Debates of 30 Jun 2010

MADAM SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:30 a.m.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 10:30 a.m.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE 10:30 a.m.
PRESIDENT 10:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon Members, I have received communication from the President. If I may read it to you:
“29th June, 2010
THE RT HON SPEAKER 10:30 a.m.
OFFICE OF PARLIAMENT 10:30 a.m.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE 10:30 a.m.
ACCRA 10:30 a.m.
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 10:30 a.m.
OF GHANA 10:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Well, Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 29th June, 2010.
Page -- . . . 23.
Mr George K. Arthur 10:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, sorry to take you to page 12, clause 28, that is, xxvii; the next item must read “xxviii” Then when you come to page 20, after Clause 57, “Ixxvii, the next item is “lxxviii” and the subsequent items must also be corrected.
Madam Speaker 10:30 a.m.
So no correction on page 22?
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, there may not be corrections at all because the clauses are different and the numbering might not be in order in this Report. So if we check and find that -
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
It does not follow.
So we now move back to page 23.
Any corrections on page 23?
Mr Gershon K. B. Gbediame 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, page 5, item 4, Hon Addai Simons was in the Chamber yesterday to ask a Question, but he has been recorded here that he was absent.
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Thank you for the
correction.
Any other corrections? We have
finished with page 23.

Hon Members , the Votes and

Proceedings of Tuesday, 29th June, 2010 as corrected is adopted as the true record of proceedings.

We now move on to the Official Report of Thursday, 24th June, 2010.

Hon Members, in the absence of any corrections, the Official Report of Thursday, 24 th June, 2010 is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.

We now move on to item 3 -- Questions. Minister for Women and Children's Affairs.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 10:40 a.m.
MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the strategies developed by the Ministry includes the following 10:40 a.m.
Launch of a campaign to create awareness and sensitize the public on the need to vote for women.
Reproduce jingles in five main languages, namely, English, Twi, Enzema, Ewe and Dagbani to be played on local FM stations in all the ten regions, to educate people.
Lobby FM stations for free air time and slots to educate and sensitize the public on the importance of women's inclusion in decision- making.
Produce posters and distribute them through regional outlets to the districts.
The Regional Directors of the Ministry to work with Gender Desk Officers and the District Assemblies in their respective regions to identify potential women for the exercise. The regional level training which will be handled by the Ministry will target 50 selected women.
The training would be replicated at the district level and will target twenty (20) women. It is expected that the District Assemblies would sponsor this training and the process.
The District Assemblies are expected to collaborate with the Regional Directors of MOWAC to train the 20 selected women per district.
Build the knowledge and self- confidence of potential women aspirants through clarifying the purpose, outlining priorities and skills development to enable them present their perspectives during the election period and even beyond.
Women would also be encouraged to participate actively as polling agents as well as “foot soldiers” or whatever they want to term it.
Source for sponsorship from the private sector, corporate bodies, development partners, and the general public.
Re-launch the “Women in Local Governance Fund” to draw the public's attention to the need for financial support for the implementation of the strategy.
Madam Speaker, the training manuals developed in 2006 by the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) for the Ministry would be the source of reference material for the training process.
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon Klenam, before you ask your supplementary questions-- Hon Majority Leader, we granted one hour for Question time. Do you have any input about the way we should carry on? There are many Questions.
Mr Cletus A. Avoka 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to plead that today is Wednesday, and then tomorrow 1st July, 2010 is a public holiday. There would have been Cabinet meeting tomorrow but unfortunately, because of the holiday, it has been brought back to today. So the Ministers who are available today are also committed to the Cabinet meeting. So I would want to pray that if we can stick to the one-hour Question time, the Ministers can perform their role to this House, as well as attend the Cabinet meeting. So we take note of that.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
The one hour, we have three questions from the Hon Member, and then -
Mr Avoka 10:50 a.m.
Yes,the proposal is that we take the three supplementary questions from the Hon Member asking the Question and we can take a question each from both sides of the divide in the House so that we can finish on schedule and the Ministers can perform their duties here as well as attend the Cabinet meeting today.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Yes, so that we fit within the one hour.
Yes, Hon Gifty Klenam, your three questions?
Ms Klenam 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, first of all, I want to thank her for her detailed programme. But I want her to tell the House her time line for the programme from the national, regional and district levels.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, this is why we have set up the committee. We are allowing the committee to work from now onwards, to set the time lines. So we have started now, later on, I can tell my Hon Colleague what we are doing and when.
Ms Klenam 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to find out from the Hon Minister whether
she would consider involving the women caucus in Parliament.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, that is a very good suggestion and I think definitely, I will consider the women caucus. But not only the women caucus in Parliamenrt, we hope that we would work with other Members of the House. That is, we are talking gender, so that they can also help us to achieve our objectives.
Ms Klenam 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to refer to page 10 of the Order Paper, paragraph 1, line 3, and with your permission, I want to quote from the Answer:
“Review meetings and interactions after the elections revealed that there is the need to sustain the momentum and build on what has been done,
…”
This sought to indicate that the previous government did a lot for women and for that matter, I want to find out if she would consider the women caucus in any future election; in supporting the women caucus in Parliament in any future election.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I think I have already mentioned to my Hon Colleague that I would work with the women caucus. And she gave praise where praise was due. I cannot say that previous women Ministers who worked in the Ministry did not do anything. The other Ministers have done something -- to keep the momentum means that I will add to whatever they have done and I certainly promise that I will involve the women caucus.
Mr George K. Arthur 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Minister stated that
“women would also be encouraged
Mr George K. Arthur 10:50 a.m.


find out if it has come to her notice of late, just about two weeks ago, and what does she think of it as a person and what does she hope to do for us in this.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
I do not know whether it is her opinion. Is it her opinion? Because the whole thing is for her to decide whether that tag sticks.
Anyway, Hon Minister, answer the question for us.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I know as a Member of Parliament and working at the district level, if we want to compete with our male counterparts, we are called several names. I believe all we need is to try and educate our people that we are really sacrificing ourselves to work for mother Ghana and so they should not see us as prostitutes; we are there to work for mother Ghana on behalf of women, especially. So, in my opinion, if those people are saying those things, we only need to educate them, to tell them that it is not so.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
We have finished the two questions. Shall we move on to the next Question, which stands in the name of the Hon Member for Bole/Bamboi, Mr Joseph Akati Saaka? That is to the Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture.
Hon Minister, thank you very much for coming to answer our Questions.
MINISTRY OF FOOD AND 10:50 a.m.
AGRICULTURE 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Men or women?
Mr G.K. Arthur 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, that they wanted to consider foot soldiers; I wanted to know whether cadres would equally be considered.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I believe foot soldiers, activists and cadres are all a case of semantics. So, whatever he intends to call the party loyalists, we would consider that.
Mrs Akosua F. Osei-Opare 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Minister that she being aware that the women caucus of this Parliament has already started the process of getting more women into the District Assembly through the support of the African Women Development Fund, would she consider supporting the women caucus with the follow-up actions necessary to ensure that these District Assembly Elections will definitely yield the desired results. Assurance is what I am asking for the women caucus of this Parliament for this District Assembly Elections, follow-up of what we all have done.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend my Colleague women caucus members who have already started the ball rolling as far as training of some women is concerned. And as I have said before, I am promising them that I will definitely get them on board and support whatever they have already started.
rose
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
I think I will extend time for two more people. This is an important matter, so we go here and
we go there. Yes, this is very important.
Hon Member, finish and we go there and then we wrap up.
Mr Hodogbey 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in the Minister's Answer, she said a committee had been constituted and she went on to state several strategies to achieve helping women. In the source for funding or sponsoring this, there is no source coming from the government. Assuming that the private source for sponsoring did not materialize or does not materialize, how is she going to achieve helping women when the election is only in October or September?
Mrs Azumah-Mensah 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in actual fact, we have already started lobbying Government, that is, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, that they should actually lead the donors. We are also working with donor partners and civil society to also help us with the sourcing of funds.
Already, we have put down 5 per cent of the District Assemblies Common Fund to be used for gender activities and we believe part of this 5 per cent would be used in training the ladies who want to go into the district elections. So, yes, we know that Government should be in the lead to give us some seed money before we go out to the donor partners and other organisations to help us, and I believe Government is promising to do that.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Yes, one last question.
Ms Beatrice B. Boateng 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate our Sister for the answers given; they are all strategies to help women add up in the District Level Elections and others. But it is almost becoming a norm of today that women who try to venture into politics are tagged as prostitutes and the like. Let me
steps the Ministry was taking to clear the glut of sheanuts in the three northern regions since 2008 for purchasing
Minister for Food and Agriculture (Mr Kwesi Ahwoi) 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, shea-nut marketing in Ghana was privatised in 1992/93 alongside coffee. Since this period, internal and external marketing of sheanuts have been undertaken by licensed private sector companies. COCOBOD is no longer involved in direct purchases or exports of sheanuts.
COCOBOD, however, maintains a regulatory role by vetting and approving applications of private buyers seeking to purchase sheanuts. The licensed private companies are, however, required by the regulation to submit to COCOBOD, periodic reports on their sheanut marketing operations.
Madam Speaker, i n 2006 /07 , Government undertook to support the revamping of the sheanut industry. In this regard, a stakeholders' meeting was organised at Wa, in the Upper West Region, where a road map for the development of the sheanut subsector was prepared. The key strategy, among others, was that Government would support the creation of more marketing outlets to encourage the private sector to get involved in sheanut marketing.
Consequently, Government provided support for the Produce Buying Company Limited, a private licensed cocoa buying company to expand its operations to cover
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Thank you. Three questions.
Mr Saaka 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I thank the Hon Minister for his very explanatory Answer but I still want to find out if they have any plans -- if he has any plans to establish a subsidiary company solely responsible for sheanut management like the COCOBOD, so that it will ease all these problems.
Thank you.
Mr Ahwoi 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I did explain that the internal marketing of cocoa is handled by licensed buying companies; it is not done by COCOBOD alone. But then the external marketing is done by Cocoa Marketing Company.
Along the same lines, we are suggesting that Cocoa Marketing Company's mandate be expanded to include sheanut marketing, external and local marketing. That would require legislative amendment to the mandate of Cocoa Marketing Company. If that were done, then Cocoa Marketing Company could be the sole external marketer of shea-nuts in Ghana. But then the internal marketing could still be left to private licensed buying companies.
Mr Saaka 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, my last question is this. Crops like cocoa, mango, palm trees were all supposed to be wild trees and they were domesticated. Has the Ministry of Food and Agriculture any intension of trying to domesticate the sheanuts so that it will turn into a plantation tree or crop some day?
Mr Ahwoi 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, for quite a while the research institutions in Ghana especially the one at Bole have been trying very hard to domesticate our sheanut tree but it is proving very difficult and as such there is no shea-nut plantation development along the line that my Colleague, Hon Member is suggesting.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Let us go here first and then come here.
Mr Godfrey T. Bayon 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to know from the Hon Minister whether it has come to his notice that since the privatisation of the sheanut industry, that act has brought untold hardship to the people of the three northern regions by way of low and unstable prices.
Mr Ahwoi 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is not wholly true that the privatisation per se has led to low prices for our farmers. Indeed, the price indicators are that prices have been going up reasonably, which encourage more farmers to go into shea- nut collection and sale until 2008 when the market price collapsed on us. Indeed, in June of 2009, the external market price for a tonne of sheanuts was US$226.90. In December, 2009, the price dropped to
US$111.20.
Meanwhile, the producer price in 2009 was GH¢399.36, which translates to US$279.27. If the farmers sold at that price of GH¢111.20, they definitely would be making a loss and that is why the farmers are holding on to the stock, hoping that prices will change. And that is why the marketers have stopped buying because they cannot sell the produce on the world market given the prevailing price at this material moment.
If the factory comes to be, the factory that I have described, this would add value, process the raw material that the farmers are holding and they will give vent for mopping up the stock that the farmers are
sitting on and encourage them to go into the subsequent seasons to collect and sell the produce to the factory.
Alhaj i Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka: Madam Speaker, I rise to ask the Hon Minister that considering the bulkiness and the challenges in the cocoa industry which confront COCOBOD, will he consider setting up an independent body like COCOBOD to manage the shea- nuts instead of subsuming the sheanut industry under COCOBOD.
Mr Ahwoi 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, this is
a worthwhile consideration. I will grant that COCOBOD is already over-loaded with its operation and probably that is the reason we shed off coffee and sheanut from COCOBOD, where initially they all belonged. I think the time has come and I will share the view expressed by the Hon Member that we look at setting up a separate board outside COCOBOD to handle the sheanut industry. But it will depend on the world market situation, if it would be worthwhile to set up such a board in the long-term to look at long-term development of the industry.
Madam Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Since we said one from each side, we will end with the Minority Leader because the other Question was a different Question from this one. We agreed one from each side. So, I will go to the Minority Leader for the last question.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister concedes that a separate body may have to be set up to look at the affairs of sheanuts. He does not agree that privatising sheanut marketing is responsible for the kind of situation that we find ourselves in.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister is aware that Cocoa Marketing Board itself

was set up as a direct result of the slump in world market prices after the Second World War to help stabilise prices; yes, to help stabilize prices at the time. Madam Speaker, private enterprises are not positioned so to do.

Would he in the circumstance, agree that it is important by way of providing some buffer and stabilizing prices to have some intervention at the governmental level to deal with sheanut marketing, otherwise, this process of fluctuations would be with us and if vacillation is terrible, it will provide a disincentive to the farmers? Would he agree with me in this scenario?
Mr Ahwoi 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speake r, without wishing to engage in a debate, I would want to observe that, even with COCOBOD regulating the cocoa industry, price fluctuations of cocoa are still with us except that the Government of Ghana through COCOBOD sets a minimum price for cocoa buying, and under normal circumstances, the private licensed companies are free to buy at a higher price than the minimum price set by Government and yet none of them buys cocoa from the farmers even at GH¢1 more than the minimum guaranteed price that Government sets. It is a very complex situation.
We do recall that COCOBOD was responsible for sheanut, coffee and cocoa. An era of privatization came, led by the World Bank and our sponsors who compelled us to shed all these State organizations. So we dissolved all the marketing boards. We dissolved the Grains Marketing Board, the Meat Marketing Board, the Sheanut Marketing Board, the Coffee Marketing Board. All boards were dissolved, except that Ghana Government stood its ground and said it would not
dissolve the Cocoa Marketing Board.
We converted Cocoa Marketing Board to COCOBOD and insisted that we would allow Cocoa Marketing Company to be the only exporter of cocoa from Ghana. That is a scenario that is very peculiar to Ghana. All other countries have actually moved away from that. It is a model that is working for cocoa in Ghana. We can look at that model and see whether it would be applicable to not only sheanut but the other crops that also fall into the same ups and downs of international pricing just as sheanuts.
But since sheanut is the subject on the floor, I would agree to looking at this model and seeing whether it can work in this particular case. I have had to refer us to our immediate past where we have been made to move away from all marketing boards. This is like a revisit of that subject and it would be quite a debatable issue. But as in the national interest and as a public policy, we in this country and in this House in particular can take a bold decision and get back to that particular situation, if that will help stabilize farmers' incomes and pricing of sheanuts.
Okyereko Irrigation Facility (Expansion)
Q.500.Mr Ekow Payin Okyere Eduamoah asked the Minister for Food and Agriculture what plans were in place to expand the Okyereko Irrigation facility.
Mr Kwesi Ahwoi 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Okyereko Irrigation Scheme consists of an earth dam and right and left bank concrete-lined canals. The construction of the dam started in 1976 and was completed in 1980. The area acquired for irrigation was 111 hecteres, out of which 41 hectares have been developed. The
Mr Kwesi Ahwoi 11:20 a.m.


source of water for the reservoir is mainly by run-off from the catchment area.

Water balance study showed that only 11ha of rice could be irrigated from the quantity of water stored in the reservoir. Rice cultivation is, therefore, usually under rain-fed condition. During the dry season, vegetable production is emphasized under irrigation.

The Okyereko Irrigation Scheme was rehabilitated by funds from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) from 1997 to 2000. The main concrete-lined canals were re-lined. A pump station was built with three electric pumps and a generator. A canal was constructed to take water from the Ayensu River to the pump's intake source. Pipe lines were provided to connect the pump to the reservoir. This was to increase the quantity of water stored in the reservoir in order to command bigger irrigation area.

Presently, the canal connecting the Ayensu River to the pump intake is heavily silted. The main reservoir is also heavily silted.

My Ministry is in the process of engaging contractors to desilt twelve irrigation reservoirs in the country, including the Okyereko Scheme. The Okyereko Scheme, after the desilting exercise, will improve on the water storage capacity of the reservoir to bring more land under irrigation.
Mr Eduamoah 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister's Answer has rather revealed to me a more worrying state of the facility and has quickly shown the concern to take action. So I will not talk about expansion now but I will quickly advise that the
remaining land should be protected to avoid encroachment.
Mr Ahwoi 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the point is well taken. The advice is well taken and we will work on that.
Agricultural Development Fund (Establishment)
Q. 501. Mr John Agyabeng asked the Minister for Food and Agriculture when Agricultural Development Fund would be established to provide financial support to rural farmers.
Mr Kwesi Ahwoi 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that I inform the House that approval has been given by the Office of the President for the existing Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) to be amended and called, the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF)”.
The Board of EDAIF is proposed to have two additional members nominated by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Madam Speaker, an additional 0.5 per levy would be charged on non-oil imports for the purpose of supporting investments into agricultural activities.
In the EDIF Act, 20 per cent of revenues are reserved for investment into Export Development Activity and the committee that considers projects for disbursement under that area of activity is referred to as the Grant Committee. In the amendments, another 20 per cent of the revenues is being considered to be used for Agricultural Development Activity.
All financing requests that involve on- lending of the new EDIF funds through a participating financial institution or institutions will be referred to the main board for consideration,.
Madam Speaker, permit me to say that an inter-agency committee is currently finalizing the proposals for approval by Cabinet and Parliament.
Mr Agyabeng 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in this year's State of the Nation Address, the President categorically stated that there would be the establishment of a development fund to cater for our rural farmers. Now, the Hon Minister is saying that instead of establishing a separate fund for financing agriculture, he is thinking about amending the EDIF Act to finance agriculture. I would want to find out from him whether it would adequately cater for the agricultural sector.
Mr Ahwoi 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the answer to the question is, yes. We have studied the two scenarios of setting up yet a parallel agricultural development fund alongside an export development fund and we think that, given the fact that the EDIF has a sizeable amount of resource in it and the fact that it serves part of agricultural development, especially the agriculture export angle, it would be appropriate and workable to expand its mandate and make sure that agriculture funding is adequately catered for, for all categories of farmers and for all categories of agricultural activity from production through to processing and marketing.
Mr Agyabeng 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, like I said earlier, the President, in his State of the Nation Address said that this fund would be established in 2010. The Hon Minister is considering amending the EDIF Act. We are now in June and I would like to find out from him when the proposed amendment to the EDIF Act would come to this House for consideration.
Mr Ahwoi 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we were hoping to catch your august House before you dissolve for the next recess but it has not been possible for us to finish the work that needs to be done. As I indicated, this matter would go to Cabinet for approval and then be submitted to Parliament. We hope to do this when Parliament resumes the next Session.
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, have you got a third question?
Mr Ernest A. Debrah 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I would want to know from the Hon Minister whether the expansion of the EDIF to include agricultural fund for lending would cover rural farmers as the Hon Member asked, knowing very well that there are a lot of financial intermediaries existing now in the country. But rural farmers do not have access to these intermediaries. Would the proposed expanded EDIF take care of rural farmers?
Mr Ahwoi 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the answer to the question is, yes. In submitting this proposal to this House, we would make sure that adequate provision is put in to secure funding for rural farmers. As I stated, not just rural farmers but all operators along the value chain in agriculture, from farming to marketing.
Mr Hodogbey 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the EDIF now generates between 15 and 18 million a year. How much would the 0.5 per cent on the non-oil import give to this country to help agricultural farmers, including rural farmers as indicated by the Hon Minister?
Mr Ahwoi 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, that and a few other naughty points are what have delayed the submission of the proposal to Cabinet and Parliament. We are working out the details and working the impact of this proposed cess on imports on general price levels in the country. We want to take a holistic approach to this very subject and at the appropriate time, we would
stocks from farmers under a guaranteed minimum price regime and to manage such stocks and release same into the market during the lean season in order to stabilize prices and reduce wide seasonal price variations.
Madam Speaker, Government is therefore, vigorously promoting the concept of the block farm whereby farmers with geographically contiguous plots of land are brought together and provided with tractor services, improved seeds, agro chemicals, fertilizer, extension services and harvesting facilities to enhance production. The cost of these inputs is deducted from the harvest in the form of produce.
This direct intervention led to a quantum leap in the production of maize from the annual average of 1.47 million tonnes to (1.62) million tonnes in 2009.
From this harvest, the Ministry has placed 4,000 tonnes of maize made up of recoveries from the block farm farmers in strategic reserve at our various warehouses across the country.
In addition to this, NAFCO is currently on the field buying up all excess stocks of paddy rice and maize from the farmers. So far, NAFCO has bought 8,500 metric tonnes of paddy rice and 100 million tonnes of maize. Recoveries from block farm farmers have also provided 5,000 million tonnes of maize and 30,000 or 2,250 metric tonnes bags of paddy. The exercise is ongoing.
Madam Speaker, this aggressive intervention by NAFCO has produced the additional benefit of reducing post harvest losses on farmers' fields thus freeing up their capital by giving them the funds needed to invest in further increased production this particular year and after.
Mr Agyabeng 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in the
Hon Minister's Answer, he talked about 4,000 tonnes of maize reserved throughout their warehouses in Ghana. I want to find out from him when this reserved maize would be released to the market since we are in the lean season.
Mr Ahwoi 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we
really have not hit the lean season yet. The prices in the market are the same as they were two months ago and there has not been that change. Last year by this time, maize price shot up to ¢80 per 100 kilogramme a bag. This year, the highest it hit was GH¢50 for the same 100 kilogramme a bag. As we are talking now, the price is hovering around GH¢48.
There is sufficient maize in the system. That is why the NAFCO could only buy 100 tonnes from the system.
The rest is being bought and handled by purely private maize dealers and there is even enough for the World Food Programme to buy 5,000 metric tonnes of maize from Ghana for export to Niger. They have actually bought and they have exported to Niger. It shows that there is a reasonable amount of food still in the market and the answer to the question therefore, is that we will release these stocks as and when the market dictates.
Mr Agyabeng 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I want to know from the Hon Minister how much has been released to the company for the purchasing of cereals so far.
Mr Ahwoi 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has released GH¢10 million for NAFCO operations, but it is not just to go into direct purchasing. It includes rehabilitation of existing warehouses, it includes the purchase of tools of trade, logistics like sacks, jute bags and other inputs and transportation cost. The GH¢10 million is what has been released so far
submit the final recommendation to this august House and you would be at liberty to amend it accordingly.
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, I will call upon you because you are standing in for the -
Mrs Akosua F. Osei-Opare 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is nice to be on this side of the House.
Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Minister, since he thinks that the 0.5 per cent levy would be adequate, if he could tell us the quantum of resources that really would come in, based on the current information that we have.
Mr Ahwoi 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in all sincerity, I do not have the figure now. We are working on those figures and when we do finalize, we will make it available to Hon Members.
Madam Speaker 11:40 a.m.
Thank you. Shall we move on to the next Question? Hon John Agyabeng --
Food Security by Buffer Stock Management
(Efforts)
Q. 502. Mr John Agyabeng asked the Minister for Food and Agriculture what the Buffer Stock Management Agency had done so far to ensure food security.
Mr Kwesi Ahwoi 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the policy of the NDC Government is geared towards the accelerated expansion in the production of cereals with emphasis on maize, rice and legumes, including soya beans in order to achieve national self- sufficiency in these food items.
The ongoing drought and famine in the Sahel has brought the need for national food security forcefully home to us.
The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) was established under the mandate of H.E. the President in April, 2010 to purchase surplus food
Mr Agyabeng 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I
want to find out from the Hon Minister the effect of the company's activities on food production and pricing at the moment.
Mr Ahwoi 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I wish the
Hon Member had watched the GTV and Metro coverage of the rice situation in the North yesterday, when it was shown that so much rice is in stock, paddy rice that had piled, as according to the figures that I have given.
The next step is to mill this rice at Nasia Rice Mills, the only parboil plant that we have. Unfortunately, that particular plant has been standing idle for so long, more than eight years and with very little activity and therefore, the machinery has got rusted and it is not in the best form. We are trying to rehabilitate that.
We are also working with the Aveyime Rice Mill, negotiating with MiDA and USA to see whether they can give some facility for another parboil facility to be appended to the Prairie Volta Rice Mill sitting at Aveyime. If we got that, that would be a modern mill, then we could ship all of the rice produced from the North to be properly milled at Aveyime and then they will be released onto the market.
The impact of this whole exercise is overwhelming. From my perspective, the farmers are so encouraged that this particular year, we are expecting a lot more rice activity, especially in the three northern parts of this country, and we will need to start preparing adequately for warehousing and milling infrastructure.
Dr Owusu A. Akoto 11:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister, in his Answer, says
Dr Owusu A. Akoto 11:40 a.m.


sell to farmers who are in a position to buy and own these tractors. Those who are not in a position to buy and own, we have made arrangements for them to access the services of such farm machinery through the establishment of what we call the Agricultural Mechanisation Centres initiated by my Colleague, Hon Debrah, which we are continuing and deepening, The whole idea is to encourage private sector companies now to buy, own and lease agricultural machinery services to the farmers who are not in a position to buy and own their equipment.
rose
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Are you fielding
the question for the Minority Leader?
Mrs F. Osei-Opare 11:50 a.m.
Yes. Madam
Speaker, since the buffer stock is a food security measure, will the Hon Minister consider seriously linking up with the Ministry of Health to release as a matter of urgency, foodstuffs for the Upper West, where reports of serious malnutrition are now in the public domain? Will he consider that as a matter of urgency?
Mr Ahwoi 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I may
probably not have read the newspapers on this particular point of extreme malnutrition in the Upper West. That is precisely the concept behind the food security. It is for emergency preparedness; in the event of such eventualities, Government will order the Ministry of Food and Agriculture which is holding this stock for and on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to release such stock to resolve those problems in the needy areas.
As of now, we have not been so
instructed but I will draw the attention
that maize production went up from 1.47 million tonnes in 2009 and he describes that as a “quantum leap”. Could he tell us, since the increase is only 10 per cent, how he could justify 10 per cent increase in bulky grains as a “quantum leap”?
Mr Ahwoi 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the English Language is very flexible. I would wish my Hon Member of the House to give me a definition of “quantum.” What is the lowest level and what is the upper level? We thought, given the trend that we have been coming from, this was quite an encouraging development on the maize front. That was why we used the word “quantum”. But if it is too high in his expectation, we can accept to use another word. We can say, 10 per cent increase over last year.
Alhaji Yakubu K. Imoro 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Hon Minister, in his Answer, mentioned Government's desire to promote the block farming concept. May I know from him whether it is the responsibility of the farmers to look for tractors or it is the Ministry's.
Mr Ahwoi 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, under normal circumstances, if tractors were available on the open market, farmers could go and buy them provided the price is moderate.
Under the present circumstances in which we are, tractors are not easily available; the private sector are not importing tractors as they are importing vehicles, cars, saloon cars and 4-wheel drives. They are not importing agricultural machinery and so the onus has fallen on Government to take that responsibility of importing agricultural machinery and ensuring that this is made available to the farmers who need them.
The strategy we have adopted is to

of my Colleague, the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to work together to see how we can quickly respond to this emergency.

Sale of Government Acquired Agricultural Lands

(Stoppage)

Q. 503. Ms Shir ley Ayorkor

Botchway asked the Minister for Food and Agriculture what plans the Ministry had to stop the sale of government acquired agricultural lands that fell within the Weija Irrigation Scheme Project area.
Mr Kwesi Ahwoi 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the land for the Weija Irrigation Project was acquired by Government under Executive Instruments (E I. 60) and (E I. 61) on May 10, 1979. The total area acquired was 1,500 ha. E I.60 covered about 200 hectares of land stretching from the Densu Bridge to parts of “Mandela” and land acquired under E I.61 stretched from Tuba Junction and covered parts of Kokrobite, Tuba Nyanyano to “Iron City” near Kasoa, covering an area of 1,300 hectares. The lands acquired under EI.60 had since been released to the owners by Government.
Madam Speaker, out of the 1300 hectares acquired under E I.61, three sites were developed for irrigation. These are:
a. Central Farm: total area is 47ha out of which 25 hectares have been developed for irrigation. All 25 hectares have currently been encroahed upon.
b. Main Farm: total area is 195 hectares which have been developed for sprinkler irrigation. This area is still intact.
c. Drip Irrigation Site: Total area was 36 hectares. All 36 hectares have currently been encroached.
d. GIDA Residential and Office Space: This covered an area of 65 hectares. The area has been encroached upon leaving an area of about 10 hectares, only.
e. Canal System: The irrigation water i s s u p p l i e d v i a a concrete-lined canal that stretches about 5.65killometres from the Accra-Kasoa road to the night storage reservoir at Tuba village.
Madam Speaker, the Government has rehabilitated the scheme recently at the cost of USD1,033,253 and GH¢692,456. The breakdown is as follows:
a. Civil works comprising re- surfacing of farm roads, clearing of drains, construction of farmers` office and meeting hall and renovation of GIDA offices at a cost of GH¢692,456.00.
b. Installation of pumps at lake side and night storage reservoir (NSR) at a cost of US$372,052 and US$420,232 respectively.
c. Sprinklers and accessories procured at cost of US$240,969.
Madam Speaker, on May 20, 2010, a television camera crew that went to the Weija Irrigation site to capture the extent of encroachment were heckled with impunity by groups referred to as “land guards”.
On May 28, 2010, I visited the Weija
Irrigation Scheme site to assess the extent of the encroachment at first hand. The 9.2 m (30 feet) of mandatory clear land on both sides of the canal had been
Mr Ahwoi 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we have
actually been working with the police in that catchment area. Unfortunately, most of the intimidation that I mentioned in the presentation is due to the fact that when the farmers go to report, they are rather arrested and put behind bars. There have been many times that I have been called upon to get the police to release the farmers who were protecting the land from these land guards and the encroachers.
I have had an occasion to talk to the National Security Council; they have met with the police and this exercise that we are talking about is exactly along the line that the Hon Member is recommending. It will involve and has involved the police: positioning the police on a permanent basis, there is something that we have not done yet. So, we will take a good look at that and I think that will also put fear into the people who are trying to undo this project.
As we speak now, demolition letters
have been sent to all encroachers, requesting them to move their structures by a certain deadline, after which the necessary action would be taken.
Madam Speaker, I thank you very
much.
Ms. Botchway 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
I have here a copy of the Thursday, 31st December, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic, and it talks about illegal

encroached at various lengths of the canal by walls and houses. This has rendered clearing and desilting of the canal rather difficult as there is no access route for desilting machinery to work or a vehicle to get to the canal to collect even manually desilted materials.

The buildings on the central farm area

are on a network of irrigation pipes and hydrants. My Ministry cannot afford to “bury” public funds or the taxpayers' money this way.

Madam Speaker, my Ministry is taking steps to reclaim the encroached lands. The Ministry is in consultation with the security agencies/institutions and the Ga West Municipal Assembly and plans have reached an advanced stage to demolish all unauthorized structures/buildings to reclaim the irrigation lands.

On June 4, 2010, I inaugurated the rehabilitation scheme and mentioned my Ministry's plans to reclaim the lands acquired by Government for irrigation in my speech. The jubilations from the crowd underscored the fact that the plan to reclaim the encroached lands was a big relief to the people. The young men and women in the beneficiary communities had been subjected to intimidation and physical attacks for quite too long - just because they were defending the interest of the Government.

Madam Speaker, all efforts would be made to reclaim the lands for the purpose for which they were acquired.
Ms Botchway noon
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Hon Minister for his detailed Answer to my Question.
structures that would be demolished at the project site. I am a little uncomfortable, Madam Speaker, that the Hon Minister has said that plans have reached an advanced stage. I know he said he had issued letters, but can he tell us when exactly this will happen so that the project will be implemented for the farmers to be able to make a living out of it?
Mr Ahwoi noon
Madam Speaker, we are
now in the rainy season and the irrigation scheme is supposed to be effectively used during the dry season. So, this exercise will have to take place before the dry season.
Ms Botchway noon
Madam Speaker,
is the Hon Minister therefore, assuring the House and by extension, the poor, voiceless farmers whose livelihoods are under serious threat-- this is how they have described themselves in all the petitions that have been sent to his office, to GIDA and also to my office-- that this will be done immediately before the rains cease so that they will have some relief and be able to do the work that they have always done in their lives?
Mr Ahwoi noon
Madam Speaker, I wish all Ghanaians would understand the need for what we have to do, because we have to do it. I am happy the Hon Member expresses this concern for the poor farmers.
I would crave the indulgence of the House to give us the maximum support to set the precedence, so that all these encroachments going on, on all government acquired lands for irrigation -Weija is only one bit of the problem, it is all over the country. We need to save agriculture, especially dry-weather agriculture. This is the only way we can send the message clearly home. It has to be done.
Mr Justice J. Appiah noon
Madam
Speaker, will the Hon Minister consider
bringing to book the people who sold the lands to developers?
Mr Ahwoi noon
Madam Speaker, I think of
late the debate is raging us to who should be held responsible -- the landlords, the chiefs, the government officials in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources who finally give approval for the houses to be constructed -- even if they are sitting on canals, who should really be held responsible. It is a question that Madam Speaker, I do not have an answer.
But I think collectively we should find an answer to this question. I would propose that everybody be dealt with, all along the value chain. I talk about value chain, so everybody along the line who has been responsible for this development should be dealt with. Otherwise, we are only punishing the end encroacher when he has paid money to the chiefs and paid money sometimes to the officialdom and has gone through the processes and acquired either rightly or wrongly, the right to build wherever they are building. Everybody must be dealt with.
Alhaj i Mohammed-Mubarak
Muntaka: Madam Speaker, I would want to find out from the Hon Minister whether the cost of the demolition could be surcharged to the District Assembly through their Common Fund over a period. So that the District Assemblies will be responsible when people are building on unathorised lands because it is their first duty to protect those lands.
Would he in the scheme of things, consider surcharging the District Assemblies with the cost of demolition to serve as a deterrent to the District Assemblies to sit up to their mandate?
Mr Ahwoi noon
Madam Speaker, this is an innovation. We will have to consult the law books and see what provision
Madam Speaker noon
Hon Leader, why
did the Answers not come and they were listed?
Mr Avoka noon
I am not sure or aware that
they were even listed last week. I am not aware about that. [Interruption.] I think it was an oversight by the Table Office. They were in anticipation that by the time the days are due, the Answers would have come to them, and that was wishful thinking, and it is unfortunate. I think we should have the Answers ready before we release the Ministers in the future to avoid this type of things. I am very sorry.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:10 p.m.
Madam
Speaker, I am not too sure that we can lay every blame at the doorstep of the Clerk. I would want to believe that the Clerks- at-the-Table would not list the Questions if they have not sufficiently communicated same to the Minister responsible.
And indeed, I myself, I am not even aware that the Questions were listed for last week Friday and our attention is being drawn to that fact. Clearly, there must be something wrong and if the Majority Leader would undertake to investigate, I think it would be better than laying the blame at the doorsteps of the Clerks- at- the-Table, when he himself is not sufficiently informed about the inability of the Minister to turn up to answer the Questions.
The Majority Leader may undertake to conduct further investigation. I think that would be more assuring than just laying the blame on the heads of the Clerks-at-
is made thereunder as to whom to surcharge. Ordinarily, we surcharge the owner of the building. But if we are to surcharge everybody, then probably, again, everybody along the value chain would have to be made responsible to pay for the cost of demolition.
Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
I think this is really
a suggestion.
Mr Ahwoi 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, it is
worth while looking at it and I said we will look into the law and see what provisions have been made there, otherwise, my good Friend across the divide has just raised the issue under what law are we to surcharge the District Assembly. We need to look at the District Assembly laws too.
Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Hon Leader, we
have two more Questions, are they coming on? First of all, let me discharge the Hon Minister.
Thank you Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture for coming here to answer our Questions.
Hon Majority Leader, there are two
more Questions for the Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, are we going on with that?
Mr Avoka 12:10 p.m.
No, Madam Speaker. My
information is that, in fact, the Answers have not yet come from the Ministry to the Table Office, so those Questions are not ready for hearing today. We will pursue them and see.
That brings us to the end of Question time, for that matter.
Mr Justice J. Appiah 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, these Questions have been tabled - the Questions came last week and this week too and there are no Answers. Can the Hon Leader of the House tell us why

the-Table.
Mr Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I think
I will do that. I will investigate. I will check with the Hon Minister and then confirm the position.
Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Hon Members, I received a complaint from Ghana Real Estate Development Association (GREDA) on the 24th of June, 2010 in respect of the Suppliers Credit Financing Agreement between the Government of Ghana and STX Engineering and Construction, Ghana Limited, for the construction of 30,000 units of houses under the Security Services Housing Project, which I referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report.
Ordinarily, the complaint should be
referred to the Committee on Works and Housing according to Standing Order 180. However, in view of the fact that the Finance Committee has not yet reported on the Agreement, I hereby refer the complaint to the Joint Committee on Works and Housing and Finance for consideration, together with the Agreement, since the complaint relates to the Agreement.
This arrangement will enable the joint Committee to address the issues raised in the complaint in a composite report. The Joint Committee will then present its report by Tuesday next week, to enable us deal with the matter.
The Committee on Works and Housing, I will refer this complaint to them and ask them to liaise and bring us a report.
Mr Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, this matter has been with us for sometime now. The Finance Committee had indicated, in fact, at the Business Committee meeting this morning that they were prepared to lay the report next Monday coming. In the light of your current referral, I would want
to urge the Joint Committee, the leadership, Chairmen of Finance Committee and then Works and Housing Committee and also their respective Ranking Members to try to expedite action.
In the light of this, I think it is only
fair that they should be able to invite the petitioners to appear before them and to explain further, to give details to the petition they have submitted to you.
Madam Speaker would recall that the petition is only just about a page and I know they may have some further and better particulars to support the petition they have submitted. So if the Committee can meet them timeously so that on Tuesday they will be able to lay the report for us to deal with this matter next week and conclude it.
So I want to urge the leadership of the two committees - Chairman and Ranking Member of Finance, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Works and Housing Committee to try to expedite action so that next week there would be no failure on their part to submit a report to this august House on Tuesday for our consideration.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:10 p.m.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, for this decision and directive of yours to bring this to the attention of the Committee on Works and Housing.
Madam Speaker, I deem it very appropriate but while we are at it, I think this is a sequel to the petition that you have received from GREDA. We are aware that various individuals and bodies have also raised some concerns. May we appeal to them to seize this opportunity, if they have any concerns, to address them to the Joint Committee to consider them.
This is because we do not want to create a situation where people may say that we treated them with contempt in spite of the issues that they might have raised. If they
Mr Edward K. D. Adjaho 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I think that we only have one complaint, which you have referred to the Joint Committee. If any other body, as a result of the fact that the Committee is working on that matter wants to appear, that is, those other bodies that have not petitioned or complained to you or to this House -- that is their business. But as of now, those bodies that respected this House, as a House, and your office, they have lodged complaints with you and those are the ones that you referred to it. If there is any other body, that is a different matter, it is not before this House.
Mr Avoka 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, to
add to what the Hon Minority Leader and the First Deputy Speaker have said, there is only one petition or body that petitioned your office - Ghana Real Estate Developers Association. We do not have a second or a third or other body petitioning your office. There is only one petition and there is only one referral that you have made.
So we are not opening a pandora box. It is not a new matter that we are giving to the Committees on Works and Housing and Finance to go and then look and investigate. It is only one petition. So we are saying, invite them -- today you have issued the notice, because tomorrow is a free day -- Friday, they appear before you and then submit a report to us on Tuesday, not even on Monday.

could seize the opportunity and present their concerns to the two committees, we believe that they could be attended to appropriately and a report would capture the various issues that they might raise for Parliament to address our minds to.

Madam Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity given to these committees to meet and debate on the various concerns that have been expressed.
Nana Abu-Bonsra 12:10 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I just want to draw attention to -- certainly, you have made a referral and we have to go by it. But it appears the timing, in the light of what the Minority Leader just said, that over and above the petition from GREDA, there are other interested bodies and therefore, I was wondering if your Speakership would be gracious enough with the time. Because we would need to invite these bodies to also appear and then we would be able to present the appropriate composite report as you asked for.
So I am wondering if by Tuesday we would have been able to get all these bodies to appear before us.
Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member,
that is a point worth raising.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:10 p.m.
Madam
Speaker, the Deputy Ranking Member may have a point but as of yet, we do not even know who would be appearing before the Committee. So let us allow them.
You have given an indication that by Tuesday they should submit a report. It is for them after they have met with GREDA and the various bodies or individuals to advise that, well, we are not able to finish with consideration of the matters raised. If by then they have finished and they are even able to report on Monday, so be it.
But we cannot just say that we are giving them up to next week Friday to
So I think there is sufficient time for us to do this. And they do not need to go and make another radio announcement inviting people or to submit memoranda and the rest of them. That is not the issue. It is only one petition that you received and that is what you are supposed to address and no more.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Well, so I think we should abide by the deadline of Tuesday, if by which time they have not finished, then we could extend it for a few more days because our time is now limited. We have until -- is it 20th July to close? But within that time, we should have the report, so we could work on it.
I think we will leave it there, consider the petition that we are referred to and should any other group of people want to come in, they now know that the Committee is going to sit. But we cannot wait for more people to come and then adjourn the work as we go along. If you agree with me -
Mr J. B. Aidoo 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I need your guidance on this. I do not know whether every petition would have to pass through your office before getting to the Committee. This is because I know for a fact that when the Appointments Committee is sitting, Madam Speaker, there are a number of petitions that come before it and I do not believe that all of them pass through your Office before getting to the committee. And all these petitions are considered at the committee level.
I am just seeking your indulgence to find out if maybe, some -
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Yes, you are right. They could have gone to the committee, but the committee that I referred this matter to was the committee on Finance to look at the Agreement. Now, the complaints are about the structures and
other things, which the Committee did not look at because their mandate was to look at the Agreement - the money involved. And this matter was addressed directly to me and the most relevant part is, if I may read:
“We wish to petition your high office that you do all in your power to ensure that Parliament does not pass the STX deal.”
So, that is what we are doing — all in my power to refer back to the other Committee to work together for the last time and look at the points they have raised. We do not want them to think that we have treated them with contempt. So, that is all in my power - to refer it to the Committee -- But to ask them to hurry with the matters so that we can finish --
Mr Simon Osei-Mensah 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, I wish to find out from what you have just said, whether the implication is that the assignment that has been given to the Joint Committee, the report should only place emphasis on whether the STX Agreement should be approved or - because you said the petition says it should not be approved. Or they are going to bring a report that is going to look at the whole Agreement in its entirety? I need clarification on that point.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
The petition did
not talk about the Agreement. It talked about other matters which have to do with the construction of the housing project. And that is why I brought in the new Committee which had not had the opportunity to look at these points. As for the first Committee, they were looking at the Agreement - purely Agreement and I think they had almost even finished their work even though they have not submitted it yet. So that is what is going to happen.
The Finance Committee would look at the financial aspect of the Agreement and
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.


So, the appeal is between now and then, if anybody has anything, if any individual has anything against it or to further it, let them bring it to the Joint Committee for consideration and report to Parliament.

Madam Speaker, that is what I said.

And I believe that the position would also be strengthened by Order 192 (1), which further provides:

“An instruction empowers a Committee to consider matters not otherwise referred to it.”

And indeed, 192(2) says that:

“No instruction shall be given to a Committee to do that which it is already empowered to do or to deal with a question beyond the scope of a Bill or matter.”

So the combined effect is that, once it goes, the Committee could make itself available to listen to other people or bodies to further enrich their consideration. But I believe you are right to say that by Tuesday, they should report to us. If anybody has anything and if they are not able to do it, they will advise us.

Madam Speaker, with your wisdom, if

you think that maybe, they should be given further time beyond the Tuesday to report, well, you have the power to determine. Let us get there to see. But I believe that between now and then, given what has been said already, the Joint Committee will be able to bring the report.
Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
I thank you and
I agree with you that the Committee is technical enough to deal with all the points that we have made and then submit a report. So, we would stick by the Tuesday when the report should be ready. I did not say it should be tendered here but if it is ready, we tender it and then we go on.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 12:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House adopts the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor- General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the first half year, ended 30th June, 2008.
Mr Speaker, in doing so, I present -- [Interruption] Committee's Report
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon Chairman, are the items 9 and 10 the same Motion or there is an error there?
Mr Kan-Dapaah 12:20 p.m.
No, they are different.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Have you seen the Motion? There is an error.
Mr Kan-Dapaah 12:20 p.m.
Yes, the second one
Mr Speaker, should read 12:20 p.m.
“Year Ended 31st December, 2008”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Kan-Dapaah 12:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I now present the Committee`s Report.
1.0 Introduction
The Report of the Auditor-General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the first half year ended 30th June, 2008 was laid in the House on Tuesday, 10th November, 2009.
This Report was referred to the Public Accounts Committee pursuant to article 184 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and in accordance with Standing Order 165 for consideration and report.
To consider this Report, the Committee met with officials from the Audit Service,
the new matters which GREDA will come before the Committee to talk about, would be dealt with by the appropriate committee of this House. So that is what it is about.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:20 p.m.
Madam Speaker, may I draw the attention of the House to the relevant provisions pertaining to this referral. Madam Speaker, I say so in view of the issue raised by my Hon Colleague, the Hon Member for Amenfi East (Mr Joseph B. Aidoo).
Madam Speaker, Standing Oder 197
provides:
“The deliberations of a Committee shall be confined to the matter referred to it by the House . . .”
Madam Speaker, it is obvious that if a referral is not made to a committee, it cannot work on it, and any extension or limitation to it made by the House. And in the case of a committee on a Bill referred to it and relevant amendments.
Madam Speaker, it explains why -
because he wanted to provide a connect between what we are doing and what obtains at the Appointments Committee level. It explains why when related matters go to the Appointments Committee - related matters, petitions come to the Appointments Committee itself.
So, once you made the referral to them, even though it is specific, any colouring could then go to the Committee for consideration. Which is why I said even though this is the vehicle for the referral, whoever has anything up his sleeves, when we have considered the matter, cannot then thereafter come to say that “I have this, Parliament did not hear me”. You have not petitioned Parliament formally.
Yes, I thank you Hon Members.
The Chair would be taken by the Hon First Deputy Speaker.
12.28p.m. - [MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon
Majority Leader?
Mr Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, item 5, page
2, I am informed by the Hon Chairman of the Committee that the Report is not ready. And item 6, also on page 2 of the Order Paper, I am informed by the Hon Chairman of the Committee that they want the Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development himself to be available for this matter to be taken.
Unfortunately or fortunately, he is attending a Cabinet meeting today, so he is not available. So we would defer it to Friday, that is tomorrow.
It is left now with item 8 on page 4 - [Pause.] Yes, item 8.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Very well;
Hon Majority Leader, let us have the Papers laid; that is, if the Papers are ready to be laid, then you move to the next item.
Mr Avoka 12:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, which Papers to be laid, which item?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
That is, at the Commencement of Public Business - Laying of Papers. If the Papers are ready, then we can have them. They are not ready? Very well.
Hon Members, item 9 on the Order Paper.
MOTIONS 12:30 p.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Chairman, which part of the Report are you referring to? What you are reading now, which part of the Report?
Mr Kan-Dapaah 12:40 p.m.
It is by way of an explanation.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Because they are very important and one would have thought that they would be captured in the Report.
Mr Kan-Dapaah 12:40 p.m.
I am hoping that it would be captured in the Hansard, at least. But in future, we will make sure it is captured in the Report.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Kan-Dapaah 12:40 p.m.
So, foreign remittances, that is from Ghanaians abroad, exporters, embassies, foreign institutions are remitted into the country not through the Bank of Ghana, but through the commercial banks. These foreign inward remittances during the period amounted to US$4.16 million.
Respectfully submitted, Mr Speaker.
Alhaji Seidu Amadu (NDC - Yapei- Kusawgu) 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the motion of your Committee on Public Accounts and by this, wish to make a few comments on this very comprehensive Report as presented by the Chairman of
A 12:40 p.m.
PP 12:40 p.m.
E 12:40 p.m.
N 12:40 p.m.
D 12:40 p.m.
IX 12:40 p.m.
I 12:40 p.m.
A 12:40 p.m.
PP 12:40 p.m.
E 12:40 p.m.
N 12:40 p.m.
D 12:40 p.m.
IX 12:40 p.m.
B 12:40 p.m.
C 12:40 p.m.
A 12:40 p.m.
PP 12:40 p.m.
E 12:40 p.m.
N 12:40 p.m.
IX 12:40 p.m.
D 12:40 p.m.
A 12:40 p.m.
PP 12:40 p.m.
E 12:40 p.m.
N 12:40 p.m.
D 12:40 p.m.
IX 12:40 p.m.
F 12:40 p.m.
G 12:40 p.m.
A 12:40 p.m.
PP 12:40 p.m.
E 12:40 p.m.
N 12:40 p.m.
D 12:40 p.m.
IX 12:40 p.m.
H 12:40 p.m.
A 12:40 p.m.
PP 12:40 p.m.
E 12:40 p.m.
N 12:40 p.m.
D 12:40 p.m.
IX 12:40 p.m.
H 12:40 p.m.
Mrs Gifty E. Kusi (NPP - Tarkwa Nsuaem) 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the floor to adopt the Report of the Public Accounts Committee for the first half of the year, 2008.
Mr Speaker, on page 11 of the Report,
the last but one paragraph --
“The Committee was not pleased with the fact that despite its recommendation in its earlier Reports to this House, the practice still exists.”
Mr Speaker, I do not know if the Chairman would have the opportunity to
talk again but for the past three years, we have had this problem and last year, when he presented this Report, we had this problem.
What can we do? Can he go to these companies to demand that they do the right thing or can they also bring Bank of Ghana, in that case, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to come and answer questions on this?
I am frustrated as an Hon Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem, where most of these companies, for example, the gold reserves and everything are coming from my constituency and Mr Speaker, we are not able to account. The Bank of Ghana is not able to monitor and we are not getting what we are supposed to get from the gold that my people are mining, with its environmental problems and everything. When the money comes, we are not able to account for it very well.
Mr Speaker, I am at a loss. So I would want to find out if the Committee or Parliament can do something. Because we have been reading this Report every now and then, every year, twice a year, half year and full year. Mr Speaker, I think something should be done and as Members of Parliament, we should take this very seriously. We have thirty institutions and we have only fifteen submitting and five of the fifteen did not even add the necessary Bank Statements, then what are we doing as a country and as a House? Mr Speaker, we need to do something and we need to move so that people will take us seriously in this House.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Mr Pelpuo 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it does appear to me the Hon Member who just finished speaking was quoting - I do not know whether she was quoting the right Report because where she asked us to refer to, we did not see the quotation. They are two, one on 31st December and the other one from June. It looks like she quoted from
Mrs Kusi 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am sorry. We have two Reports we are dealing with. I have read both and they all have the same problem.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Except that the number is fourteen and not fifteen. The defaulters are fourteen and not fifteen.
Mrs Kusi 12:50 p.m.
So Mr Speaker, it is the same problem and I have the same questions for the Report.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
So will you change your defaulters from fifteen to fourteen for the records?
Mrs Kusi 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I will do that. I change it from fifteen to fourteen.
Mr Dominic A. Azumah (NDC - Garu/Tempane) 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I rise to contribute to the Motion on the floor.
Mr. Speaker, with your permission, if I can plead first that the Report coming from the Committee and a bit of inside information, the House or Leadership could consider seriously certain --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Member, as an Hon Member of the Committee, try to address some of the concerns raised by the Hon Member who spoke before you. You should take that one on board. What should we do as a House to be taken seriously?
Mr Azumah 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, when I get to that I will try and help to see if I can address some of her concerns because there are sanctions and other issues that can be evoked and Bank of Ghana will have to sit up.
But what I was simply trying to put across to you, Mr Speaker, is that I would want to appeal that Leadership of the House and for that matter, the whole House should consider seriously setting aside specific dates that we can take the Report of the Auditor-General and do proper justice to it.
I am aware that anti-corruption groups, institutions and the rest have shown keen interest in the work of the Public Accounts Committee and if we want to protect our resources, then we need to look at the Auditor-General's Report with all the seriousness it deserves. So if the House could carefully consider giving specific days purposely for the debate or discussions of the Report, I believe it would help the House and for that matter, the country very much.
Mr Speaker, the Report talked about
three key areas. There is a system in the Bank of Ghana where institutions in this country ask permission from the Bank of Ghana to open foreign accounts outside the shores of the country. The Bank would normally study the institutions and grant them those permits. But it requires that six months each year, those institutions are supposed to submit their balances they have operated to the Bank of Ghana for reconciliation.
It is a very key area but in the interest of the institutions or organizations, they conveniently will avoid submitting those statements to Bank of Ghana and time and again, this query has come up to the Committee.
In our discussions with the Bank of Ghana, we invited the Bank of Ghana to evoke the powers inferred on them and to withdraw some of the permits granted to these institutions so that it would send a signal to the rest that they cannot operate foreign accounts without submitting those balances. Time and again, the Bank of Ghana has given us the assurance that,
Mr Azumah 12:50 p.m.


yes, we will implement those decisions and when they go back, the next Auditor- General's Report that comes to the House, those same queries are up.

I think that it is time this House took a decision or a position on that matter. We would need to engage the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning very seriously on this matter so that whatever powers this House has got to evoke, we would need to use it so that this kind of practice is stopped once and for all. It appears that the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Mr Amissah-Arthur appears to be very keen in this matter now.

I hope that all that we would discuss and decide in this House would be communicated to him that the House is taking this matter very seriously. I am sure he is in the position to address this very important concern.

Mr Speaker, the Committee was very, very much upset. We have gone through a number of Auditor-General's Reports especially when it comes to foreign exchange receipts and payments. That is key to the survival of this country. We were upset because we have looked at previous Reports and made very strong recommendations.

Anytime these recommendations get to Bank of Ghana, the implementation aspect of it is left aside and when they come before the Committee and you ask them what steps have been taken to address it, they give all kinds of reasons why it was not possible to implement. I think the House needs to find a way out, like my Hon Sister did mention.

What can we do to let them know that this House can bite a bit? I think we need to know that not necessarily talking on the floor here, yes, they listen but when they listen to us and make nonsense of what we have presented to them. I think that it is

time that the Leadership of the House, if possible, should engage the Governor of the Bank of Ghana into these key areas to let them know that the House is taking the matter very seriously, especially the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee.

In other jurisdictions, the Public Accounts Committee in Australia, in Canada, they have the power to evoke the Government to remove the Governor of the Bank if he is faced with some of these things. In our case, it is a bit of difficulty. So, I think that Leadership needs to look at this matter very, very seriously.

Mr Speaker, the other issue I would like to raise is that, yes, it was gratifying to hear from the Auditor-General that the Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments were fairly handled for 2008, especially the half year. They were quite satisfied with the inflow and expenditure. They did not detect any serious malpractices for the period and I think that it is good news to the country.

But I would hope that the few recommendations made from this House should be implemented to go further to strengthening the Bank of Ghana so that they can be able to manage our resources in a better way.

On that note, Mr Speaker, I thank you so much.
Mr P. C. Appiah-Ofori NPP-- Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa) 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, I vehemently oppose the adoption of the Auditor- General's Report because the Auditor- General makes attempt to concede fraud against the State and the time is right for us to sit up. Otherwise, we will sit down
unconcerned for our natural resources to be depleted to buttress other people`s economies.
Mr Speaker, if you look at the past Auditor-General's Reports, you would notice that anytime that the Auditor- General brought his Report, it indicated the unit price at which the gold was exported. I have with me the 1998 Report here and in it, Mr Speaker, it was stated that an ounce of gold was exported at the price of US$300. Total quantity of gold exported was one million and thirty-two thousand, two hundred and twenty-three
(1,032,223).
Mr Speaker, when this unit price was multiplied by the quantity exported, the actual total export value amounted to US$309 million. But only US$92 million was repatriated to Ghana. US$217 million was retained and I remember when this came to Parliament, I raised an objection to it and this has been going on to date.
Now, in this Report which is with us, the first half year, total value repatriated amounted to US$206 million but the Report said the exporters retained 80 per cent. When translated, it means total exports for the six months amounted to US$861 million and if US$206 was -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Which page of the Report are you referring to?
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, page 4.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1 p.m.
Page 4 says: “total value repatriated, surrendered amounted to US$206 million and this was equivalent to 80 per cent of the total export.” So, when converted into 100 per cent, the total value of export of gold amounted to US$ 861,127,432 and what was brought to Ghana was US$206 million. There was therefore, a total retention of US$
634,238,270 representing retention of about 80 per cent.
Mr Speaker, how do you allow this? God endowed us with these resources and we allow foreigners to take them away --take the whole thing away. What are we doing as a country? Who gives them authority to retain so much? We should remember that gold is a depleting asset, it will finish one day. So if the foreigners finish it and go away, we are left behind.
So, I am saying that we are going to reject this Report. They should come back to tell us who authorised them to retain so much. Other than that, our mineral resources would be depleted and Ghana would be worse off. The money should come back to Ghana to supplement our development but not to retain it in foreign countries at the expense of our national development.
I, therefore, invite everybody to reject this Report, so that the Auditor-General goes back and comes back to tell us what is good for the country.
Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of -
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
If you were here an hour ago, the House was looking for you - [Laughter] - Hon Members, I will let the Chairman wind up. But you know, Chairman, when we took the last Report, it was taken jointly, you remember and we raised certain constitutional issues whether they should even be audited together and all those things.
Some of the issues that they have raised in this Report are also - you captured them and you pointed them again in this same Report and Hon Members are asking the way forward. And you have made some recommendations that permits should be withdrawn in your Report. In your

winding up, address it so that this type of behaviour would stop.
Mr Kan-Dapaah 1:10 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I want to thank Hon Members who have made very useful contributions.
Mr Speaker, it is important that banks which have been given powers to receive foreign exchange from various people and companies outside of the Bank of Ghana should report to the Bank of Ghana as to how much they have received. If they do not submit these returns, we are unable to know the exact amount of foreign exchange that came into the country. Your Committee is unable to understand why these banks would not comply with this simple directive, not sending the money to Bank of Ghana, but just sending a paper to them to say this is how much we have received.
It is on account of this-- and because we have continuously referred to this anomaly, that we are suggesting that on this occasion, Bank of Ghana should be told by this House that they should stop the licence that they have given to these institutions which refuse to report back; their licences should be withheld until they can assure the Bank of Ghana that in future, they will be submitting these returns and regularly.
Mr Speaker, I think the only way we can be effective is to get the Bank of Ghana to accept the recommendation that we are making. Because this is not the first time, this is not the second time. It has happened over so many years. We have brought this to their attention on numerous occasions and they have not found it necessary to take the advice that we gave them.
Mr Speaker, with respect to the gold receipts that the Hon Appiah-Ofori talked about, I must say that I share the concerns that he has expressed that the retention by these gold mining companies is just too much. Most of them retain as much as 80 per cent. If they repatriate the monies
here, it will help influence the value of our cedi. They do not. But the solution is not in rejecting this Report because retention is a policy of Government and it has been a policy of Government over so many years.It is not the fault of the companies that they are retaining it.
Rather, we should probably change that policy which allows them to keep that much money outside of the country and say to them that, “bring all the money; if you want a foreign payment to be made for you, we will give you the necessary foreign exchange to go and pay for it.” So, rejecting the Report is not the solution. What they are doing is in line with government policy and we cannot fault them for doing that.
I think the way out, as I hope my
Hon Colleague will agree with me, is for us to change the policy. It is the policy that allows them to do it and the policy as of today, is legal and that is what the Government is supporting and governments have been supporting in this country for many, many years.
With these remarks, Mr Speaker,
I again thank Hon Members for the contributions that they have made and urge them to adopt the Report.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Appiah-Ofori, you have spoken already. Are you coming under a point of order or under which section of the rules?
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am coming on a point of order.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Against who? Point of order against whom?
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we should not play with this. Our natural resources are being depleted.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
No, the Rules are clear. You are entitled to speak once. Hon P. C. Appiah-Ofori, you are entitled to speak once and you have done that.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am entitled to speak once but if an Hon Member says anything which runs counter to what I have said, I have a right to come out to rebut it. So, can I not come on a point of order? I am asking you. Have I not got any right to ask for a point of order?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
No Hon Member is on his feet but I would allow you. You have the floor for one minute.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, a Motion was moved, seconded and I also rose to oppose it and called on the House to reject it. So there are two Motions now.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Appiah-Ofori, the rules do not support what you are doing, but because you have expressed a strong view on the floor of the House, I do not want the impression to be created that because of the position you have taken, that is why I did not give you the floor. -- That is why I am saying that I will make the rules flexible for you to make the point you want to make and it should be very brief, so that I would put the Question.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, a Motion was moved and I also called on the House to reject it. So put the Question, whether what I have asked is acceptable or the Motion is acceptable, that is all. I said it should be rejected for this reason. Ghana's interest first; we should not think of anything else.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Appiah-Ofori, the Ayes and Noes vote is
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, put the Question -- put mine first, so that we --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Member, you know the procedure that what you are doing is totally out of order. You have not filed an amendment to reject this Motion, so what you are doing, you are completely out of order. If you had filed an amendment Motion, then I will put your Question first before I put the Question standing in the name of the Hon Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
You have not officially filed an amendment motion to this Motion and the rules do not allow you now to file that Motion because this is not an Urgent Motion. This is a Motion where notice has been given, the Standing Orders have not been suspended, so you cannot move that Motion too now. So your survival lies in the ‘Ayes' and the ‘Noes' vote, that is all.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:10 p.m.
All right, go ahead and I pray that every Hon Member will listen to me.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree that if a Motion is moved, even if you so allow, and it is not seconded, it would not be considered to be properly before the House. But when we come to the Consideration Stage of Bills or debating issues arising out of a report, Mr Speaker, with respect, I believe that as provided for under Order 86(5) -- Mr Speaker, with your permission, I beg to quote:
“86(5) A Member who has spoken to a Question may again be heard for the purpose of explaining some material part of his speech which has been misunderstood, or vindicating his character or conduct if it has been impugned, but he must not
introduce new matter.”
Mr Speaker, I believe that using that vehicle, an Hon Member who has spoken to an issue earlier could still be allowed to provide further vent to a position if he or she believes that he or she has not been very clear or maybe, people have misunderstood him or her.
So, I believe that when we come to these matters, you may resort to this vehicle to allow Hon Members who might have spoken once and who may want to provide further articulation to do so. But I believe, as you rightly said, if a Motion is moved and not seconded, it may not be considered to be properly before the House.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Honourable Minority Leader, I agree with you but the truth of the matter is that the person who misunderstood his speech must be on his feet for him to get up and say that “look, the Hon Member responding to me has misunderstood my speech,” for him to get the chance.
I agree with you that under certain circumstances, opportunity can be offered to Hon Members to come back but not when every Hon Member is sitting down, he gets up and says that he has -
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of the debate. I will put the Question.
Ques t ion pu t and vo ice vo te indeterminate.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Members, I will put the Question again.
Ques t ion pu t and vo ice vo te indeterminate.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Hon Members, this is a very serious matter. I know that on some occasions when even

Hon Members, I have decided to defer the Question till tomorrow for very good reasons.

Hon Members, you know very well that when I declare the voice vote, there are consequences and I do not want to get myself caught up in a very difficult situation -- I should put the Question again?
Some Hon Members 1:10 p.m.
Yes.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that is the way forward. Let us put the Question again and then we decide.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo 1:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think you should put the Question again. The reason is that, I know and Hon Members also know that this Report is only a vehicle for us to understand exactly what is happening and for us to express our dissatisfaction with the companies and also the Bank of Ghana. So our voting “No” to say we reject the Report, is rejecting our own observations. So, it does not actually sit well -- so I believe that our voting “Aye” is important and so we simply accept the vote and I urge you to put the voice vote again.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon Members, I have been advised by the- Clerks- at -the-Table that we have the number to transact business but we do not have the number to take a decision and on that basis, the Question cannot be put.
Hon Minority Leader.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thought the Deputy Majority Leader had counselled that you could put
the Question. Mr Speaker, I do not know the content of the advice that you have received, so I do not intend to, maybe, comment on that piece of advice.
Mr Speaker, I think, as you rightly indicated, we should show seriousness in dealing with this matter. If it is being said that this House may have to resort to technicalities from now on, Mr Speaker, so be it.
I thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
Hon Members, I have directed that they should ring the bell, then I will put the Question for the last time. [Pause.] Hon Members, while they are ringing the bell, I will let the Chairman of the Committee move the second motion.
[Question on motion deferred] Continue at column 1746]
Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of
Ghana for Half Year Ended 31st December, 2008
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 1:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this House adopts the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor-General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the second half of the year ended 31st December, 2008.
1.0 Introduction
The Report of the Auditor-General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the second half of the year ending 31st December, 2008 was laid in the House on Tuesday, 10th November, 2009.
This Report was referred to the Public
Accounts Committee pursuant to article 184 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and in accordance with Standing Order 165 for consideration and report.
To consider this Report, the Committee met with officials from Audit Service, Controller and Accountant-General's Department and the Bank of Ghana.
2.0 References
The Committee referred to the following relevant documents:-
1. The 1992 Consti tut ion of the Republic of Ghana;
2. T h e S t a n d i n g O r d e r s of Parliament of Ghana ;
3. The Bank of Ghana Act , 2002 (Act 612); 4. The Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723);
5. The Minerals and Mining Law, PNDC Law 152.
3.0 Background
The Bank of Ghana is obliged to submit to the Auditor-General for audit on half- yearly basis a Statement of its Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments in accordance with article 184 of the 1992 Constitution. Under article 184 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, the Auditor-General is also enjoined to audit these Statements and submit his reports on them to Parliament.
3.1 Audit Objective
The audit was to obtain reasonable assurance that the statement of foreign exchange receipts and payments are free from material mis-statements.
4.0 Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 1:20 p.m.


4.1 Receipts

Foreign exchange receipts or inflows to Bank of Ghana are captured under the following classification:

1. Cocoa receipts

2. Gold receipts

3. Diamond receipts

4. Manganese receipts

5. Capital receipts in the form of loans and grants, for example, HIPC Reliefs (off-shore)

6. Invisible Receipts derived from the sa le of traveller's cheques, interests,commissions, investments on treasury bills, interest on Bank International Settlement (BIS), investment interest and forex purchase.

4.2 Payments

Bank of Ghana makes foreign exchange payments under the following broad categories:

1. Visible import payments consist of oil, non-oil as well as other visible import payments.

2. Capital payments involve loan repayments to bilateral and multilateral institutions.

3. Invisible payments consist of student transfers, contractual payments, embassy transfers, management and technical services, capital subscriptions and sundry payments.

5.0 Objecsat of this Report

The objective of this Report is to present to the House an overview of the Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the year ending 31st December 2008 as well as the comments of your Committee on the findings and recommendations of the

Auditor-General.

6.0 Overview of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments

6.1 Foreign Exchange Receipts

The total foreign exchange received by BoG for the second half of the year 2008 was US$3,047,611,994. Compared with US$1,520,568,191 for the corresponding period of 2007, there was an increase of US$1,527,043,803 (100%). Attached as Appendix A is the schedule of Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments for the second half of the year ended 2008.

The main components of the foreign exchange receipts are Cocoa, Gold, Diamond, Manganese, Capital Receipts and Invisible Receipts.

Table 1 gives the breakdown of total foreign exchange receipts for 2008 as compared with 2007 receipts.

TABLE 1: Breakdown of Foreign Exchange Receipts 6 . 1 . 1 D e t a i l s o f F o r e i g n Exchange Receipts

6.1.1.1 Cocoa

COCOBOD surrenders 98 per cent of all its foreign exchange receipts from cocoa to Bank of Ghana and retains 2 per cent to meet its import needs.

As at 31st December, 2008, total

Foreign Exchange receipts surrendered to BoG, from COCOBOD, amounted to US$ 946,848,415. This figure, compared with the figure of US$850,279,787 for 2008 for the same period, showed an increase of US$ 96,568,628. Attached as Appendix B is the schedule for cocoa exports for the second half of the year ended 2008.

A total amount of US$728,000,000 of the amount surrendered was used to finance COCOBOD's Syndicated trade credit facility during the period.

Total Tonnage Exported

Total tonnage of Cocoa beans and cocoa products exported for the year amounted to 231,752 tonnes. Table 2 gives the breakdown of tonnes of cocoa beans and cocoa products exported in 2008 as compared with 2007.

Table 2: Comparative Analysis of Cocoa Exports

From the Table, overall cocoa exports in tons increased by 29,884.

6.1.1.2 Gold

Total gold earnings surrendered to BoG for the period amounted to US$197,305,003. This figure was significantly higher by US$ 37,684,281over the total amount of

US$ 159,620,722 received for the same period for 2007. Attached as Appendix B is the schedule for Gold export for the second half of the year ended 2008.

These inflows represent portions of

proceeds that are to be remitted into the

country through the Bank of Ghana by

the licensed gold exporters. Percentages

surrendered are between 20 per cent and

40 per cent of total gold exports.

Table 3 shows the list of Gold

Companies operating in Ghana and their

repatriation percentages for the year under

review: Table 3: Gold Export Earnings

Surrendered

For the half year, a total of 1,274,391

ounces of gold was exported. Compared with an amount of 903,084 ounces for

2007, there was an increase of 371,307 ounces (41.1 per cent).

TABLE 1 HERE

(1.20pm. -- p5)

6.1.1.3 Diamond

No diamonds were exported during the period. This was due to the closure of Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Company Limited.

6.1.1.4 Manganese

Total Foreign Exchange Receipts surrendered from the export of manganese amounted to US$4.29 million. This represents 20 per cent of total export receipts of manganese by the Ghana Manganese Company.

The Company retained the remaining 80 per cent of its receipts offshore to meet its import needs. Please, find attached details

of Manganese Receipts as Appendix B.

6.1.1.5 Capital Receipts

Total Capital Receipts in the form of loans and grants for the half year 2008 amounted to US$268.40 million. This figure shows a significant increase of 559 per cent (227.65 million) over the figure of 2007 which amounted to US$40,748,384. Attached as Appendix C is the schedule Capital Receipts for the second half of the year ended 2008.

Below Table 4 provides the breakdown of the various sources of Capital Receipts for the year as compared with 2007:

Table 4 : Analysis of Capital Receipts

From the Table, the increase was due to grants received from the African

million. Foreign exchange payments are usually made up of visible imports, capital payments and invisible payments. Visible imports are made up of oil, non-oil and other imports. Attached as Appendix E is the schedule outward payment for the second half of
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 1:20 p.m.


The increase in capital payments was attributed to a rise in miscellaneous capital payments and interest paid on sovereign bonds during the period.

6.2.1.3 Invisible Payments

Total Invisible Payments for the period amounted to US$234.43 million. This is made up of payments made in respect of Manpower, Training and Development,

TABLE 4 HERE

( p. 7 )

Management and technical fees, Embassy transfers, Contractual payments, Capital subscriptions and Sundry expenses.

Table 8 shows the breakdown of the payments as compared with payments made during the period. Attached as Appendix G is the schedule for invisible payments for the second half of the year.

5.3 Statement of Foreign Reserve Assets

The Bank's reserve position as at 31st December, 2008 was US$2,062.63 million. The corresponding figure for the previous year was US$2,761.5. Foreign Reserve Assets therefore, decreased by US$698.88 (25.3%). Attached as Appendix H is the schedule for Statement of Foreign Reserve Assets for the second half of the year ended 2008.

The details of the components of the

Foreign Reserve Assets are provided in Table 9.

Table 9 showing details of the components of the Foreign Reserve Assets

The reduction was mainly due to decreases in correspondent bank balances and foreign securities.

6.4 Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments (Net Position)

Bank of Ghana recorded a net surplus

TABLE 5 HERE

( p. 8 )

of US$102.09 million for the period under review. This represented an increase of 194 per cent over the corresponding period for 2007 which was a deficit amounting to US$108.49 million.

A total amount of US$101.63 million was received as HIPC Relief as at 31st December, 2008. These receipts were mainly on-shore reliefs.

6.4 Sovereign Bonds

During the period under review, Government of Ghana drew down a total amount of US$439.25 million on its US$750 million Sovereign Bonds which were floated on the market at 8.5 per cent interest rate.

6.5 GT Divestiture

During the period, Government of Ghana sold 70 per cent of its interest in Ghana Telecom Limited at the value of US$900 million to Vodafone International.

The proceeds of this sale were paid on 18th August 2008 into CITIBANK N. A. New York, USA in favour of Bank of Ghana and subsequently transferred to Bank of Ghana, Accra.

6 . 6 E r ro r s ( U n d e r s t a t e m e n t s / over- Statements and Omissions)
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 1:20 p.m.


The increase was attributed to significant increases in capital receipts and marginal increases in cocoa and gold exports. 7.0 Findings and Recommendations

7.1 Foreign Exchange Receipts

The Committee noted that total foreign exchange receipts increased from US$1,520.57 in 2007 to US$3,047.61 in

2008.

The 100 per cent increase is attributed

TABLE 6 HERE

( p. 9 )

to increases in forex inflows from Gold and Invisible receipts.

7.2 Foreign Exchange payments

Foreign Exchange Payments for the period continued to show an increasing trend. In 2007, Foreign Exchange payments increased by US$ 444.41 million while in 2008, a total increase of

US$1,316.47 million was recorded.

The increase was mainly due to the increases in the prices of oil and oil related products on the world market.

6.3 HIPC Reliefs (On-Shore)

TABLE 7 HERE

(p. 9)

The Committee noted that in the compilation of the Statement of foreign exchange receipts and payments for the period, a number of errors were committed.

They are as follows:

Overstatement

Total Embassy Transfers for the period amounting to US$38,283,336 was overstated by US$494,269 million. This error occurred due to the application of different exchange rates.

Total capital subscriptions figure for

the period was erroneously captured as EUR100, 000 million instead of US$100,000 million. This led to overstatement of the figure by US$47,480 million.

Error of Omission

A total amount of US$240,848

TABLE 8 HERE

(p. 10)

million received from Citibank and payable to Central African Gold Mining Company (Bibiani) in two tranches was omitted during the preparation of the
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 1:20 p.m.


the BoG to strengthen its internal and supervisory control systems over the preparation of the statement of foreign exchange receipts and payments in order to eliminate errors and omissions. The BoG must note that a public document of this nature should not countenance such mistakes.

6.7 External Account Holders

During the period under review, not all institutions submitted their account balances as required. Ten out of 30 institutions fully submitted as at 31st December, 2008, while five institutions submitted their account balances without the necessary bank statements.

Fifteen institutions did not submit any returns as required. The defaulters include Ghana Telecommunications (Vodafone), Timber Export Division, COCOBOD, Land Title Registry, Minerals Commission, Wexford Goldfields Limited, Ghana Civil Aviation, Ghana Supply Company, Ghana National Petroleum Company, Ghana Reinsurance Company, Tema Oil Refinery, Ghana Manganese Company, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Timber Industry Development Division and Ghana Consolidated Diamonds.

This practice hinders the Bank's effectiveness to monitor the activities of these institutions as to the utilization of these accounts.

Recommendation

The Committee took serious notice of the fact that some external account holders still do not submit their account balances as required.

The Commit tee was a l so no t pleased with the fact that despite its recommendations in its earlier reports to the House, the practice still persists.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah) 1:20 p.m.


Statement. This resulted in the understatement of gold receipts for the period.

The error was attributed to change in the capturing of the name of the company. The name of the Company was captured as AG (BIBIANI) instead of AG BIBIANI. As a result of this, the system inadvertently failed to capture this item.

Understatements

Total cocoa proceeds received by Bank of Ghana were erroneously captured as US$946,412,132 due to an omission of cocoa receipt amounting to US$436,283.60. The error was at t r ibuted to misclassification.

As a result of wrong conversion in the use of currency and reversal of entry, total student transfers for the period of US$3,057,243 million was understated by US$13,018 million.

These errors have since been rectified accordingly when they were brought to the attention of the management of Bank of Ghana. That notwithstanding, members expressed dissatisfaction about the occurrence of these errors and omissions.

Recommendation

The Committee recommends to

TABLE 9 HERE

(pp. 10 & 11)

The Committee, therefore, demands that the Bank of Ghana applies the necessary sanctions on these organizations and report to the Committee accordingly.

7.8 Foreign Inward Remittances

During the per iod , a to ta l of US$4,616.38 million was remitted into the country.

8.0 Audit Opinion

The Auditor-General indicated that in his opinion, the Statement fairly represents the Foreign Exchange position of the Bank of Ghana as at the end of the second half year ended 31st December, 2008.

9.0 Conclusion

The Committee noted that most of the issues raised in this Report have been raised in its earlier Reports to the House. It was of the view that BoG should strengthen its internal controls and take punitive measures against defaulting institutions.

The Committee recommends to the House to adopt the Committee's Report on the Report of the Auditor-General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the second half of the year ended 31st December, 2008.

Respectfully submitted.
Alhaji Seidu Amadu (NDC - Yapei/ Kusawgu) 1:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion. Mr Speaker, the Report earlier presented by the Committee is not materially different from this one and therefore, I will just second it without making many comments except one issue on page 9, paragraph 5.4.
Mr Speaker, in the preceding year, there was a deficit amount of US$108.49 million arising out of foreign exchange receipt received by the Bank of Ghana. In the year under review, there was a net profit of US$102.09 million and this arose out an increase leading to a percentage increase of 194 per cent and this arose out of an increase in the export of cocoa and minerals.
We know that Ghana is one very important producer of minerals, and this particular income coming to the Bank of Ghana gives an indication that if Ghana places more premium and interest in the exploitation of our mineral wealth, we stand to make a lot of foreign exchange for this country.
Mr Speaker, like the Hon P. C. Appiah- Ofori said, minerals are a robber-economy, once the resources are depleted, you tend to earn zero income, but the agriculture aspect of it is what we need to pay more attention to. This is because this is renewable resource and if managed properly, can bring in additional income to Bank of Ghana and for that matter, the Government of Ghana. Therefore, we need to look at that sector seriously by way of managing the resources very well so that we can increase more foreign exchange receipts for the Bank of Ghana.
Mr Speaker, Hon Members have expressed a lot of indignation on these foreign account holders, and we notice that in the previous Report, only ten people defaulted. And in the subsequent Report, fourteen defaulted, which means that people do not seem to take anything seriously, not even the recommendation of this House.
Therefore, we still need to look at that aspect. If one has nothing to hide, while will you fail to present your books for examination? It is one area we really need to take very, very seriously, see what sanctions we can place or impose on the
Alhaji Seidu Amadu (NDC - Yapei/ Kusawgu) 1:30 p.m.


chief executives who continue to behave in this manner. This is because at the end of the day, the true reflection of foreign exchange receipts coming to the Bank of Ghana is not known and this makes budgeting very difficult.

We know that as a Third World country or as a developing economy, we need every single foreign exchange to be able to support our budget so that we can do many more things to develop our country and improve the quality of life of the people of this country.

Mr Speaker, that recommendation

would have to be taken very seriously, and with this, I beg to second the Motion.

Question proposed
Mr Kofi Frimpong (NPP - Kwabre East) 1:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion on the floor and in so doing, I wish to draw the attention of the House to page 10 of the Report, paragraph 6.5; “GT Divestiture”. Mr Speaker, I am glad that the Committee has come out with this Report, that during the period and with permission, I read:
“During the period, Government of Ghana sold 70 per cent of its interest in Ghana Telecom Limited at the value of US$900 million to Vodaphone International. The proceeds of this sale were paid on 18th August into CITIBANK N. A. New York, USA in favour of Bank of Ghana and subsequently transferred to Bank of Ghana, Accra.”
Mr Speaker, there was a time that people were speculating that this US$900 million was missing and could not be traced to anywhere in the accounts of the Bank of Ghana. But now, here we are, with this Report by the Public Accounts Committee, that the money was paid as
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
B 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
C 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
F 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
G 1:30 p.m.
A 1:30 p.m.
PP 1:30 p.m.
E 1:30 p.m.
N 1:30 p.m.
D 1:30 p.m.
IX 1:30 p.m.
H 1:30 p.m.
Mr Pelpuo 1:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on a point of order. Mr Speaker, I think that the Hon Member on the floor is misinforming the House. There has never been a complaint about any missing US$900 million; the complaint had always been that it was undervalued and the amount of US$900 million did not adequately reflect the value of the Ghana Telecom (GT) sale and that was it. Nobody had said it was missing. Mr Speaker, he is misleading the House.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Kofi Frimpong, you can make your point without referring to rumour.
Mr Frimpong 1:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, first and foremost, the Deputy Leader is out of order because there is nothing like misinformation in the Standing Orders. So, he is out of order and I thank you for ignoring him. [Laughter.]
Mr Speaker, if he did not hear well, I am telling him -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Frimpong, concentrate on the Report and say that this Report says this or that, so that removes doubt. But if you say that there is speculation and they ask you who made the speculation and that you should prove the speculation, it will just prolong this debate unnecessarily.
Mr Frimpong 1:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the point I want to make is that in future, when anybody has anything to say, he has to check his facts very well. It was part of the propaganda of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the
Mr Gershon K. B. Gbediame 1:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on a point of order. Mr Speaker, it has been the practice of this House that if you want to make a statement concerning an issue, you must be able to give the exact source and reference. He cannot say NDC because there is no individual called NDC - [Interruption] -- He must be able to say that this person said this here and be able to cite the instance at which that statement was made Otherwise, he has to withdraw it and come back later.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 p.m.
Hon Kofi Frimpong, I am not - [Interruption] - Hon Members, we were all in this country and we all know statements that we made for and against the GT sale. I am not going to allow this House to descend into those debates again. The Motion before us is about a particular Report and that is the subject matter of our debate.
Hon Frimpong, limit yourself to the facts contained in the Motion ably moved by Hon Albert Kan-Dapaah and forget about propaganda and everything else. Continue and limit yourself only to the facts contained in the Report.
Mr Frimpong 1:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the point I am raising here is that, I am very happy, I am amused by the fact that, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has told us and the whole of the country and the world that, the US$900 million that was realized from the sale of Vodaphone was lodged into our accounts --[Interruption] -- It is there in the Bank of Ghana accounts. Now, people are asking Na sika no wo

he ? [Interruption.] This is what - oh! -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon Kofi
Frimpong, nobody in this House, on the floor during this debate today, has asked “where is the money?”
Mr Kofi Frimpong 1:40 p.m.
They are asking,
they are asking.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Please,
are you listening? Address the Chair. Ignore all the background noise and address the Chair.
Mr Frimpong 1:40 p.m.
All right, thank you,
Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, so the money is there - [Interruption] - it is at the Bank of Ghana --[Interruption] - It is at the Bank of Ghana, and it was lodged there in August.
In three months, the government was not in power again. So, if we want to know where the money is, then we would ask those who took over from the previous administration.
All what I am saying is that the money,
we now know, was paid into the Bank of Ghana accounts, and was transferred to Bank of Ghana in Accra.
Mr Alfred W. G. Abayateye (NDC
-- Sege): Mr Speaker, I rise to put weight and support to the Motion on the floor and ask all Hon Members to wholeheartedly endorse it.
Mr Speaker, the Foreign Exchange and Receipts Accounts as submitted by Bank of Ghana (BoG) was thoroughly worked on by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and we came out with some things which I want to use this floor to highlight and to ask people to sit up.
In the course of our job, the June
one, the previous year and the year under review (2008), you could see that people had external accounts with the BoG and many of the companies having the external accounts did not want to obey simple instructions. Many of them failed to submit their accounts, some submitted their accounts without the relevant documentations, hence things were not done properly.
On the year under review, fifteen
institutions failed to submit their accounts or their returns and the defaulters include Ghana Telecom (Vodaphone), Timber Export Division of COCOBOD, Land Title Registry, Minerals Commission, Ghana National Petroleum Company, Ghana Re-Insurance, Tema Oil, Ghana Manganese, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and so on.
Mr Speaker, I think Parliament has to
take this issue seriously and write a letter asking BoG to take remedial action. We have been making the recommendations and the recommendations have not been implemented, hence people are taking the leeway. I think we need to put pressure on BoG, if possible, to withdraw the licences of some of these defaulting companies. When their licences are withdrawn, they will sit up and obey rules and regulations for the betterment of the country.
With this, I urge Parliament to issue
a strong letter on our recommendations to BoG for things to be done properly. I urge Hon Members of this House to let this Report go through. For the PAC's we have done our work and we need your backing for the betterment of the country.
Mr P. C. Appiah-Ofori (NPP - Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa) 1:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have no quarrel with the PAC's work, my quarrel is with the BoG.
My Friend, Hon Kofi Frimpong was referring to the sale of Ghana Telecom
(GT) and talking about the lodgement of total purchase proceeds. Nobody has quarrelled with that, nobody has raised the issue that the money was not repatriated.
What I particularly have been kicking against is that the Ghana Government was made to absorb all liabilities. So when I put all the liabilities together and set the total against the purchase price of US$900 million I had net proceeds of US$123 million. Does it make sense for us to sell this asset and earn only US123 million? We do not have to raise this again.
Now coming to the matter on -
Mr Kan-Dapaah 1:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I
thought you had ruled that we should limit ourselves, when Hon Kofi Frimpong was talking to the Report. My Hon Colleague is now trying to give an account of the sale of GT, totally unconnected to the subject that is being discussed now and I think he should be ruled out of order.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon P. C.
Appiah-Ofori, limit yourself to the issues and the facts on the floor.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, you were here when he was talking. Were you not here? Did you not hear him talk about the repatriation of US$ 900 million?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Hon P. C. Appiah-Ofori, take it easy.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:40 p.m.
I will take it easy. You are my Friend, so I will take it easy.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
Yes, take it easy.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:40 p.m.
I will.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:40 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, but because it had entered into the Hansard, I decided to reply.
Mr Speaker, as I have said, I have no
quarrel with the PAC; my quarrel is with BoG. You see, this again, you would notice that total export proceeds that should have come to Ghana should have been US$ 861,127,432. But what came to Ghana was US$206,879,161.
We have gold, I am referring to gold. We have gold, God endowed us with this.
We export this -- those who export it keep as much as US$654 million, and later on we go to borrow money. Sometimes we borrow as little as US$10 million while our own gold can fetch us more than this and we sit down unconcerned for people to take it away. Is it right? Why do we destroy the country for the younger ones? After we the older ones are dead and gone, you would see how they will suffer. Do we have to allow this to continue unabated?
Mr Speaker, I am not happy and once again, I call for the rejection of the Auditor-General's Report on the BoG.
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo (NDC -- Wa Central) 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I also listened to the presentation of the Report and I think that it is a good reflection about the thinking of Parliament and I want to commend the Committee for doing very good work for three major reasons.
First of all, the recommendations that were made were apt, accurate and reflect the thinking of Parliament. The
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of debate on the second Motion. I would now put the --
Yes, Hon Chairman?
Mr Kan-Dapaah 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker,
let me also thank Hon Members who have commented for their very useful comments.
Let me also add that I do share the views of Hon Appiah-Ofori but I insist that rejecting this Report is not the solution to the problems he has. The auditors went
Mr Appiah-Ofori 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he is trying to say, it is the Auditor-General's Report. It is the duty of the Auditor- General to draw our attention in this Report of the fraud. Did he do it? If you go and audit accounts, you come with a report concerning irregularities. Let us look at article 187 (5), it says,
“The Auditor-General shall, within six months after the end of the immediately preceding financial year to which each of the accounts mentioned in clause (2) of this article relates, submit his Report to Parliament . . .”
It goes on to say that, in his Report to Parliament, he will bring to the notice of Parliament irregularities that come to his notice. Does this Report contain the irregularities I pointed out? Are they there? Has it been emphasized that it is a fraud against the State? We should stop all these things.
Mr Speaker, look, I looked at the 1998 Report and the total export proceeds amounted to 309 million, what was brought to Ghana was 92 million. It has been going on for time immemorial, are we not stopping it?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Appiah-Ofori, you have made your point. Thank you.
Hon Kan-Dapaah?
Mr Kan-Dapaah 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, let me just say that when you comply with the law, it cannot be an irregularity. It is as simple as that. That is what auditing is all about. And I want to urge Hon Members to support the Report and to vote for it.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Thank you, Hon Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
I would now put the Question. The first one is on the Motion 9; there are two Questions, I am not lumping them together. There are two separate Motions.
Mr Kan-Dapaah 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am saying that the counter motion is just an abuse of our rules and regulations.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
No, there is no counter motion. There is no amendment motion. As the Hon Minority Leader even pointed out, even assuming you were within the rules to move the Motion, it would not be seconded. So, that ends the matter with his amendment motion. There is no amendment Motion before the House. There is only one motion which stands in the name of Hon Kan-Dapaah, Hon Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
Hon Members, I am putting the Question on motion numbered 9 on the Order Paper.

Question put and Motion agreed to.

Resolved accordingly.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
I would now put the Question on the second Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, I think that serious matters have been raised on the floor of the House by the Leaders, Committee members and everybody who spoke. I think that it is this ritual of coming, reading the Report, making recommendations and they not
Mr Kan-Dapaah 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, for clarity, I think two issues arose, the fact that the dealer banks were not complying with, the necessary instructions for them to submit returns and also what Hon Appiah-Ofori referred to. On this question of retention, I think the sense of the House was that retaining about 80 per cent is too much. Is that also among the matters referred to the Committee?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Yes, including those defaulting institutions.
Hon Members, I am a bit slow with regard to the retention. I am a bit careful about the retention but I believe that if the committee goes into it, they will report to us. You know that in some of the agreements we ourselves passed in this House, there are clauses for repatriations
and all those things. But maybe, if the committee looks at it, they will find out what the position will be.
I would have asked the House to set up a separate committee. But I believe for now, I would urge the House that we use the Public Accounts Committee. They are seized with all the matters and they are very competent. They have a very competent Hon Chairman and we believe that they can handle that matter.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I rise not to challenge your ruling -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, I refer to Standing Order 40 (3), that having regard to the state of Business, I direct the House Sits outside the prescribed period.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 a.m.
Mr Speaker, as I said, I rise not to challenge your directive. But Mr Speaker, you referred us to article 184 (4), which relates to Parliament, where necessary, in the public interest, setting up a committee to deal with matters arising out of the reports relating to foreign echange dealings. Mr Speaker, you would notice that Parliament is also required under article 187 (6) to appoint a similar committee to look at the entire remit of the Public Accounts Committee's considerations.
So, I am not too sure what we are doing, because if you look at article 187 (6), it provides, and the language and construction is the same as obtains in article 184 (4), and with your permission I quote:
“Parliament shall debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint, where necessary, in the public interest, a committee to deal with
any matters arising from the report.”
This one is not restricted to the foreign exchange earnings alone, but the entire remit of Public Accounts Committee's considerations.
Mr Speaker, I would want to urge that in setting up the special committee or the committee, we should consider setting up a special committee or an ad hoc committee to deal with this. I believe that if the onus is allowed to rest on the Public Accounts Committee, their hands would be too full. So, it is just for consideration of the House.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 a.m.
Hon Minority Leader, you are absolutely right, that the article that I referred to, talks about appointing, and if you want to talk about appointment, that is for the House to determine who should be members of that committee. And I carefully weaved round it; I am not appointing, I am only giving a directive that we use an existing committee for now, to follow up on some of these matters, only, so that they would report only on the foreign exchange. During the last debate, when some of these issues came up, we spent a whole day debating this matter. They have brought another Report, and the same issues are being reported again.
Hon Minority Leader, for the interim, let us limit it to that foreign exchange. If in the wisdom of the House, we want to set up a special committee to look at the whole issue, including the article 187 (6) which you have referred us to, the House is entitled to do that. That is for the House to do. But for now, I would want us to limit it to the foreign exchange earnings and let the Public Accounts Committee do a quick follow-up for us. Based on whatever they would bring, we might decide to say, we are setting up a special committee to look at the whole matter.
Dr Matthew O. Prempeh 2 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like you to add time to this committee's work because of the urgency and the particularity of this matter. This is because the Public Accounts Committee is already burdened with a lot of accounts to consider and if - [Interruption] -- Mr Speaker, so, we want you to make this thing time-bound so that the Committee can look at this, so that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and his officers would see the urgency and come and answer this particular question, so that this report can be brought immediately.
Alhaji Muntaka 2 a.m.
Mr Speaker, just like the Minority Leader rightly mentioned, not challenging your ruling, but if Mr Speaker could give it a caveat for the Leadership on both sides to sit together and see if there would be the need for some special committee to look at it. Because of the load of work currently before the Public Accounts Committee, if we are not careful, this issue may not be given all the necessary attention that it requires.
I would want to suggest, if you would not mind, that it should be thrown to Leadership. If we look at it, in discussion with the leadership of the Public Accounts Committee, and they think they can manage it, fine. If not, immediately, some kind of a special committee should be formed to look at the details of this matter.
Mr Appiah-Ofori 2 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like us to consider what the Minority Leader said. I have raised this issue on the floor of the House before. During 2005/2008, I raised the appointment of this committee and indeed, your predecessor did announce the institution of such a committee. It should be a committee which is going to be independent of the Public Accounts Committee, because the Public Accounts Committee has brought its own Report.
The same Committee cannot do anything arising out of it.
So another committee, if possible, ad hoc, or it should be a standing committee since we have been having Auditor- General's Reports over and over again, so that they look at all these things; if it becomes necessary for them to go to Bank of Ghana, to go and look into certain figures.
I remember very well, when I was a member of the Finance Committee, looking at article 184, clause (1), which requires that the committee on financial matters must look into the affairs of the Bank of Ghana, I was sent there to go and look into their books to see whether what they were doing was in line from what they were supposed to do.
During our time, 2001/2002, this was
done, and if that particular committee, if we have it, that would go into all these things so that all these fraudulent practices against the State would be minimised, if not eliminated. So go back to your predecessor who appointed a committee, but it was not constituted to deal with this.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 a.m.
Hon Members, let us take it stage by stage. I am not appointing a committee. I am very careful. You know that appointment of membership of committee, basically, is a matter for the Committee of Selection, chaired by Madam Speaker, and because of the sentiments expressed on the floor and I am in the Chair, without consulting Madam Speaker, I am a bit slow in just quickly giving those directives and all those things.
This is why I try to use an existing committee to do a quick check-up for us. Whatever they bring to this House, we might decide that we need a full-blown
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 a.m.


special committee to look at it. Because all the suggestions that are coming from the floor, all of you are aiming at the same thing, and as a House, we cannot continue this way.

We have been around for some time and each year, we come and bemoan the problem and the problem ends there. Meanwhile, the framers of the Constitution has given us some powers or imposed a certain level of obligation on us to try to address some of these matters.

So let me find out from the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee if he thinks that his hands are too full to do that quick check-up for us; yes, he is over-burdened to do that quick check-up for us and then come -- But then I have to reverse my order and go back and consult my boss the Speaker of Parliament on this matter and then the proper orders would be issued. So Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee?
Mr Kan-Dapaah 2 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I think it is not really a question of our hands being full, but I thought that given the importance of the subject matter and the fact that Hon Members have very, very strong views on this matter, it probably would be better if a special committee of some known experts, about five, seven, was put together to go into this particular matter. Because, Mr Speaker, as you yourself said, we have also approved some agreements here which have supported the existing position. So it is rather dicey.
But again it is also important that we have a look at this matter which seems to be of concern, not only to Hon Members, but most people outside of the House. I think it is a very difficult one and if a special committee could be put up to examine that one on the retention, that would be better.
On the second one of non-compliance and dealer banks being difficult, I believe my Committee can handle it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 a.m.
Hon Members, on the basis of what the Hon Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has said, I have withdrawn my earlier directives. I would go and consult Madam Speaker, who is the Chairperson of the Committee of Selection, and on that basis if she would take it up, of course, with the Leadership of the House.
I would then withdraw it. I was thinking that the Public Accounts Committee could do a quick check-up for us and then brief us and based on that information that they would bring, we would then set up a special, independent committee, independent of the Public Accounts Committee to look at it. We may end up using some of the same Hon Members. Some of the key Hon Members in the Public Accounts Committee would be the people -
Most of our accountants are on the Public Accounts Committee. They may be the same Hon Members. But I would have to go and consult Madam Speaker and based on these sentiments, we send the proper instructions to issue.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of the debate on the Auditor-General's Report.
Yes, it is past 2 o'clock, are we continuing any matter? Is there any matter for us to look at or I should adjourn the House?
Mr Pelpuo 2:10 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker, you can adjourn the House but before that, let me just commend the Anti-Corruption and Accountability Crusader, Hon P. C. Appiah-Ofori for changing the trends
in this House, in how we receive the Auditor-General's Report. I think this is a landmark and we should glorify it, we should celebrate it and ensure that eventually, the House is able to set up this special committee to examine, including the persistently defaulting companies so that eventually, we can be seen to be having a bite on this issue.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. You can adjourn.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:10 p.m.
Hon Members, on that note, the House is accordingly adjourned till Friday, 2nd July, 2010 at ten o'clock in the forenoon.
We wish the Black Stars well, our hearts are with them.
ADJOURNMENT 2:10 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 2.12 p.m. till Friday, 2nd July, 2010 at 10.00 a.m.