Odekro | What has your MP done for you?

Madam Speaker

Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 10th March, 2010.
Pages 1 - 11 -

Madam Speaker, on page ll (2), "The following Hon Members were present". Madam Speaker, (iii), there is one "Anthony Osei Akoto" who was alleged to have attended. I did not see any "Anthony Osei Akoto" there, it was "Anthony Akoto Osei".

Madam Speaker

Thank you.

Mr Sulemana I. B. Iddrissu

Madam Speaker, page 10, under "Committee of Foreign Affairs""-- Iddrusu Sulemana Ibun Baba Madam Speaker, my name was spelt wrongly and that has been running through all documents concerning my name. The name is "Iddrissu". It is spelt "Iddrissu" and not "Iddrusu".

Madam Speaker

You mean number 3, is that not it?

Mr S. I. B. Iddrissu

Madam Speaker, (iii), page 10, "Committee on Foreign Affairs".
Aihaji Mohmnmed-Mubarak Muntaka: Madam Speaker, sorry for taking you back.

On page 6, (25), "Mohammed, Issifu Pangabu (Alhaji) (Ejura-Sekyediunase)" is marked absent. But Madam Speaker, when we go to page 8, under "Public Accounts Committee", he is present there and I could not imagine how he could be present in Parliament and even attended' a committee meeting in Parliament here. and yet be absent.

Madam Speaker

Hon Member, is it an impossibility?

Alhaji Muntaka

Madam Speaker, yesterday he was around. Hon Members here would testify. Yesterday, he was here

Madam Speaker

But what page do you want me to amend?

Alhaji Muntaka

Madam Speaker, I am saying that on page 6, he is marked there as absent. And I am saying that yesterday he was in the House. I saw him because-

Madam Speaker

In this House?

Alhaji Muntaka

Yes, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker

Yes, Clerk to note. [Pause] _
Hon Muntaka, page 6 deals with another date, and page 8 deals with another date, is that not it?

Alhaji Muntaka

Madam Speaker, my attention was just drawn to it that page 8 was referring to Tuesday but yesterday, we were together here. So I am very certain that he was here.

Madam Speaker

What is written is on another day, is that not it?

Alhaji Muntaka

Madam Speaker, I understand. When I was trying to compare the pages 8 and 6 - that is why I am saying that I am restricting myself to

Madam Speaker

Did you see him in this House?

Alhaji Muntaka

Madam Speaker, yes, he was here.

Dr A.A. Osei

Madam Speaker, going back to page 10, "Hon Iddrissu Sulemana Ibun Baba", I recall in this House said that he was "Alhaji". So I was wondering if there is not a mistake in his name or not.

Madam Speaker

Well, he has not still satisfied me with his qualifications.

Dr A. A. Osei

Madam Speaker, that is why I was drawing our attention - because I recall he eloquently told this House that he wanted to be referred to as "Alhaji". So I was wondering if he was the same person.

Madam Speaker

I thought the last time we advised that he should let us see the evidence.

Mr S. I. B. Iddrissu

Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and thank my Hon Colleague for reminding the House on my changed status. The letter is on the way, it is coming - [Laughter] -- and I promise the House that by the end of the day, I will consult the Leadership and the Hon Minority Leader who has agreed in principle that I should be referred to as an "Alhaji" henceforth. [Laughter]
Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker

Well, I think he was indulging you, but I will not agree until I see your papers.

Dr A.A. Osei

Madam Speaker, I thought he said the letter was on its way to the Speaker. Now, he also says that the Hon Majority Leader has agreed - [Interruption]

Madam Speaker

I thought he said the Hon Minority Leader?

Dr A. A. Osei

The Hon Majority Leader has no locus in this matter. [Interruption] Oh, he said the Hon Minority Leader -- [Laughter] - He has no locus in this matter. The letter is going to the Speaker.

Madam Speaker

So until the letter comes, we stick to Hon ‘Mr' Iddrissu Sulemana Ibun Baba.

Mr Stephen K. B. Mann

Madam Speaker, I just would like to remind the Hon Member (Mr Sulemana Ibun Baba Iddrissu) that the letter alone may not be enough. He may have to show a video clip of when he was throwing the stone at the devil -- [Laughter] - So a letter alone may not be enough to prove his case. A video clip will be needed as well. [Laughter.]

Madam Speaker

Well, thank you, Hon Member. "

Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu

Madam Speaker, it looks like our Hon Friend is so bent on using a religious title. So, in the absence of "Alhaji" may I suggest that he uses "Mallam" -- [Laughter]

Madam Speaker

Well, if he agrees - [Laughter] Yes, thank you.

Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 as corrected, is adopted as the true record of proceedings.

We move on to Questions now. Item 3 - Hon Deputy Leader, is the Hon Minister for Health here?

Madam Speaker

Order! Order! -

Mr Pelpuo

Listen to me -- [Interruptions] Madam Speaker, I am not talking about the Health Minister - [Interruption]

Madam Speaker

Order! Order, please.

Mr Pelpuo

Just listen to me; I am not talking about the Health Minister. We have two sets of Questions here and I am saying that the Hon Minister for the Interior will not be able to appear because today is the day he would be sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister. He will come on another day to answer the Question- But the Urgent Question will be attended to by the Hon Minister for Health who is present here, and whose presence, I am aware of.
Madam Speaker; Yes, Hon Deputy Leader, thank you.

Minister for Health (Dr Benjamin- Kunbuor)

Madam Speaker, Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) is an inflammation of
the covering of the brain and the spinal cord. The commonest cause is a bacteria called Neisseria meningitidis. The bacteria has nine serial groups," namely, A, B, C, D, E29, S, W135, Y and Z.' The bacteria normally resides in the nose and throat, but sometimes invade the blood system causing the disease. It will then spread by direct contact including respiratory droplets from the nose and throats of infected persons or carriers.
The Ministry has taken the following steps: selective and preventive vaccination with A and C vaccines; surveillance for early detection of cases; effective management of cases and public education.
This year, We are experiencing an epidemic from predominantly W135. It started in one district in the Upper West Region. Mass vaccination is ongoing and the situation is stabilizing.
Madam Speaker, thank you.

Dr Prempeh

Hon Minister, I heard you just say that vaccination is ongoing, after the event. I was thinking that since it is a perennial event that you have accepted, the vaccination should be before the event. Seventeen people have died in your region. Unfortunately, the Hon Minister comes from the Upper West Region and the Director-General of Ghana Health Service also comes from the Upper West Region.
My question was, "what measures was your Ministry taking to prevent the perennial deaths" and not to. tell us what is going on now. So, I mean, what is the Hon Minister going to do so that next year, around this time, we will not hear this unfortunate episode?
Dr Kunbuor Madam Speaker, normally, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not actually allow preventive vaccination of CSM. What happens is that we normally stockpile the vaccines, and

Dr Prempeh

Madam Speaker, I am a bit worried World Health Organisation (WHO) gives guidelines. Ghanaians are dying, so if World Health Organisation (WHO) tells us that 100 p6Opl6 should die before we start vaccinating, are we going to follow those guidelines? People in your constituency will not be happy with that statement, In the meantime, people are dying in the Ashanti Region as well; are there any vaccinations there as well?

Dr Kunbuor

Madam Speaker, as I speak now, we do not have any evidence that anybody in the Ashanti Region has died of CSM. Why caution is needed is that, anytime there is an outbreak of CSM, even people who die of natural causes are often treated as CSM cases. But we will try and cross-check immediately I leave this House, and if there is that evidence, we will actually intervene.
What I want to add to the Hon Colleague's question is that W135 is a peculiar type of strain. No manufacturer actually manufactures the ampoules and keep. They only prepare a base and when you have reached the WHO certification threshold, it takes just 48 hours for them to deliver. And that is why you normally have to get the WHO certification before
the phials can be released. It is controlled by a group set up by the WHO, and until the group is satisfied that you have reached that level, nobody in any country will ever get the ampoules for vaccination.

Dr Prempeh

Thank you, Mr Speaker, the - Madam Speaker, Mr Speaker, Speaker, Mallam, Alhaji - [Interruptions]

Madam Speaker

Hon Member, I insist on being called Madam Speaker.

Dr Prempeh

Madam Speaker, I was just going to refer you to an earlier ruling that you do not mind but since you are minded now - Madam Speaker, will the Hon Minister tell the people of Ghana, the management or containment is not only vaccination? And my measures, I was asking, includes what the Ministry is going to do such that such needless deaths - 17 people in Upper West Region, in my opinion, is 17 Ghanaians who have died unnecessarily.
Lost productivity, and lost GDP, what is he going to do to the people? That is where he comes from, that is where it happens every year. So what is he going to do such that, we zero deaths next year? Or he wants 8 people to die from his constituency next year before he orders the vaccines? He should come back and tell us what educational measures and processes he is going to put in place.

Madam Speaker

Hon Member, put your question now.

Dr Prempeh

Madam Speaker, will the Hon Minister tell us what preventive measures he is putting in place, so that at least, people do not die unnecessarily in the Upper West Region, from his constituency?

Dr Kunbuor

Madam Speaker, in my Answer, I did indicate briefly that public education is part of it. If you get to the areas where the epidemic has broken out, you will find that at almost every public place, you have got leaflets with the following messages that those with signs and symptoms of the disease, namely, fever, headache, neck stiffness and vomiting are advised to report to the nearest health facilities. Avoid over- crowding as the disease spreads very fast under such conditions. Sleep in well- ventilated rooms or outside and drink enough water. These leaflets are flying and they are posted in almost every area.
When you come to the issue of surveillance, I am happy that certain Hon Members of this House have indicated to me that they encountered the surveillance team particularly in the Upper East Region and the description that was used is that they are really milling round almost all the villages. The WHO technical team flew in yesterday and they arrived at Tamale this morning by air to go and beef up the surveillance and technical support in the areas.

Alhaji Muntaka

- Madam Speaker, the three northern regions and some parts of northern Brong Ahafo have been prone to CSM for a very long period of time. I want to find out from him whether other strains, not the one that is killing people, were prevented before this crisis.

Dr Kunbuor

Madam Speaker, the CSM disease is a very peculiar one. It is not one that you can prevent as long as you are located within the belt. If you cannot alter the ecology and climatic and vegetation conditions in that belt, you will continue to have CSM. It is unfortunate but there is nothing that can be done about it because that belt has been a subject of a lot of studies. All we are

trying to do is to alter the human interaction to make sure that when it does come out, and it is cyclical in nature -

With the degradation of the environment, we are beginning to get the epidemic come up more quickly than it was done previously. I am afraid, Madam Speaker, that unless we can alter our climatic conditions and the ecology Within which we are located, it is very, very difficult to actually eliminate it.

Mr Ambrose P. Dery

Madam Speaker, The Hon Minister for Health said there is mass vaccination, it is ongoing and the situation is stabilizing. I want to know from him if he is aware that in the Lawra District, for instance, where the population is 120,000, only 10,000 doses of vaccination were sent there. ls he aware? .

Dr Kunbuor

Madam Speaker, I am aware. The 10,000 that were sent to Lawra/Nandom was based on the assessment of the District Directorate and the Regional Directorate. That is not the final one that goes to Lawra. After they have done the assessment and they even add a 10 per cent margin to target the particular population - as we talk now, there is another 380 that is moving to the three northern regions and Lawra will receive theirs. If you look at what we have received statistically, the Lawra/Nandom have not yet had a WHO 135 situation yet.
They have not even reached the alert level yet, let alone an epidemic level; so the distribution that he is seeing is based on the protocols of treatment of CSM in terms of the threshold alert and the epidemic. So we will not send something beyond what is required by WHO, where you have not even reached the alert level but we already know that the Lawra area is one-we are monitoring very closely, very much like Builsa.

Madam Speaker

Hon Minister, thank you very much for coming to answer our Questions.
Hon Members, I think the Hon Leader has already told us we cannot go on with the other Questions because of the inability of the Minister to be here, in which case, we move to the Laying of Papers - item 6.

Madam Speaker

We move to item number 7, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources. Suspension of Standing Order (80) 1

Minister for Lands and Natural Resources (Alhaji Collins Dauda)

Madam Speaker, I beg to move, that notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 80 (1) which require that no motion shall be debated until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the motion is given and the date on which the motion is moved, the motion for the Second Reading of the, Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 2010 may be moved today.

Mr Gershon K. B. Gbediame

Madam Speaker, I beg to second the motion.
Question put and motion agreed to.
"Resolved accordingly.

Madam Speaker

We move on to motion number 8.

Minister for Lands and Natural Resources (Alhaji Collins Dauda)

Madam Speaker, I beg to move, that the Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 201-O be now read a Second time.
Madam Speaker, the object of this Bill is to establish the Ghana Boundary Commission to undertake negotiations to determine and demarcate Ghana's land boundary and delimit Ghana's maritime boundaries.
Madam Speaker, under the Border Demarcation Commission Act, l968,NLCD 325 several ad hoc Boundary Commissions have been set up to negotiate our land boundaries with our neighbours. It is important to indicate that not all the ad hoc committees have completed their work. Also, Madam Speaker, this law does not take into account our maritime boundaries.
No commission has also ever been established to delimit our maritime boundaries, therefore, there is the need now for us to put in place a commission

Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah

On a point of order. Madam Speaker, last week at the Business Committee meeting, it was decided that due to the sensitivity associated with this particular Bill, the entire process would be taken in a Closed Sitting. We did not want to ruffle the waters before the Commission even had the opportunity to start its work and we thought that it would be better if the entire exercise took place in a Closed Sitting.
So if you couple that with the fact. that we actually just got the document, then it would be better if we proceed to any other business that is available while we study this document and then we can come back to this in a Closed Sitting.

Mr Ambrose P. Dery

Madam Speaker, just to take the matter further. This is an issue which involves another country and therefore if we begin to make comments openly, though it might be in good faith, it could inflame and muddy the waters before we even go into negotiations. So I think it is important that we do hold this one in a Closed Sitting.

Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo

Madam Speaker, I think it is in order and it is important we curtail any discussions on it and take it at a Closed Sitting to finalise discussions.

Madam Speaker

Is it the same thing? Are you -

Alhaji Abukari

Madam Speaker, I am going to suggest that we deal with it now. This is an Urgent Bill.

Madam Speaker

Well, it is a matter for the Hon Leader. That is why I called for his concern.

Alhaji Abukari

Madam Speaker, I suggest that the Leadership consult each other and let us do it now. I support the idea that we should do it in a Closed Sitting especially because of our maritime boundaries.
We should be very careful.

Madam Speaker

Yes, Hon Gbediame, an application has been made on the Minority side and accepted -an the Majority side. I agree. So who else? Are you going to suggest any other matter?

Mr Gbediame

Madam Speaker, l do not have any contrary view but I am only requesting your kind permission to ask the gallery to be cleared.

Madam Speaker

Hon Members, I think Order 44(2) is on the point. It says:
"When the House is in Closed Sitting no stranger shall be permitted to be present in the Chamber, side lobbies or galleries."
So if we agree, we would clear the House and carry on with the business since I believe it is an urgent matter on our list today. So we could for today clear-

Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Madam Speaker, I was not around last week and I have no cause to disbelieve what my Hon Colleagues are saying. I

Madam Speaker

Thank you. In which case, the Clerks need to clear the House so we go on and finish -- Closed Sitting.

Madam Speaker

Hon Frimpong, I want to hear you but I thought the decision had been taken.

Mr Frimpong

Madam Speaker, I am referring to motion number 8. My worry is that, if it was decided at the Business Committee that this must be taken. at a Closed Sitting, how come that the Chairman of the Business Committee, that is, the Leader of the House, the Leader of the Majority is not there and brought this

one contrary to what was decided on at the Business Committee?

Debates of 11 Mar 2010

PRAYERS

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT

URGENT QUESTION

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

PAPERS

BILLS -- SECOND READING

ADJOURNMIENT