Debates of 17 Dec 2009

MADAM SPEAKER
PRAYERS 11 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 16th December, 2009. Pages 1 - 4 --
Mr. J. B. Aidoo 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, page 4, numbers 137 and 153.
Madam Speaker, it has been a practice of this House, which is almost becoming a convention, if I am right, that the title “Miss” or “Missus” accompanies the name of our women Members of Parliament. But Madam Speaker, I have painstakingly followed the Votes and Proceedings of late and there are three particular Hon Members of Parliament, namely, Hon Gifty Klenam of Lower West Akim, Hon Christina Samia Yaba Nkrumah, and Hon Elizabeth Agyeman.
Madam Speaker, for these three Hon Members, their names appear on the Votes and Proceedings without the title either “Miss” or “Missus”. [Interruptions.] Madam Speaker, there must be consistency in the recording of our Votes and Proceedings, because when you go through the list, you would realize that some Hon Members, that is, our women Members, have the title either “Miss” or “Missus”. But for these three particular Hon Members of Parliament, the titles do not appear. I just want to find out -- [Interruptions] -- Yes, they should declare -- [Laughter.] [An Hon
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
This one, I will like to hear from Papa -- [Laughter] -- Papa Owusu-Ankomah, what do you say to this, titles to the Ladies?
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, thank you very much.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Nkrumah, what do you say to this?
Ms. Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am married but I prefer not to use the title “Missus”. [An Hon Member -- “Why”?] Because I have not changed my surname and I will not change it. [Interruptions.] So I prefer not to use anything but if we have to use something, then it should be “(Ms.)” That is my preference.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Klenam, is she here? This is because it will help us quite a lot -- [Pause.] You see, exactly because of what Hon Nkrumah said, you cannot force a woman to take “Missus” or “Ms” even if she is married or not. As Papa Owusu-Ankomah would have told us, we are entitled to take any name -- “Miss”, “Missus” whatever except “Dr.” and the
rest of it. But I do know that some people are married but would prefer to be called “Ms” and so unless -- [Interruption] -- Yes, let us hear from you too to reinforce -- [Interruption.]
Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I believe I agree with what you are saying. One is free to use whichever title, either “Ms” or “Miss” or “Mrs”. For instance, if the person is married and would prefer to be called “Ms”, “Miss” or like I would want to be called, I am free to do so. And for those who want “Mrs” and their husbands are insisting -- [Interruptions]-- Hon Leader, I am addressing Madam Speaker -- [Laughter] -- Therefore, I agree with Hon Samia, the choice is ours and this is part of our freedom.
Thank you.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
So that if a woman herself wants to change her title, I think the Clerk will be too willing. But otherwise, I do not know whether Hon J. B. Aidoo is quite aware of the modern trend for women. The modern trend is not to use any title at all like “Ms” or “Mrs”. But if a lady wants to, she can go and change it. So, I cannot rule that we should be consistent; she might want it one day and the next month, she does not want the “Mrs” again.
But if you want to know her gender, “Ms” will do. “Ms” is the gender. Sometimes the names of some tribes do not show whether one is a male or female. In which case, maybe, the “Ms”, if she is a woman, would help for whatever reasons that we want to make their gender known.
That is what I feel. I think that is in consonance with what the women here feel.
Thank you.
So, we left page 4, we are on page 5 now.
Mr. Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, on page 5, number 3, I have been captured as being absent with permission but I was available and present throughout proceedings yesterday. And I want the correction to be effected. I am Ameyaw-Cheremeh.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Thank you.
Pages 6 - 7 --
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 11:10 a.m.
Madam
Speaker, on page 7, there was a correction done yesterday, item xix for Hon Fritz Baffour. I notice that the “Fritz” has been spelt “F-r-i-z-t” instead of “F-r-i-t-z”.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Clerk to note. It was corrected yesterday but it is still mistaken today.
Thank you.
Pages 8 - 12 --
Mr. E. A. Owusu-Ansah 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, page 12, bullet point 20: “The Hon Second Deputy Speaker indicated that the procedure for presentation of the Estimates of the Judiciary . . .” I think it should be “Judicial Service”.
Madam Speaker, the next paragraph also, “Judiciary” should be “Judicial Service”.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Yes, thank you.
Mr. E. A. Owusu-Ansah 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, more importantly, bullet point 21, your Committee recommended GH¢84,801,941.30 for the Judicial Service for 2010. But in view of the fact that the
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Yes, Hon Minister?
Dr. Kwabena Duffuor 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, what I did say was that, in view of the fact that GH¢52.7 million has been captured in the Budget Statement, I plead with the House to approve that figure and that the difference between what the Committee came up with, the GH¢84 million and the GH¢52 million, the difference will be sourced from outside the Budget. And I gave that commitment --[Interruptions.]
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
He is saying that it is not reflected here. I think that he wants it to be reflected here.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah 11:10 a.m.
That is so, Madam
Speaker.
All that I am saying -- In fact, the Hon Minister has repeated what I said. The fact is that, the difference will be sourced from other sources outside the Budget and that
must be reflected in the Hansard.
rose
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Minister?
Dr. Duffuor 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the issue is that, it was not approved subject to - I did make a commitment that the excess will be sourced outside the Budget and it is different from saying “subject to”. That is what I want to point out.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, I was not here then.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, yes, you were not in the Chair then, but I am surprised that it looks like we are going back on what we had already agreed. The fact of the matter is that the Committee -- and that was reflected on the Order Paper. Your Committee had recommended GH¢84 million but in the Budget Statement, that has already been read to the House, the figure for the Judicial Service is GH¢52 million.
So there is a shortfall of GH¢32 million and the agreement was that he will look elsewhere, outside the Budget. In fact, early on in the morning, we had met with the Hon Minister and he had said that he would look for a loan for the Judicial Service as well as the Ghana National Fire Service to enable them buy fire tenders. And that we should accept the GH¢52 million and he would make the shortfall in the course of the year.
I think that we are speaking the same language.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Leaders of the House, do we put this undertaking here? Do we have to capture it here? Because it was GH¢52 million that was approved.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I think that we are both at the same level. The principle is understood by everyone. I think what my Hon Colleague, the Hon Member for Kwabre West is saying is that, it should have found expression in the Votes and Proceedings. Definitely, it will be captured in the Hansard.
But the principle involved, whether we have to state it here -- And I think that, yes, if we capture it here, it would be appropriate because the Votes and Proceedings capture whatever we agree on ultimately. So that is the principle. If we accept that we agreed and subject to that agreement, we voted for the approval of the figure, then there should not be anything wrong if it is captured as such. So I think that is how it should be done.
Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, what is captured usually on the Votes and Proceedings are the decisions of the House. The decisions of the House definitely, is after the Question has been put. And what Question was put? If you go through the Hansard, you would see that the Question that was put was on the figure GH¢52,741,890; that was the Question that was put and that was what was agreed to by the House and that is the decision of the House. So that is captured.
But as for his commitment, that would be clearly in the Hansard, which we can follow as an assurance. But recording on the Votes and Proceedings, is the decision only and that is determined by the Question put by the Speaker. That is my understanding of what is captured on the Votes and Proceedings; the decisions of the House, when you are dealing with motions, what is the Question that is put ultimately by the Speaker and agreed to
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
The Majority Leader has stated that what was the Question put and what was agreed to is what has been captured here. But then elsewhere was the undertaking captured somewhere, or should it not be? The Hansard will -- All right, when we come to the Hansard, we will see.
Page 13 -- Yes, Hon Member?
Mr. Robert Joseph Barton-Odro 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, page 12, item 19, the second paragraph. My name is Barton- Odro, not “Bart-Odro”.
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Thank you.
Pages 13 -- 15; yes, Hon Member?
Mr. David Nana Larbie 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, page 15, item 2, the spelling of the name of our Minority Leader is wrong here. It is “Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu”; but the spelling of “Osei” is wrong. It is supposed to be O-s-e-i, but here, it is “O-s-i-e”.
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Thank you for the correction.
Page 16 now. Yes?
Prof. (Emeritus) Samuel Kwadwo Amoako 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, page 16 under “No. 2 -- Attendance”. My name has not been properly captured. For one thing, my first name is missing -- [Inter-ruption.]
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
“Kwasi”, not “Kwadwo”?
Prof. (Emeritus) Amoako 11:20 a.m.
It is “Samuel”.
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
“Kwasi Samuel Amoako”, that is the name?
Prof. (Emeritus) Amoako 11:20 a.m.
No, Madam Speaker. It is “Samuel Kwadwo Amoako”. “Kwadwo” is the middle name; the first name is missing.
Secondly, my title has not been properly situated.
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
I notice that.
Prof. (Emeritus) Amoako 11:20 a.m.
It should come immediately after the “Prof.”
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Thank you. Pages
17 - 21 --
The Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 16th December, 2009 as corrected -- Yes, Hon Member?
Alhaji Inusah A. B. Fuseini 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, on page 21, I recall that the Hon Minority Chief Whip was present at the meeting for the consideration of the Communications (Amendment) Bill but his name is absent.
Page 21, Hon Frederick Opare-Ansah was present.
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Opare-Ansah did not see it, but thank you very much. We would put it there. Is that all the corrections?
So the Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 16th December, 2009 as corrected is adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Leader, we do not have any Statements, so we move to item (4)?
Item (4) -- Laying of Papers. Chairman of the Committee on Communications.
PAPERS 11:20 a.m.
Mr. Bagbin 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we want to start with Motion number (9), which is on the National Media Commission.
CONSIDERATION OF 11:30 a.m.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 11:30 a.m.
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Dr. Kwabena Duffuor) 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢2,159,244.00 for the services of the National Media Commission for the 2010 fiscal year.
Madam Speaker, vibrant media in Ghana today presents both opportunities and challenges to national unity, stability, security and peace-building. The internationally mandated migration to digital broadcasting would provide opportunities for the creation of more radio and television stations and further increase the challenge for monitoring and regulating the additional stations.
This would present new challenges for
the building of our democratic process. In response to these challenges, the National Media Commission (NMC) in the year 2010, will strengthen its regulatory mechanism, undertake preparatory works for the establishment of a new campus for the Ghana Institute of Journalism, provide sponsorship for journalists for further training and specialization, improve media monitoring and develop a comprehensive framework for broadcasting legislation.
Madam Speaker, for these and many more, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢2,159,244.00 for the services of the National Media Commission for the 2010 fiscal year.
Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour (on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee) 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I rise to second the motion and in doing so, I would like to read the Report of the Committee.
1.0 Introduction
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning presented to Parliament the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009 in accordance with article 179 of the 1992 Constitution.
Pursuant to Order 140 (4) of the Standing Orders of the House, the Speaker referred the draft Annual Budget Estimates for the National Media Commission (NMC) to the Special Budget Committee for consideration and report.
The Committee met with the Executive Secretary to the Commission and officials of the Commission and the Ministry of
Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour (on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee) 11:30 a.m.
GH¢276,833 in 2009 and to GH¢1,743,223 in 2010. Of the 2009 allocation of GH¢271,833, the Commission utilized only GH¢95,139 as at end October 2009. The 530 per cent increase in the P.E. Vote this year, has resulted in a significant increase 329 per cent in the Commission's total allocation for 2010.
It was confirmed that the Commission did not have the capacity to utilize the entire P.E. allocation for 2010 as was the case in 2009. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning should grant the Commission permission to vire from item 1 to Item 4 to support the procurement of media monitoring equipment.
6.2 Procurement of Equipment for Media Monitoring
The Committee was informed that the Commission is in the process of procuring and installing equipments for media monitoring. However it was observed that, the total allocation for service and investment combined cannot even procure a unit of such equipment. This situation is
undermining the Commission's efficiency and effectiveness in the performance of its constitutional mandate.
As recommended early on, MOFEP should grant the Commission permission to vire from Item 1 to support the procurement and installation of the equipment.
6.3 Lack of Personnel
The Committee noted that the NMC does not have sufficient staff to carry out an effective media monitoring. While the number of media houses increase and spread across the country, the NMC still maintains only one office in Accra. The Commission has no permanent presence in other parts of the country. This makes it difficult and expensive to monitor activities of media houses outside Accra on daily basis.
It was explained that the Commission has an elaborate plan to establish regional offices but is finding it difficult to get clearance from the MOFEP to recruit staff for these offices. Further, the adminis- tration allocation for the Commission is
SPACE FOR TABLE AT PAGE 18

not enough to support the operations of these offices.

The Committee, therefore, wishes to urge the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to consider the case of NMC as a special take and urgently look at the need to recruit officers for its regional offices. This should be spread over a specified period.
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Hon Members, I think we will have two contributors from each side for five minutes so that we can move on.
Question proposed.
Alhaj i Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka (NDC - Asewase): Madam Speaker, I rise to support the motion before us and in doing so, to say that, as a member of the Special Budget Committee, we have realized with great concern, the level of budgetary support
to this independent constitutional bodies that are supposed to help strengthen our democracy. I would want to suggest that we find a way of really looking at their budget, maybe, with some constitutional amendment that would give them some kind of leverage in sourcing resources to enable them work.
Madam Speaker, if you look at the National Media Commission and the work that they are supposed to do, it leaves everyone in no doubt that it is a very, very important one and the need for them to be resourced to be able to carry out this function.
Madam Speaker, the National Media
Commission, as we speak today, after almost 16 years of the practice of democracy, are located only in just about three regions, Greater Accra and Ashanti (Kumasi). Many of the regional offices do not even have offices, let alone talk about staff and that even accounted for the Personal Emolument (P.E.) that was provided and they were not able to utilize because they could not even have the place let alone hire staff to man them.
Madam Speaker, if we look at the terrain of the media level in Ghana, we are all happy that it is being advanced and the level of freedom of speech is very commendable in Africa.
But Madam Speaker, we cannot lose sight of one thing. Many of the African

countries that had gone to war, had gone to war because of the way information had not been managed very well; because of the way the media had managed information in those countries, typical being, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia -- and they will tell you that all those things were really created by the media.

Madam Speaker, that is why in protecting our democracy, we need to be able to strengthen the National Media Commission to be able to carry out their constitutional duties to protect the citizenry.

Today, go to the National Media Commission Office and you will realize that even equipment to monitor what the radio and television stations are carrying
Mr. Joseph Ampomah Bosompem (NPP -- Akim Swedru) 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the motion on the floor to implore both sides of the House to approve an amount of GH¢2,159,244.00 as the allocation for the National Media Commission. And in doing so, I would like to comment on these few items, the Personal Emolument Vote, the Service Vote and the Investment Vote for such an important institution like the National Media Commission.
As we may all be aware, this institution is there to regulate and monitor activities of the media houses and to make sure that right things are done and people are not unjustifiably attacked in the press and other media. By so doing, we as Members of Parliament and the people charged with oversight responsibility, should make sure that what they need to do their work is adequately provided.
When you take Item 1, there is a variation of about GH¢1,466,390.00 when you compare the 2009 and the 2010 figures. That is commendable but you ask yourself, how is this amount going to be utilized? Here is an institution with only the head office staffed with a few number of people. They have not been given any support to establish the regional offices and it is very difficult to actually conjecture as to how they are going to get these regional offices established and thereby fully utilizing the amount given them.
One may be tempted to conclude, therefore, that that amount is put there only to remain at the end of the year unutilized. Secondly, this amount is under the control and direction of the Controller and Accountant-General and for that reason, no matter the amount of money put there, your budget will look good but you may not have the chance of using this money to achieve any agenda that you have set yourself to accomplish, so we need to pay attention to that.
When you take the Service Vote, it is commendable that it has changed from 8,072 to 120,000 -- a difference of 111,928; in percentage terms, 1,387. You look at it and it tells you that the initial figure, the base figure was ridiculously low and it was giving an indication that the people were set up not to undertake any service in 2009. So with even this amount of 120,000, it has given you an astronomical percentage increase. Now, you ask yourself that as we go through the year and there is a revenue inflow problem, will they not face a problem in accessing that amount?
Investment follows suit and it gives you the indication that we need to look at this all-
important institution in the right perspective. Again, when you take the investment, the National Media Commission has only the headquarters. As I have already pointed out, it will be very difficult within the year to even establish all the regional offices. And so, the need to buy the equipment, the monitoring equipment comes in handy. Now, you ask yourself, that one of the monitoring equipment is costing €400,000 and when you combine the Service Vote and the Investment Vote, can it finance a single equipment?
So they will not have the staff in doing the thing manually and they will not also have this machine that could assist them to achieve their objectives. We may be looking at the institution from its small size but it becomes very difficult when all of us actually realize its importance when we have been attacked by the media unjustifiably.
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Hon Member, your five minutes - kindly wind up.
Mr. Bosompem 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I will implore both sides of the House to look at the impact of this foreign media in the media landscape of the country and resource the National Media Commission adequately to live up to expectation.
Mr. Bosompem 11:40 a.m.


I thank you, Madam Speaker, for the opportunity to make this contribution.
Minority Leader (Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu) 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, just some brief comments.
In support of this motion, I want to draw our attention to one of the aims of the National Media Commission. In the Report, as captured on page 2, we are informed that the Commission, one of its key objectives is to take measures that would ensure that the State-owned media is insulated from governmental control. But in recent times, we have been reading materials in the media regarding the conduct of elections that took place at the Commission. And we are informed of the status of the current Chairman of the Commission.
Every now and then, we have write-ups appearing in some publications to the effect that people are determined to remove the person who has recently been elected as the Chairman of the National Media Commission.
The National Media Commission itself, if it should be placed in a position to ensure that State-owned media is insulated from governmental control, the Commission itself should also be insulated from governmental control.
That is why what is happening these days cannot be the best for the Commission. Another objective of the Commission is to educate media practitioners on responsible
journalistic practices and their duty to improve trust in the mass media.
Again, some people believe that once you become a public officer, everybody can throw and splatter mud on you. Sometimes if you read some of the publications relating to high public officers, including in particular, Hon Members of Parliament, it is worrisome. You read some of them and you feel like throwing up. Some of the media houses have made it a policy to always attack politicians and they want to bait you to enter into the gutter where, excuse my language, some of them belong. It is unacceptable, some of us refuse to be baited but it is certainly not the best.
About two months ago, one Paper wrote about me that, and Madam Speaker, I am quoting the paper:
“The most idiotic person in Ghana.”
A Paper called The Lense --
As I said, I refuse to be dragged into the gutter with such a Paper because I do not belong there, even though I am capable of rising to the sanctimonious heights, if I descended and rubbished them -- I said I am capable of rising up if I have to fight them in the trenches. But I resist that temptation because they are not my kind.
Madam Speaker, I am not the only person who has been so attacked by that particular Paper. It is certainly unjustifiable and I believe people who are controlling that Paper,
Minority Leader (Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu) 11:50 a.m.


Madam Speaker, I thank you for your indulgence.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member.
Hon Members, I think this concludes the debate and the Question is to be put now.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢2,159,244.00 for the services of the National Media Commission for the 2010 fiscal year.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Majority Leader?
Mr. Bagbin 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we propose that we take item 10, which is on Parliament of Ghana.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Yes, Hon Minister, can you move the motion?
MR. FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 11:55 a.m.
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Dr. Kwabena Duffuor) 11:55 a.m.
Mr. Speaker,
I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢34,037,510.00 for the Services of Parliament for the 2010 fiscal year.
Madam Speaker, the noble mandate of Parliament, in deepening democracy, promoting good governance and sound economic development through its legislative functions requires adequate funding.
Madam Speaker, during the fiscal year 2010, Parliament, in addition to its various functions, would hold plenary and committee Sittings to deliver on its legislative functions, organize committee workshops and monitoring visits to project sites and institutions across the country to verify the use of resources and the efficiency of project implementation; to organize local, overseas training and internship programmes for Members of Parliament and staff, and participate in overseas conferences and seminars.
Parliament will rehabilitate the Chamber block and complete the furnishing of the
Majority Leader/Chairman of the Committee (Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin) noon
Mr. Speaker, in supporting and seconding the motion, I would want to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the cost of what the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has mentioned works up to the figure GH¢35,256,288.00; this is the figure that was submitted and that was the figure that was accepted and referred back to Parliament. Initially, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning earmarked the figure that is on the Order Paper, which is GH¢34,037,510.00, as against the figure of GH¢35,256,288.00, which I have just mentioned.
But as you all know, we in the House are by law requested to submit our budget
Mr. First Deputy Speaker noon
Hon
Majority Leader, in course of the constitutional bar, it is important to clarify -- I was not here when the motion was moved -- the figure that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is using so that if it is GH¢35,256,288.00 which is accepted, then he will have to amend his figure in his motion. We have to be very sure about that because of the provisions of article 108 of the Constitution. We have to be very clear. So what is the figure, Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning?
Dr. Duffuor noon
The figure is what is in the motion.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker noon
On the Order Paper?
Dr. Duffuor noon
On the Order Paper, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there had been an additional figure, the Leader should have called my attention because this Paper belongs to Parliament and it reflects what we also have in our books. But if they had changed it -- they have power to change it -- we should have been told. This is what we have in our Paper.
Thank you.
Mr. Bagbin noon
Well, I am really surprised with current statement of the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning because the Ministry was represented at the committee meeting and this is the figure that we all agreed to at the committee meeting. We actually drew the attention of the Ministry and the Minister and the Clerks-at-the-Table, that the figure is what I am stating now. That is the figure.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker noon
Hon Majority Leader, my attention has been drawn to page 352 of the Budget Statement and the figure there tallies with the figure on the Order Paper; page 352. So I would err on the side of Parliament, to strengthen the House. I will suggest that we defer this motion for us to sort it out. If you look at Appendix 8 “A” at page 352 of the Budget Statement, we have the figure GH¢34,037,510.00. And so, I will suggest that we defer this motion, clarify the position and then we can come back to it.
Mr. Bagbin noon
Well, Mr. Speaker, the difference is just GH¢1 million. In fact, at the committee level, we saw the figure you are referring to and we raised that figure and discussed it with the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning at the committee level, and we all agreed on this figure I mentioned.
Yesterday, we saw that the figure captured on the Order Paper for today was
Dr. Duffuor noon
Mr. Speaker, I will urge the House to approve the figure here and just as we treated the Judicial Service yesterday, we will make a commitment to pay the difference of about GH¢1 million without difficulty. So I urge the House to approves it as it is now.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker noon
Very well,
since the Hon Majority Leader has also indicated that the figure is not very huge, the difference is not very huge and given the undertaking that the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has just made on the floor, I would want to say that let us go with the figure of the Hon Minister so that we make progress.
Mr. Bagbin 12:10 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me say that by the Act that was passed by Parliament itself, we now have the procedure of submitting our bills directly to His Excellency the President. And the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning duly co-operated with Parlia- ment in this direction. In fact, the budget that was submitted by Parliament was not in anyway disturbed by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, neither was it also disturbed by His Excellency the President.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, at page 6 of the Report of the Committee, we have duly captured what the Budget is intended to do. In fact, in addition to that, we are aware that this House contracted
a loan through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to the tune of US$24 million and then we have a grant of Y30 million from the Chinese Government.
This was since 2007. We have put in place steps to try to access these moneys. Therefore, we could not capture them under the budget but the Ministry has agreed with us because of the urgency involved in providing office space for Parliament and Hon Members of Parliament, the money is sourced through the SSNIT and the Chinese Government, Parliament will have the opportunity of looking at a Supplementary Budget to capture these and allow the work to continue on the rehabilitation of the “Job 600”.
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and His Excellency the President. But as we have all identified, there is usually the problem of releasing the moneys approved by Parliament and Parliament itself being an arm of Government be put in the same status as the other arms of Government, the Executive and the Judiciary. Therefore, paragraph 8 (3) of the Report is talking about the establishment of a treasury for Parliament.
We have gone through this and we believe strongly that the arrangement whereby Parliament is given due recogni- tion as an independent arm of Government in spite of the constitutional constraint, which we believe, with the process that is put in place to review the Constitution, will be a thing of the past.
We want that with the support of the Ministry of Finance and Economic
Prof. G.Y. Gyan-Baffour (NPP -- Wenchi) 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I also beg to support the motion for the allocation given to Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, the procedure for these other arms of Government, in the sense of how they submit their budget requests, the onus should be on these arms of Government, that is, Parliament and the Judiciary. The Constitution says that in the case of the Judiciary, their requests should be submitted two months in advance, before the end of the year.
The reason why the Constitution is saying is, so that, it allows the request
Prof. G.Y. Gyan-Baffour (NPP -- Wenchi) 12:10 p.m.


to be sent to Parliament and Parliament's approval sent to the Finance Minister before he comes here to read his Budget. That is one month before the end of the year. So if that process does not go, the Finance Ministry will continue to do their work and so when you give it to them and they finish their work and bring it here, it becomes a problem. So these arms have to sit up and start their budgeting processes well ahead of time to avoid such a problem.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Minister has undertaken that he will give us the difference between the 34 and 35.

But Mr. Speaker, I think the issue about “Job 600” where you have secured US$24 million already and the view is that maybe, when the Finance Minister comes here for the supplementary, then he includes it. I think the supplementary is something that the Minister, as he Sits here, does not even know whether he will come with it or not. But then we have to start to actually utilize this loan. Indeed, I am not sure but I think that when it was approved, it went through Parliament and therefore, there is already a parliamentary approval for that loan.

If that is the case, then we can start using this resource. Even if the Minister has to come back and reopen it, we may have to be given permission by the House to spend the money before the Minister comes with the Supplementary Budget. If he will come with any at all, normally, he comes in June and we will have to wait until June before we do this work. But I think the House has to agree that that money, we can access it right now so that the contract can go on.

Mr. Speaker, yes, again, on that US$42million or the Y30 million, it was a grant given to Parliament. It was signed by the Chinese Speaker who came here in 2007. In fact, I countersigned it for the

Government and so that money has also been sitting this while. But why it is sitting is because it is for furnishing of Parliament -- of that “Job 600” and because the construction will have to come before the furnishing, we are finding it difficult to know how to access it.

But of course, this is something which has been given to us by the Chinese Government and just like our House, they have their own procedures.

So if we are not being proactive, it can get to a point where, they can say “well, we gave it to you but it is now four years, you have not used it, so you may not have it”. So maybe, we may have to go ahead and also pre-empt that by, maybe, using it to buy the furnishing that we need in anticipation of the completion of the building.

In fact, on this note, I will also urge that all Hon Members of the House should support this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah (NPP -- Sekondi) 12:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that almost every Hon Member present will support this motion. However, there are a few matters that I believe we need to re-emphasise.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:10 p.m.
You joined us in l997 -- [Laughter.]
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 12:20 p.m.
You will be asking yourselves that over the past 16 years, as an institution, how far have we come in terms of strengthening it? The problem we have is that we are all here transitorily for four (4) years. You
cannot guarantee that you will be here after a four-year term. And so, in terms of institutional memory, everything resides with the Leadership of the Parliamentary Service, that is the Clerk and his team.
So I urge that, indeed, while we are thinking of the institution, we also motivate and inspire the Service Leadership so that they can consider themselves to be a major part of that team that is strengthening this institution.
It is true; it is not easy. Mr. Speaker, I will be the first to admit that when you are an Hon Member of Parliament and you become a member of the Executive, your concentration is more on the Executive, and it should be expected because the performance of the Executive is what would determine the outcome of an election. But I believe we have come full cycle and we have all come to accept that, indeed, there is more that we have to do.
It is to my eternal regret, when I look back over the past eight (8) years, to say that under an NPP Administration, we could not complete the “Job 600”. So I am urging the Leadership to collaborate with the Parliamentary Service Leadership so that we give ourselves -- I am sure we have a strategic plan and the strategic plan would be within the bosom of the Parliamentary Service. As Hon Members, many of us would not be involved. Even in terms of the Budget, it does not appear as if Hon Members of Parliament play a major role. I believe that ought to change.
In terms of measuring our performance as a collective, let us ask ourselves, at the end of every four (4) years, to what extent we have contributed in strengthening the institution so that the group that would take over from us would have a better institution that would also carry on the mandate of Parliament as spelt out in the Constitution.
Mr. Speaker, I know, every President makes a commitment to the strengthening of Parliament. When it comes to the output, the answer is: “Well, as for me, I am here and you are supporting me even in the Executive. You should be able to deliver so that I can be said to have really been able to achieve whatever I committed myself to achieving.”
So I urge the Leadership of this House and all Hon Members, that, we should always think about the institution. Just a couple of days ago, when I went and took my lunch, I said, “Oh, we were in government for eight (8) years, despite all our talk, we could not even change the food. We are still eating Papaye for lunch.” It is distressful. You go to the washroom and you will meet strangers and disposable containers, whatever it is, “take-away”, whether Papaye or whatever, and so let us set ourselves a target.
By the end of 2012, I believe that the “Job 600”, at least, would have been completed. [Interruption.] The Hon Minority Leader is saying 2011. The Leadership knows the agenda that they have set for themselves. We would congratulate them if they are able to complete the “Job 600” by 2011.
In 2004, we were saying that by 2006, this would be completed. I know that when the Hon Minority and Majority Leaders agree on something, ably supported by the Deputy Speakers, they would really, really be able to achieve it.
So I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the
opportunity.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon Members, I will take the last from the Hon Minority Leader, then I would put the Question -- We have agreed to a certain number of people to facilitate business -- Because he is a member
Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (Mr. Joseph Y. Chireh) 12:20 p.m.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity, despite the protestation of this Hon young Man to add my voice to the motion and to urge my Hon Colleagues to also support and vote for it.
In fact, the issue of Parliament is very
dear to everybody. We are the People who are supposed to ensure that the resources available to the nation are used in the best interest of this country. But as the Hon Member who last spoke said, we have to look at Parliament properly and ensure that apart from the things that we want to be done for us to raise the status of Parliament, it also behoves us as Members of Parliament to dedicate ourselves to the work of Parliament, acquit ourselves creditably in the eyes of the public, that we are a serious group of people.
Over the years, I have seen quite a number of Hon Members of Parliament who have really worked hard, who have shown that if we ever come to the separation of powers and as people are suggesting that Hon Members of Parliament should not necessarily be in the Executive, they would have left some legacy; those people would have been the examples we can also cite for wanting to be Hon Members of Parliament only, and not Hon Members of Parliament with our eyes looking for the Executive position.
I would want us to look at this issue of
the “Job 600”. Recently, somebody asked me why we were saying it would be done and it had not been done. I have also seen in the Report that the Committee is also

asking the Ministry to capture it. At this time, I do not think it can be captured, if it is not already captured. We will have to request for a supplementary recapturing of this, that is, Supplementary Budget to capture only this item. If not, it may be a pious wish that we are making. We have bent the institution of Parliament. If we do not build it well, we will have difficulties.

Parliament's own oversight respon-

sibilities must be properly budgeted and not for Parliament to be dependent on the institutions that it is supposed to be overseeing to facilitate its work. I think it is wrong and we must look at the possibility of voting enough money for our monitoring and oversight res-ponsibilities. Parliament must be in a position to talk strongly, no matter which organisation it is talking to or about.

It is with these comments that I will also support the Leadership, both from the Minority side and the Majority side and also the Leadership of the Parliamen-tary Service to let us have measurable targets that we must achieve as an institution worthy of the name Parliament.

Thank you Mr. Speaker, for this oppor- tunity.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon Member for New Juaben North, followed by the Hon Minority Leader and then we close.
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang (NPP -- New Juaben North) 12:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you most sincerely for this opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, Parliament of Ghana is yet to recover from the wounds inflicted on it by various interventions of a military
nature, which always tends to affect this institution like a tsunami. Without Parliament, no country can be said to be democratic. So one of the tenets, the basic cornerstones of democracy, is Parliament. This notwithstanding, we see that Parliament always becomes a poor relative of the three institutions that go to constitute the governance of this nation.
Mr. Speaker, if it comes to even linking with civil society as to what we should do, it is Members of Parliament who should be doing that and at the end of the day, we must be in a position to articulate the views of civil society of our constituents to the Executive and to the nation at large. But because Parliament has never been given the wherewithal over the years to deliver as it should, it has now become, sometimes, the butt of criticism and to the extent of Mr. Speaker, sometimes, being ridiculed, which is an unfortunate situation in this country.
I believe that the intentions of all Hon Members are honourable and indeed, the work that they do sometimes can be selfless. At the constituency level, one deals with any problem, from A to Z and at the end of the day, the society itself does not appreciate it. We are human, yes, indeed, and mistakes will be made. But what is important, Mr. Speaker, is to accord the necessary recognition by the nation to the effective utilization of Parliament.
I want to agree with Hon Yieleh Chireh (Member for Wa West) that it cannot be the case that when you are supposed to oversee a particular Ministry, then the Ministry should give resources in order to oversee it. Therefore, he who pays the piper calls the tune. That is not the way forward, Mr. Speaker. As Hon Papa Owusu-Ankomah said, even when we have to Sit till 10.00 in the night, “junior secondary school (JSS) lunch” is what you give us and a few of us have stomach problems.
Over 16 years, are we saying in this country that we have not been able to have a decent place as a restaurant for Parliament? No matter how we try, the lip- service to Parliament must now cease. I am sorry the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has gone, but I want to take him on and to re-emphasize that whatever is missing, should be given to Parliament.
Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, the younger generation of politicians who enter Parliament must also be given the necessary training and exposure to be able to continue building the institutional memory so that when the older ones are gone, they will take over. I believe that if they say Kennedy was in the Senate for 47 years, it was not for nothing; and when they speak, people listen but here, people like to ridicule Members of Parliament when the points are made. Mr. Speaker, it is only because -- the Hon Minority Leader is telling me that once an Hon Member has done two, three terms, they begin to call him or her “Mugabe”; but that is not the issue.
A happy blend between the new ones and the older ones is the way to move forward. And I believe this is what we are all seeking to do. Mr. Speaker, your goodself have been here for the fifth term or so, and I think that you know the rules back to front, and that is what is required. You have built the necessary structure so that you can make the point for your constituents, and for the nation.
Indeed, when you go to other jurisdictions, it is Parliament which virtually rules the country because there, we know that everybody is taken care of.
So Mr. Speaker, I am happy that the Hon Minister is back again and he says that the necessary resources would be given. But I think that our Hon Colleagues
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Hon
Minority Leader, there was a certain understanding, which I have far exceeded, and I think that there should be fairness.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with you that we had that understanding, but because it concerns Parliament, I want to put in a special plea so that if you will allow at least, one more from either side, then I will put the item to a close, with respect.
Mr. Bagbin 12:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my only prayer is that Hon Members should be prepared to stay a little more longer because this is our motion and I know many more Hon Members would want to express their views and that may even allow us to respond to some of the issues. I was noting down a few points to respond to, therefore, we can relax that rule and re- apply it and agree that two from each side of the House for each motion -- but with this particular one, let us give an exception and then move on.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Very well, I will take one each from both sides of the House.
Hon Asiamah?
Mr. Isaac K. Asiamah (NPP -- Atwima-Mponua) 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion on the floor for the budget estimates for the Parliament of Ghana.
Mr. Speaker, I want us to go back to your earlier ruling. You wanted this whole thing to be stood down for some further consideration because, in my opinion, the figure here is woefully inadequate. For the institution of Parliament to be given this figure, considering the enormity of work we do, I believe we need to relook at the figure that has been given to us.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at the Mission Statement of Parliament, for example, it states:
“To develop human resource policies and equip Members of Parliament and staff with relevant knowledge and skills through training and development for effective and efficient service delivery.”
Mr. Speaker, quite recently His Excellency the President announced that persons on the National Service Scheme would be posted to help Members of Parliament. In fact, we have received them. Mr. Speaker, it is very ironic that we have graduates who are supporting us, but all that we see them doing is just carrying MPs' bags left and right. They are not here to carry MPs' bags; they are here to learn and to learn well. So what support are we giving them? There is no office for them; there is nothing for them. But Mr. Speaker, if we are to develop quality human resource, these people must be supported so that they can render quality service to us.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at the
budget for the service of Parliament, it is GH¢35,256,288 and then when you compare it to that of the Office of Government Machinery, a whopping sum of GH¢359 million is going to that Office. And Parliament, which is a law-making body, an institution that epitomises real and true democracy, we are giving it such a peanut, less than 10 per cent of what has been given to the Executive. Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, this is not the best.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, is it a point of order?
Mr. Fuseini 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am rising
on Order 93. Mr. Speaker, he is misleading this House. In fact, disbursement and allocation of resources to the various arms of Government do not, in fact, depend on the status of those arms of Government but on the work that they do -- [Interruptions.] So he is definitely misleading the House.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, there is nothing in Order 93 that talks about misleading. [Laughter.]
Hon Member, continue.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, Parliament is always - because sometimes, on the other side, they may want to even impress the Executive so that they can get away -- [Interruption.]
Dr. Kwabena Duffuor 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I will like to set the records straight. The Office of Government Machinery has a number of MDAs and institutions numbering 54 -- about 54 establishments are under the Office of Government Machinery. It is not one; they are 54.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly take that on board in your submission. There are 54 establishments.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, he has even helped me with the debate. Mr. Speaker, one organ under it, the National Security is getting GH¢66 million, twice the figure of what we have here. One of the organs he mentioned, National Security is getting GH¢66.7 million, twice that of the allocation to the service of Parliament. It is so sad that we treat Parliament like this. And Mr. Speaker, for -- [Interruption.]
Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, my very good Friend is misleading the public. This is what Parliament budgeted for; it has not been reduced by any Government. This is what we budgeted for and that is what has been approved. That is what we are saying. We have the capacity of utilizing this amount during the course of the year. That is what we submitted. We cannot blame another person for what we decided that we wanted -[Interruptions.] It is our budget and that is what we budgeted for. [Interruptions.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly conclude. You know that I gave you the floor based on a special appeal, so kindly conclude your submission.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, if that is the case, then Leadership has failed this institution. [Hear! Hear!] Mr. Speaker, I would come to Leadership again. Mr. Speaker, it is so sad for the Hon Majority Leader who wanted to be or wants us to call him Leader of this House to say that -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly withdraw; he is the Leader of the House. Kindly withdraw it. [Inter-ruptions.] Hon Member, withdraw it.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I withdraw and let us move forward. But the Leader of the House is saying that he went in for this ridiculous paltry sum for the service of Parliament when we do not have office space, when our research assistants are just walking round, and they have nothing doing - [Inter-ruption.]
Mr. Bagbin 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, it is neither the Leader of Parliament nor the Leadership of Parliament that budgeted for Parliament, it is not. [Interruptions.] Well, I have to

I definitely would want Hon Members to read more of our documents, not just the Standing Orders, and look at the structure of Parliament and see how we process things in the House. We, after some years' experience, with only the Parliamentary Service budgeting for Parliament, put in place a Special Budget Committee and that Special Budget Committee is made up of Hon Members of this House, and that Special Budget Committee is chaired - [Interruptions] -- It is chaired by the Hon Majority Leader. The Vice-Chairman is the Hon Minority Leader and the members of the Budget Committee are members such as backbenchers. Those members include your goodselves.

So, we together with the Leadership of the Parliamentary Service, budget for Parliament and we are guided by the Speakership. We submitted this based on our capacity to utilize this amount during the course of the year. And we are conversant of the fact that we would be getting additional -- which is what we provided for, for the other capital investments.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly conclude your sub- mission.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 12:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the document I am reading here, is signed by Hon A. S. K. Bagbin, Majority Leader and Chairman of the Special Budget Committee, so obviously, they have endorsed it.
Mr. Speaker, then, about conditions of service of Members of Parliament; you would agree with me that indeed, Members of Parliament are suffering. We are paying school fees, funeral donations, almost everything.

Mr. Speaker, it is not the best. Since the beginning of the year, or since last year or so, nothing has been added to our salary -- nothing, nothing. Meanwhile, inflation has eaten away or eroded all the small ones we have. So there is nothing in our pockets; our pockets are dry. Indeed, our pockets are dry, Mr. Speaker. So if we go on to approve of this budget, not thinking of Hon Members of Parliament's (MPs) welfare, it is, indeed, not the best. Mr. Leader, it is not the best.

Mr. Speaker, another issue is about Members of Parliament's security. Some of us have been robbed or attacked by armed robbers. And this attack, maybe, may go to both Leadership. Mr. Speaker, the concern from Leadership is not the best. Our security -- I remember, over the years, we have been talking about it, that it is not for any special thing but we know because of our contributions here --

Mr. Speaker, the other time I spoke here, I went to the washroom only for somebody to come there and say, “You stupid man, you will see”. I went to the

washroom here -- [Interruptions] -- Yes, I went there after making my contribution here. I just had to run away because I did not know who he was -- [Laughter.] So even here, we are not all that safe. And they have taken it to our homes too. I have been robbed and everything taken away. Mr. Speaker, should I say that because some members of the Leadership have police protection therefore, they do not care about others? Is that what we should be made to believe, that because some members of the Leadership have police protection, others do not matter?

Mr. Speaker, let me remind them, that we all have constituencies. I came here on the mandate of the people. I have been elected here to come and serve, likewise our Leaders. So they should also mind Members of -- [Interruptions] -- Mr. Speaker, sometimes it is so sad that when a Ghanaian is satisfied, the other Ghanaian should not be and he or she should suffer. That is not the best.

We are all Hon Members of Parliament. What is good for the Leadership is equally good for other Hon Members of Parliament. So we all demand protection. If it is necessary that some policemen should protect some Hon Members of Parliament, others are equally important for police protection because, we all come here and contribute; we all come here to speak; we all come here and express our opinion.

We are all prone to risk or hazards of this job, so Leadership should be mindful of the fact that Hon Members of Parliament in general need police protection, if that is what they have now. We also demand equal respect and attention.

Mr. Speaker, that is my contribution.

Thank you so much -- [Hear! Hear!] [Some Hon Members -- “You will win.”]
Minister for Communications (Mr. Haruna Iddrisu) 12:50 p.m.
Thank you very
Minority Leader (Mr. Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu) 1 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the issues raised by my Hon Colleague, the Minister for Communications (Mr. Haruna Iddrisu) would be responded to by the Hon Majority Leader for him to know what we are doing in that direction. So I would not proffer any comment on that.
But in respect of the allocation and the misunderstanding that cropped up at the very outset, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has given an indication of commitment in respect of
the one million Ghana cedis or so that we are talking about. I think that it goes beyond that.
The other one concerns the loan from Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the grant from the Chinese amounting to about US$4 million. Yes, the Hon Member for Wenchi (Prof. Gyan-Baffour) was right when he said that Parliament had ratified that Agreement.
Of course, we need to situate it within the context of next year's budget, so that we know that the amount would be taken on board in the next fiscal year. However, it should be done. I believe we could resort to the mechanism that we employed yesterday in respect of the Judiciary, and I believe we would be home and dry as far as that one is concerned.
Mr. Speaker, but coming to the allocation - 35, 34, if one deflates it by the rate of inflation of 18 per cent, there is no real gain. There is no real net gain. It looks like we are working with the 2009 figure, because in real terms, the value is the same. However, we do know that the responsibilities keep increasing. So I believe it is one area that we have to look at again.
The Hon Majority Leader was right when he said that the figure 35 was the proposal from Parliament. I agree.

But really, all this while Parliament has been engaging in some self-censorship because of the posturing of the Executive. We cannot run away from that. So, we do so just to appease the Executive that we have been reasonable. Indeed, we need to liberate ourselves from the grips of the Executive and let them know that we are an arm of Government. I am happy

in respect of the comparism with the allocation to Government Machinery. The Hon Minister is saying that Government Machinery has 54 depart-ments. So it means that Parliament cannot compare itself to it. But Parliament is as good as its committees. And of course, we have over 30 committees in Parliament. If they have to be very active, then if we have to compare the two figures, then certainly, Parliament is being short-changed.

The Hon Majority Leader drew my attention to an issue that we were discussing the other day and he reminded us that about four years ago, Parliament and the Judiciary were at about the same level. Today, where are we? Four, five years ago, we were at the same level. Where are we today? So, I think the signal to us is clear, that from now on, Parliament should begin to assert itself better than it has done all this while.

Mr. Speaker, but oftentimes, as it happened this year, when the process of crafting the Budget begins, Parliament itself is normally on recess -- that is during the long recess. And so, we are not able to make any meaningful input. We come and some allocation has already been made to us.

The point of entry of these institutions, that is, Parliament, the Audit Service, the Judiciary, if you like, the NCCE, the Electoral Commission and others should be reconsidered so that we have a real input from these institutions. Perhaps, through the lead of the President, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning will take this on board.

We have been d iscuss ing the introduction of a Budget Bill. Maybe, when it comes on stream, we will better define for yourselves the various points of entry for Parliament, and the Judiciary into the Budget process such that the conflict will be avoided next time round.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Minority Leader.
Hon Majority Leader, in view of the fact that certain issues have been raised on the floor, I would call you to do the greater part of the winding up. It is more about you than the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin 1 p.m.
Thank you very much. I am happy that my Friend, Hon Asiamah has appeared. Has he disappeared? [An Hon Member: He is here] -- I said he “has appeared”. He left and he has now appeared because I was observing him very well.
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to Hon Members for the comments because these are issues that have been agitating the minds of Leadership and the Parlia- mentary Service Board. We believe that during the course of next year, many of those issues would be addressed.
There is a review of an Enhanced Strategic Plan which will commence next year, 2010 up to 2012. We are working together and Hon Members of Parliament will definitely be involved in finalising the whole Enhanced Strategic Plan for 2010 to 2012.
We are definitely worried about the situation of the service personnel particularly those who are referred to as Research Assistants. The Research
Assistants are personal to the various Hon Members of Parliament; they are not employees of Parliament. And that is the difficulty. The Parliamentary Service itself went in for 120 service personnel and they are supporting the Parliamentary Service.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member for New Juaben North?
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 1 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Leader talked about Research Assistants being personal to us. Indeed, we have submitted the names and when we go to them they ask us to go to the National Service Secretariat to follow it up -- the traffic and everything. What time do we have to go to the National Service Secretariat to follow it up? So, in my opinion, some of us are still working to get our Research Assistants. That is not acceptable, certainly. So in my opinion, they do not exist. As far as I am concerned, they do not exist, they have just been given to us.
Mr. Bagbin 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of the concerns that have just been expressed. Now that I have been informed, I would get the Director of National Service Secretariat to come here
and make sure that Hon Members are given their service personnel.
Mr. Speaker, the welfare and security
of Hon Members, I believe, are something that nobody would want to toy with and I am aware of the fact that for all these years, so many Hon Members have had to live under severe fear and I recall a particular Member of Parliament, I think the former Member of Parliament for Trobu/Amasaman who was robbed about four times as a Member of Parliament.
It demoralised him to the extent that he regretted being a Member of Parliament. I am aware of the armed robbery on the current Minister for Health a few years ago; even the Hon Member for Sene, Hon Felix Twumasi-Appiah; I remember the former Member of Parliament for Krowor, and many others including my own Sister, the Hon Member for Oforikrom, Mrs. Elizabeth Agyeman. So we try as much as possible to find solutions to it, but it has not been easy and I embrace the proposal by one Hon Member, for us to get the various police units at the various areas in Accra to support the security of Hon Members.
This, definitely, is because Hon Members are seen as leaders, as representatives and there is some wrong perception outside that Hon Members, because we go the extra mile to try to satisfy our constituents, that we have resources at our disposal for armed robbers to feed on.
Mr. Speaker, the welfare of Hon Members is being handled by the House Committee. The House Committee is split into various sub-committees and we are working on a comprehensive package, which, definitely, would be presented next year for the attention of Hon Members.
Standing Orders -- We have pro-
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Minister, do you have something to say; otherwise, I want to put the Question?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, not to attempt to arrest the question, but I thought that the commitment from the Hon Minister as happened yesterday must be captured properly so that we know that he is going to come in handy as far as this matter is concerned.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, that is why I made the point that the commitment is not only in respect of the GH¢1,000,000.00, but like others, the facility. This is because it should be situated within next year's Budget. The total sum comes to GH¢27,970,000.00, that is the one I am talking about; he did not say so about that. So I said we should have that commitment from him, that it would come in addition to the
GH¢1,000,000.00.
Mr. Bagbin 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure my Hon Colleague is talking about the loan that we contracted from SSNIT through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Chinese Grant, which we are processing.
We have already, at the level of the Parliamentary Service Board, put in process, the necessary documentation, which are before the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and I was told that, that one had been forwarded to SSNIT for the attention of the Board, to enable us access the loan. So he is just asking for his commitment that this would continue during the course of the year and that it would be captured as stated in the Report under the next Supplementary Budget. I think that is what he is requesting for.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Minister?
Dr. Duffuor 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the House that the two facilities, the Chinese facility and the loan from SSNIT would be processed and we would make sure that they would be accessed for the use of Parliament for the various projects which we have talked about today. They are on my table and I want to assure you that they would be handled properly.
Thank you Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢34,037,510.00 for the services of Parliament for the 2010 fiscal year.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 1:10 p.m.
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Dr. Kwabena Duffuor) 1:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢203,186,900.00 for the services of the Revenue Agencies for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Revenue Agencies, which are made up of Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service with the governing board, are taxed with the collection of revenue in our country.
Mr. Speaker, in the year 2010, the Ministry would work towards the integration of the revenue agencies into the Ghana Revenue Authority, which would involve the development of institutional and legislative frameworks and the simplification and codification of all tax laws. The main goal is to consolidate
the management of revenue agencies under a single Chief Executive, called a Commissioner-General.
Mr. Speaker, for the various activities to be taken in the year 2010 by the revenue agencies, it is being requested that an amount of GH¢203,186,900.00 be approved by this august House for the services of the revenue agencies for the 2010 fiscal year.
I beg to move, Mr. Speaker.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. J. K. Avedzi) 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion moved by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and in doing so, I present your Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
The 2010 Annual Estimates of the Revenue Agencies were on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009 referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Standing Orders 140 (5) and 169. This followed the presentation of the Budget and Economic Policy Statement of the Government for the year ending 31st December 2010.
The Committee met and discussed the Estimates with the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Seth Terkpeh, Executive Secretary of the Revenue Agencies (Governing) Board, Hon Samuel Sallas-Mensah, Heads of the various Revenue Agencies, a technical team from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and hereby presents this Report.
1.1 Reference Documents
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. J. K. Avedzi) 1:20 p.m.
In considering the Estimates of the Revenue Agencies, the Committee was guided by the following:
i . The 1992 Cons t i tu t ion of the Republic of Ghana;
ii. Standing Orders of the House;
i i i . T h e B u d g e t S t a t e m e n t a n d E c o n o m i c P o l i c y o f the Government for the 2010 Financial Year;
i v . R e v e n u e A g e n c i e s (Governing) Board Act, 1998 (Act 558).
2.0 Background
The Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB), as established by the Revenue Agencies (Governing) Board Act, 1998 (Act 558) is a central governing body primarily charged to co-ordinate the activities of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and the Value Added Tax Service (VATS).
The Revenue Agencies Governing Board started operations in August 2001 with the appointment of the Executive Secretary as the head of the institution.
3.0 Objectives
The objective of this institution is to ensure supervision and co-ordination of the activities of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and Value Added Tax Service (VATS) in the performance of
their functions under the various statutes that govern their activities and operations. 4 . 0 R e v e n u e A g e n c i e s Expenditure Budget for 2010
A total amount of GH¢203,186,900 has been allocated to Revenue Agencies for the 2010 fiscal year to be disbursed as follows:
Personal Emoluments -- GH¢102,525,500
Administration -- GH¢37,548,300
Service -- GH¢9,320,500
Investment -- GH¢53,792,600
Total --
GH¢203,186,900
4 . 1 C u s t o m s , E x c i s e a n d Prevent ive Service (CEPS) Expenditure Budget for 2010
An amount of GH¢68.59 million has been allocated to Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to be disbursed as follows:
Personal Emoluments -- GH¢45.20 million
Administration -- GH¢11.79 million
Service -- GH¢1.16 million
Investment -- GH¢10.44 million
Total -- GH¢68.59 million
4 .2 In t erna l Revenue Serv i ce (IRS) Expenditure Budget for 2010 Financial Year
An amount of GH¢61.24 million has been allocated to Internal Revenue Service to be disbursed as follows:
Personal Emoluments -- GH¢38.78 million
Administration -- GH¢9.63 million
Service -- GH¢1.75 million
Investment -- GH¢11.08 million
Total -- GH¢61.24
million
4 . 3 Va l u e A d d e d Ta x ( VAT ) Service Expenditure Budget for the 2010 Financial Year
An amount of GH¢35.96 million has been allocated to Value Added Tax Service to be disbursed as follows:
Personal Emoluments -- GH¢17.02 million
Administration-- GH¢8.24 million
Service -- GH¢2.28 million
Investment -- GH¢8.42 million
Total -- GH¢35.96 million
4 . 4 2 0 1 0 E s t i m a t e s o f t h e Revenue Agencies Governing Board
An amount of GH¢37.40 million has been allocated to the Revenue Agencies Governing Board to be disbursed as follows:
Personal Emoluments -- GH¢1.54 million
Administration -- GH¢7.89 million
Service -- GH¢4.13 million
Investment -- GH¢23.84 million
Total -- GH¢37.40 million
5.0 Observations
The Commit tee observed that
Government is taking measures to integrate all the revenue agencies into one Authority to be called the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). This is aimed at ensuring co-ordination and synergy in revenue administration to ensure optimum revenue collection for Government.
In the year 2009, the Revenue Agencies (Governing) Board (RAGB) completed a three-year Strategic Plan and submitted it to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
The Committee was informed that currently, special tax audits are ongoing covering the telephony sector, medium and small-scale businesses in the informal sector and high-worth individuals.
The RAGB is also continuing with the Aflao Border Complex Rehabilitation Project which began in September 2008. The project is expected to be completed within 20 months.
The Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) is currently resourcing the transit cargo monitoring units to prevent diversion of goods. The re-equipping of the Communications Department and the various CEPS laboratory offices at the Kotoka International Airport and other stations were said to be in progress.
The Committee was further informed that a task team has been set up to investigate the procedures for petroleum

product delivery at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and BOST depots to provide a credible and effective means of monitoring product delivery to secure revenue.

The Internal Revenue Service has established a GCNet Unit at its head office to carry out analysis and dissemination of information gathered to district offices and other divisions for follow-up action.

In the year 2009, the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service began a project to promote the use of cash registers by VAT-registered businesses to enhance VAT collection.

The VAT Service has also established a separate unit in the Operations Department to identify all companies that should charge the Communications Service Tax, register them, educate them and bring them under the tax net.

The provisional outturn of revenue collected by the Revenue Agencies for the ten months ending 31 October, 2009 was GH¢3,673.58 million as against a proportionate target of GH¢3,910.17 mill ion; thus result ing in under- performance of 6.05 per cent. However, given the implementation of revenue enhancing measures, the Agencies expect to meet and even exceed the year-end target of GH¢4,692.21 million.

In the year 2010, the RAGB intends to continue with the modernization of revenue administration, deepen special tax audits of companies in the petroleum, telecommunication and destination inspection sectors. The Board will also complete the Aflao Border Complex Rehabilitation Project.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to continue the automation of its operations in the year 2010. Following the passage of the National Fiscal Stabilization Levy
Mr. K. S. Acheampong (NPP -- Mpraeso) 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to contribute to the motion on the Revenue Agencies Governing Board.
Mr. Speaker, in fact, I am motivated by the decision of Government to integrate the evenue agencies, that is, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) , Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service. Mr. Speaker, I want all of us, Members of
Parliament and Members with oversight responsibilities over these agencies to urge the Revenue Agencies Governing Board to apprise Hon Members of this House the extent of the modernization of the revenue agencies.
I would want all of us to be apprised again on the realignment to suit the modernization process so that it would help us take away the duplication which we have all been complaining about by these agencies.
Mr. Speaker, in going forward in this direction, I think I would urge the Revenue
Agencies Governing Board to advise the VAT Service to shelve its idea of promoting its Local Area Network, whereas the entire system is going to be integrated into a common network of a Wide Area Network and I think it is going to be an unnecessary cost on the system.
Mr. Speaker, as a matter of policy, I would want to urge Government to re-invigorate Ghana's economy. I am saying this on the premise that I do not know to which extent the fundamentals of the economy has changed, the reason being across the board. If we look at the estimates before us for the year 2010 and the outturn for the year 2009, revenue fell short by 15 per cent.
Mr. J. K. Avedzi 1:20 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member said revenue is short by 15 per cent. That figure is not correct, the right figure is 6 per cent, so I just want to correct him.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly continue and take that on board.
Mr. Acheampong 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy the Hon Chairman of the Committee has corrected me, that it is 6 per cent. Mr. Speaker, indeed, even if revenue fell short by 6 per cent out of the target, it is still a shortfall in revenue collection. Even if it is 0.1 per cent, it is still a deficit, so -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon Member, there is no doubt with regard to the shortfall. The problem is with regard to the percentage and that is what he has mentioned. Nobody is

questioning the fact that there is a shortfall, so kindly continue. Do not belabour that point.
Mr. Acheampong 1:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am badly worried because of the shortfall and early on, as I espoused of the base of our economy, whether it has changed. When we look in the 2010 Budget, we see Government's policy measures to re-introduce or restore certain taxes and it is the same basket that we are going to re-tax again. If we do not stimulate the economy, how are we going to achieve all the projections that we have set for ourselves? It is simply trying to harvest from where you have not planted.
So I would encourage Government to seriously invest in the economy so that revenue collection, which, in fact, is the base by which we can develop and grow and look at all our things, can be achieved.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to say, the retention of 3 per cent to the Board, many a time, is a bit not very helpful for the Agency, not helpful in the sense that the timing at which releases get to them is not very good. It is a bit de-motivating.
Let us look into the work of the Agency. They have this protection unit which has been chasing all these people trading in various commodities, who have been by-passing and defrauding the system and if their motivation allowances which fall in this 3 per cent retention is not forthcoming, Mr. Speaker, you would agree with me that they will not be helping the system to generate the necessary revenue that we would require to push our development.
In this direction, I would want to urge Hon Members to help the Finance Minister and the agencies by approving their budget for them.
With these few remarks, Mr. Speaker, I thank you.
Mr. A.W.G. Abayateye (NDC -- Sege) 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and ask the whole House to approve the Vote for the revenue agencies.
Mr. Speaker, it would interest you to note that Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) or the revenue agencies have a project at Aflao. This project has been ongoing since Acheampong era; the project, in a way, has come to a standstill.
The interesting aspect of what I am saying is this, immediately the Togolese Government realized that the Ghana Government wanted to refurbish the building and complete it, hurriedly, it built a complex, and it is there on their side and the Ghana one, though the work is progressing -- the rate at which they are working, I think we need to sit up and put things in the right direction. I am saying this because if we are able to complete the Aflao Border Complex, which is on-going -
I want to commend the Revenue Agencies Board on how they are working. Actually, I go to Togo almost every week. I have my people there. [Interruptions.] It will interest you to know that I have about thousand people working in the harbour at Togo. My
Mr. Dominic B. A. Nitiwul 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to find out from the Hon Member whether they come to vote for him during elections.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order.
Mr. Abayateye 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will not take him seriously, he is a small boy.
The point I am making is this, we need to put resources into that project to complete it so that we have an edifice that we can show to the world. I want to use this medium to make an appeal to the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to reconsider, if it happens that the revenue agencies come to him for extra money, so that that project can be completed in time. Because the longer the project delays, the higher the cost and if it is done, it will help us a good deal.
I want to commend IRS again for the work they are doing in GCNET and others and when they are resourced well - motivation is needed for whoever generates money. I happened to work with money and if you are working with money or you generate it, you help to generate money and your pocket is empty, the temptation is there and therefore, whoever assists in revenue generation in the land, must be resourced and resourced well so that he can generate more.
With these few words, I recommend and ask all to put their weight behind this Vote so that the revenue agencies can work and work well.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Ignatius Baffour Awuah (NPP -- Sunyani West) 1:30 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the motion on the floor.
We, on this side of the House --I am talking of the Minority -- [Hear! Hear!] -- have some few observations when it comes to the budget of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board. We agree that the sum of GH¢203,186,900.00 requested be approved for the use of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board. This notwithstanding, we have some few observations which we would want to draw the attention of the Minister and
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Member for Sene, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, a point of clarification.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
A point of what?
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, clarification.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Clarifica- tion?
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Member, are you ready to yield to him?
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want him to clarify something to me.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Are you ready to yield to him?
Mr. Awuah 1:30 p.m.
No, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Member, he is saying he is not ready to yield to you, so Hon Member, continue.
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the dressing of the acting Leader is completely unparliamentary. He has to be taken to -- otherwise, we shall all come that way -- The last time we pointed out, he -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
I entirely agree with you.
Mr. Owusu-Agyemang 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is very unparliamentary.
Mr. Awuah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, I would want to continue.
Our observations are that, one, if the idea or decision that the revenue agencies should retain 3 per cent of the net tax revenue collected, is applied, then we will say that for the year 2009, their expenditure went above that which was stipulated. Indeed, they went up to 3.5 instead of the 3 per cent. That notwith- standing, if we look at their investment expenditure up to October ending 2009, they had spent GH¢8.4 million. But for the two months, November, December, it is projected that they are going to spend
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Member, do not anticipate a Bill.
Mr. Awuah 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, from January going, all the revenue agencies are going to be harmonized into one body with CEPS, IRS, and VAT being departments of the harmonized body. One expects that that will reduce cost centres like administration and service because, with a harmonized unit, expenditure in terms of administration will go down.
But if you look at the projection for 2010, it is projected that total administration expenditure will move up by 91 per cent. Mr. Speaker, that is for the general or the harmonized body but if I should take the individual units, one by one, in the case of the RAGB Head-quarters itself, it is projected that administration expenditure will go up by 338 per cent. That of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service will go up by 63.9 per cent and that of Internal Revenue Service will go up by 60.7 per cent, while that of VAT Service goes up by 76.4 per cent.
If the essence of harmonization is to bring efficiency and economies of scale, then one will expect that administration expenditure of 2010 for the body that we are considering will come down but instead we are rather seeing a rising trend. This is something we think should be looked at.
Apart from these observations, we also observed that the turnaround time of
persons willing to pay taxes is so high. For instance, if one brings in goods from outside the country and would want to clear them from the ports, it takes the person an average of two to three days before he can clear those items. We think that this is something we should be able to improve upon so that, at least, we spend less time in clearing our goods at the ports and also allowing Customs to be able to take more revenue within a very short time.
The last issue we also drew the attention of the Revenue Agencies Board to is the gesture of the tax collector, the way they portray themselves to the person who is supposed to pay the tax. Hon Members will bear me witness to the fact that sometimes we do get notices that you are to pay so much as tax, sometimes without even consulting you, without sitting down with you to do an assessment. We think that the revenue agencies should be able to engage their clients and be able to have a feedback from them before they can do an effective assessment for them.
On this note, I support the motion on the floor.
Thank you.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Hon Member, be very brief.
Mr. H. H. Bayirga (PNC -- Sissala
West): Mr. Speaker, indeed, I will be very, very brief.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to touch on the Aflao Complex. Mr. Speaker, when you look at the 2009 Budget, it was stated that this complex would be completed in 20 months. This time round, nothing has
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon
Minister, kindly wind up-- [Pause] -- or it is all right, I should put the Question? I should -- [Interruption.]
Dr. Duffuor 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I would
like to thank Hon Members for their

rich contributions. We will be able to implement the GR, which we are working towards to achieve efficient mobilisation of resources.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you very much.

Question put and motion agreed to.

Resolved:

That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢203,186,900.00 for the services of the revenue agencies for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon Member for Sene?
Mr. Felix Twumasi-Appiah 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, I would urge the Hon Minister to move motion number 12 as -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Are you
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
yes.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
You should have said that first. Very well, motion number 12, Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
In fact, the Hon Member for New Juaben North (Hon Hackman Owusu-Agyemang) raised the matter, and I ruled in his favour. [Inter- ruption] -- Yes.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:40 p.m.
Mr.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader, I entirely agree with you, but let us indulge him for some few minutes -- [Uproar] -- Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning -- [Interruption.]
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 1:40 p.m.
Dr. Kwabena Duffuor 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢358,674,414.00 for the services of the Government Machinery for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Office of Government Machinery has a number of MDAs and institutions under it. They include the Office of the President, the Office of Head of Civil Service, Scholarships Secretariat, Office of National Security, Ghana AIDS Commission, Bureau of National Inves- tigations, and all the Regional Coordi- nating Councils, all numbering about 54 institutions.
Mr. Speaker, the Office of Government Machinery provides administrative, managerial and technical services to the President of Ghana, leading to improve- ment in social, economic and political direction of the nation, in the best interest of all Ghanaians.
Mr. Speaker, for the 2010 fiscal year, we are requesting this Honourable House to approve an amount of GH¢358,674,414
for the Office of Government Machinery to enable them provide institution capacity and the enabling environment for effective, efficient and sustainable service delivery.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. J. K. Avedzi) 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion, and in doing so, I present your Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
The 2010 Annual Budget Estimates of the Government Machinery was laid in the House on Wednesday, 18th November 2009 by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Standing Order 140 (4) of the House. This followed the presentation of the Budget and Economic Policy of the Government for the year ending 31st December, 2010 by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.
The Committee met with the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Alex Segbefia, heads and technical teams from the various departments and agencies under Government Machinery as well as officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and reports as follows:
1.1 Reference Documents
In considering the Estimates for the Government Machinery, the Committee referred to and/or was guided by the following documents:
i . The 1992 Cons t i tu t ion of
the Republic of Ghana;
-- 1:40 p.m.
-- 1:40 p.m.
Mr. Ignatius Baffour Awuah ( NPP -- Sunyani West) 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the motion on the floor, that is seeking the permission of this House to approve a sum of GH¢358,674,414.00 for the Office of Government Machinery.
Mr. Speaker, you will agree with me that the Office of Government Machinery is a very important office, it is the budget of the seat of the Government, and not just the seat of Government, but which also includes almost all the Regional Co- ordinating Councils' budgets as well.
Mr. Speaker, much as we on the Minority side do appreciate the fact that the business of Government must go on smoothly, we have serious observations about the budget of the Office of Government Machinery. Mr. Speaker, I believe my Colleagues on the other side would listen attentively to the issues which we are going to raise.
Mr. Speaker, in taking a critical look at the budget of the Office of Government Machinery, we made these observations. One, Mr. Speaker, there are certain cost centres and cost items which we find in the budget, which in actual fact, do not exist. For instance, in the budget of the Regional Co-ordinating Councils, it is stated that a sum be set aside for the holding of People's Assemblies by the end of April but we do know as a Government policy that People's Assembly is not part of Government's programme; so how then do we budget for it?
Mr. Speaker, apart from that, there is a vote of GH¢25 million for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). Mr. Speaker, I think the SADA is not yet born and this House has not approved of any such Authority. Mr. Speaker, what I do have in my hand is an Act passed by this House in 2008, Act 768, Northern Development Fund Act.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, in line with Standing Order 40 (3) of the House and having regard to the business of the House, I direct that Sitting be held outside the prescribed period.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr. Awuah 1:50 p.m.
So Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority is not known to
Mr. Avedzi 1:50 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member who is the Ranking Member of the Committee is saying that they cannot approve a budget for an organisation or an agency that is not known to this House. I just want to let him know that even though we are approving this Budget in the year 2009, it is for the fiscal year 2010. So he should wait, if 2010, no Savannah Accelerated Development Authority is established and the money is spent on something else, he comes back.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly continue.
Mr. Awuah 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will not want to waste time on what my Committee Chairman just said but I was just offering a piece of advice. And my advice is that we can best do with the Northern Deve-lopment Fund which is already an Act passed by this House. And indeed, Mr. Speaker, if you will allow me, if we take the scope of coverage in terms of geographical land, in referring to the Northern Development Fund, that one covers a smaller area -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member on his feet had made a point about allocating a resource to a body that has not been created. My Colleague, who is the Chairman of the Finance Committee is saying that he should wait until the year comes to an end and if the body is not created then he could raise the issue.
Mr. Speaker, the Chairman of the Finance Committee knows that in this House, we are not positioned to anticipate a Bill; he knows that. And if he cannot anticipate, how then do you anticipate the
creation of a body and go ahead to allocate money to that body? Mr. Speaker, it is a very weird arrangement.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, I do not want us to belabour the point. The point being raised by the Hon Deputy Ranking Member is a very valid one. The legal position is very correct except that it has been breached by governments upon governments on the floor of this House. But it is a very legitimate -- that is the true legal position but it has been breached and breached and breached by all governments that I have known since I entered this House.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr. Awuah 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for your ruling.
Mr. Speaker, the fact that I am making this particular point does not mean that I am against the development of the northern part of this country. In fact, I am all for it. And Mr. Speaker, I personally think that even the amount voted for that particular programme is on the lower side.
I am saying so because I have taken pains to read the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2008 Election Manifesto and in it, Mr. Speaker, it was stated that for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government in the first year will vote GH¢200 million into the programme. For every subse-quent year, put in a GH¢100 million.
So even if the Authority existed, I personally would have argued that the GH¢25 million be increased to GH¢200 million. [Hear! Hear!] So Mr. Speaker, I am more interested because as you all know, I am the immediate past Regional Minister for the Brong Ahafo Region and portions of Brong Ahafo is supposed to benefit from this Fund; so I am all for it.
Mr. Awuah 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, this notwithstanding, in reviewing the actuals for 2009, we realized that there were certain cost centres which experienced huge overruns which need to be mentioned. And of particular impor-tance is that of the Office of Chief of Staff, especially when it comes to Service. A total budgetary allocation of GH¢6.6 million was made for the Service activity of the Office of Chief of Staff but the actual expenditure ended up being GH¢10.9 million, an overrun of 65 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, I think that the saying that leadership is by example should be implemented by Government and therefore, if Government really wants to ensure that we have a lean Government, we have a lean expenditure in other areas, then it must lead by example.

Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu -- rose
-- 1:50 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Member, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Agyeman-Manu 1:50 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Order what?
Mr. Agyeman-Manu 1:50 p.m.
Order 92.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Ninety what?
Mr. Agyeman-Manu 1:50 p.m.
91.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Which part of 91?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Member, you know that you are out of order. The 91 (b) you referred to is talking about privilege and you are not raising any matter of privilege. You are not raising any matter of privilege. I believe that it is a very important point and by the conclusion of the debate, I think we will resolve that matter. So let the debate continue.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu 1:50 p.m.
Very well, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Awuah 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, before I wind up, I will just want to advise the people who prepared the budget for the Office of Government Machinery to be very particular about the figures they put in there. This may not necessarily go to a politician. I know there are people out there who work on some of these things. Sometimes it is very difficult to establish scientific basis for some of these things which are put in. Mr. Speaker, if you will allow me, I will just cite one example.
If we take the Service budget of one of the Regional Co-ordinating Councils, in fact, to be specific, the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council, at one point, it is said that there will be a quarterly meeting of Chief Executives and for the four quarters of the year, a Vote of GH¢416 is made. Mr. Speaker, there are 22 District and Municipal Assemblies in the region. So if they are going to meet four times, it means that 88 persons would be involved. So the expenditure of a meeting of 88 persons is GH¢416.
Then on item number 0003, there is another caption which says that “Organize Joint Meetings for District Chief Executives and District Co-ordinating Directors twice yearly”. We have 22 District Assemblies and if two persons are involved, a District Chief Executive and a District Co-ordinating Director, then it means that we will have 44 persons meeting two times. That is also bringing the total of persons meeting to 88. But this time round, the Vote for it is GH¢120,421. So if 88 people are going to meet at one instance and it will cost GH¢416 and at another instance, it is going to cost GH120,421, then what is the justification in the two figures?
I personally think that those who prepared the budget should take their time, make sure that they check the figures and make sure that they are well correlated and the basis scientific before they are presented to this House.
Mr. Speaker, on this note, I humbly submit.
Thank you.
Minister for Local Government
and Rural Development (Mr. Joseph Y. Chireh): Mr. Speaker, before I add
my voice to the call to vote for this motion, I wanted two things to be said. One of them is that, the Hon Member who made the contribution, we know he is the Hon Deputy Ranking Member for the Committee -- When he gets up, as a member of the Committee, he can make comments on it. But if he says he is speaking on their side of the House, it means he has spoken for them, you should not recognize anybody again to speak for their side of the House.
He can make his personal comments he can criticize what he went to do at the Committee, that is his problem. But he should not be speaking for the Minority, he did not go there to speak for the Minority. He is here as the Hon Deputy Ranking Member of the Committee and he is to speak in that capacity. And it is not also good to be dividing the House when a committee has brought a report; you should talk about it.
Number two, he was talking about illegality of indication. We have in the past voted money for “Ghana at 50”. Well, we should not set it up. In any case, the Government Machinery is covering so many agencies which are not established by law. The Regional Co-ordinating Councils are mentioned in the law, yes, but there are a number of these organiza- tions -- The Chief of Staff office he is talking about, who set it up by law?
Therefore, if there is a general provision saying that it is Government Machinery, it means, if you itemize, you can even set up a secretariat for SADA and that will mean you have to vote money for it. There is nothing illegal about it and I think that we should not be saying things that will in the end make us look ridiculous. We are supposed to be doing legal things. So there is nothing illegal about earmarking funds for this.
Mr. Speaker -- [Interruptions] -- I said I was going to do two things and after

what I have said, I now make my own contribution and also make this comment that I have already made .

My own contribution is that if you look at the Budget Statement, the Regional Co-ordinating Councils, they play a very crucial role, they do a lot of things, but they are subsumed under the Office of the President or the Government Machinery. If there are any overruns at all, it is because we want these to monitor the performance of District Assemblies, to look at how things happen.

We need to look at increasing or even creating a budget line for them, and budget separately for them, to be able to operate more effectively. We want the Regional Co-ordinating Councils to do virtually everything and yet they cannot get what they want.

Currently, they are all in difficulty in terms of getting vehicles to move about and I believe that we should look at this carefully. When you talk about the Office of the Chief of Staff and overruns you must also realize that this Chief of Staff Office is the one that is catering for the Presidency and if the President's movement, all the things connected with the President's activities and therefore, there is no way you can elect a President and limit his movement, limit his activities and constrain him -- if the money is voted, there is always the opportunity to revise the notes.

But I believe that the overrun is not a bad example because there are so many things that on the spur of the moment, the President is called upon to do. I think that unless we disaggregate the figures in future, so that in the end, we will know which agency is getting what -- I think that if we did so, nobody will talk about too much money.

On this note, I wish that my Colleagues

will all vote for this motion.

Thank you.

Mr. D.B.A. Nit iwul (NPP --

Bimbilla): Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to the motion on the floor that we approve GH¢358, 674, 414.00 being the Vote allotted to Government Machinery and like my Hon Deputy Ranking Member said, it is important as Parliament and as the people of Ghana to look back at the money that we gave to the Office of Government Machinery, how it was expended and what report they gave to us.

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to note, like the Hon Minister said that just two sections of the Office of Government Machinery - National Security and that of the Chief of Staff Office had overrun their budget within 9 months by ninety three billion cedis or GH¢9, 372,290.00.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, you know that those are bodies known to the law with clear cut functions, so you cannot stand on the floor of the House to say you do not know what they are doing.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I did not say I did not know what they were doing. I said that the service activity includes training and conference cost, materials and consumables, printing and publication, and travel and transport. Within nine (9) months, if you overshoot your budget by ¢93 billion or GH¢9.3 million, it is a problem and I think that the people of Ghana and Parliament need to find out
Mr. G. K. B. Gbediame 2:10 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member speaking is a member of the Finance Committee. I think at the Committee level, we had every opportunity to ask questions so that whatever explanation was needed would be given. And if he were there and he did not ask those questions for clarification to be made, why is he at this time wasting our time by asking these questions here?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you gave me five (5) minutes, so I would not even respond to him. But he knows that -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, I say continue.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker what was voted for the Office of Govern-ment Machinery for this year, is GH¢358 million. Mr. Speaker, what is it going to be used for? I just looked at some activities and they are of interest to me. Mr. Speaker, maintenance of the crest and special purpose vehicles, what they call SPD for the President, this year, we have ¢24 billion, that is, GH¢2.4 million - [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, we have to be consistent on the floor of the House, we are using Ghana cedis now.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
So do not go and - [Interruption.]
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
I see where you are
coming from, but Mr. Speaker, to maintain the seat of Government alone, they are using GH¢1 million; I do not know whether paints or what -- One million Ghana cedis to maintain the seat of Government?
Mr. Speaker, special travels - overseas GH¢2.8 million. Mr. Speaker, to undertake special visits to the regions by the President, GH¢2.1 million. [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, it is also envisaged that next year the President will need GH¢4.9 million to travel. [Uproar.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, I did not want to catch you but as a member of the Committee, the question that you are now posing on the floor, one would have expected that you would have asked those questions and provided -- [Interruptions.] [Some Hon Members: No!] Hon Members, order!
One would have expected that you would have asked those questions and provided answers to those of us who are not members of the Committee. I thought that is the essence of committee work. So be properly guided on this issue.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, thank you. It beats my mind that as an Hon Member of Parliament and as a representative of the people and even if I got answers, it is still important for the Hon Finance and Economic Planning Minister to tell this House what this stands for. He may have told me; what about the Honourable House itself? Or, Mr. Speaker, you are not interested? [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, by election year, 2012 -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, are you telling me that your
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.


Committee did not do its homework well? If that is what you want to say, tell the House that as a Committee, it did not do its work well. You are a member of the Committee, tell us that your Committee did not do its homework well. Hon Member, tell us that your Committee did not ask those questions and yet as a Committee, you have recommended it to us.
Mr. Avedzi 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the position by the Hon Member, who is on the floor is showing clearly that at the Committee level, he is not pulling his weight as a member of the Committee. These issues were there; he was a member of the Committee; he attended the meeting, pieces of information were provided and those were what we captured in the Report and he has a copy of the Report. If he chooses to come on the floor and criticise his own Report, then it shows the position he has taken.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, as a member of the Committee, you are entitled to say that those figures are too much. You can express your opinion that the figures, in your view, are too much but you cannot come and be asking questions which ought to have been asked at the Committee level. You are entitled to your opinion; you are entitled to express any opinion on the matter. If the figures in your view are too much or too small, you are entitled to express your opinion. But coming back to attack the Committee's work on the floor of the House, is totally out of order.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member for Bimbilla, who indeed, is a member of the Finance Committee, is only commenting on the
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Member, the ruling that I have made is very clear and it is to the effect that the Hon Member is entitled to express his opinion on the motion on the floor including the Committee's Report. What he cannot do is to be asking questions as a member of the committee which he ought to have asked at the Committee level. That is my ruling on the matter.
Hon Member, be guided accordingly.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I take serious exception to what my Hon Chairman said that I am not pulling my weight. He knows that if I am not on his
Committee and when I am not always present, he feels my presence. He knows my worth at that Committee level and I feel seriously hurt by what he said. He knows what I do there and he knows that without my help, he will suffer and it is absolutely unparliamentary for him to say what he said. He knows my worth, he knows it and he should confess to you.
Mr. Speaker, it is important that we encourage Members of Parliament to be critical and to make research and it is important as Hon Members of Parliament to encourage people who are critical and can have a second eye to look at Committee Reports.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Member, I have ruled that you are entitled to express your opinion. That was my ruling, but what I said you could not do was that, you come and ask questions which you should have asked at a committee of which you are a member. You are a member of the Committee and you are entitled to express your opinion. That is my ruling on the matter.
Mr. Avedzi 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that the context in which I made that statement is that if he was a member of the Committee, who attended the meeting, those questions were put at the meeting and answers were provided but he chooses to come to the floor of the House and ask those same questions, then he is not pulling his weight at the Committee on the position he has taken. This is the context within which I made that statement; I do not want to impugn anything to his personality.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I left the Chamber; I was in my office and monitoring the debate. Mr. Speaker, I believe you have made a ruling on it. I would not want to challenge your
ruling.
But Mr. Speaker, in this Honourable House, we have seen Chairmen who have presided over meetings of a committee, they come to this House, present the committee's report and distanced themselves from them. This is because they have argued that they have had new information.[Interruptions.] Chairmen of committees, and I will cite the Hon Majority Leader when -- [Inter-ruptions.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Members, let us listen to the Hon Minority Leader.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker is aware of what I am saying. You are a young man in this House, the Hon Joseph Yieleh Chireh cannot be privy to this [Interruptions.] It does matter because he was not a witness to this. As the Chairman of Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, he presided over a meeting, he came over here, presented the Report and only to distance himself.
He said he had new information; so he did not want to associate himself with that Report even though he chaired the meeting. And the Speaker allowed him. He said “in the face of new information to the Chairman . . .” The Chairman could argue against his own Report. So what he is doing is nothing strange. There is a precedent in this Honourable House.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader, you see, you were not here from the beginning but as you said, you were monitoring the debate in your office. The point is that I made a ruling that the Hon Member is entitled to express his opinion, and what he cannot do is to
Mr. Nitiwul 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, like I said, I have observed that the President is going on regional tours; for this year, the President needs 21 billion cedis to do that -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Member, we are using Ghana cedis now -- because if I call you to order to use the Ghana cedis, which this document has used and you decide to use old cedis, which is not our current currency, I will stop you. [Interruptions.]
Mr. Nitiwul 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, to undertake special visits, the President needs GH¢2.1 million. It is also envisaged that next year, the President will need GH¢4.9 million, and the election year, the President will need GH¢9.1 million. [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, the Chief of Staff needs GH¢1.2 million to undertake special operations for this year. The Vice President will also need GH¢1.2 million to visit the regions, while using GH¢1million to repair his cars. [Interruptions.]
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Chireh 2:20 p.m.
Yes, I have a point of order. Mr. Speaker, the misleading information that my Hon Colleague is giving the whole country, is not good. First and foremost, he was challenging you “he knows where you were coming from -- when you corrected him about -- [Inter-ruptions] -- I do not see why he should be saying that.
But more importantly, this young man, who is a Colleague, has not run a Presidency before.
Now, the point I am making is that he is saying that it is too much -- [Inter- ruptions] -- the questions he is asking -- the Presidency is very important in this country and anybody who begins to bring into disrepute even the activities of the Presidency as if there are some frivolous things going on somewhere, is not fair.
Again, it is important for us to make the point but --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Minister, it is a point of argument. Hon Member, continue and wind up.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I heeded to your advice; I was only making obser- vations.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Kindly wind up and conclude.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in the light of these observations, I want to believe that those who are managing the finances of the Office of the President should be very careful with how they manage them, guiding with the fact that this year there
was an overshoot. I believe it is important that they manage the finances well in such a way that we do not see the overshoot next year.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
Hon Member, wind up; your last sentence.
Mr. Nitiwul 2:20 p.m.
Once it did not reflect in the President's own expenditure, I believe the President and the team really need to check exactly what went wrong and how things went wrong there. Why the Presidency's belly is growing bigger -- I did not mention anybody's name. I said “the Presidency” -- and others are growing slimmer and slimmer. [Hear! Hear!]
Mr. Joe Baidoe-Ansah (NPP -- Effia Kwesimintsim) 2:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and by doing so, I want to make some few remarks on the Office of the National Security.
Mr. Speaker, it is very important that institutions of State that we allocate money to by this House know where the monies that are allocated tothem come from. Monies that are allocated to them come from corporate tax and individual taxes. Mr. Speaker, so institutions are supposed to serve the interest of where these taxes are taken from.
Currently, we have a situation where the Office of the National Security is behaving as if they are a law unto themselves. Mr. Speaker, it is important for the Office of the National Security to know that it is a service organization to serve the people of this country.
Mr. Speaker, we have a situation
TABLE FOR PAGE 4
(4.00 p.m.)
Mr. G. K. B. Gbediame 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Hon Member raised this issue here on the floor of this Parliament and the Hon Majority Leader replied to him and said that a committee had been put in place.
If you look at the Votes and Pro- ceedings, there is going to be a meeting, so I think that whatever information he needed, the Hon Majority Leader told him to wait until investigations were completed. Today, the Hon Member is still repeating the issue. What is it? Ah.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Member, kindly continue.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, what I am saying should be taken seriously and should not been seen as a partisan view. That committee is not a court. Mr. Speaker, I am speaking about an arbitrary thing that the Office of the National Security has done; they have gone to seize a private property without a court order, without anything. Mr. Speaker, the worse of -- [Interruption.]
Mr. Sampson Ahi 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I do not understand what my Hon Friend on the floor is doing. [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, is he telling us that if the dealings and activities of private hotels undermine national security, the National Security cannot move in and put their activities in order? Is that what he is telling us, that if the actions and activities of a private person is undermining national security, they should not go in and act? Is that what he is telling us?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Member, that is not a point of order.
Hon Member, kindly conclude.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, another observation that I want to make -- another arbitrary thing that they did was that, quite recently, the Office of the National Security ordered mobile phone companies to register all SIM cards by Christmas.
Mr. Speaker, they have no power to do that. It is a human right issue; it borders on the right to privacy and also -- [Inter- ruptions] Mr. Speaker, even in a country like ours where -- [Interruption.]
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr. Chireh 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order, and the point of order is this, that the National Security Council is established by law. We are governed by laws and rules. It is proper that anybody who feels that his or her rights or privileges are abused, should go to a court of competent jurisdiction. I know that the Hon Member is making an allegation against -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Member, that is a point of argument, it is not a point of order.
Mr. Chireh 2:30 p.m.
The National Security is not here to answer and he cannot make allegations against somebody who has no chance to respond.
Madam Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Member, conclude now.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:30 p.m.
I am concluding, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, one other thing I want
us to also take notice of, is the fact that, when the Office of the National Security started this, they started by even confiscating, taking over the office of the former President. They work under the Office of the President; when we have a situation where the Office of the President has allocated a property, it is not for the Office of the National Security to go and take it --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Member, that point is more complicated; it is a very complicated issue. That one has constitutional matters. I would plead with you to veer away from that point. Please, veer away from that point.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you would appreciate this situation more if you come to think of the fact that they can go and seize a private property with the claim that the land belongs to them. Land in this country is allocated by the President; land in this country is vested in the President of Ghana. So when the President of Ghana gives land to a private investment and they can go and claim it, you would appreciate it. That is the same attitude that they carried into this.
Mr. Felix Twumasi-Appiah 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, it is very, very obvious that my good Friend, Hon Joe Baidoe-Ansah has a lot of problems with the National Security. Maybe, there is more to it than he is expressing in this House.
Mr. Speaker, those of us on this side of the House do not have any evidence to all the allegations he is raising here and we have said time and again that the
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon Member, we agreed that I should take two from both sides and so when the Hon Minority Leader made a special plea for you, he himself ,in the note that he sent to me said I should give you “three minutes”. You have exceeded that by far, so I want you to co-operate with the Chair so that things can move smoothly on the floor. So kindly conclude your submission.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, to conclude, Corporate Ghana is not happy with the way the Office of the National Security is dealing with investments. [Interruptions.] Mr. Speaker, the Office of the National Security is making the work of the Attorney-General too difficult for them to -- [Interruptions.]
With these few words, I am done, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa 2:30 p.m.
None

Some Hon Minority Members: Sit down.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
Hon
Members, I refer you to article 111 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. And the article states:
“The Vice-President, or a Minister or Deputy Minister who is not

a member of Parliament, shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of Parliament and shall be accorded all the privileges of a member of Parliament except that he is not entitled to vote or to hold an office in Parliament.”

Hon Deputy Minister for Information, you may contribute.

Deputy Minister for Information (Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa): Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for your very wise counsel.
Nana Akomea 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. Mr. Speaker, by the rules of this House, when you are speaking, all Hon Members should sit down. The Deputy Minister does not know the rules -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
In fact, you are right. That is what the rule says.
Hon Deputy Minister for Information, you have the floor.
Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I just sought to catch your eye and not to be disrespectful, so please, accept my apologies. I just wanted to react to a couple of concerns raised by the --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minister, you wanted to contribute to the debate and that -- [Interruptions] -- Hon Members, I have seen Ministers on this floor, Cabinet Ministers who have made mistakes on this floor. You have to agree that he is not a Member of Parliament, properly so-called and therefore, if he says he is going to react, what
he is saying is that he wants to contribute to the debate. [Uproar.] That is what it means.
Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in contributing to this debate, I wish to state that I am aware of meetings that the Office of the National Security has held with operators of the telecommunications sector. Before that directive was issued by the Office of the National Security Co-ordinator, he met with them. He had, at least, two meetings with them, and these corporate entities have very established public relations outfits, and if they had concerns and they were angry with such a directive, they would have made it public.
Secondly, in the other matters that have been raised about national security invading

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I think -- [Interruptions] -- Mr. Speaker, I think he mentioned me as the one he is reacting to and to be fair -- [Interruptions] -- He mentioned me as the one he was reacting to.
Mr. Speaker, I specifically stated that they have invaded a private investment. I said - I gave the location as the Race Course which they claim is close to their office. So it is not true that I did not give the location and address of where these operators are or where they invaded.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah 2:40 p.m.


P. 10 -- 4.00 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon Member, I gave you the chance because he made reference to you and I think that concludes the matter.
Mr. A. W. G. Abayateye (NDC -- Sege) 2:40 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the floor, for the approval of the sum of GH¢358,674,414.00 for the running of Government Machinery.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has brought to our notice the number of agencies under the Office of Government Machinery, about 54 of which the country is propelled from. I am a fisherman, we use the outboard motor in our fishing. We put the outboard motor at the tail of the canoe and it propels the canoe and it takes it into deep sea where we go and fish and catch all sorts of fishes for distribution to the populace.
The Office of Government Machinery is likened to the canoe with the outboard motor at the back. Many a time, in the course of the fishing, when you go into the deep sea, you do run short of premix fuel and you need to have some more fuel in not only the tank which is joined
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon Members, we have taken more than enough on this matter and I therefore want to -- Hon Deputy Minority Leader, kindly see me in my office after adjournment. [Laughter.] It is very, very important, in your own interest.
Dr. Duffuor 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, before I express my sincere thanks to Hon Members of the House, I would like to point out just one fact, which must be known by everybody here. The Office of Government Machinery is one of the most efficient offices we have in the country at the moment, in terms of usage of resources. By the end of November, it is just one of the few offices that have conserved their resources and it has over 20 million unused. You compare this with the previous years and it is quite different
and therefore, we should be very careful in condemning them.
Now, I would like to thank all Hon Members for your contributions. You have enriched that portion of the Budget which we are going to start implementing.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of -- [Interruptions.]
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Oh! Sit down, Sit down, let us finish with this issue. [Laughter.]
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢358,674,414.00 for the services of the Office of Government Machinery for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Hon Deputy Majority Whip, I thought you were going to take my former Ministry, Attorney-General and Justice -- [Inter- ruption.]
Mr. Gbediame 2:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, there were a number of motions standing in the name of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and we deferred them. Therefore, we would take item No. 14, page 3 on the Order Paper.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
Very well, Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning? [Pause.]
Mr. Gbediame 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I have just been informed that the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip?
Mr. Opare-Ansah 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we have no objection.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:50 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
Thank you, very much.
Hon Chairman of the Committee?
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. J. K. Avedzi) 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and in doing so, present the Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
The 2010 Annual Estimates for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) were laid in the House on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009 and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House. This followed the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2010 financial year by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.
To consider the Ministry's 2010 Annual Estimates, the Committee met with the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Seth Terkpeh as well as officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and its departments and agencies and reports as follows: 2.0 Reference Documents
In considering the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Committee referred to and/ or was guided by the following:
i . The 1992 Cons t i t u t ion o f the Republic of Ghana
ii. Standing Orders of the Parliament
of Ghana
iii.The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2010 Financial Year.
3.0 Background
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning exists to ensure economic growth with stability for the promotion of sustainable development of Ghana and her people through:
The formulation and implemen- tation of sound financial, fiscal and monetary policies;
The e ff ic ien t mobi l iza t ion , allocation and management of financial resources;
Establishing and disseminating performance-oriented guidelines and accurate user-friendly financial management information system; and
Creating an enabling environment for investment. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Ministry is commit- ted to the pursuit of excellence, t r a n s p a r e n c y, p r o b i t y a n d accountability in the management of financial resources.
4.0 Objectives and Targets
The primary objectives and targets for the Ministry among others are:
to improve f i sca l r e source mobilization;
to formulate and implement sound macro-economic policies;
to allocate and manage financial resources efficiently, effectively and rationally;
to account for all public finances properly and to improve public expenditure management;
t o p r o m o t e e f f e c t i v e d e b t management;
to deepen the capital markets and create a more diversified financial sector;
to improve the human resources and logistical support base of the Ministry and its agencies; and
to mobi l ize resources f rom domestic and external sources, with authorization from Parliament, and advise Government on the total resources to be allocated to the public sector;
The Ministry will also continue to pursue its mandate of ensuring macro- economic stability and prudent fiscal policy management.
5.0 2009 Allocations and Performance
For the 2009 financial year, the Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning was allocated a total budget of GH¢146,681,166, made up of GH¢63,960,955 from GOG, GH¢2,378,854 from Internally Generated Funds, GH¢6,500,000 of HIPC, GH¢12,740,000 of MDRI and GH¢61,101,357 from donor for the activities of all cost centres of the Ministry.
Out of the total a l locat ion of GH¢146,681,166.00, actual outturn as at 30th November, 2009 stood at GH¢98,188,955.76, comprising GoG
BPEMS -- 2:50 p.m.
-- 2:50 p.m.
Mr. Avedzi 3 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, headcount does not mean you go and count the people and then pay them. That is not what we mean by headcount. Headcount is a way of eliminating ghost names on the payroll. If there are departments that report on a number of employees, but you go to the office, there are no records of some of those employees. Those are the processes that you go through and those names are eliminated from the payroll and that is meant by headcount. So he should take it on board.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Hon Agyeman-Manu --
Mr. Agyeman-Manu 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I know we are running out of time and you would want us to move as fast as --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
That is correct.
Mr. Agyeman-Manu 3 p.m.
But my Hon Friend here, the Chairman of the Committee is misleading all of us here and indeed, even the whole country. Mr. Speaker, if what he claims is not headcount, is correct, why will the Ministry of Education direct District Directors to ensure that all teachers are at post, such that people can come and count them? What then does that mean?
Mr. Speaker, I think I know more about
the headcount and payroll administration in our country than the Chairman. So he should not try to mislead anybody and confuse me. [Interruptions.] Well, I am giving him good advice; he should try and take it and I am telling him that this is not efficient, no matter how he describes it. Mr. Speaker, we have used headcounts, let me take his own definition, for eight good years.
Nine years on, the same headcount is -- and I am only pleading that we should be a bit more innovative. When we are moving forward in the right direction, this is not the way we should go. When we are moving forward in the right direction, this is not the way we should go; we should be a bit more innovative and that is what I am pleading that we should be. They can hire some of us for consultancy and we would give them good advice.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that the Statistical Service is going to undertake census and some other surveys next year. Unfortunately, I am not seeing my way clear; we do not see what allocation has been made for that particular activity or that exercise and I believe that the Minister, probably, in his summary for us to adopt the motion, can come out to tell us how much allocation we have made for the Statistical Service.

Mr. Speaker, the last thing I want to say is an advice, and if the Ministry and the Hon Minister would want to take it, it would help all of us. Mr. Speaker, revenues are very, very important for good governance and for any government to achieve what they may have put into their own manifestos.
Mr. Gbediame 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, motion number 18.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the understanding was that we take item 16 first, followed by item 18. So if my Hon Colleague would not mind, let us proceed that way.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip, is it a very contentious motion? Items 18 and 19 go together, do they make up a contentious issue? If it is not, I would take it.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 3 p.m.
You would notice that we would be going through it and having a debate on the Report and then go through a Consideration Stage. So it is quite a Bill for the amendment of an Act. We would do item 18, item 19 and item 20.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
No, (20) is a different matter.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 3 p.m.
That is (18) and
(19).
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
Hon Minister, I hope you would be very brief?
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 3 p.m.
Rightly so Mr. Speaker.
Suspension of Standing Order 80 (1)
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
There is one thing that seems to be missing in this Budget, conspicuously, creating the necessary infrastructure and the platform with which we can raise revenues --
Mr. Speaker, we started talking about street naming and property address systems for the last two or three years. Unfortunately, in this year's Budget, there is no mention of any serious allocation that has been made for that platform to be created. The benefits, we all know, I do not want to go over those things.
I am pleading that if it is a mistake, they should go and look at it again, because that exercise has been re-emphasised over and over again by His Excellency President Atta Mills, by His Excellency the Vice President John Dramani Mahama. I believe this is the time we
should all be serious with it and make appropriate allocations for street naming and proper addressing system such that we can raise revenues for the District and Municipal Assemblies; we can create jobs for the people who may use proper house numbering systems to do postal distribution and other things.
Mr. Speaker, I think I would end here.

Question put and motion agreed to.

Resolved:

That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢125,052,509 for the services of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Opare-Ansah 3 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thought we had an understanding that we would be taking two from either side and on that note, we actually sent two names. So we would plead with you -- [Inter-ruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
You are absolutely correct. After the last person, I looked round and nobody got up. You may recall that even if your name is here, you have to stand up to catch my eye. I looked round, left and right, and nobody got up to catch my eye. It is on that basis that I put the Question.
Indeed, in an earlier case, nobody got up from this side, so I called two people from this side in succession. The names are only a guide. So if your name is here, you still have to get up to show that you are still interested in making a contribution on the floor.
Deputy Majority Whip?

P. 6

P. 8

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 Electronic Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2009 may be moved today.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
BILLS -- SECOND READING 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah (NPP -- Suhum) 3:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to associate myself with the motion on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, when the Select
Committee on Communications met the Minister, we indicated our concern about the implementation of this particular policy. Indeed, if you take a look at the Memorandum that accompanied the Bill, you will get a clear idea of the Minister's intention and it was frightening. Mr. Speaker, reading from the first paragraph of the Memorandum and with your
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah (NPP -- Suhum) 3:20 p.m.
“. . . to improve the capacity of the National Communications Autho- rity to monitor all international inbound calls”
Mr. Speaker, to say the least, the members on the Committee were really frightened that Government intends to monitor all inbound international telephone traffic. However, the Minister explained to the Committee that it is possible that the actual import of his intentions was not captured appropriately in the memorandum and he assuaged our fears that our calls and those of our constituents were going to be monitored.
That is why when you look at the Report in 5.2, under Human Rights Concerns, the Committee recommended that the NCA makes sure that the equipment that it procures is passive and does not have the capacity to actually convert itself at a future date into monitoring international inbound traffic. The idea as we understand it, is to monitor the volume of traffic and not the calls themselves. So we would want the Ministry and its implementing agency, the NCA, to take due note of this major concern because it is not only the concern of the members of the Committee, it is the major concern of the general population in the country.
Mr. Speaker, there was a matter that we
raised which somehow did not find its way into the Report. However, as the Minister is here and as the Chairman of the ITU, it would be good that at the tail end of this discussion, he addresses it.

Concerns have been raised in the industry with regard to the fact that there is a convention of ITU which prevents nations from taking action that would result in the imposition of levies, taxes or increased tariffs in other jurisdictions.

We heard the Minister tell us that this particular policy of Government is going to bring additional revenue.

Yesterday, when we discussed this at the Committee, we were assured that this revenue is not going to come from the operators nor going to come from telephone users in this country. That then only leaves one source; it means coming from jurisdictions outside this country.

So we want the Hon Minister to assure us that indeed, he is not contravening convent ions of an in te rna t iona l organization that he currently chairs. This Parliament will not be party to supporting the Hon Minister to break his own conventions.

The other concern raised was the fact that this is a major policy initiative of Government and as all policy initiatives, normally, when you take a look at a budget, you should be able to trace it to a revenue item in the budget.

A careful scrutiny of the 2010 budget shows that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning failed to actually indicate which line in the Budget is corresponding to this particular policy initiative. So if, indeed, it is in the Budget, the Minister will do us a lot of good to highlight it and bring it up so that we can all appreciate how the five million dollars that he spoke about is showing itself in the Budget and how it is going to be utilized.

With these few words, I would like to support the motion.

Thank you.

Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini (NDC -- Tamale

Central): Mr. Speaker, I beg to support the motion and in supporting it, I want to associate myself with the sentiments raised by the Minority Chief Whip.

Indeed, all of us are quite concerned that this matter, the installation of the infrastructure to monitor incoming calls
Mr. Felix Twumasi-Appiah 3:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the Hon Member is asking questions that he expected that this Bill - [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:20 p.m.
Hon
Member, is it a point of order?
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:20 p.m.
Hon
Member, are you ready to yield to him?
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 3:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
Mr. Owusu-Agyemang 3:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
Mr. Twumasi-Appiah 3:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, this is an amendment Bill and the parent Bill addresses the concern he is raising. So this is not the complete Bill that he is saying. This is only an amendment to the parent Bill, I mean the larger Bill, so I think addressing himself to the parent Bill, he will find all his concerns being addressed in it.
Mr. Owusu-Agyemang 3:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
the question that I asked -- the Authority shall keep the percentage specified in the

Schedule, that is about 32 per cent of all this. This is plenty of money; what is the Authority going to use this thing for?

Because the Authority has failed woefully in the past ten years or so, to make sure that we give the value for money to Ghanaian consumers. If I am being assured that the money given by the Minister to them through this Bill is such that when I call him next door, it will be then telling me “it is out of range” on the other side, then we might begin to understand. But I am very uncomfortable with the operations of the system.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:20 p.m.
Hon
Mr. Owusu-Agyemang 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of competition there, we are almost going bankrupt. If you look at their cashflow, you see that they are almost going bankrupt. It is not easy. But we want to make sure also that the Ghanaian people or the stock exchange has a bite into some of these very juicy lucrative enterprises rather than leave it to them.
So honestly, I believe that the Hon Minister must explain to us. I do think the Hon Minister is listening -- what more than 32 per cent being kept by the Authority will be used for. And then who superintends the Authority itself; because the Authority is a law onto itself, as I was told early on during our own
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
Hon
Members, I think I will take the last comment from the Hon Member for Evalue-Gwira and then I will let the Hon Minister wind up.
Mrs. Catherine A. Afeku (NPP --
Evalue-Gwira): Mr. Speaker, I rise in
support of the amendment with a few observations that I wanted to bring up.
Mr. Speaker, most especially, under privacy, the right to private information, the Act itself does give some room for the Executive. By an Executive Instrument, the President or Parliament can mandate the providers to give information in terms of phone call records to aid national security works. But the Global Voice Group with their operations coming in, I have some concerns in terms of eavesdropping; there have been nations where laws have been actually enacted to allow telecom-munication companies (Telcos) to listen in to phone calls for national security purposes.
So the nation should be assured that the Global Voice Group does not have this capacity, otherwise, it would have to come back to Parliament for a proper Legislative Instrument to assure the nation that we are not giving them this kind of powers to usurp our freedom of expression and to interrupt our right to privacy.
There have been examples in nations where phone calls are actually used to listen to national security issues in terms of Presidents and Ministers -- national security issues have actually been watered down because telecommunication companies have had the opportunity to listen in and give out information that borders on sovereignty. So this is very, very serious for a nation like Ghana with the enthusiasm to get in investors.
Who is Global Voice Group? Do we know them? Have we done due diligence? So, here we are as a sovereign nation, about to give in to a company to monitor the statistics of traffic, but what is the guarantee that their equipment will not be able to listen in to the conversations of our President, Minister responsible for Foreign
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
You did
Mrs. Afeku 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, precisely,
the Speaker of the House and even Parliament as a body, where national security issues may be of paramountcy.
Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasise that even the Act that we are amending has made some provision for special circumstances under which with written authorization, the telecommunication companies (Telcos) can provide phone records for national security purposes. So that is how much law has been put in to protect our privacy.
Here we are, having a new company coming in -- Yes, we do need the revenue, but we need to do due diligence. We need to do some work on the history of GVG. We need to look at best practices; if a country like Greece can have the national security compromised by this kind of technology, then as a developing economy, we need to take cautious steps.
We may have to step this amendment down with all due respect to look into it to have the Committee sit down, and if possible, meet Global Voice Group and even look at some of their practices and have that assurances and bring it back to the House before we amend it.
I would actually look forward to an amendment where we are letting Parlia- ment debate a new amendment that empowers this Act, that it can actually let Telcos take information at the point of
Mrs. Afeku 3:30 p.m.


registration, which is even more critical.

We have people running round with chips, they do all kinds of phone calls and they throw them away. We can use Act 775 and broaden the base where Parliament gives the authority to the Telcos to take information at the point of registration. We do not have that provision. That is even more critical than the Global Voice Group provision that we are about to make.
rose
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
Hon
Member, I thought I said the Hon Minister should do the winding up. But I know you are a former Minister for Communications, so I will give you one minute -- [Inter- ruption] -- because -- [Inter-ruption.]
Mr. Albert Kan 3:30 p.m.
None

Afigya-Sekyere West): Mr. Speaker, thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, I must say that this is not entirely new to me. Mr. Speaker, I have had an occasion to discuss this with the Hon Minister before, and in fact, with the previous Hon Minister. But Mr. Speaker, I would want to lend my voice to the call that we step it down until we have had time to discuss it more thoroughly. Mr. Speaker, this is an Amendment Bill, and the objective is very clear. They have stated it:

“to improve the capacity of the National Communication Authority to monitor all international inbound calls.”

This is a very dangerous thing and we are told that the only reason that we are putting it --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
Hon
Member, by way of guiding the debate, kindly read the Long Title to the Bill. Hon Kan-Dapaah, I want you to read the Long Title to the Bill.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, yes,
“An Act to amend the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 to provide a minimum rate for inter- national incoming electronic communication traffic and for related matters.”
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
Hon

No, I just want to find out from you.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 3:40 p.m.
Well, I do not . I very much hope that there is no such -- [Interruption.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Is it the case that you do not know or it is not there?
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you know you are more knowledgeable than I do.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Because you are now a senior citizen?
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, you
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
I am
only asking you as a former Minister for Communications, as a former Minister for Defence, as a former Minister for the Interior and as a former Member of the National Security Council. That is why I am asking you. So if you are not aware -- I have never served in any of those capacities. So if you are not aware, say that you are not aware. I just want you to enrich the debate.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, as
you know, I am not aware of any such thing. But even if something like that were to exist somewhere, the difference would be that that equipment would probably be operated by the National Security of the country. In this particular case, a third party will be involved. And that makes it very, very dangerous. I can only add my voice to the call for us to step it down, not to abandon it altogether. I think we need to have a better understanding of this Bill.
We need to have better assurances that it is not going to be used to track other contents like data-voice and video. I believe it is important that we step it down for now and reconsider it at an appro- priate time when the House has enough time to discuss it --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Hon
Minister, kindly wind up but in so doing, address the issues raised in the Committee's Report with regard to human rights concerns and issues of national security and the right to privacy that have been raised on the floor of the House.
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will
endeavour to respond to some of the issues that have been raised by my Hon Colleagues.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Are you
referring to the Act?
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3:40 p.m.
I just want to establish
where the word “monitoring” is.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Are you referring to the parent Act?
Mr. H. Iddrisu 3:40 p.m.
No, I am referring
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
Very well.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 3:40 p.m.
The Communica-
tions Service Tax, my Colleague, Hon Opare-Ansah will recall that it was emphasized that there must be a monitor- ing mechanism, even in respect of the domestic tax system. We are just extending this to the international arena that we should have --
Mr. Speaker, the essence of this is to establish an international clearing house for international inborne call traffic. If
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu 3:50 p.m.
The State does not get anything. So we
are saying that for all inborne international calls, let us have a threshold of a minimum, that does not terminate below 0.19 cents even though we know that some of them will go close to even 0.98 cents or US$1 in terminating per minute of a call. Yes, we recognize that they are in to make profit but we are saying that they should share some of these revenues with the State so that the State can undertake some development programmes.
Mr. Speaker, I am also happy to note
that it took one year to come to this House because I had to subject it to due diligence by the Office of the National Security and I will make available to my Hon Colleagues, letters from the Office of the National Security testifying that they have done due diligence; they are available, indeed, they have the software.
Mr. Speaker, Global Voice Group is currently operating in Togo and their revenues have increased tremendously up to €38 million. The only difference is that Togo has only one international gateway; in Ghana we have several. I can share some other statistics on the number of gateways in other countries. But on due diligence the Office of the National Security has conducted, they have satisfied themselves.
Mr. Speaker, indeed, on the issue which is raised by the International Telecom- munications Union (ITU), I know that my Colleague, Hon Albert Kan-Dapaah has very high standing and very high regard to the ITU, he and Prof. Oquaye. But there is no such regulations by the ITU. Indeed, this data that we are about to look at is already available in Ghana. The operators know how much foreign in-borne calls they get daily; they know it but it is not available to the regulator, which is the National Communications
Authority (NCA).
The National Communicat ions Authority ideally should be able to do this but they do not have the capacity. It is the question of software and somebody owns the intellectual property, who says that look -- And if this is implemented, Mr. Speaker, we can sit at the comfort of the Ministry of Communications and know within a day how much international in-borne calls entered Ghana, at what rate they were terminated and it makes it easier for Government to access in order to be able to make its revenue.
Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, I repeat, we are not in breach of any ITU regulation. With all respect, the Hon Kan-Dapaah, I have consulted his very good friend Tufry on this matter. Just recently when I had the occasion to talk to him, I said, “Look, show me anywhere in the ITU Regulation where our hands are tied.” Indeed, it is not just Togo, they are in Congo and they have almost concluded discussions to be in la Cote d'Ivoire. Indeed, some of the operators who are complaining -- the same MTN in Ghana is in Congo; they have not seen anything wrong with the implementation of this programme in Congo, yet they have difficulties when it comes to Ghana.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to share this information with Hon Members. When Cabinet was discussing this particular Memorandum, I mentioned to the President that the telephone operators had generously told me not to monitor their operational inborne traffic but whatever revenue we wanted, they would get it for us, at some other level. Then the President remarked -- I am quoting, I wish I can share this -- that:
“As a tax man, I am interested in both; take both; let them pay for the international inborne traffic
and make what other revenue they have.”
The difficulty is that, there is something fundamentally hidden, when it comes to international call termination. It is a veritable source of fraud throughout the world. Anywhere in the country within the telecommunications industry, a major source of fraud is international calls termination. Even within Ghana, we have not legalized voice-over-IP, yet there are people in Ghana who terminate international calls without any mandate.
What I can assure Hon Members of is, instead of standing it down, we can sponsor an amendment which will seek to tie the hands of the implementing agencies to, one, not to interfere with the privacy and communication of any individual; and two, that this shall not affect content. That is really the position of the Ministry of Communications. It shall not affect content. We are not going to do the triple play.
I urge Hon Members to support the Second Reading and to get this approved. Indeed, it was well initiated, we shepherded it until sometime that we had to go through an interesting transition, and we are only giving meaning to some of it. The unintended consequences, as I have said, is that even though we want to check fraud, it will have revenue consequences for Government of Ghana.

Mr. Speaker, I repeat, per annum, there

are at least, 100 million calls terminated in Ghana. If we you say 0.19 cents and the operators even keep between 13 and 14 cents and we take three cents for the Government of Ghana, that will bring in a minimum three times hundred, some US$3 million hard currency.

One of our difficulties as a country, and I am sure my senior Colleague, Hon Gyan-Baffour will agree with me -- Mr. Speaker, the telecommunications
Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, the examples quoted by our dear Hon Minister saw these countries where - we know what. Can he give us examples of other countries which had developed, advanced, where we know there is a liberal democracy where these things happen because the countries he cited cannot be good examples of -- I am sure he understands what I mean - [Laughter] --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon

That is why I am saying that -- I have learnt my lessons very well and when human rights issues are being raised in committee's reports, when issues of privacy, the right to privacy are being raised in a committee's report, this House will have to take them seriously. But I am very much convinced by the response by the Hon Minister for Communications and I think that I will put the Question. But at

the Consideration Stage, let us work as a House, as an entity to improve upon the Bill to make sure that the fears that we are echoing on the floor of the House are avoided at the final end of the Bill.

Question put and motion agreed to.

The Elec tr ic Communicat ions (Amendment) Bill, 2009 was accordingly read a Second time.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon
Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, are you ready to take your Ministry's? You are not ready.
Mr. G.. K. B. Gbediame 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
motion number 6.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Very
well. Hon Minority Chief Whip, motion number 6?
Mr. Frederick Opare-Ansah 3:50 p.m.
That
is all right. Mr. Speaker, I see the Hon Deputy Minis-ter is ready. So we can take it.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Very well.
Hon Minister for Transport?
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 3:50 p.m.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon
Mr. Hammah 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will
like to highlight on the shortfall in the budgetary request -
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon
Minister, you are a member of Cabinet and therefor, if you cannot make your case strong enough, and that is what your own Government has given you, this is not the forum. In any case, we can only weep with you. We do not have the capacity to increase the figure. So kindly give us the figure that you want us to approve.
Mr. Hammah 3:50 p.m.
I will wind up but I am also very passionate about the Volta Lake, so if you will allow me to say a few words about it.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
Hon Minister, if you have taken the sense of the House, they do not want to worry you, so do not create trouble for yourself. Take the mood, sense of the House and just get your motion through.
Mr. Hammah 3:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I am guided by your direction. [Laughter.]
I n c o n c l u s i o n , t h e r a i l w a y infrastructural development as well as the Volta Lake Transport Improvement is top priority in the Ministry's development
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. M. C. Boampong) 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to second the motion on the floor of the House by presenting the Report of your Committee.
1.0 Introduction
In fulfilment of article 179 of the 1992 Constitution, the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for 2010 Financial Year was presented to Parliament by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday, 18th November 2009.
In accordance with Standing Orders 140 (4) and 189 of the House, the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Transport was referred to the Committee for consideration and report.
The Committee met on the estimates with the Hon Minister, Mr. Mike Hammah, the Hon Deputy Minister, Mrs. Dzifa Attivor, the Chief Director, a representative from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, agency heads and officials from the Ministry of Transport.
The Committee acknowledges their presence at the meeting and is grateful for their co-operation.
1.1 Agencies Under the Ministry
The Ministry of Transport has sixteen (16) agencies under it. They include:
Road Transport Agencies
(i) National Road Safety Commission
( i i ) D r i v e r a n d Ve h i c l e Licensing Authority
( i i i ) G o v e r n m e n t Te c h n i c a l Training Centre
(iv) Metro Mass Transit Limited
(v) Intercity State Transport Company
Maritime Agencies
(vi) Volta Lake Transport Company.
(vii) Ghana Maritime Authority
(viii) Regional Maritime University
(ix) Ghana Shippers' Council
( x ) G h a n a P o r t s a n d Harbours Authority
(xi) PSC Tema Shipyard.
Rail Agencies
( x i i ) G h a n a R a i l w a y Development Authority
(xiii) Ghana Railway Company Limited.
Aviation Agencies
(xiv) Ghana Civil Aviation Authority
(xv) G h a n a A i r p o r t s Company Limited
(xvi) G h a n a I n t e r n a t i o n a l Airlines Limited.
2.0 Reference Documents
The following documents were referred
to by the Committee:
i ) The 1992 Const i tu t ion of the Republic of Ghana;
i i ) T h e S t a n d i n g O r d e r s o f Parliament; and
i i i ) T h e B u d g e t S t a t e m e n t a n d E c o n o m i c P o l i c y o f the Government for the 2010 Financial Year.
3.0 Vision
To create an integrated, cost effective, safe, secure and sustainable trans-portation system responsible to the needs of society, supporting growth and poverty reduction and capable of establishing Ghana as a transportation hub of West Africa.
4.0 Mission
To provide leadership and guidance for the development of Ghana's trans- portation system through effective policy formulation, market regulation, asset management and service provision. 5.0 Policy Objectives of the Ministry
The policy objectives of the transport sector as authorized in the Medium Term Development Plan (SMTDP) and in line with the thematic areas of the National Medium Term Development Plan (NMTDP) 2010 2013 are as follows:
( a ) t o e n s u r e s a f e , s e c u r e , efficient, reliable effective and accessible t ransport system by the provision, expansion and maintenance of transport infrastructure to make Ghana a transport hub in the sub-region;
Mr. S. K. Obodai (NPP -- Agona West) 4 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to the motion.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at the
Committee's Report, on page 4, there is an indication of some payment made for the investment growth, but it came to light at the Committee meeting that this money was misapplied, because all the agencies came to us indicating that their vote for investments, not even a penny or a pesewa was paid to them. And the Hon Minister explained that this money was paid to be used for the railway workers' salaries.
I think that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should take the work of the House seriously because if moneys have been approved for investment, they must be used for such purpose. I do not know how they are accounting for this. So we are advising the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to take note so that in the subsequent one that we are approving today, there would not be any such misapplication.
Mr. S. K. Obodai (NPP -- Agona West) 4:10 p.m.
We also realised that payments made to
the agencies were delayed. Mr. Speaker, we were in this House when some Hon Members invited the Hon Minister for Transport to come and answer Questions on how best his Ministry would help us arrest the problem of the spate of accidents on our roads. In his Answer , he did indicate that they were going to use the programmes of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC).
Eventually, it turned out to mean that even at that time that he was answering the Question, the NRSC had not received any votes, any money from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. So how could we expect them to work hard to fight this menace?
Their payments -- I have checked and the first disbursement they had was on the 22nd of June. So the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should take note of these things. In future disbursements, please, let us ensure that we set our priorities straight for us to arrest the problems that are confronting us as a nation.
When we turn to page 11 of the
Committee's Report, we will realise that some funds have been released to them for investments and the Hon Minister explained that they were going to refurbish the old offices of the Ministry of Roads and Highways. So that money for their investment was going into that. But previously, when we discussed the Roads and Highways budget, they had also received over GH¢2 million for the same purpose.
So we would ask that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should sit down with them and see how best these moneys - because we cannot give out two different moneys for one purpose. I even do not see why, if the Ministry of Transport is taking over old premises, the

Ministry of Roads and Highways should go and refurbish it for them. They should be given whatever is due them to take up that duty. So the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should go into this and let us know, possibly, before the Appropriation.

On this note, the Hon Minister, my old boy -- I want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity.

Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr. John Gyetuah): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the motion that has to deal with the approval of the Budget Vote for the Ministry of Transport.

Mr. Speaker, the rail infrastructure is key to the economic development of this country. And considering your Committee's Report, the rail sub-sector, that is the ongoing project for the 2010 programme, it has been stated over here that the ongoing feasibility studies on the western corridor rail will be completed and private sector investment sought to rehabilitate the lines. Indeed, looking at the Western Region, where the bulk of the resources actually come from, there is the need for the Ministry to have a critical look at the area.

It will, indeed, give a sigh of relief to the road sector. Looking at the quantum of cocoa, the timber and other things that are actually transported on the road, portions of the road have, indeed, deteriorated because of that particular activity. Indeed, from Bawdie to Asankrangua, especially from Manso Amenfi to Asankrangua, the road which was actually completed in 2006 has seriously deteriorated, because of the quantum of goods that have been actually carried on that particular section.
Mr. Joseph Osei 4:10 p.m.
None

Bekwai): Mr. Speaker, I wish to associate myself with the motion and to make a few observations.

Mr. Speaker, it is a fact that road transport services are actually the main strength of a country's economy in terms of movement back and forth and in terms of moving goods across the country. Mr. Speaker, the safety of the passenger and the driver and other road users is in the hands of two specific organizations, in particular, the Driver and Vehicle Licence Authority (DVLA) and National Road Safety Commission.

Mr. Speaker, in performing their duties, I believe that they are bound to go by the specific statutes that set them up. Looking at the programmes that have been put forward to be performed this year, it does appear that one of the agencies, in particular, the DVLA is not sticking to its functions set out in the law, and I urge that we look at that specifically and urge them to focus on why they were set up, achieve road safety through interventions in the driver training and testing and vehicle testing area.

Mr. Speaker, in this year's Budget, at page 310, paragraph 895, the Government announces Public Private Partnership (PPP) as one of its new initiatives in the coming year. Mr. Speaker, I know that, at least, in the past four years, DVLA
Mr. Joseph Osei 4:10 p.m.
So I commend the Government for announcing that as an initiative and continuing from where we started. However, there is something missing. Mr. Speaker, in the year 2007, DVLA encouraged the private sector people to spend their money to build ultra-modern vehicle testing stations. People have seen them all round the place. At the last end, the last licence to be issued to enable them operate, we stalled the programme.
The reason was that, they said the regulations were not ready. I see that in this year's Budget, it is announced that the Ministry will introduce the regulations so that we can finalise and implement the new Road Traffic Act. However, there is nothing in the programme indicating that the private garages would also be permitted to operate this year.
Mr. Speaker, if we are preparing to engage the private sector in spending their money to provide public sector services, I think it is imperative that those that have already put their money in the service must be seen to be working and gaining some benefit from their investment.
Mr. Speaker, the last thing I want to talk about is revenue. All through the Budget, every Ministry or agency has been given less than what they asked for. The reason is that, we are not generating enough revenue to meet all the things we need. For that reason, it is important

that the agencies that are responsible for collecting revenue for Government should be seen to be proactive, take steps, open their eyes and make sure all revenues that are due the Government are collected and properly accounted for.

It is regrettable to observe that this year, for the first time in about eight, ten years, DVLA could only generate 43 per cent of its targeted revenue. It has not happened in the last six, seven years. We are always exceeding it, but this year, we made only 43 per cent. There must be something wrong; so I want to urge the Ministry to look at that, because non-tax revenue in the last few years has been very, very helpful to the Government in implementing its programmes.

The same thing goes for marine services, the throughput at the ports has gone down and there must be some reason why the revenue at the ports keeps going down. We must look at that and address the problems so that the revenue comes to the Government to enable it perform its planned programmes.

Mr. Speaker, with those few words, I support the motion.
Alhaji Seidu Amadu (NDC -- Yapei/ Kusawgu) 4:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, while I lend my support to the motion to approve the sum indicated on motion 14, I just wish to make a few comments in relation to the Committee's Report dealing with the maritime sub-sector.
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the Volta Lake Transport system has not been properly catered for. All over the world,
Mr. Hammah 4:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I want to
thank Hon Colleagues for a very healthy and constructive debate. I have taken note of most of the concerns that have been raised on the floor of the House, but I want to use this opportunity to address a few of the concerns that were raised.
The first one was with regard to the private sector participation -- [Inter- ruption] -- in the provision of services of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). Mr. Speaker, the truth of the matter is that when you use private property and you want to put it to public use, basic law requires that you have to regulate it. So currently, the Ministry, in the process of putting the regulation together, as soon as the regulation is completed, it would be brought before this House and I am sure this august House would pass it and then that would allow the private garages which currently have invested some substantial amount in the garages to operate.
Mr. Speaker, another Hon Member also spoke about the Volta Lake and I want to allay his fears, that currently, we are in the commercial aspect of the agreement to remove the tree stumps in the Lake to improve upon the safety of the Lake.
The agreement is currently with the Attorney-General's Department; I am sure when she concludes her review, the Ministry would be in a position to finalise it and we would be able to implement that project.
Mr. Speaker, on this note, I want to
thank Hon Members and assure them that all the concerns that have been raised would be taken into consideration in the implementation of the Budget.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question put and motion agreed to
Resolved.
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢29,437,927.00 for the services of the Ministry of Transport for the 2010 fiscal year.
Hon Members, I want to use my discretion and move to item 8 -- [Inter- ruptions] -- by coming under Order 53
(2).
Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice?
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:20 p.m.
Minister for Justice and Attorney- General (Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu) 4:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢19,076,193.00 for the services of the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-

General's Department for the 2010 fiscal year.

Mr. Speaker, as this Honourable House is already aware, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General has a constitutional mandate for promoting and ensuring smooth administration of justice, adherence to the rule of law and transparent and accountable legal system among other functions.

Mr. Speaker, the 2010 allocation, in comparison with the actual expenditure for 2009, indicates an increase of about GH¢4,069,375. In the year 2009, the House approved a total sum of GH¢15,600,818. The 2010 allocation for Administration expenses indicates an increase of only GH¢553,881,000. Mr. Speaker, this marginal increase in our allocation for Administration has rendered it difficult and would render it difficult for the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General to fully meet its obligations towards allowances, et cetera, for State Attorneys.

Mr. Speaker, I want to bring a critical situation to the attention of this Honourable House and that is the situation presently affecting the Ghana School of Law. The Ghana School of Law, Mr. Speaker, is expected to enrol about 400 students during the 2010 academic year, even though the current academic facilities at the School of Law can accommodate only 120 students. This sudden increase is attributable to the fact that Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), which has also been granted accreditation to offer the LLB degree, turned out almost 200 LLB graduates by June this year.

Mr. Speaker, this was a situation which we have to obtain remedial measures by introducing a quota system. Conse- quently, over 200 applicants were turned down this academic year, leading to,
Minister for Justice and Attorney- General (Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu) 4:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in the next academic year, the situation is not looking much rosier since we need to construct a new classroom block. We have obtained all the necessary procurement processes; we have obtained consultants, contractors, approval from Government and what we do not have, Mr. Speaker, is the budget this year because we were in some way let down.

Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang

-- rose --
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
Hon
Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, do you have a point of order?
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman 4:30 p.m.
That is so, Mr. Speaker. My very affable Colleague and church member, I think that you are discriminating. You just ruled in this House in the morning that nobody should use old cedis and the distinguished Attorney-General is using old cedis. So why are you discriminating, Mr. Speaker? [Laughter.]
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
Hon
Member, I can assure you I did not listen to the figures. But if it is true, then she should take that on board. I did not -- were you using old cedis?
Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker,
my words were very carefully chosen in view of your earlier stipulation, and I said, in 2005, an amount of 5 billion old cedis.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
Yes, if it is 2005, the currency then should be 5 million old cedis, especially so when you have qualified it with old.
Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu 4:30 p.m.
I am much
obliged, Mr. Speaker.
We would wind up by making an appeal to this Honourable House, which has a preponderance of lawyers who graduated from the Ghana Law School to enable the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to look favourably and find us the GH¢5 million, which the School of Law desperately needs to function effectively in 2010.
I beg to move.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini) 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion and urge the House to approve the amount of money stated in this year's Budget for the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-General.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Mr. Speaker, in compliance with article 179 (1) of the Constitution, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, on the authority of H.E. the President of the Republic presented to Parliament the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the 2010 Financial Year on Wednesday, 18th November, 2009.
1.2 Pursuant to Standing Orders 140 (4) and 179 of the House, the 2010 draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Justice stood referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report.
2.0 Acknowledgement
2.1 The Committee met on Friday, 11th December, 2009 to consider the estimates. The Attorney-General and Minister for
Justice, Hon Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu and the technical teams from the Ministry of
SAPCE FOR TABLE ON PAGE 3
(5.50 p.m.)
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini) 4:30 p.m.


Justice and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning were in attendance at the invitation of the Committee to assist in deliberations on the estimates. Also in attendance were officials from the departments and agencies under the Ministry of Justice.

The Committee is grateful to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and her team and the technical team from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for being present at the meeting to assist in deliberations.

3.0 Reference

3.1 The Committee referred to the underlisted documents during its deliberations on the estimates:

The 1992 Constitution of the Republic;

The Standing Orders of Parliament;

The Budge t S ta tement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2010 Financial Year; and Report of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parlia- mentary Affairs on the 2009 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Justice.

4.0 The Ministry of Justice

4.1 Mission Statement

The Ministry of Justice exists to:

(i) entrench at the core of the body politic abiding respect for the rule of law and a constant
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. I. A. B. Fuseini) 4:30 p.m.
Registration of businesses can now be done at the branch offices, and the department has also installed local and wide area networks, linking the head office to the regional offices in a bid to facilitate inter-branch and intra-branch work.
The Committee further observed that during the year under review, the Ministry represented the State in a significant number of civil and criminal cases both locally and abroad. This was one of the major unforeseen programmes embarked upon by the Ministry which necessitated the payment of judgement debts. The amount involved affected the Service Vote, which recorded excess expenditure and which compelled the Ministry of Justice to reallocate from the Investment Vote, the sum of GH¢595,080.00.
5.1 The breakdown of the 2009 approved budget and the actual expen- diture under the various items as at November 2009 are indicated below: 6.0 Key Activities Earmarked for the 2010 Financial Year
6.1 The Committee was informed that for the 2010 financial year, the Ministry and its agencies would continue with the implementation of uncompleted pro- grammes and embark on new projects including the:
ii. review of a number of legislations currently in force such as:
Minerals and Mining Law Ghana Contract Act, 1960 (Act
25)
ii. completion of work on some draft legislations including:
Criminal Injury Compensation Law Copyright Regulations
iii. augmentation of the staff strength

of the Registrar-General's Depart- ment in the Kumasi and Tamale Offices.

iv. sustaining the ongoing capacity building and specialisation for Attorneys.

v. creation of other regional offices of the Legal Aid Scheme.

vi. continuation of the review of Subsidiary Legislations under the Statute Law Revision Project.

7.0 Budgetary Allocation for the Year 2010

7.1 The Committee observed that for the 2010 financial year, a sum total of nineteen million, seventy-six thousand, one hundred and ninety-three Ghana cedis (GH¢19,076,193) has been proposed for the recurrent and development expenses of the Ministry of Justice together with its departments and agencies. The breakdown of this amount is indicated below.

7.2 No. Expenditure Item Amount in

GH¢

i. Personal Emoluments

-- 10,370,820.00

i i . A d m i n i s t r a t i v e Expenses --

1,938,583.00

i i i . S e r v i c e A c t i v i t y Expenses --

600,000.00

i v . I n v e s t m e n t A c t i v i t y Expenses --

3,960,000.00

v. I. G. F. Allocations

-- 2,206,790.00

vi. HIPC
-- -- 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Kwame Osei 4:30 p.m.
None

SPACE FOR PAGE 9

(5.50 p.m.)

Nsuta-Kwamang/Beposo): Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and in doing so, make some brief remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General demands more attention than it is receiving now. The Hon Attorney-General spoke about the Ghana Law School. Mr. Speaker, we have come to a time when most Ghanaians want to become lawyers. We have Members of Parliament (MPs) and Ministers and top civil servants who are all now pursuing law courses, trying to become lawyers.

Mr. Speaker, without the Law School having the capacity to admit them, all the efforts they are making would be in vain. Mr. Speaker, you can imagine an Hon Member, like say Hon Balado Manu spending time and effort to go to Legon, get LLB and is being told that the Law School is full, he cannot get the chance. It would have been a waste of money, effort and everything.

Mr. Speaker, in 2005, the Committee had its meeting at Akosombo and we impressed upon the then Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, late Hon Baah-Wiredu, to give the Law School the money and they were allotted ¢50 billion at that time. That money was never used. I will say that it was not the fault of the Government at that time because there was a fight at the Law School -- the Administration, they were fighting and therefore, they could not go through the procurement processes for them to source the money.

However, Mr. Speaker, now, they are ready. The plans are ready, they have gone through the procurement, everything is ready. There is the need, therefore, for them to get the money to start this.

Last year, more than 200 people remained at home and these young people
Mr. E. K. Bandua (NDC -- Biakoye) 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the motion.
I want to talk about the Serious Fraud Office. I believe that this is an institution that should be resourced so that they are able to perform their duties properly. Indeed, with shortfalls in our revenue, if we are able to resource these institutions properly, they would be able to track down the leakages so that, at least, the country would rake in more resources to be able to fund many of the programmes in the country.
Indeed, the work of the Serious Fraud Office is going to be enhanced because, currently, there is a Bill before us - the Organized and Economic Crimes Bill. If it comes into play, then it means that they would be given more responsibilities and they would need a lot more resources in order to perform these duties.
In fact, the Legal Aid Board too, let me
touch on it briefly. This is an institution that renders services to the indigenes in our society. So there is the need for them to expand and extend to the nook and cranny of the country so that many of the people who are not able to avail themselves of the services of lawyers, because of lack of money or funds, would be able to render services to such people.
As for the Registrar-General's
Department, they also need to expand their services to the nook and cranny of the country because businesses are registered all over the place. Marriages are also registered. But in order for them to perform properly, we have to resource them and then improve upon their office - we give them offices so that they are able
Mr. Joseph Osei-Owusu (IND -- Bekwai) 4:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to add my voice to the earlier calls asking for support for the motion.
Mr. Speaker, I would want to make some few observations as regards the Report. Mr. Speaker, if you go to page 273 of the Budget Statement, the Attorney-General's programme is suggesting that some 200 lawyers would be trained to investigate about 50 per cent of professional misconduct and complaints made against lawyers and so on. That is laudable because if we sanitize the legal profession, then we would be stronger.
However, Mr. Speaker, I would have
thought that this year, when we are all talking about oil and gas, the Attorney- General's training programme would have also focused on training lawyers in the department of the Attorney-General to be specialists in oil and gas in order to provide reliable and trustworthy trade advice to the Government in all transactions in that respect.
Again, I wish to add my voice to the
major challenge that the Ghana School of Law and for that matter, the infrastructure requirement for legal training -- the

Hon Attorney-General has belaboured the point, but I wish to add my voice. It does appear to me that in many respects, we, as a country, are not adding on to the infrastructure we inherited. The Ghana School of Law is over 50 years. We have not added much to it since. I think it is not sufficient for us to complain that there are infrastructural deficiencies.

I think it is important that as a country, where the current President and the past President are lawyers, where the Hon Attorney-General, the Speakers and here in this House, we have a large amount of lawyers, where many more people are training so that we can help promote our democracy well, I think it should be cardinal for us to invest in infrastructure that will enable us train more lawyers.

Mr. Speaker, finally, in this Report, it is

observed that the year under review, that is the year 2009, there was an overflow of the expenditure because of major unforeseen programmes embarked upon by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice but significant among them is the number of civil and criminal cases both locally and abroad. I am not sure about criminal cases abroad. I would have thought that civil cases are likely but unless the State of Ghana is indicted abroad, I wonder how the Attorney-General will defend the country, Ghana abroad. Probably, in future she needs further explanation.

But all said, I support that we vote and

support the motion, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. First Deputy Speaker 4:40 p.m.
Thank you
very much, Hon Osei-Owusu.
Hon Attorney-General?
Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu 4:40 p.m.
Thank you, Mr.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:40 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr. J. K. Avedzi) 4:40 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion for the adoption of the Report

of your Committee.
MR. SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER
IGF -- NIL 4:40 p.m.
HIPC -- NIL 4:40 p.m.
MDRI -- NIL 4:40 p.m.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah (NPP-- Secondi) 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and in doing so, would just make a couple of observations.
Mr. Speaker, quite recently, there has been talk of developing a national consensus for our development agenda. What many Ghanaians may not know is that, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has been established by the Constitution for precisely such a purpose. And with your permission, Mr. Speaker, I would refer to article 87(1) of the Constitution. It says:
“The Commission shall advise the President on development planning policy and strategy.”
And if you go to (2), a lot of things that the Commission, either at the request of the President or by Parliament or in its own initiative, can do.
I believe that from the interaction we had with the Commission during the Budget hearing, it is obvious that the Commission has not been encouraged to do its work. Technically speaking, as of now, there is no Commission, because the Commission comprises its members. So there is no Commission. Whatever the technical people there have done, it is just on paper.
Mr. Speaker, there is also another important point that I wish to emphasise, that this Commission is to advise the President. As of now, it seems it operates either through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning or something.
But if you look at article 86 (2) on the membership, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is himself a member of the Commission.
So for the Commission to be effective, it ought to operate under the Office of the President. The Budget was presented under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and that seems to be one major reason the Commission seems to be ineffectual. I am urging His Excellency the President to take up this matter, because on page 26 of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto, the NDC makes it clear that it is going to put the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) on a very high pedestal.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to refer you to the last two lines of the NDC manifesto, “For a Better Ghana”, 2008. [Interruptions.] This seems to be the revised standard version and Mr. Speaker, I beg to read:

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I wish to state that it is obvious that the NDC Government is not thinking first and then acting its way out of its problems -- [[Hear! Hear!] -- This is because as at now, commissioners have not even been appointed -- [Uproar.] And this, is indeed, a sad indictment on this Government. I urge the monitoring and evaluation unit that was recently commissioned under the Office of the President to take this matter up.

It is so important and in conformity
Mr. Alfred W. G. Abayateye (NDC -- Sege) 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion and ask Hon Members to approve the Vote of --
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Hon Member, we would not go over figures again -- [Interruptions.] Please, go with your argument.
Mr. Abayateye 4:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, it is sad to note that NDPC has no office accommodation. As at now, the office is housed in a building which is supposed to be the residence of the Director-General. It is sad.
I agree with what my Hon Colleague just said, that for proper work to be done

by this Commission, it must be under the Office of the President so that proper planning can be effective.

Mr. Speaker, again -- remuneration. Payment of salaries is not very encourag- ing in the government sector; therefore, such a specialised area, the staff that they are supposed to have to work are not there. It is interesting that they need a staff of about 50; but there are only 12 at post. People come in, they are inter-viewed, they come into the job, three days, one month, they are gone because of the low remuneration. In fact, investment is risk- taking and if you want to be well and to get better benefits, you must pay more.

I am calling on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to re-examine and make room -- economic planning is very, very essential for the nation. We must make room and pump in money where we can be on our feet.

With these few words, I want to call on the House to approve the figure for the NDPC.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member, particularly for your brevity.
Hon Prof. Gyan-Baffour.
Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour (NPP -- Wenchi) 5 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support the motion on the floor, that this House approves this sum of money for the National Development Planning Commission.
Mr. Speaker, I am also saddened by what is happening to that Commission. Mr. Speaker, in 2009, the Commission was allocated GH¢3,083,056.00. Mr. Speaker, this year, what we are approving now is
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
Hon
Minister will wind up.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 5 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, with respect --
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
Minority
Leader, do you have an intervention?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 5 p.m.
Yes, Mr.
Speaker, I wanted to make a contribution but I thought my Hon Colleague, Hon Muntaka had got up --
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
No,
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 5 p.m.
Mr.
Speaker, I will not over elaborate then, I will make a few observations, with your indulgence.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
Minority Leader, you may continue.
Minority Leader (Mr. Osei Kyei-
Mensah-Bonsu): Mr. Speaker, I thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker, in contributing to the motion, I would want to make a few observations.
Mr. Speaker, the National Development Planning Commission appears to be treated like any other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and this has been the sequence of events for a very long time. Mr. Speaker, the location of the Commission in the Office of the President, certainly, is going to give it a partisan brand and that would not help the Commission in any way. Mr. Speaker, I believe the time has come for us to wane the Commission of partisan considera- tions, otherwise, visions may be defined, visions may be changed and we would not make much progress.
Mr. Speaker, the other thing which,
in my view, is contributing to the non- performance of the Commission, is the fact that rather unfortunately, the Constitution itself does not provide the number of Commissioners at NDPC. We are told that the composition of the Commission is, one, a Chairman who shall be appointed by the President; two, the Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Planning and ominously, such other Ministers of State as the President

may appoint. How many of them, nobody knows.

Mr. Speaker, then we have the Govern- ment Statistician, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, ten representatives, one representing each of the ten regions, such other persons as may be appointed by the President. What is the number? And so nobody knows the number of the Commissioners as they start to function even when they are put together; sitting Presidents keep adding and adding to the numbers and nobody then is able to establish the quorate number for transacting business at the Commission.

Mr. Speaker, I believe if we are serious

with our national development planning agenda, this is one area, if we come to review the Constitution that we should look at. I believe also that we should put the NDPC in the category of the independent constitutional bodies which may have financial autonomy in order to allow them to work independently of governmental control.

Mr. Speaker, defining the develop-

mental agenda for this country, rests on the shoulders of such a body, which if we should start with competent profes- sionals, would be able to give us a better vision. For now, we have visions that are defined, which other people have characterized as suffering from glaucoma and cataract and so on.

We keep shifting the goal post and it is not helping us to determine which direction that this country should go. The Constitution enables Parliament in oversighting these commissions and bodies to make recommendations, which may transform into legislations. I believe when we come to make such observations,
Mr. Seth Terkpeh 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, in winding up, I wish to acknowledge the sentiments from both sides of the House about the importance of the NDPC to national development and the overall development agenda of the country.
I wish to assure Hon Members of the House that the Government takes the work of the NDPC quite seriously and efforts are underway to both resource and strengthen the Commission with the assistance of institutions such as the UNDP and moreover, to strengthen the relationship with the Economic Planning Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
May I also point out that Ghana has not been devoid of development plans or strategies. Indeed, we have just come out of the GPRS II as my Hon Colleague who made the contribution knows -- prior to that, we have had the PRGF and the previous administration itself structured a development plan, which as we indicated in the Budget, is in a draft form and very soon there will be a debate on it. Therefore, contrary to the sentiments that were expressed, the budget was not prepared out of a vacuum at all.
Finally, I wish to also state that in preparing the budget and as shown clearly in the appendices, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had a medium- term perspective and this is what informed the medium-term expenditure framework which was used to prepare the budget.
Furthermore, let me just state that the Social Investment Fund provision is
included in the HIPC provision that was made under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning itself, so it is not something that has been abandoned.
Having said this, I wish to thank Hon Members for their contribution to the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
Resolved:
That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢1,981,176.00 for the services of the National Development Planning Commission for the 2010 fiscal year.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:10 p.m.
Hon
Majority Leader, any further indications?
Mr. Bagbin 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, there is a
Bill that was laid on the 24th of November, 2009, titled Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) No. 2 Bill and I have just received instructions from the Ministry of Finance -- the Ministry responsible for the Bill and the Ministry that laid the Bill, that they want to withdraw it from the House and in its place, substitute it with another one, with the same title anyway, Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) ( No. 2) Bill. T
The earlier one had some mistakes and some exclusions which had been corrected here, so I want that to be done before we go to the next motion.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:10 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Eco- nomic Planning , you may now seek leave of the House to withdraw the Bill.
Mr. Terkpeh 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise
to seek leave of your goodself and this Honourable House to withdraw the Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) ( No. 2) Bill presen- ted to this House on the 24th of November
2009.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:10 p.m.
And
substitute it with another?
Mr. Tekpeh 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, substitute
it with a Bill that is with the same title for the consideration of the House.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:10 p.m.
Hon
Deputy Minister, I will call upon you again formally to present the revised edition of the Bill if it is ready, to the House.
BILLS -- FIRST READING 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Bagbin 5:10 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, we may now move to motion 17 at page 4 of the Order Paper and that is on Other Government Obligations.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 5:20 p.m.
TOTAL 5:20 p.m.
-- 5:20 p.m.
APPENDIX I 5:20 p.m.
ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING 5:20 p.m.
OTHER GOVERNMENT 5:20 p.m.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:20 p.m.
Hon
Member, no more figures, let us go on to the arguments.
Mr. Awuah 5:20 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I
support the motion, but I just want to draw our attention to some few observations that we made at the Committee level.
Mr. Speaker, most of these government obligations are supposed to be settled at the end of every quarter. But unfortunately, in some cases, we do have some commitments being in the arrears even at the end of the quarter. And typical examples are that of the District Assemblies Common Fund, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
Mr. Speaker, we are left with just a few days to end the year, but as we speak, the District Assemblies Common Fund is in arrears for two quarters. Mr. Speaker, this is an unhealthy situation because if that happens, the District Assemblies are unable to undertake their projects and programmes on schedule, and this leaves them with huge debts and high cost overruns of their programmes.

Mr. Speaker, apart from that, one other thing I would want to draw our attention to is, the issue of reserve fund. Mr. Speaker, even though you have cautioned me not to quote figures, on this particular issue, I will seek your permission to quote figures.

M r. S p e a k e r , a n a m o u n t o f GH¢558,300,000 is set aside to serve as reserve fund. Mr. Speaker, I have no problem with that, but in an answer to the question as to what the reserve fund will be used for -- Mr. Speaker, there are some interesting revelations that I would want to bring to the attention of the House.

Mr. Speaker, His Excellency the

President has a very laudable project for the University for Development Studies (UDS); he has an endowment fund for the UDS, an amount of GH¢2 million is voted for that particular project. Apart from that, he has another endowment fund for the University of Ghana, Legon; an amount of GH¢3 million is voted for that.

Mr. Speaker, I think that these are very laudable projects, and I will even have loved a situation where the figures were increased to enhance activities on those campuses.

Mr. Speaker, for judgment debts alone, an amount of GH¢200 million out of the total of GH¢553.3 million for reserve funds is earmarked for judgment debts. Mr. Speaker, I seriously think that, yes, we have obligations to our debtors, but then we should be able to come out with an arrangement with them so that we can also reprioritize and put some of these reserve funds in a more urgent and more important areas so as to help accelerate the development of this particular country.

Mr. Speaker, I would have loved if the House could be furnished with the details of who the beneficiaries of these GH¢200 million that is going to be used

to pay or settle judgment debts -- who the beneficiaries are so that at least, we would -- [Interruption] -- be fully informed of how these moneys are going to be used.

Mr. Speaker, on this note, I end by saying that I support the motion on the floor.

Thank you.

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NPP

-- Manhyia): Mr. Speaker, I wish to contribute to this particular debate, and in particular take some time and draw the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning's attention to some more pertinent issues to improve the governance culture in this country.

Mr. Speaker, my first point of call would be the revenue agenda. Mr. Speaker, this budget is nothing but revenue raising measures of the Central Government to undertake important government commitments. Mr. Speaker, what is worrying is that certain very vital and important revenue sources have not been declared in this year's Budget.

I particularly believe that they have not been declared either consciously or it has become ‘that is the way we do things'. And I am going to cite two issues; one, is the revenue that is accruing to the State from the Saltpond Oil Fields and two donor funds being managed by agencies and commissions like the Ghana AIDS Commission. And three, the pervasive attitude of companies, agencies and departments raising Internally Generated Fund (IGF) and spending it all without paying it into the Consolidated Fund.

Mr. Speaker, glaringly absent from this year's Budget on income or revenues to Government is what would accrue to the nation from the Saltpond Fields irres- pective of how miniscule the Ministry

thinks it is going to raise -- This year 2009, it raised over US$5 million. If we are in the House today, and we are about to pass an Electronic Communications (Amendment) Bill, that is seeking to raise 5 million in the Minister's recognition speech, we should be careful.

Mr. Speaker, I will come to the issue

of donor funds.
Mr. Abayateye 5:30 p.m.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker --
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:30 p.m.
Hon
Member, I have not called you yet; if you would be patient. Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order? Please, proceed.
Dr. Prempeh 5:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I said
that we are in this House going to agree to an amendment to the Electronic Communications Act that is going to raise GH¢5 million, and the Minister for Communications has done the right thing even though the Bill has not been passed, he has included in the Budget, that was what I said.
What has happened to the Saltpond Oil Field revenue for 2010? Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue.
The agencies that are generating huge
internally generated funds, that do not find themselves expressed in the Budget -- I have drawn the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning ais ttention and I want the House to take an urgent and critical look at these issues.

Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah

-- rose --
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:30 p.m.
Hon
Member, do you stand on a point of order?
Mr. Buah 5:30 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, I think my Hon Member was misleading the House and when he made a point that “we are worried as a country because there is no petroleum law, and there is no policy in place”. Mr. Speaker, I want to correct the record that we discovered the oil in June 2007. We had over a year to work on a policy document. We spent over a whole year just celebrating and raising Champagne bottles for oil -- [Uproar.]
Mr. Speaker, I just want to bring it to the information of the House that the last eleven months, what we have been focused in doing a comprehensive local content policy, is to work on a comprehensive energy law to bring to this House. I am happy to report that the local content policy is already in place, in circulation, being reviewed by stakeholders and we are happy to report that shortly, when we come back, the Honourable House is going to have the Petroleum Bill, so that we can review, make sure that the people of Ghana will have the kind of laws that are in place instead of the kind of celebration that we had when we discovered the oil.
Mr. Joe Ghartey 5:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my
Hon Friend who just spoke must be aware -- the Hon Deputy Minister must be aware that at the time he became the Hon Deputy Minister, there was a whole draft law dealing with oil and gas, which indeed, even attempted to come to Parliament the last time but because there was not enough time.
He must be aware, unless he was not in the country when the stakeholders conference was called; he must be aware that a lot of work had been done. He must be aware that since the Jubilee Field was found, work had been done --
Mr. Ghartey 5:30 p.m.
As for my Hon Friends
in green shouting at the back, they know that I will treat them like Hon Ahi treats them. I will do an “Ahi”, I will not mind them.
He must be aware that a lot of work had been done. One year after they took over, the oil is going to be produced next year.
They are now telling us that they are bringing this, they are doing that. They must be aware that the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Conference, two , three years ago, there was general consensus from both sides of the House, for civil society, that as a matter of urgency, Government should make sure that it brings before Parliament a law which governs our oil and gas industry -- post -- when we discovered oil, he must be aware of that. In their time, they bought oil rigs and took them to Angola while there was oil in Ghana.
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:30 p.m.
Hon
Dr. Prempeh, you may continue.
Dr. Prempeh 5:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, my Hon
Friend, the Deputy Minister for Energy should apply his mind to what goes on in this House instead of just getting up and speaking out of context. Where was he when the Ministry did not declare it in the Budget? Where was he? He was obviously asleep -- [Uproar.] He was obviously asleep. Where was he? [Interruptions.] You see, these are the -- [Interruptions.]
Mr. Second Deputy Speaker 5:30 p.m.
Order!
Order!
Dr. Prempeh 5:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, these are
the sort of interventions that give credence to the fact that surely some are team ‘B' players; obviously, he is a team ‘B' Minister. I would like to proceed.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that when it has already missed
four major targets, it must be really concerned with revenue enhancing measures. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should take notice of those sitting in the Ministry of Energy who would not want to declare Government revenue to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Mr. Speaker, it has happened in this country before that some days back, COCOBOD never went to raise a loan to finance cocoa purchases. It was through some reckless activities that led to COCOBOD balances in Ghana Government's accounts going broke. And he must apply his mind to making sure that he supervises the oil sector such that reckless adventure and wanton dissipation of nation's resources are not applied as is being done to the Saltpond Oil Reserves.

Mr. Speaker, in the 2009 Budget, I want to caution my Hon Friends from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. In 2009, four pro-poor policies were not enhanced in this country. The LEAP was not enhanced, the school Feeding Programme was not enhanced,

the school uniform was not procured, and things that affect the general well-being of Ghanaians were not done.
Mr. Bagbin 5:30 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr.
Speaker, I just want my very good Friend, Hon Dr. Prempeh to calm down because most of the issues that he is raising had been raised a number of times on this floor. I recall last year, Hon Moses Asaga raised this issue about oil revenue from Saltpond fields. Yes, so it is right for us to raise the revenues but to link it up with recklessness and all those things. That definitely is not good. I would like him to focus on the issues and not bring in emotional sentimentalism, please.
Dr. Prempeh 5:30 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, I will
take my Hon Leader's advice but I will caution the Hon Deputy Minister that he was in this House when I raised the issue of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). He shot up from his seat on this side of the House and made statements that he had come to the House after five months to support my point. He should apply himself to the Ministry and departments he is supervising and supervise them well instead of just getting up --
Mr. Speaker, if GH¢43 bllion more has been spent than has been allocated in ten months at the Office of Chief of Staff, it is a worry. This money could have gone into