 constituencies, managers were recruited for 42 CICs and preparations have been made to inaugurate the National Oversight Committee for the management of the CICs. The intention is to increase citizens' participation in governance, increase research activities and access to information by communities.

5.8 Human Resource Development

The governing council for ITES Vocational Training Expert Group has been established and the BPO/ITES training curriculum has been streamlined to align with the skill requirement of the industry. The intended outcome is to provide skilled ICT personnel to take advantage of the abundant BPO

opportunities in the country.

5.9 ICT Business Incubation and BPO Skills Development

With the collaboration of the business school of KNUST, the GMIC delivered business development training to clients. Sixty (60) public sector personnel at the Microsoft Laboratory and thirty (30) Data Entry Trainers under the BPO training programme were trained.

Two (2) incubating companies developed an e-learning platform for business development training and educational software for basic to junior high school level in mathematics, science and english respectively. This will enable Ghana develop entrepreneurial business entities to achieve the objective of promoting ICT business incubation to nurture innovative ideas.

5.10 Modernisation and Development of the Postal Sector

To have an efficient and reliable postal and courier system, a national Draft Postal Policy was developed to increase citizens' access to postal services and to make the sector highly competitive.

5.11 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

To encourage healthy competition among mobile service providers, consultations were commenced with telecom industry players to define the technical parameters with the ultimate objective of encouraging consumer choice and lower prices of mobile service.

5.12 Telecommunications Gateway Project

The contract has been awarded for the commencement of the Telecommu- nications Gateway Project to achieve an efficient regulatory oversight on telephone

services and to enhance both operator and government revenue generation.

5.13 National Digital Migration

A Technical Broadcasting Committee has been put in place while pilot testing with selected media houses is ongoing to ensure smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The project will enhance consumer choice, quality of service and to free national spectrum for other telecom services.

6.0 Outlookl for 2010

In furtherance of the Government of Ghana's medium-term (2010-2012) objective of ensuring macroeconomic stability and sustained growth through the provision, among others, of infrastructure inc lud ing ICT, the Min i s t ry o f Communications intends to pursue policies and programmes towards the attainment of the goals and objectives of the four themes of Government's developmental strategy, namely: transparent and accountable government; strong economy for real jobs, investing in people, and expanding infrastructure for growth.

In this direction, the Ministry plans to undertake the following in the year under consideration:

6.1 Quality of Service

With the installation of the ASCOM Quality of Service Monitoring Equipment, the Ministry intends to supervise the decentralisation of the NCA's monitoring work to check the incidence of call drops, inadequate service coverage, network congestion and network unavailability.

6.2 Mobile Number Portability

In this regard, the Ministry, acting through the NCA, will inject healthy competition between and among operators by consolidating efforts aimed at ensuring the successful deployment of Number Portability Solution. The intention is to give users choice to migrate from one network to another in search of better services and hence serve as a motivation for improved services on the part of service providers.

6.3 Consolidated National Gateway Monitoring System

Again, the Ministry, taking advantage of the favourable climate for infrastructural development will install the Consolidated National Gateway Monitoring System purposefully to enhance the NCA's oversight on telephone service clearing house which will help in controlling all grey routes. This will check the incidence of fraud while enhancing revenue generation to both operators and Government.

6.4 Sim Card Registration

For the similar purpose of eliminating the telephone-enabled incidence of fraud and other security concerns, the Ministry, through the NCA, will facilitate the technical processes towards ensuring the registration of Sim Cards in the country.

6.5 Provision of Broadband ICT Infrastructure for Growth

Under the e-Government infrastructure programme, arrangements have been concluded to extend high speed broadband capacity to all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, provide equipment for connecting up to 550 MDA facilities to the wireless last mile access network and a high speed interconnection for all MDAs that will be facilitated on the core network running at 10 Gbps (Gigabits per second).
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.


6.5.1 e-Government Infrastructure

The Ministry will also establish an enhanced e-government infrastructure platform with accompanying terminal equipment to facilitate education, health, commerce, agriculture and governance right to the grass-roots level. A secondary data centre will be developed in the year under consideration to support the initiative.

6.5.2 National Internet Registry

Also, as a way of enhancing the use of the internet pursuant to the migration from IPV4 to IPV6 and to deal with security concerns, a National Internet Registry will be established.

6 5 . 3 P o r t a l D a t a C e n t r e Infrastructure

As a way of ensuring accountable governance , Por ta l Data Cent re Infrastructure will be developed to enable the Ministry pilot the following e-applications: Content Management System for managing hosted content on the portal; Payment Gateway to facilitate portal-based receipts and payments; e-Forms Application and Document Management Application. Also, the e-Parliament and the e-Immigration components of the e-Government initiative will commence in the course of the year.

6.5.4 Central Data Centre

The Ministry intends to set up a centralised data centre to consolidate the storage of data needed for effective decision-making and to help reduce cost of keeping data in different silos.

6.6 Automation of Revenue Generating Agencies

Pursuant to the collaborative efforts

with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Plaanning culminating in the public-private partnership arrangement with the GCNET, the project to automate the revenue agencies will commence within the year. This will enhance network transparency and accountability, address revenue leakages and improve revenue generation for the country.

6.7 Development of Enterprise A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d e-Government Interoperability Framework (EA/e-GIF)

This involves the establishment of standards to promote business and performance-based framework to support cross-agency collaboration, transfor-mation and public sector-wide improvement in pursuit of a vibrant e-government service delivery. In 2010, policy and ICT management staff of MDAs will be trained in the EA/e- GIF initiative while a pilot Enterprise Architecture programme will be held for IRS, Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Communications.

6.8 Schools Connectivity Programme

GIFEC, in partnership with the GETFund, will implement the e-school programme which will provide internet connectivity and computers to schools. This is part of efforts to ensure universal access.

6.9 Common Telecom Facilities

Further to efforts at facilitating universal access, six(6) new common telecommunication facilities will be undertaken to enhance connectivity to over 200 communities. This, particularly, those that will be sited along main corridors, is expected to help fight highway crime.

6.10 The Pan-African E-Network Project

To consol idate the process of integration, the project to connect all 53 nations of the African Union by a satellite

and Fibre Optic Network for effective communication and connectivity among the nations to promote e-education, e-health and also help link up Heads of State to one another will commence operations. The University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology will be integrated to the system.

7.0 Budget Estimates for 2010

For its operations in 2010, the Ministry of Communications has been allocated an amount of seventy-one million, nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, seven hundred and fifty-six Ghana cedis (GH¢71,925,756.00). This is made up of the following components:

a. GOG

-- GH¢8,085,473.00

11.24 per cent

b. IGF

-- GH¢2,420,000.00

3.37 per cent

c. Donor

-- GH¢61,420,283.00

85.39 per cent

Total - -

GH¢71,925,756.00

The table below shows the proposed allocations to the various MDAs.

Summary of Budget Allocations for 2010 Fiscal Year (GH¢)

8.0 Observations and Recommendations

During its deliberations, the Committee made the following observations:

8.1.1 Low Budgetary Allocation

The Committee observed with concern, the rather low budgetary allocation to the

Ministry having regard to the numerous activities it plans to execute within the year under consideration.

The Commit tee 's observa t ion stemmed from its belief that in this era of globalisation when the entire world is being propelled by technological advancement, Ghana needs to be able to develop its technology infrastructure adequately enough so as not to be left behind and lose its capacity to attract foreign direct investment which is vital in growing the economy into a middle income status.

8.1.2 Low Budgetary Allocation and Technology Park

The Committee was particularly enthused about the intended creation of the Technology Park which is supposed to complement the effort to create the requisite environment for job creation and wondered if this noble project could materialise in the face of low budgetary allocation.

8.1.3 Government Assisted PC Programme (GAPP) i Advance Computer 4all

Similarly, the programme designed to increase access and use of computers with the aim of transforming the economy into a technologically-driven one, stands the risk of being unduly delayed for reason of low budgetary allocation, the Comittee observed.

The Committee accordingly recom- mends that having regard to the Ministry's role in enhancing the effectiveness of all productive sectors of the country, efforts should be made by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to augment the Ministry's funding in a supplementary estimate and also in Budgets of subsequent years.

8.1.4 Non-Release of Investment Funds
Mr. Cobbina 3 p.m.


In a similar vein, the Committee noted that while the allocation for the Ministry has, over the years, been low, the non- release of investment funds for 2009 poses yet another problem. The effect of this phenomenon, the Committee observed, is the need to restart certain projects and programmes right from the scratch as they could not be commenced in the past year. It also means the inability to meet certain targets.

8.1.5 National Digital Migration

The Committee was told that the Ministry had a significant role to play in the National Digital Migration Programme for which it intends to set up a technical committee to guide the orderly process of migration from analogue to digital broadcasting in line with international convergence standards.

The Committee observed that any future non-release of funds would result in the inability of the country to meet the international target of 2012 consequent upon which the nation will stand the risk of a collapsed broadcasting industry.

In the light of the foregoing, the Committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning makes releases of funds to the Ministry a priority to enable the Ministry discharge its responsibility to the full.

8.2 Donor Funding

Again, the Committee observed that the allocation to the Ministry was donor-driven with the donor component amounting to 85.39 per cent of the total allocation of GH¢71,925,754.00. The Committee was particularly concerned about the global financial crises which was yet to ease completely and wondered

if there was any certainty about the release of all donor components of the allocation.

8.2.1 Community Information Centres

The Committee lauded the initiative to promote an all-inclusive information and knowledge-based society to the benefit of both urban and rural communities through the establishment of the community information centres in all the 230 constituencies of the country. It was the Committee's view that the e-governance project together with other social programmes including e-health, e-agriculture, et cetera will be greatly enhanced nationwide by the establishment of these centres.

However, the Committee observed that the non-release of donor funding could truncate the project and all the intended benefits would be illusive.

8.2.2 Public Private Partnership (PPP)

The Committee learnt with a sense of approval the effort of the Ministry to rely on a PPP to promote the laying of fibre optic backbone to link the oil producing area. The Committee viewed this as a healthy development and urged the Ministry to endeavour to introduce the initiative to all other sectors of the Ministry to reduce the over-reliance on donor funding which has the potential to disorganise the nation in the event of the non-release of a significant portion of it in a given year.

8.3 Internally Generated Fund (IGF)

The Committee observed that given the pivotal role the Ministry plays in creating the enabling environment for the effective performance of the private sector organisations in the industry, its IGF projection for the year was rather low.

The Committee's observation was premised against the backdrop of the low
rose
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
On a
point of order?
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:10 p.m.
On a point of order,
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
Order! Order! Hon Members, order.
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the figure that was used by the Committee at the Committee meeting has been changed. At the moment, we are being told that the figure they used at the Committee is different from what was reported in the Budget Statement.
Therefore the consideration and recommendation that the Vice Chairman is presenting to the House is based on the figure that was used at the Committee meeting and since that figure is different from what is in the Budget Statement, Mr. Speaker, the House cannot rely on a figure that had not been informed by the Budget Statement.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
Order!
Order!
Hon Member, we have heard you.
H o n M a j o r i t y L e a d e r o r h i s representative, would you like to respond to that?
Mr. Gbediame 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister himself is here. He is prepared to give us the figure and accordingly, the correction on the Report can be made.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
Hon Minister, please, proceed.
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the
figure should read GH¢71,925,754.000. Mr. Speaker, I may wish to refer you to page 352 of the Budget Statement itself where the breakdowns have been given. I think the anomaly came in respect of Government of Ghana (GoG) allocation. It should have been GH¢8,085,472 but I think mistakenly they referred to 473 instead of the 472. That is what brought about the anomaly.
S o t h e f i g u r e c u r r e n t l y i s GH¢71,925.754.00 for the approval of the House and that is what appears in the Budget Statement and in the Order Paper.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
For our purposes, the Hon Minister confirms that we are working on GH¢71,925,754.00 and we proceed accordingly.
Hon Members, the motion as moved
and seconded is for the consideration of the House. And please, we are not going to go back to the figures to be approved. We all know, it is quite clear and we have them.
Question proposed.
Nana Akomea (NPP -- Okaikoi
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
Order!
Order!
Nana Akomea 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, this my
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:10 p.m.
Please,
proceed.
Nana Akomea 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the

Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member for Ablekuma South, in the backyard of Accra has been harassing me all day long.

Mr. Speaker, like I said, I would like to clear a little misunderstanding from the Hon Minister's report on the budget. Mr. Speaker, when the Minister mentioned ‘laptops' I saw a few Hon Members on the other side of the House expressing misgivings about laptops.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to state clearly that what the Hon Minister meant by ‘laptops', are mechanical laptops -- This type of laptop; no other type of laptop.

Mr. Speaker, there is no gainsaying that the work of the Ministry of Communications is very important to our national development. After all, we are in the information technology world and my comments are meant to ensure that the Ministry is able to realize its objectives to enhance national development.

Mr. Speaker, the Hon Minister gave a report on telecommunication penetration
Nana Akomea 3:20 p.m.


and I am happy to note in this direction, Mr. Speaker, that with the partnership of Ghana Telecom (GT) and Vodafone, Ghana Telecom is poised to contribute its quota towards the national agenda of national development.

Mr. Speaker, Ghana Telecom had not paid taxes to Government over a long period compared to some of the other competitors like MTN. But we are assured that, with the partnership with Vodafone, Ghana Telecom should be able to turn round so that we start seeing Ghana Telecom paying taxes to the Consolidated Fund and for Ghana Telecom to be repositioned to contribute its quota to national development as far as telecommunications are concerned.

Mr. Speaker, the Hon Minister talked

a lot about e-Government and when you look at the Report of the Committee, there are a lot of sections on e-Government. If you take paragraph 6. 5 for example, there is talk about provision of broadband ICT infrastructure; there is the talk about e-Government infrastructure; there is the National Internet Registry, there is the Portal Data Centre Infrastructure, Central Data Centre, Automation of Revenue Agencies, Develope-Government Inter- operability Framework.

Mr. Speaker, there is so much talk about e-governance. But it is difficult to find the application of information technology in our governance process. If you went to the Passport Office today, Mr. Speaker, or the Birth and Death Certificate Registry or even if you applied for a driver's licence or you wanted to register your property, you still need to fill quadruplicate copies of documents. You still need to move from office to office, desk to desk to be

able to access some public service. It does not look like we are achieving the benefit of e-governance in the delivery of public service despite all of the nice headlines in the Report.

I will urge the Hon Minister to focus the Ministry on this e-governance project so that next year by this time when it comes here, he will be able to tell us that a particular public service can be delivered or accessed through information technology.

If you take this Parliament, Mr. Speaker, look at the budget, if you look in front of every Member there are documents upon documents, upon documents. It is all paper work. So I am happy that the Minister is going to provide laptops so that Members can access all these documents by the press of a button, then we will be moving forward as a nation using ICT.

Mr. Speaker, the Hon Minister talked about the registration of SIM cards, the principle is good but I will urge the Hon Minister to bring legislation to this House so that this House will be part of the process of fashioning out how SIM cards would be registered. I believe that all of us would agree on the principle but let us have legislation because there are issues about privacy and personal liberty involved and I hope that the Hon Minister would take that on board.

Mr. Speaker, the Hon Minister talked about mobile number portability. The principle is good but there is no time line and there is no schedule. Are we going to be able to access mobile number portability by the end of next year, or in two years, or in three years? The way it has been presented in the Statement and the Report, we do not know when this facility will be available and mobile number portability is so crucial in ensuring efficient delivery of services by the mobile operators that it cannot be left hanging as a mere statement or intention however

well intentioned.

I will urge the Hon Minister to put a definite time line to the time when we would have mobile number portability in this country.

Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Meteorological Agency has applied for funds and for this House to support it in securing funding to purchase a central computer that would enable the Agency to more accurately predict weather patterns. Mr. Speaker, we have asked the Agency to prepare a proper business plan to show that it will be worthwhile for Government to vote two million dollars to procure a computer for them. So often we have found that expensive equipment is procured for public institutions and because this equipment is not run on sound commercial lines, it breaks down and then that is the end of it and then public money goes down the drain.

With these few comments, Mr. Speaker, I support the motion.
Mr. E. K. Bedzra (NDC -- Ho West) 3:20 p.m.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak to the motion on the floor and also urge my Hon Colleagues to support the budget for the Ministry of Communications.
Mr. Speaker, it gladdens my heart to note that the Ministry of Communications in 2010 will embark on e-Government infrastructure, more especially when Hon Members of Parliament will be given laptops to work and also access our information through the internet connectivity as well as provide pen drives.
Mr. Speaker, my community has benefited from the Community Information Centre, it is a good idea and I support it.
I believe that other communities will also benefit from it in the year 2010.
Mr. Speaker, the next issue is about the school connectivity programme. I believe that in recent times we need internet connectivity in various schools to have access to information around the globe and if really the Ministry of Communications will be able to supply or connect all schools, especially the secondary schools in Ghana, then I am in for it.
Mr. Speaker, the last thing I want to talk about is the SIM card registration that the Ministry will embark upon. I will be one of the people who will support the suggestion the Hon Member brought on the floor that the Hon Minister should bring a legislation to the House for us to fashion out how we can all register SIM cards in Ghana. We all know how people can just buy a SIM card, just make mobile calls, text messages and then remove the SIM card and throw it away.
Mr. Speaker, with these few words, I support the motion and urge all Hon Colleagues to also support it.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang
(NPP -- New Juaben North): Mr. Speaker, I thank you very much. I am going to speak to a point which most Ghanaians are very much concerned with. I have made this point privately to the Hon Minister and to Hon Ministers before him.
Mr. Speaker, I have an uneasy feeling that there is a cartel operation in this country vis-à-vis the service providers, that the amount of money we pay as a people for the services, we do not get the quality of those services. In fact, some people predict that we are paying as much as 450 per cent more than any other people. We are the ones who are supposed
Mr. E. K. Bedzra (NDC -- Ho West) 3:20 p.m.


to be underdeveloped, why should we be the ones who are being exploited?

Mr. Speaker, I do not know on what basis the charges are made. You make one call, it drops six times and every time you make the call again, you are supposed to pay for it. If this is not a cartel operation, if it is not exploitation of the people, I do not know what it is. It is about time that we spoke in this House about the fact that we need value for money in what we do.

Mr. Speaker, I have refrained from speaking on any issue on this budget. I sit back, I listen but in this instance, I want to make the point to the Hon Minister that if he has the regulatory functions, if they have the “black” box, they must utilize it. Any time a call drops, why should we pay for it? The mobile service providers are making millions.

Look at all the advertisements all over the country, everywhere you go, they are painting colours on houses, what do we get for this? I believe, Mr. Speaker, time has come for the Hon Minister to represent the interest of the people and to ensure that this cartel operation does not continue anymore -- [Hear! Hear!] -- and that is why I feel, I have made the point and I hope it has gone home

The people of this country cannot afford to pay so much money to be dissipated on huge advertisements and what have you, and not get the value for money. Consumer protection must be the order of the day but we do not get it here.

My point is made, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah (NPP Effia- Kwesimintsim) 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to support the motion.
Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini (NDC -- Tamale Central) 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, when your Committee met to consider the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Communications, the Committee was confronted with the issue of the low internally generated revenue.
The Committee appreciated the fact that there are many departments and agencies under the Ministry of Communications with the potential to generate a lot of resources internally.
An example was given of the Ghana
Meteorological Department (GMD). All over the place, anytime we are listening to the news on the television or we are listening to the radio, we hear them talk about the weather reports. When a plane is landing in Ghana, the GMD must provide information. Its urgency weather conditions in the country before an aircraft can land cannot be overemphasised.
There are many departments and agencies and institutions that live on the report of the Ghana Meteorological Agency. They still require an amount of US$2 million to be able to buy up- to-date equipment. They call it radar. Mr. Speaker, then we ask, why do you not generate enough resources from the services that you provide to the public, so that Government can complement your efforts by giving you some of the money to be able to add up and buy equipment for the purposes of continuing to supply or service the public sector?
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
I gave you the chance out of deference, so if you can just conclude.
Mr. Fuseini 3:30 p.m.
Very well. Mr. Speaker, you look at the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, they have the capacity to generate resources but the resources they generate are low.
So we are calling on these institutions and other institutions that can enter into public-private partnerships for the purposes of enhancing their activities to explore those avenues because Government resources cannot always be there to go round all these agencies. But those agencies have a duty, in fact, an obligation to explore ways and means
-- 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip, just a few words out of deference so if you would just be very brief.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah (NPP - Suhum) 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am actually a member of the Committee.
I rise to support the motion as moved
by the Hon Minister for Communications. When you look at the Committee's Report, paragraph 6.2, it talks about mobile number portability.
While this is a very good policy in terms of ensuring that users are able to get good quality of service because providers know that there is always the danger of the users migrating very easily to other networks, it is important that the Ministry hastens slowly because we still have very young networks that are in the offing like Zain and Glo.
The potential for mobile number portability is that when there is a new network, you see users migrate to that network very quickly and then it congests that network. And so while it is a good policy, its implementation must be measured very carefully.
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, may I express my gratitude to Hon Members for their very informed comments and to say that I have taken on board the very legitimate comments made, one, in particular, about mobile number portability. It is a desirable thing that will guarantee choice and give consumers an alternative.
Mr. Speaker, our cut-off point will be 2012, and as former Hon Deputy
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3:40 p.m.


Minister, he will share some -- there are new entrants, Glo Moblie is yet to lunch onto the Ghanaian market and with all fairness, we will need to give them some opportunity. At least, they should even have one per cent penetration in order to be able to avail themselves of some facilities.

We expect that by the end of second quarter next year, we will put a technical committee together which will be chaired by the regulator supported by the regulatory directors of the phone entities to engage a consultant to work towards mobile number portability.

Mr. Speaker, as you are personally aware, there is a relationship between SIM card registration and how you prudently can do mobile number portability and there is also a relationship between crime. I mean there are many persons who have suffered anonymous threats and anonymous phone calls because the ownership of those phones are not known.

We would encourage it but it should be a voluntary exercise, in the interest of the subscriber that you are encouraged to want to register a SIM card so that tomorrow when you want to migrate from one network to the other, it becomes much easier.

Mr. Speaker, the Ranking Member made a very significant point about the e-Ghana Project and in particular, issues of e-Governance. Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, it is in stages, the first stage was to get an ICT policy for the country which was done.

The second stage was legislation and one is happy to know that we do not have an enabling legislation whether Electronic Transactions Act or Electronic Communications Act that makes our telecom environment very secure and safe for investment. We are now deploying modern infrastructure and the next phase will be e-Applications. That is why

I related to the new contract that the Ministry has signed with the GCNet for the automation of the revenue agencies. That is a first major first step.

Indeed, the World Bank has queried us for low disbursement of that US$40 million which was secured for the purpose of digitalizing the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies. As I indicated, when we do e-Parliament, and have an intranet portal for Parliament we will do same for e-Immigration so that we do not have to arrive at the Airport and there is a difficulty scanning your passports and other related issues. That is also on the application front and that equally will be looked at.

I also take note of the concern about the need for increased numbers for the Community Information Centres. I know that there is a lot of enthusiasm and interest. While the world is talking about protecting fiber space, our challenge is still access to the fiber space.

Finally Mr. Speaker, I am obliged to respond to the Hon Hackman Owusu- Agyemang -- I think that is very legitimate, the point he has made about quality of service and I trust that the Ministry, acting through the National Communications Authority will not hesitate to sanction delinquent service providers.

But Mr. Speaker, it is a larger issue that I may not use this forum to explain. In one breath the Ghanaian public needs quality of service, in another breath they

are prohibitive of citing of cell sites which has a relationship with improving quality of service. But that notwithstanding, we have no excuse in ensuring that Ghanaians get value for money for the services that they get from the operators.

With these few comments Mr. Speaker, I thank Hon Members for their contri- butions.

Question put and motion agreed to.

Resolved:

That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢71,925,754,00 for the services of the Ministry of Communications for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Majority Leader, indication, which item?
Mr. Gbediame 3:40 p.m.
Motion 24.
MR. FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Which item?
Mr. Gbediame 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my information is that motion 24 is short and we can easily finish it and then we go to the Financial Bills. Motion 24 -- Youth and Sports.
Mr. Speaker, I want to take permission from the Chair to allow the Hon Deputy Minister to move the motion on behalf of his Hon Minister who is engaged in some other activity and to crave the indulgence of our Hon Colleagues to allow the Hon Deputy Minister to move the motion.
Mr. Ambrose P. Dery 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would want some guidance in this matter.
I think we have been collaborating on both sides to get this Budget approved. Information is that you had agreed that after considering the estimates for the Ministry of Communications, you were going to take the estimates for the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare. This is because we are positioning our Ranking Members in such a way that they can be here at the appropriate time to assist. So if it would not cause any harm, we have her here now to do that. We can take the estimates for the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare and we go on. The Ranking Member for the Ministry of Youth and Sports was not told, when I called him he was resisting, so I do not know what to do.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon
Deputy Majority Whip, what do you have to say to that?
Mr. Gbediame 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we have
indeed been collaborating. Like I told you, this has been necessitated because of certain engagements by the Hon Minister. So I would crave the indulgence of this House to allow him to move this motion then we can move ahead.
Mr. Dery 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I do not
know if the Hon Minister for Employment and Social Welfare is here or not. Is he not here? Yes, the Hon Minister is here, and you are skipping his Ministry to ask permission for a Deputy Minister.
Mr. Speaker, I want us to make the best use of the time and what we have done on our side, is to get our people in line. So where you bring something out of turn, then you are not likely to get the collaboration on this side as much as you should. I have seen the Hon Minister for Health here, as far as we are concerned I do not think that is coming on today. So please, let us put our House in order and do not waste the time of Hon Ministers.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon
Deputy Minority Leader, the Deputy
Mr. Dery 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, all these
things are to make sure that the work goes forward so we would take that. We would take that and go back to the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare but we would caution on this side that we do collaborate and not argue openly.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
I agree
entirely with you.
Item 24?
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 3:50 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion moved by the Hon Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports and in doing so I present your Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Youth and Sports were referred to the Select Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture for consideration and report, in accordance with Orders 140 (4) and 186 of the Standing Orders of the House. This followed the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for 2010 to the House by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Order 140 (1) of the Standing Orders of the House.
The Committee met on Thursday, 10th December ,2009 to examine the estimates. Present at the meeting was the sector Minister, Hon Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, (MP), accompanied by his Deputy, Hon Nii Nortey Duah and a team from the Ministry and its agencies. Officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) were also present.
The Committee wishes to express its appreciation to the Hon Minister and his team for attending upon the Committee.
2.0 Reference Documents
i. Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992.
ii. The Standing Orders of the Par- liament of Ghana.
iii. The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for the 2009 Financial Year.
iv. The Medium Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF) for 2010
- 2012.
v. The Annual Estimates for 2010 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
3.0 Mission Statement and Medium Term Objectives
The Ministry of Youth and Sports is responsible for the organisation and empowerment of the youth for national development. It is also responsible for the development and promotion of sports in the country.
In pursuant of this mission, the Ministry has the following objectives under its medium term plan:
to ensure a coherent institutional framework for youth development;
to promote sports development; and
to promote and create productive employment opportunities for all the youth
4.0 Agencies and Institutions Under the Ministry
T h e M i n i s t r y h a s o v e r s i g h t responsibility over the following agencies and institutions:
a. National Sports Council
b. National Sports College
c. National Youth Council
5.0 Performance in 2009
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 3:50 p.m.
The National Youth Policy was reviewed to make it a more dynamic, pro- youth and multi-partisan National Youth Policy. Also, Government together with non-governmental organisations and other development partners successfully carried out its regular annual youth programmes. These included the International Day of the Youth and National Youth for Peace Camp.
Counselling services on health, career development and other social issues were organised throughout the country. Regional youth dialogues were held in all the regions to enlighten the youth on regional development plans and to foster effective partnership between the youth and the Regional Co-ordinating Councils.
National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP)
The National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) provided jobs for 110,796 persons across the country and also formulated a strategic plan to ensure the smooth implementation of its programmes and activities. The management and administrative systems of the NYEP were also restructured. Five thousand ghost names were expunged from the list of beneficiaries, thereby making room for an equal number of unemployed youth to be engaged.
Available figures also indicate that since its inception, the NYEP which was meant to address youth unemployment in the country, had met only 20 per cent of its employment target.
Sports
Significant sports achievements during

the year were:

i. the senior national football team, the Black Stars, qualified to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tournament to take place in South Africa for the second consecutive time. This also automatically qualifies the team to participate in the 27th edition of the African Cup of Nations Tournament to take place in Angola in January 2010;

ii. the National U-20 Team, the Black Satellites won the World Cup in the World under 20 Youth Championship that took place in Egypt in October, 2009. Ghana once again chalked another first in Africa by being the first country on the continent to annex the World U 2 Youth trophy. The Black Satellites had earlier in January this year won the Africa U-20 Youth Championship in Rwanda; and

iii. Ghana also successfully hosted the ninth edition of the Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) African cup of Nations Tournament. The nation's only hockey pitch was re- constructed into an ultra-modern hockey stadium with base astro-turf to host the games.

6.0 Outlook for 2010

Youth Programmes

Key programmes and activities planned are:

to commence and adopt a three- year strategic plan to develop both the youth and sport sector, in collaboration with the major sector stakeholders;

the submission of a Draft National Youth Bill to Cabinet and then to Parliament to be passed into the National Youth Law to replace the NRCD 241 of 1974;

to intensify and expand the scope of the implementation of routine annual youth programmes. In conjunction with the Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO), voluntary work camps will be organised for over 20,000 youth to promote local volunteering and making the culture of giving back to society one of the key pillars of national development;

the International Day of the Youth as well as Africa Day of the Youth will be marked while the National Youth for Peace Camp, and Regional Youth Dialogues will be organised to educate the youth on current government programmes; and

the Youth Leadership and Skills Training Institute and the increase of course duration from 2 to 4 years.

National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP)

The programme will engage 100,000 youth in 2010. Emphasis will be placed on the Trade and Vocational Module, the Mobile Phone Repairs and Assembling Module and Youth in Agriculture as well as Youth in Construction modules.

The initiation of legislation to streamline the operations of the NYEP and also establish the National Youth Employment Programme Fund.

Sports

Key programmes and activities planned are:

the development of a new National Sports Policy to replace the existing one formulated 25 years ago. It is envisaged that, the new Sports Policy together with the new Sports Law will provide the needed

funding and infrastructure for sports development in the country; the participation of the Black Stars in the 27th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations Tournament scheduled for January 2010 in Angola and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Tournament in South Africa;

the involvement of the Local Black Stars, the Black Meteors, the Black Queens and Black Princesses and others in other qualifying matches for their respective tournaments;

t h e p a r t n e r i n g w i t h o t h e r stakeholders to provide adequate funding for Ghana's preparation and participation in the Youth Olympic Games to be held in August, 2010 in Singapore and the Commonwealth Games due to take place in October, 2010 in New Delhi, India and other international competitions;

as a matter of urgency, Government will continue to develop and revamp sports, especially the so-called “lesser known sports” through the organisation of the District, Regional and National Sports Festivals as well as the Security Services Sports Association (SESSA) Games and School Sports;

the continuation of the construction works at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium and refurbishment of the Ohene Djan Tennis Courts for the Euro/Africa Tennis Competitions. The Azumah Nelson Sports Complex in Kaneshie will also be rehabilitated; and

the establishment of gyms and out- door multipurpose courts for hand games, for example basketball, handball and others in all the regional capitals as well as 3 multi- purpose sports halls in the next few

years.

6.1 Budget Estimates for 2010

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has been allocated an amount of forty- four million, six hundred and thirty- six thousand, six hundred and sixty- nine Ghana cedis and seven pesewas (GH¢44,636,669.00) for its operations for the fiscal year 2010.

The breakdown is as follows:

a. GoG GH¢28,342,885

b. IGF GH¢1,293,784

c. MDRI GH¢15,000,000

Total

GH¢44,636,669.00

Table I. Below is a table representing the GOG allocation to the

Ministry and its departments and agencies

7.0 Observations and Recommendations

7 .1 Preparat ions Towards the Impending Tournaments

The Committee was informed that resources available to the Ministry of Youth and Sports were woefully inadequate, taking into account the numerous tournaments in which Ghana would be participating including; the African Cup in Angola and the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa.

The Committee is of the view that sports, especially football has over the years proven to be a symbol of peace and
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 3:50 p.m.


valuable instrument for national cohesion. The Committee is, therefore, recom- mending to the Presidency and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to make funds available to resource the Black Stars and other sports activities to ensure that Ghana would maintain or further advance its status in sports.

National Youth Employment Programme

Mr. Speaker, the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) which was relocated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports was allocated an amount of fifteen million Ghana cedis (GH¢15,000,000) which is provided under the Multi Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) for its activities for the year. According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and MoFEP, the amount excludes funds expected from the various statutory sources such as: District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), GETFund, NHIS, and Communications Service Tax.

Mr. Speaker, the importance of the National Youth Employment Programme cannot be overemphasised in view of the fact that it serves as a safety net for a greater number of our youth who otherwise will be engaged in activities that might be inimical to our national developmental aspiration due to unemployment.

In the light of the above observation, the Committee wishes to recommend to Government and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to consider making sufficient resources available to the Ministry so as to enable it expand the programme to cater for more young unemployed Ghanaians so that they can also contribute their quota to national development. The Committee further recommends that Government expedite action on the National Youth Bill for consideration of the House.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) and the collaborating Ministries should release the percentage due the National Youth Employment promptly when the monies have been collected.

The Committee was also informed that the Eco-Brigade, a Private Public Partnership aims at ensuring the cleanliness of the country's coastal lines. The project is expected to employ about ten thousand (10,000) youth with the initial target of the inhabitants of the Western, Central, Greater Accra and Volta Regions, who would be engaged in the cleaning and monitoring of Ghana's beach front.

The Committee was hopeful that the project will impact positively on the health of Ghanaians along the coast as well as create jobs and reduce poverty among the youth in our society and therefore, urges Government to give its maximum support to the project.

7.3 Ghana's Participation in the World Cup

The Committee was reliably informed by the Ministry that Ghana's participation in group stage of the South Africa 2010 alone will generate US$9 million. This amount includes an initial amount of $1 million out of the $9 million which would be given to the country to enable the senior national team make necessary preparations before the tournament.

Mr. Speaker, this is a Ministry which handles over thirty-nine (39) sports associations. Ghanaians are very passionate about sports in general and it is high time the enhancement of the other lesser sports disciplines was considered. This is why, while lauding FIFA for this package, the Committee is urging Government to make more resources available to the Ministry for Ghana to make very positive impacts in the other sports.

8.0 Conclusion

Considering the need to develop the talents and potentials of the youth of Ghana to meet the challenges of the future and also to maintain or further advance Ghana's status in sports which would eventually promote fraternity and peace among the people of Ghana and internationally, Government should make funds available to resource the youth and sports activities.

The Committee, therefore, recommends that this Honorable House approves the sum of forty-four million six hundred and thirty-six thousand, six hundred and sixty- nine Ghana cedis (GH¢44,636,669.00) for the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year 2010.

Question proposed.
Mr. Isaac Kwame Asiamah (NPP -- Atwima-Mponua) 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion on the floor and to call on this House to approve the sum of GH¢44,636,669.00 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Mr. Speaker, in doing so, I would
like us to look at page 3 of the Report -- “Performance in 2009”. Mr. Speaker,
Mr. Isaac Kwame Asiamah (NPP -- Atwima-Mponua) 4 p.m.
“The National Youth Policy was reviewed to make it a more dynamic, pro-youth and multi- partisan National Youth Policy.”
Mr. Speaker, the question I asked myself is, how was the review done and how has it become more dynamic, more pro-youth and more multi-partisan? So far as I am concerned, as the Ranking Member on the Committee of Youth, Sports and Culture, I do not think any of such things has happened in 2009.
Indeed, as we speak, nothing has been added to the National Youth Policy document that was signed by the last Cabinet, nothing has been done about it. It is the same document and all that we hear is about review, review, review on air but no practical review exercise has been undertaken.
Mr. Speaker, I speak, and I stand here also as the Chairman of my party's Central Committee on Youth and Sports and we have never been invited to any workshop whatsoever. I have also asked other political party youth leaders and no member of any political party has been invited to any meeting to make it more multi-partisan.

Time: 3.50 p.m. Page 7

of this country, to make sure that those who have completed school and they have nothing doing, at least, are engaged and many of them are engaged.

So if somebody leaves the job and he is now at the university and you go and there is a vacant position, you cannot tell me it is a ghost name. So we ask that they should quantify that one -- [Inter-ruptions] -- How much does the ghost names cost the nation? That one, we would know that we are making progress. If you have discovered that -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Ackah 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised my Ranking Member is making these comments. At the Committee meeting, he raised these issues and the National Co-ordinator provided all the necessary information relating to this sort of ghost names and that sort of thing and even came out with the actual figure that has been expunged from the list.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Hon Ranking Member, you can argue and say everything you want to say but the difficulty for the Chair is that you are referring to your own Committee's Report, which you are attacking. It is not a majority report of one side, it is the Report of both sides which you are attacking. And I believe that you are not saying that you
did not agree to this Committee's Report. That is the point.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Yes, Deputy Minority Leader, I need your guidance.
Mr. Dery 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think that what the Ranking Member is saying is not fundamentally opposed to what the Report is -- [Interruptions.] He is not undermining, he is dilating, he is elucidating -- Mr. Speaker, by the response of the Chairman -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Hon Members, let us listen to the Deputy Minority Leader.
Mr. Dery 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, by the response of the Chairman, the Ranking Member had raised the issue. So it is not as if there was a surprise, and he said that figures were given but those figures have not been stated here. So Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that, much as I agree that the Member should move along and get this thing over as soon as possible, he has not done anything that is fundamentally opposed to this.
What he is saying is not going against the motion. To that extent, we are not a choir to be singing the same verse. Fundamentally, he is doing the right thing but I will urge the Hon Member to be quick about his contribution.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Hon Member, continue. But when the Committee states a specific fact here that there are ghost names, that 5,000 have been deleted, and we are all working with this Committee Report -- you are part of the Committee, I am not part of the Committee -- you do not come and say that there is no ghost name -- [Interruption] -- Yes,
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Deputy Majority Whip, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Gbediame 4 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
What is the point of order about?
Mr. Gbediame 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member was at the Committee hearing and I think this information he is asking for would have been given to him if he had demanded it at that meeting.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Hon Member, maybe, he has asked and he was not satisfied with the response. But this is a committee report standing in their Committee's name and he is a Ranking Member, and they all agreed to this Report. That is the irony of the debate, but continue.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you know very well that, I do not provide the direction and the vision for the Ministry. Yes, as a Committee, and he knows it, the Committee does not provide the direction and the vision for the Ministry. We do not do that and we know all these things. So I am right on track and I know what I am saying. What I am saying is that there is no vision for the Ministry of Youth and Sports -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
Hon Member, the point being made is that much as it is absolutely true that you are not part of the Ministry, you are part of the Committee that has and oversight over the Ministry. But let us forget -- They are saying that this Report is your Report. This Report is the Report of the
Committee of which you are the Ranking Member and agreed to. That is the point that is being made. You see?
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 4 p.m.
My mentor Speaker, you know I like you, but all the time you want to debate me. That is one thing I do not like about you.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
I am not debating you. There is no mention of Ministry in the paragraph that you are referring to at page 3. So it is you the Committee is reporting to this House. They did not mention the Ministry told you so and so. So if you were reporting, that would have been different but you said your Committee is telling us that they reviewed it to make it more pro-youth. It is your Committee's Report. That is the point being made and it is a very legitimate point that has been raised.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I was looking at the performance in the year 2009, that is the performance I am looking at. So we are reviewing the Ministry, Mr. Speaker. So in my opinion, there is nothing like a youth policy that has been reviewed and that is more dynamic and more multi-partisan than the previous one they inherited.
Mr. Speaker, the previous one went through consensus approach. All the political parties were invited. The former Minister is here, Hon Nana Akomea and he invited all the political parties. So there is nothing that has been added to the previous document. That is the point I am making.
Mr. Speaker, the other issue is about the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP). Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot of noise about ghost names, left and right being removed. Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that, and so far as some of us are concerned, when you say NYEP it is a transitional arrangement for the youth
Mr. Dery 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect, I believe you are not debating. But he did not say there were no ghost names. He said although there was so much noise about it, they have not been able to come out with exact figures. That was what he said. He is not saying there are no ghost names -- [Interruptions.] So, please -- [Interruption.]
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 4:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe we are building a nation. If you are telling me that we have discovered ghost names of over 5,000 and I am asking you to tell me the cost of it to the nation, I do not think I am asking anything more than you can provide. You have gone to the field and you are claiming that you have discovered 5,000 ghost names, and I am asking, in terms of monetary terms, “how much does that cost the nation?” Because I told you that the thing is a transitional arrangement. And at the meeting, I raised this issue.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
Hon
Chairman, the Hon Ranking Member is entitled to know the cost of the 5,000. Indeed, this House and anybody else is entitled to know the cost of the 5,000 that you have put in your Report. He is entitled to know. That one, he is absolutely right. So, maybe, by the close of the debate, you should provide the figure of the cost of the 5,000 names that have been deleted.
Hon Members, let us listen to the Hon
Ranking Member.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 4:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the claim is that these people were receiving unearned salaries or unearned wages. So,
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 4:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe it is important

Mr. Speaker, yes, in the last Budget Statement and indeed in the State of the Nation Address, His Excellency talked about the National Youth Policy and the Sports Bill, all being translated or being made into Bills and becoming ultimately laws of the country.

Indeed, His Excellency did indicate that he inherited a Sports Bill, but up till now, no bold attempt has been made to translate that Bill into law. It is also another concern we are raising since it was never done in the year 2009. So, we believe that in 2010, they will quickly hasten the pace of making sure that the Sports Bill becomes indeed a law.

Also, it has been said that the National

Youth Policy is being converted into a Youth Bill and automatically becoming a youth law. It has also been captured in the 2010 Budget and we want to see action in all these very important areas.

The calendar for next year is very

tall for the Ministry, especially football. Next year, come Januar,y we will be in Angola. I hope after the GFA has sent their fact-finding mission, another opinion will also be sought for another committee to have a second opinion. Whatever the case, we have been to South Africa, we expect another so-called second opinion committee to also go to Angola where we hear living conditions are high. In fact, cost of living is very high in Angola; prices are very high. So, we want to have a second

opinion on how prepared the Ministry is to support the Angola 2010 African Cup of Nations. It is very important.

When we met, those other expenditures were not all captured. And we were assured that some of these funds will be routed through other contingency funds from the Castle. So, we hope that all these funds will be provided.

Another issue is about the South Africa

2010. Mr. Speaker, it is important -- [An Hon Member: You will not go there.] -- If you stop me from going there then you create more calamities for yourself. [Laughter.]

Mr. Speaker, the important point to make is that, in fact, we have had a confirmation from the GFA that, indeed, all preparations in terms of the team seminar, the training workshop, when they went there, they were all held in terms of security arrangement, accommodation, crowd control, and all those things. The training they had there was a training that was for the first authorised group -- they are forming that training programme. Mr. Speaker, we are told that everything is in place.

What we need now is the first commitment from the Government to provide the seed money for them to go through the training tours before FIFA eventually comes in with their package for Ghana. But obviously, in the last tournament that was held in Germany, the then Government committed an initial amount of about US$2 million towards the team's preparation. Eventually, that money was reimbursed to the State. So, we hope that the Government should also make an initial funding arrangement for the Black Stars to enable them do proper and effective preparation for the tournament, come June 2010.

Mr. Speaker, we all wish the Black

Stars very well. We hope that they will have their peace and the GFA will have their autonomy to concentrate on the core mission of making sure that football in Ghana is indeed something the whole world will be very envious of.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker 4:10 p.m.
Hon Ranking Member,
thank you very much.
Hon Deputy Minister, wind up.
Nii Nortey Dua: Mr. Speaker, I want
to quickly react to what the Hon Ranking Member said.
The review of the youth policy; the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports put in place a committee which really reviewed the youth policy. And when we talk of reviewing, it does not necessarily mean you have to do a workshop or seminar before you can review. The committee took a close look at the policy and the removal of a word or replacement of a word will mean review. So, they worked on the policy and they have finished.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
What the Hon Ranking Member is saying is that, during the previous Administration, the political parties and Parliament were involved. So, when you are reviewing it, it is also important that you also involve them in that process of review. And I think that it is a very legitimate point -- [Interruptions] -- So, you should tell us whether you will get to that stage of involving them.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.


Nii Nortey Dua: Mr. Speaker, what I

was just saying was that, some work was done. I am not giving the details of what was done and the details of those who were involved. But some work was done. That is why we are calling it a review. And it is not the same as the previous work.

On the 5,000 ghost names, the Hon
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
Hon
Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr. Dery 4:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think that the
Hon Deputy Minister should summarise and not cause further problems for us. If the cost was tendered, can he tell us the cost? He is there now, has he got the cost? If he has not got the cost, I think that you have ruled that it is necessary that these things be provided. So, he should just sum up and let us go on. He should not introduce further controversy.
Nii Nortey Dua: Mr. Speaker, in
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
Let
the Hon Deputy Minister conclude, taking a cue from what the Hon Deputy Minority Leader -- [Interruptions] -- Hon Members, the Hon Deputy Minister has taken a cue from what the Hon Deputy Minority Leader has said and he is concluding. What is your problem again?
Hon Deputy Minister, kindly conclude.
Nii Nortey Dua: Mr. Speaker, in
conclusion, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢44,636,669.00 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
That brings us to the end of the debate. I will put the Question. But before I do that, I direct that the Ministry of Youth and Sports makes available the total cost involved of the 5,000 ghost names. Make the information available to this House.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢44,636,- 669.00 for the services of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Deputy Minister.
Yes, Deputy Majority Whip?
‘Mr. Gbediame: Mr. Speaker, motion
number (10), the Ministry of Employment
and Social Welfare.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
Hon
Minister for Employment and Social Welfare?
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:20 p.m.
Minister for Employment and Social Welfare (Mr. Stephen Amoanor Kwao) 4:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I beg to move, that this House approves the sum of thirty- two million, eight hundred and twelve thousand, one hundred and eighty-six Ghana cedis (GH¢32,812,186.00) under Head 24 of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to enable the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare implement its programmes, projects and activities for the year ending December
2010.
The Ministry's vision is to become
a well-resourced, efficient and the lead entity capable of performing its mandate in the core areas of:
human resource development;
employment facil i tat ion and creation, fostering congenial w o r k i n g e n v i r o n m e n t a n d harmonious industrial relations;
integration of the disadvantaged into mainstream society; and
resource mobilization through the co-operative system for national development.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry has three (3)
Minister for Employment and Social Welfare (Mr. Stephen Amoanor Kwao) 4:20 p.m.
(i) manpower sub-sector com- prising -- The Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), the Opportunities Industrialisation Centre (OIC), the Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES) and the Ghana Co- operative College;
(ii) employment sub-sector -- We have the Labour Department, Depar tment of Factor ies Inspectorate, Department of Co-operatives, Ghana Co- operative Council, Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and
(i i i) Social Development -- Depart- ment of Social Welfare
(DSW).
The Ministry is also responsible for the Disability Council, the National Tripartite Committee, the Business Sector Programme Support and the National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry achieved successes in relation to its resource allocation in the year 2009. Some key achievements included:
Single Spine Pay Policy document finalized for implementation;
Ageing Policy f inal ized for submission to Government early next year.

The Ministry has in place a draft National Employment Policy which encompasses job creation in the economic sectors such as agriculture, tourism, ICT and services. The Ministry, during the last quarter of the year instituted a Special Employment Task Force to review the existing policy to bring it in line with the NDC's Manifesto and political philosophy for creating jobs.

Human Resource Development is one of the key focus areas of the Ministry. In this direction, skills training and retraining for the youth and unemployed and semi- skilled, were conducted/delivered by the technical/vocational training institutions under the Ministry, namely:

National Vocational Training Institute;

Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills;

Opportunity Industrialization Centre;

Co-operative College;

School of Social Welfare.

Management training was also delivered in various disciplines by the Management Development and Productivity Institute. In 2009, the above- named institutions trained 8,138 people in various skills and competencies.

Under the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) programme over 20,000 household nationwide benef i ted f rom condi t ional /

unconditional cash grant from LEAP. The Ministry also signed MOUs with key MDAs to co- ordinate access to complementary services for the vulnerable and the excluded.

Under the National Programme for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa, remediation interventions have been carried out in 47 districts which resulted into about 1,246 children being reintegrated into schools.

Mr. Speaker, let me acknowledge that there were some challenges faced in the course of implementation of programmes and acvtivities. Major constraints included:

inadequate funding and irregular releases of approved funds;

inadequate staffing of profes- sionals;

dilapidated and inadequate office accommodation; and

inadequate logistics, for example vehic les and computers for monitoring work.

2010 Programme

Mr. Speaker, the sector will in 2010 continue with its programmes, projects and activities in all areas under its mandate. Furthermore, the sector will work closely with social partners to ensure peaceful industrial atmosphere for accelerated national development.

The sector, with its mandate on employment, will vigorously pursue the National Employment Programme which covers all potential workforces including

the youth. We shall collaborate with other Ministries, departments and agencies to facilitate job creation and employment considered as major issues on our national agenda.

Availability of credible data on labour is vital to the nation. We shall implement the Labour Market Information System to make data on labour matters available to all key stakeholders. Data will cover employment and unemployment rates, key economic sectors, trained skill-holders, salary and wages trends and mobility of workforce.

The development of a nation depends on its human resource. The Ministry has worked on the Human Resource Development Policy. The policy document which covers components such as Maintenance of Human Resource and Productivity Enhancement Strategies; Effective Utilization of Human Resource and the Employment Relationship; Institutional and Legal Framework for HRD in Ghana will be subjected to stakeholders' validation and process for approval in the course of the year.

The Ministry will take proactive actions in the area of social development to address issues of vulnerability and exclusion. The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) will target at least, 55,000 extremely poor households with social cash transfers to assist them meet basic needs and reduce their vulnerability to risk and shocks. The Department of Social Welfare will be resourced to achieve the desired objectives.

Under the Business Sector Programme Support (BSPS), the Ministry will address

constraints affecting growth in the informal sector. Also the Occupational Health and Safety Law will be reviewed.

The implementation of the sector programmes, projects and activities will inure to the Ghanaian and governance. Beneficial aspects of our programmes include:

employment creation;

enhanced education;

enhanced salary to induce/promote productivity increment;

poverty reduction;

wealth creation; and

harmonious industrial relations among others.

Mr. Speaker, the Ministry, its four departments and nine agencies have been allocated GH¢32,812,186.00 to implement its programmes and activities in 2010. Sources of this funding are:

Source Amount (GH¢)

1. GOG

16,025,202.00

2. IGF

3,497,192.00

3. Donor

1,289,793.00

4. MDRI (Multi Donor Relief Initiative)

12,000,000.00

Total

32,812,186.00

The line item breakdown is captured in Table 1 below:

The allocation for the main Ministry, departments and agencies are also captured in Table II attached.

It is worth mentioning that the service and investment allocation to the departments and agencies under the Ministry is inadequate even though there are serious challenges facing these departments in terms of infrastructure, tools and relevant equipment.

A case in point is the Labour Department which has its headquarters office building gradually sinking to the ground. We would be grateful if special attention is paid to this issue in the Contingency Budget since the entire investment allocation to the Ministry cannot in anyway address the situation.

Mr. Speaker, considering the mandate of the Ministry and recognizing the importance and sensitive nature of the sector, we will definitely require more resource allocation to achieve set objectives.

Mr. Speaker, peaceful industrial atmosphere, sound programmes for job creation, quality human resource base are all essential ingredients for accelerated national development.

In view of these, Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this House approves the sum of GH¢32,812,186.00 for the year ending

December, 2010.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. Prince J. Hayibor) 4:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion moved by my Hon Minister. In doing this I present the Report of the Committee.
1.0 Introduction
Following the presentation of the 2010 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009, and subsequent motion for its adoption, the Annual Estimates for the fiscal year 2010 of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare were referred to the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises for consideration and report pursuant to Orders 140 (4) and 184 of the Standing Orders of the House and article 179 of the Constitution.
1.1 Committee Sitting
The Committee held a number of meetings to consider the Estimates of the Ministry. The Committee was assisted in this endeavour by the Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, Hon Stephen Amoanor Kwao, the Chief Director, and the Directors of the various agencies and departments under the Ministry.
The Committee is grateful to them for their co-operation and contributions during the hearing.
2.0 Reference Document
The following documents guided the Committee in its deliberations:
( a ) T h e 1 9 9 2 F o u r t h Republican Constitution of Ghana;
(b) The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana;
( c ) The Budge t S t a t emen t and Economic Policy of the
Government of Ghana for the 2009 Financial Year.
(d) The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for the December 2010 financial year.
(e) The Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the 2009 financial year.
(f) The Draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the 2010 Financial Year.
(g) Presentat ions made and 2009 performance document submitted to the Committee on the 2010 Budget Statement.
3.0 Mission Statement and Objectives
The Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare exists to promote sustainable employment opportunities, management and vocational skills development, training and retraining, harmonious labour relations, safe and healthy working environment, co-operatives and group formation and social integration of the vulnerable, the excluded and the disadvantaged, for the development and growth of the economy.
The Ministry does all these through formulation and implementation of policies, co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of performance of the sector; guided by belief in improved productivity, efficiency, equity and prompt responsiveness to clients. The latter comprises the labour force, employers, people with disability, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable.
In order to realize its Mission Statement, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare has set for itsself the following objectives:
to become a high profile, well resourced and efficient as well as effective Ministry committed to human resource development; to promote and encourage the creation of an enabling environment for accelera ted growth and employment;
to enhance the social well-being of all Ghanaians;
to integrate the vulnerable, excluded persons with disabilities and disadvantaged into the mainstream of development; and
to p romote and s t r eng then international labour relations and co-operation.
4.0 Review of Performance in 2009
4.1 National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour
Government is a signatory to various international conventions, protocols and regulations that protect and secure the interest of children. The Ministry in 2009 established the National Plan of Action (NPA) which reviewed and prepared a standard MOU which formed the basis for co-operation between the Ministry and key sectors such as health, education, agriculture and other institutions such as Ghana Statistical Service and National Development Planning Commission in an effort to protect children from exploitation and other negative acts which are harmful to children's health, education and growth.
A national validation workshop was held in November 2009 to process the National Plan of Action for submission to Cabinet for approval early 2010.
The NPA has since been translated into Institutional Action Plans for implementation, after MOUs were signed.
4 . 2 N a t i o n a l P ro g r a m m e f o r the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC)
In response to global concerns on incidence of worst forms of child labour,
TABLE FOR MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT 4:20 p.m.
Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare (NPP -- Ayawaso West-Wuogon) 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion that this Honourable House approves the sum stated at motion 11, page 4 of the Order Paper for the services of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the year 2010.
Mr. Speaker, next year has a number of critical initiatives to be put to address key problems including the implementation of the Single Spine, the Persons with Disability Act, implemen-tation of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), employment policy and so on.
Mr. Speaker, the budget for the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission leaves little to be desired. There is a sum of GH¢857,241.62 allocated. When you look at the analysis, Personal Emolument (PE) alone takes GH¢774,338.75 leaving only GH¢81,058 for the operations of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
As a matter of fact, there is only GH¢25 thousand plus for the service vote. Considering the importance of the Single Spine Pay Policy, the fact that it is a new agenda, the fact that there is so much to be done in the first year of operation, I would like to urge the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to really take a critical look at this provision.
The GH¢25 thousand plus would not just do for the implementation for such a major policy. We would need to recognize that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, even the PE, is actually taking on board the former Prices
Fig. 2: Allocations to Departments and Agencies under the Ministry
and Incomes Board. A number of these people who were put under the Prices and Incomes Board may not be suitable for the operations and the new mandate of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
So they would need higher calibre personnel with certain expertise and if you look at the legal framework, it is specifically said we must have certain expertise in the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission. So I recommend strongly that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to do something urgently, if it is Contingency, so be it so that the workers can look forward to the smooth implementation of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
Management Development Produc-
tivity Institute (MDPI) is one major institution under the Ministry. Mr. Speaker, that institution has been on the board for becoming autonomous and not really taking on government subvention but it has been slow. It is for years, I think, I believe in 1998 that the process started. The MDPI has the capacity. It has potential to really be autonomous so that we can free limited resources to support the Ministry's main work.
If you look at the Internally Generated Funds (IGF) projected for 2009, it is GH¢9692. However, they were only able to realize 50 per cent of what they were supposed to have collected. For 2010, they are again projecting the same amount that they could not realize for 2009. How sure are we that they are going to be able to collect this amount?
So my advice to the Hon Minister is that he should really take a very serious view of MDPI and ensure that the processes that were started years ago are completed so that by 2011 we would be singing a different song.

4.20 p.m. P. 22

4.20 p.m. P. 22
Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare (NPP -- Ayawaso West-Wuogon) 4:30 p.m.


A major programme that the Ministry is responsible for is the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and other social protection measures. I note that our Report which I am also party to said after one year of operation -- I want to correct that. It will be after two years. LEAP's first disbursement took place in April 2008 so by 2010 it will be a second year. So we should correct that in the Report.

However, I will say that given the fact that the releases of this year were very low, the GH¢12 million allocated should next be released on timely basis, moreso, because LEAP is now one of the bench- marks for assessing Government's performance in terms of the IMF Loan.

LEAP again is providing a database and a critical framework for assessing poverty levels in this country which is now useful for the Ministry of Health, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as well as the Ministry of Education. So given the importance of this, I believe very much that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should ensure that LEAP continues in a strong way as they have planned.

The Minister should also ensure that the institutional support porgramme that Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting is really accelerated because as you expand and as you take on more responsibilities to service other Ministries, you need stronger capacity within the Department of Social Welfare and the social protection unit of your Ministry in order to deliver what has been planned.

Last but not least, let me say that

there is an issue on social protection that I would like to urge the Minister to take seriously. It was with distress that I read in the newspapers and heard His Excellency

the Vice President talk about it that the United States (US) Department of Labour has put Ghana on the list of those who are using child labour and trafficking people in cocoa. I believe very much that this is something that the Minister needs to personally get involved in terms of strong advocacy work with Congressmen and Senators.

This problem has been on the board since 2001, yet we were able, with constant dialogue between us and the political leaders within the US Government, to forestall Ghana being branded. Given the work that your Ministry has done, I do not think you deserve to be on that list. So I will urge that the Minister should do something and get personally involved in that advocacy work.

The last is on employment. As a

Ministry of Employment, it is good to know that the employment policy that you inherited was not thrown away and that you are working with it and that would create more opportunities for broader base employments for the country.

However, I would like to use this forum to plead with His Excellency the President to reconsider his decision to make the National Youth Employment Programme come under the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Mr. Speaker, the National Youth Employment Programme was conceived, born out of hard labour by the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare. It was fed and nurtured.

Today, I think it is an orphaned programme. It has been made motherless when it has a mother and the mother is alive. It belongs there because that Ministry has the various aspects, such as skills training institutions and so on to make that programme really a worthy one. Irrespective of decisions that have been made, they say that if you forget and you
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:40 p.m.
They are not orphans but because they have a step- mother..

Greater Accra Regional Minister (Nii Armah Ashietey): Mr. Speaker, I beg to support the motion and also to invite the House to approve the amount of GH¢32,812,186.00 for the services of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the year 2010.

I want to touch on employment in relation to the maritime industry as mentioned in the document. The maritime industry offers the greatest opportunity for employment and it is for us to take full advantage of this opportunity.

We are here with a Regional Maritime University. We have a pool of young educated, English-speaking youth and therefore we have no reason whatsoever to leave our people behind when the world is moving.

Today, the Phillipinos, Indians and Pakistanis have dominated the international maritime labour market and they are making a lot of foreign exchange for their countries. Today, there is a shortage of qualified competent seafarers and shipowners have directed their attention to Africa, particularly, Ghana because Ghanaian seafarers the

world over have proved to be qualified and competent. It is for us therefore, as a people to reposition ourselves to take advantage of this opportunity and we can do this by resourcing and supporting the Maritime University.

I wish to call on the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to collaborate with the Ministry of Transport to give the necessary support to the Regional Maritime University to provide them with the facilities and infrastructure to train qualified Ghanaians for the international maritime labour market.

We have today found oil; this oil is not onshore but offshore, therefore, that comes with a lot of maritime activities. And that is where again the Regional Maritime University comes into focus. We have been talking about Nigeria. We say Nigerians are not taking advantage of their oil and as a people, need to do that. We need to take steps to train our people.

Therefore, again, I want to call on the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to strengthen its maritime labour unit to register seafarers and to organize training for them, particularly the Offshore Petroleum Training Organization (OPETTO) so that we will be able to put our people on the rigs and the supply boats which will service the rigs. This is an opportunity that we cannot afford to lose.

In order to also take advantage, we want to ensure that the labour unions affiliated to the ITF, go further to negotiate collective bargaining agreement with the ITF so that we can get as a country the blue certificate which will allow our people to sail on foreign flagged vessels.

On that note, I want to support the motion and also call on all Colleague Hon Members to support the budget so that the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare will fulfil a mandate that it had been given to support the maritime
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:40 p.m.


industry.

Thank you very much.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:40 p.m.
Hon
Minister, please wind up or if you do not have anything, I will put the Question. One second.
Mr. Kwao 4:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. I thank my Colleagues very much for their support in terms of contribution.
The Ranking Member highlighted a lot of important points, including the concern for the implementation of the single spine salary next year and the fact that money or funding will be needed to push it through to success.
I want to assure her that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is being assisted by the Public Sector Reform Unit headed by the Minister for Public Sector Reforms at the Office of the President. So we will be getting support from there and hopefully we will have enough money to push the educational agenda of the single spine salary.
The MDPI issue has already been highlighted by the Hon Member. I called them and challenged them to follow the example of GIMPA because they could be compared to GIMPA. And they could reach the level of GIMPA one day. So they have a lot of resources and they would be able to march the level of GIMPA if they are given the needed support. So we are going to support them in all that we can, with all the energy that we can to move to the level that they can reach.
The LEAP programme is so important and dear to the heart of Government and I want to assure the Ranking Member and the former Deputy Minister that enough money will be released. This year was a difficult year for all the Ministries and
we hope next year, things will change for the better, we will have enough money to run it.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:40 p.m.
Hon
Minister, kindly wind up and let us put the Question. We have a lot to do.
Mr. Kwao 4:40 p.m.
Thank you very much. I wish to thank everybody for contributing.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢32,812,186.00 for the Services of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:40 p.m.
Hon Majority Whip, is item 11 ready?
Mr. Dery 4:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think if we can take the motion 34 -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Hon Member, it will be consequential. The Hon Minister is here.
Hon Members, let us take the Labour Commission.
Mr. Dery 4:50 p.m.
Precisely.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
But I am only pleading that once we have taken Social Welfare, let us finish, then we know
that we have finished with Social Welfare; it is consequential.
The Hon Ranking Member says she will be very, very brief. [Interruption] -- In fact, I have two applications before me.
Mr. Dery 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it might endanger the other ones. [Laughter.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
I have two applications.
Dr. A. A. Osei 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am a bit confused. Here, we have our Leaders, leading us and agreeing that we go to motion number 34, and now we are changing our minds. Mr. Speaker, we know we have a problem -- [Inter- ruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Hon Member, I agree with you, but you know that when it comes to taking of the items, the Chair is the one who takes the final decision. But I always consult the Leaders. So where a a special application has been made, I try to engage the Leaders. In fact, when they were here I sent a signal to them and they had to leave the floor to go and consult. I have received a special application.
Dr. A. A. Osei 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I accept your ruling, but when you do that, you do not give us any choice but to exercise other options. Mr. Speaker, you know what I mean -- [An Hon Member: Are you threatening the Speaker?] -- I am not threatening the Speaker. The Speaker is exercising his right, and as a Member, I want to signal that -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
I thought that we should just finish with the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare today, and then we know we are finished. That is the only reason. But if it would take a long time, I would go to 34, but if it would not take a long time then -- Hon Minister,
very brief; very, very brief.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:50 p.m.
Minister for Employment and Social Welfare (Mr. S. A. Kwao) 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢863,890.00 for the services of the National Labour Commission for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Hon Minister, I say you should be very brief.
Mr. Kwao 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we all know the importance of the National Labour Commission. It serves as a buffer between employment and labour. [Some Hon Members: And then?] So it is going to support employers as well as -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Hon Minister, when you are very lucky and they do now want to worry you to talk too much, you should take advantage of it.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Hon K.T. Hammond?
Mr. Kwao 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion,
I beg to move, that the House approves a total sum of GH¢863,890.00 for the National Labour Commission --
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. P. J. Hayibor) 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion moved by the Hon Minister and present the Report of the Committee. 1.0 Introduction
Following the presentation of the 2010 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor on Thursday, 18th November, 2009, and subsequent Motion for its adoption, the Annual Estimates for the fiscal year 2010 of the National Labour Commission was referred to the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises for consideration and report pursuant to Orders 140 (4) and 184 of the Standing Orders of the House and article 179 of the Constitution.
2.0 Committee Sitting
The Committee met with the Executive Secretary and officials of the National Labour Commission and considered the estimates of the Commission. The Committee is grateful to them for their co-operation during the hearing.
3.0 Reference Documents
In considering the Estimates, the underlisted documents were consulted:
(i) The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
( i i ) The Budge t S ta tement
and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2010 financial year;
( i i i ) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2009 financial year; and
[NII ARMAH ASHIETEY] (iv) The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana.
4.0 Mission Statement and Objectives
The National Labour Commission exists to develop and sustain a peaceful and harmonious industrial relations environment through the use of effective dispute resolution practices within the context of the law, promotion of co- operation among the labour market players and mutual respect for their rights and responsibilities.
In order to realize its mission, the National Labour Commission sets for itself the following objectives:
to p romote a peacefu l and harmonious industrial relations environment through the use of flexible labour market practices to attract investors both foreign and local for the growth of the economy;
to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Commission to discharge its functions;
to promote industrial democracy and social dialogue; and
to develop a peaceful working environment for the enhancement of productivity.
5.0 Review of the 2009 Performance of the Commission
In the year under review the Commission made some achievements which are worthy of mention.
5.1 Industrial Harmony
The industrial atmosphere in the year under review was relatively calm although there were a few agitations from some
public and private sector employees. To enhance worker-management relationships, the Commission as at the end of November, 2009 had fully settled one thousand, three hundred and forty- seven (1,347) out of a total number of one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-two (1,722) complaints and petitions received from individuals and organised labour. The remaining three hundred and seventy- five (375) were also in the process of resolution.
5.2 In addition, as a result of the Commission's training programmes and education on the Labour Act, parties in dispute are now beginning to appreciate the need to dialogue rather than to resort to industrial actions.
5.3 The Commission also received and paid compensation totalling two hundred and fifteen thousand, four hundred and eighty-six Ghana cedis (GH¢215, 486.00) after settlement of disputes.
6.0 Outlook for 2010
For the year 2010, the Commission intends to place more emphasis on one of its core functions of promoting effective co-operation between labour and management. This will be done in collaboration with the social partners, Government, employers and organised labour through the following:
e n c o u r a g i n g “ g o o d f a i t h ” negotiations to ensure the trust and confidence of the partners in the working relationship;
promoting negot ia t ions and mediations as the best tools to resolve industrial misunder- standing;
training on negotiation skills for the
public and private sector negotiators, workers' unions and management;
sensitizing the social partners to use the collective bargaining process to ensure good governance;
educating the partners in the working relationship to respect the rights of both the employer and the employee;
organising programmes to educate stakeholders on labour laws; and
promoting peaceful and harmonious industrial relation environment for national and industrial security.
The Commission also plans to continue a nationwide education campaign on the new labour law, and good industrial relations practice. The Commission intends to undertake vigorous campaign on effective labour co-operation between labour and management, education of public sector employers and employees on the legal processes of formation of trade unions and also education of stakeholders in the free zones enclave on the provisions of Act 651.
The Commission will further intensify its efforts to clear all 2005 outstanding cases and ensure the settlement of 80 per cent of new cases by the end of 2010.
7.0 Total Allocation for the Year 2010
For the implementation of the above activities and programmes, the Commission has been allocated a total amount of eight hundred and sixty-three thousand, eight hundred and ninety Ghana cedis (GH¢863,890) to cover Personal Emoluments, Administration, Service and Investment expenses. Below is the breakdown of the allocation for year 2010:

2010 Budget Allocation

Items Allocation

GH¢

P.E. 423,090.00

ADMIN. 281,300.00

SERVICE 74,000.00

INVESTMENT 85,500.00

Grand Total 863,890.00

8.3 Observations and Recommendations

8.1 Lack of Regional Offices

The Committee observed that the Commission was unable to undertake its programme of opening at least, three regional offices in the Ashanti, Western and Northern Regions due to inadequate budget allocation. This continues to pose challenges to the Commission as cases from all the regions have to be sent to Accra for settlement.

The Committee holds the view that

accessibility to aggrieved partners in the industrial front is crucial to the achievement of the Commission's objectives. Furthermore, industrial disputes if not well resolved at the initial stages can degenerate into serious labour crises and scare away potential investors.

The Committee, therefore, calls on the Ministry of Finance, as a matter of urgency, to raise a supplementary budget for the Commission to implement the above projects.

8.2 Training on Act 651

The Committee also noted that for year 2009 the Commission was unable

to undertake any training programme due to lack of funds. The little funds released for the training of stakeholders on Act 651 were used to develop a strategic plan for the Commission in response to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and National Development Planning Commission's directive that all budgetary allocations for year 2010 onwards would be based on strategic plans. All planned programmes regarding training therefore, remained outstanding.

3.0 Permanent Office Accommodation

The Committee observed that lack of permanent office accommodation continues to pose challenges to the work of the Commission. The current office accommodation is too small and this hinders work as there are not enough rooms for hearing cases. Staff are crowded in single rooms and this can pose health hazards.

Further, the inadequate office space does not also allow for expansion even though there is an urgent need to recruit more staff due to the volume of cases that the Commission has to handle.

8.4 Non-Payment of Rent

The Committee further noted that the

Commission's rent advance has expired as at the end of February 2009 and the Commissions rent of US$48,000.00 for 2008/2009 remained outstanding up to date. This had rendered the Commission as ‘tenant at will' and could be ejected any time by the landlord.

The Committee was therefore, disappointed to note that the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing reneged on a promise made in 2008 to allocate an office space in one of the new

offices under construction near the Ridge Roundabout to the Commission.

The Commit tee v iews th is as unfortunate and urge the new Minister to honour the Ministry's promise and facilitate the early allocation of the said office space to save the Commission, and for that matter, the State from the payment of this huge annual rent.

8.5 Inadequate Staffing

The Committee observed that the Commission does not have full complement of staff, particularly researchers and lawyers. The Commission currently has only eight (8) research assistants and two lawyers. This situation does not augur well for speedy and efficient settlement of industrial disputes, particularly when the Commission receives an average of sixty (60) cases per week.

It is the candid opinion of the Committee that if this current trend is allowed to continue, parties to industrial disputes would gradually lose confidence in the Commission and resort to other means such as strikes, demonstrations and violent confrontation in resolving disputes.

8.6 Inadequate Budgetary Allocations

The Committee was informed that for year 2010, the Commission's budgetary requirement for service activities is one hundred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred Ghana cedis (GH¢184,500.00). However, a meagre seventy-four thousand (GH¢74,000.00), indicating a shortfall of one hundred and ten thousand, five hundred Ghana cedis (GH¢110,500.00) is what has actually been allocated.

The Committee is worried about the gap between what was requested and the amount approved in the 2010 Budget for the Commission's service activities. Since

the Commission's mandate is service oriented, the Committee strongly believes that the shortfall would adversely affect the implementation of the Commission's programmes and activities since the budgetary requirements were based on a costing of stated programmes and activities.

Adequate funding is, therefore,

paramount if the Commission is to develop and sustain a peaceful and harmonious industrial relations environment.

9.0 Conclusion

The Committee holds the view that ensuring and maintaining a peaceful industrial climate is as important as national security issues and therefore, the Commission needs to be given the necessary attention and adequately funded.

The Committee, therefore, finds the Draft Budget Estimates of the Commission justifiable and recommends to the House, for approval, the sum of eight hundred and sixty-three thousand, eight hundred and ninety cedi; (GH¢863,890.00) from GoG sources for the activities of the National Labour Commission for the 2010 financial year.

In addition, the Committee recom- mends that a supplementary budget be raised to enable the Commission carry out its planned programmes and activities.

Respectfully submitted.

Question proposed.
Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare (NPP -- Ayawaso West Wuogon) 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion No. 11, and make these following observations -- [Interruption]
Mr. Speaker, the budget allocation for the National Labour Commission has a service vote of only GH¢74,000. Now, this is purely a service providing institution, and as we have been told,
Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare (NPP -- Ayawaso West Wuogon) 4:50 p.m.


provides very valuable service in terms of keeping industrial peace. What we are asking for is that, this service vote be reviewed as a matter of urgency to ensure that the peace and tranquility that we have enjoyed, given the fact that they have been able to settle as many as 1,347cases out of the 1,722 cases before it, it means that they are doing a good job and under no circumstance, should we starve them of service vote.

Lastly, we may want to look at the kind of charges -- In fact, they are not allowed to charge and that is precisely why we are pleading. But perhaps, during the year, one might look at reviewing the law such that some IGF could be raised to supplement the budget that Government gives them.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity and urge all Hon Members to support the motion on the floor.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
That brings us to end of the debate.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢863,890.00 for the services of the National Labour Commission for the 2010 fiscal year.
Suspension of Standing Order 80(1)
Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Mr. Seth Terkpeh) (on behaf of Minister for Finance and Economic Planning): Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 80(1) which require that no motion shall be debated until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the motion is given and the date on which the motion is moved, the motion for the Second Reading of the Fees and Charges
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2009 may be moved today.
Mr. Klutse Avedzi 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion.
Dr. A. Akoto Osei 4:50 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think that you always urge that the proper thing be done. You called for the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and the “acting Majority Leader” should have done the appropriate thing and sought your permission -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
I agree entirely with you. But when he got up to move the motion, nobody raised any -- Normally -- and I thought that earlier in the day, he might have taken permission, that is why I did not do that. I did not start the day so I thought that maybe, earlier in the day they took permission that is why when he got up to move the motion, nobody raised the red flag.
Mr. Gbediame 4:50 p.m.
Very well.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to take permission, from the Chair and to crave the indulgence of Hon Members to allow the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to move the motion on behalf of the Hon Minister who is unavoidably absent from the Chamber. Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Mr. Dery 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think we will grant that to him. We have now realized the presence of my Hon Friend; he can now be seen. First, he was not visible, but I think now he is visible, so he can continue -- [Laughter.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Very well. Now, I will put the Question. Yes, he has moved it, so let us just put the Question.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Item 35?
BILLS - SECOND READING 5 p.m.
Dr. A. A. Osei (NPP - Old Tafo) 5 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister and the Chairman have appropriately referred to the Memorandum that accompany the Bill. The point of the matter is that it is primarily intended to raise funds for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) notwithstanding that, the Ministry expects that for the first time its Internally Generated Funds (IGF) will go as far as 7.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The fact that in some cases the fees have not been reviewed over ten years suggests that we need to look at it.
The Committee has met on this
Dr. A. A. Osei (NPP - Old Tafo) 5 p.m.


for several days -- two workshops in Koforidua, two or three days over here. As Hon Members know, it is about 81 pages and the Committee has reviewed almost all the proposed changes and found them to be reasonable. There are a few cases in the tourist area where actually, it is not an increase but it is discount rebate to encourage promotion of tourism and we find that to be a useful enterprise. As the Chairman said, they are only two clauses.

What we need to pay attention to -- and this is particularly true of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration -- is that all the power now is being reverted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning so that instead of waiting for ten years, they would be able to do that annually and if they so desire, come back to this House.

Otherwise, what we would be doing is that in certain cases, we would be talking about increases that are up to almost 2,000 per cent and that is not the best. So once the power reverts to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, they will, in their wisdom, be able to review it annually and do the appropriate thing.

With these few words, Mr. Speaker, I urge Hon Members to support the Committee's Report.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
That brings
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
You have
something to say?
Nana Akomea 5 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
Very well,
but very brief.
Nana Akomea (NPP -- Okaikoi
South): Mr. Speaker, looking at the
schedule of the levies, there is one particular levy which is also twenty years old but that is not reflected. That is the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Television Licence Fees.
Mr. Speaker, that fee is 30 Gp and it has been 30 Gp over the last twenty years. And it is not sensible for GBC to collect it. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, if we could increase the Television Licence Fees a little, we would be saving the GH¢9 million that we have to pay to GBC every year for salaries. And that money can be used for something more useful. So I would like the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to consider the Television Licence Fees in his next schedule of levies, if he so minds.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and motion agreed to.
The Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Bill, 2009 was accordingly read a Second time.
Suspension of Standing Order 128 (1)
Deputy Minister for Finance and
Economic Planning (Mr. Seth Terkpeh) (on behalf of the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning): Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 128 (1) which require that when a Bill has been read a Second time it shall pass through a Consideration Stage which shall not be taken until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed, the Consideration Stage of the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2009 may be taken today.
Mr. E.T. Mensah 5 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
Item 37 -- Consideration Stage.
Hon Members, we are now at the Consideration Stage of the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill,
2009.
But Hon Deputy Minister, the point that has been made is, since there is no amendment by the Hon Member for Okaikoi South, I do not know whether something can be done about it; if not, then we go ahead and process the Bill.
BILLS -- CONSIDERATION 5:10 p.m.
STAGE 5:10 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5:10 p.m.
That brings us to the end of the Consideration Stage.
Item 38 on the Order Paper.
Suspension of Standing Order 131 (1)
Deputy Minister for Finance and
Economic Planning (Mr. Seth Terkpeh) on behalf of Minister for Finance and Economic Planning): Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the
provisions of Standing Order 131 (1) which require that when a Bill has passed through the Consideration Stage, the Third Reading thereof shall not be taken until at least twenty-four hours have elapsed, the motion for the Third Reading of the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2009 may be taken today.
Mr. Avedzi 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion.
BILLS -- THIRD READING 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Gbediame 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the House for their endurance for the work of today. I think it is past 2 o'clock and you reserve the right to adjourn -- [Interruptions] -- Yes, let me finish my statement.
So you have the right to adjourn the Sitting.
Mr. Dery 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, that is your
prerogative.
I also want to join him in thanking Hon Members and the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning. I hope he is taking note to make all things possible, considering how hard Members of Parliament have been working.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 5:10 p.m.
I agree
ADJOURNMENT 5:10 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 5.15 p.m. till 16th December, 2009 at 10.00 a.m.