Debates of 20 Oct 2010

MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:10 a.m.
ANNOUNCEMENT 10:10 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:10 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings and the Official Report - Hon Members, we have two Votes and Proceedings to correct today. We will start with that of Friday, 1st October, 2010.
Page 1 . . . 3 --
Mr Ambrose P. Dery 10:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, at page 4, the second column, last name numbered 76. My name is put there as absent. I think that at that time, I was on a parliamentary delegation -- Ghana's delegation to the Pan-African Parliament. Therefore, I will propose that I be put down as absent with permission rather than absent.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that this is something that has always agitated the minds of Hon Members of Parliament, whether when Members have maybe, proceeded on a working duty outside Accra, in committees, they should be counted as absent with permission. Mr Speaker, my thinking is that, yes, that should be the case because we consider committee sittings as part of the conduct of parliamentary business.
So, I would suggest that insofar as those meetings are advertised, delegations included, we should consider them as absent with permission. That is my thinking but I do not know whether we have, as a House, to come with some determination on that. I think that it has necessary implication in the definition of Parliament in our Standing Orders. “Parliament” or the “House”, includes when the House is Sitting in plenary and at committee and I believe that by necessary implication, if Members are on duty elsewhere in the name of committees, they should be counted as absent with permission.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:10 a.m.
The case of the Hon Deputy Minority Leader's approval was granted by the Speaker for him to travel. So that is not in doubt. But where we take all committees together, there should be a certain mechanism because no Member may attend the committee meeting. So there should be some exceptions in those cases. I think that we have to find a way of fine-tuning that area to make sure that it is only those people who actually attend those committee meetings are captured as absent with permission. However the general principle is acceptable.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on another point. I notice with considerable interest that those of them who attended the meeting numbered 84, just the number required to have been in attendance, the exact quorate number, the minimum quorate number is what they had. That is interesting.
I know on authority though that many of them were on their way to participating in the proceedings that day. Mr Speaker, how should they be recognized? I say so because Mr Speaker, as you do know, by our rules, relating to privileges and immunities, if an Hon Member is on his way to Parliament, he must be deemed to be participating in our business, such that he is prohibited from the application of warrants, arrests and so on. So how should those people be recognized-- those of them who were on their way to Parliament and those of them who entered just when you had finished the transaction of business? I think that we should also find space to accommodate all such people, otherwise, they may be deprived of certain benefits.
Some of us, Mr Speaker, as you do know, were on delegation but I was minded to respond to the summons and I was determined to come by even a chartered flight to participate in this enterprise but airborne, I was told that the business had been concluded - [Laughter] - and I had to instruct the pilot to go back - [Laughter.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Well, Hon
Minority Leader, it is a very interesting point because I know that at the close of the day, that day, over one hundred Members of Parliament turned up. Some came after the event. If something had happened and they wanted to claim privileges, how would we have treated them?
It is a very interesting thing and maybe, the Table Office may take note especially so when the notice was very very short. We should find a way so that in case an issue of privilege crops up, those Hon Members who attended but late will have to be taken care of in a way -- they can also benefit from the privileges under our Standing Orders.
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo 10:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the observation by the Minority
Leader is very keen. It should go to inform those of us on the Standing Orders Committee, to define who a present Member is, a Member who is present. Is it because you are in the House or is it because you have committed yourself to come? If you are found at the corridor just before we rise, all these areas may have to be looked at so that we are not found guessing all the time. I think it is an observation worth taking further than this.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Except that his observation with regard to the figures are wrong. I do not know the last time he did mathematics because it is 78. Actually, it is 77 point something, so it is 78, but we have 84 there. So his calculation this morning is wrong.

Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 1st October, 2010, subject to the correction, is deemed to be the correct record of proceedings.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am sorry to send us back to page 5. Hon Albert Kan-Dapaah is marked as absent without permission. I know that he is representing our Parliament as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee outside Ghana and he sent a request to that effect. I do not know whether it got to your office but he did transmit a request.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
All right. Table Office to cross-check and effect the necessary amendments.

Very well, we defer it to tomorrow. Do you have your copy?

Hon Members, at the Commencement of Public Business.
Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, yesterday, a number of Papers were laid and we were informed that there were adequate copies available and that was why notice had been put up for the laying. But Mr Speaker, as we speak and Sit here, we still have not seen copies of those Papers that were laid yesterday.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon
Minority Chief Whip, my information is that almost all the Papers have been distributed except the Local Government one, which is very bulky and it is taking some time to reproduce the copies for everybody. That is the information I have been given by the Table Office.
Mr Opare-Ansah 10:20 a.m.
Thank you, Mr
Speaker -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
And they
promise that before the close of day, all Hon Members will have them.
Mr Opare-Ansah 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I
believe that is the very import of my submission, that by Standing Order 75 as we discussed yesterday --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
I agree
with you -
Mr Opare-Ansah 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it
was presumed that there were adequate copies available and that is why the Paper was laid.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon
Member, I agree with you but at times by certain arrangements, we relax the rules, and the Hon Minority Leader is an authority on that matter, when he was Deputy Majority Leader. So the Table Office is to make sure that the Papers are made available to Hon Members by the close of day.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree with the Chief Whip for the Minority that we should endeavour to avail that document because it is going to
affect the redefinition of the electoral areas and it may have a potential of sparking some controversies if we do not handle it carefully. So, it is important that we have it and harmonize our positions and let the Electoral Commission know before the elections are conducted. If we do not get it right, it may have a tendency of generating some trouble for us. So it is important that we have them.
But I agree, I think the proper interpretation of the rule is that, yes, it should be laid before it is distributed, in particular because it is said in Standing Order 77 that it shall be laid in Parliament and shall be published in the Gazette on the day when it is so laid before Parliament.
Mr Speaker, so it means that once it is deemed to be laid, then it can only be Gazetted after it has been laid. It should reflect the date when it was laid in Parliament. And that being the case, perhaps, given the fact that you are saying that it is a bit bulky, it may take some time but it must come as soon as possible. And I believe that it is going to reflect the date of yesterday.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
I agree
with you.
Dr Matthew O. Prempeh 10:20 a.m.
Mr
Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention and for the attention of the whole House, an issue -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
What
Order are you coming under, Hon Member for Manhyia?
Dr Prempeh 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on Public
Business-- a point of interest.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon
Member, you know when I gave the
chance to the Hon Deputy Minority Chief Whip, it became a matter which was quite relevant to what was laid. So under what Order? He did quote a Standing Order, so what Order are you coming under?
Dr Prempeh 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is just a
matter of privilege before the start of the Public Business.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon
Member, I will give you the chance.
Dr Prempeh 10:20 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker
for announcing my presence.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon
Member, I think this is a matter -
Dr Prempeh 10:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, you do not
know the matter.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:20 a.m.
I know the matter now. I know Hon Member. I know the matter because I have seen the document you are holding in your hand.
Hon Member, see me after adjournment so that I will give you the chance tomorrow.
Hon Members, at the Commencement of Public Business.
BILLS - FIRST READING 10:20 a.m.
PAPERS 10:30 a.m.
- 10:30 a.m.
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader is unavoidably absent he is out of the country and I will seek your indulgence to lay the Paper on his behalf.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Very well, permission granted. Item number (i) --
By the Deputy Majority Leader (Mr Abdul- Rashid Pelpuo) (on behalf of the Majority Leader.)
(i) Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Ministries, Departments and Other Agencies of the Central Government) for the year ended 31st December, 2009.
Referred to the Committee on Public Accounts. By the Deputy Majority Leader (Mr Abdul- Rashid Pelpuo) (on behalf of the Majority
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.


Leader)

(ii) Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) for the year ended 31st December 2009.

Referred to the Public Accounts Committee.

By the Deputy Majority Leader (Mr Abdul- Rashid Pelpuo) (on behalf of the Majority Leader) --

(iii) Annual Report on Presidential Office Staff for the period January to December, 2009.

Referred to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

By the Deputy Majority Leader (Mr Abdul- Rashid Pelpuo) (on behalf of the Majority Leader) --

(iv) Annual Report of the Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs Division) for 2009.

Referred to the Committee on Finance
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Yes, Hon Minority Chief Whip -
Mr Opare-Ansah 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we are finding it difficult to understand why the Hon Majority Leader who is part of this House, would lay a report that is coming from the Presidency, which is the Annual Report on Presidential Office Staff for the period January to December 2009. That is
item 5(b) (iii).
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
I think the practice in this House over the years is that annual reports are normally laid, most often by the Leadership. But I stand -
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member for Sekondi -
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:30 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Indeed, the practice has been that the reports of independent governance institutions like Auditor-General's outfit, the Electoral Commission are laid by the Hon Majority Leader because stricto senso, they cannot be said to be part of the Executive. But certainly, the Presidential Office is the President's Office. It is the Executive itself and must come from the Executive.
If he had been the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, then he would have been part of the Executive and he would have laid it. But he is not an Hon Minister; he is not a member of Government, so he is not a proper person to lay that Report.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I just discussed with the Chief Whip but I think that the arrangement is wrong as my Hon Colleague has said. The Hon Majority Leader has always done so in his position as the Hon Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and not in his capacity as the Hon Majority Leader. So he cannot do this; that is in respect of (iii).
Fortunately, we have the Hon Attorney- General and Minister for Justice here; we have the Hon Minister for Communications and even the Hon Minister for Local Government Rural Development here, and
any of them could do that.
An Hon Member 10:30 a.m.
Works and Housing is even here -
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:30 a.m.
The Hon Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing is here. So Mr Speaker, if you would agree with us, then the Hon Deputy Majority Leader, who is acting as the Hon Majority Leader would have to un-bow - [Laughter] - to undo what he has done [Laughter.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development -
Mr Joseph Y. Chireh 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minority Leader and my Hon Friend who is laughing at me, really, are not quoting any part of our Standing Orders. They are talking about convention now and that in the past, it was always the Hon Minister for Parliamentary Affairs who also doubled as the Majority Leader who laid this.
Mr Pelpuo 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it has to be explained very clearly here that the position of the Hon Majority Leader, we understand, is not the same as the position of the Hon Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and so the two are different. And in that respect, in a situation also where we do not have a Minister for Presidential Affairs, the vacuum that exists would
have been filled by somebody else and we assume that it is the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice who should fill that vacuum. And so, if in the first place, the laying process was faulty because of that, I would urge that the - [Interruption] - Yes, so I assume that - [Interruption.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
So Hon Member -- I was going to call the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to do so. But your Friend the Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development has appointed himself to --[Laughter.]
Mr Opare-Ansah 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I think the same applies to (iv) which is the Ghana Revenue Authority Report. So while the Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development is at it, he may probably - [Interruption.]
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I share the previous concerns ably articulated by Hon Papa Owusu-Ankomah and supported by the Hon Minority Leader. But in respect of the Ghana Revenue Authority Report, the Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Planning or any other person as may be compelling in circumstances of the Hon Minister being absent, may be able to lay that.
Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon Minister for Communications, what did you say which is different from what they were saying? [Laughter.]
Anyway, Hon Members, item 5 (iii) - Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice -
Hon Members, you know that we have somebody who is in charge of Government Business - the Deputy Majority Leader -- and he has asked that this one be laid on behalf of -- That is the reason I have called on the Hon Attorney-General and
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.


Minister for Justice.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I entirely agree with what you have said but before then, that one must be negatived. This is because, already he has purported to have laid it -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
It has been negatived - [Laughter.]
By the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice.
(iii) Annual Report on Presidential Office Staff for the period January to December 2009.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Paper duly laid and referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Item 5 (iv) - Hon Deputy Majority Leader -
Mr Pelpuo 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on that
score too, we think that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning or any other Hon Minister of State could do that. The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development has already taken the initiative to do so and I think that will also solve the problem.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:40 a.m.
He should
do it properly now.
By the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (on behalf of the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning) -
Annual Report on the Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs
Mr Pelpuo 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it does
Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 10:40 a.m.
On a point of order.
Mr Speaker, I presumed he was moving the Motion for adjournment and I have something small to raise about the Hansard.
Mr Speaker, since he was about to move the Motion for adjournment, I thought that I should raise the issue which I raised to the Rt. Hon Speaker, that the Official Report (Bound Volume) should be made available to Members of Parliament and she said she would positively look at it.
Mr Speaker, I do not understand the purpose of this little note which is unsigned and who has been sending it round. I thought that I should raise it so that you can take action accordingly and make it available to Members of Parliament.
Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon
Member, I think that once the matter is within the domain of Madam Speaker, it will be looked at and a proper response given at the appropriate time.
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo 10:40 a.m.
Mr
Speaker, in that respect, I was just making reference to the fact that we are almost at the end of today's business, but we have a lot of committee meetings. This is also the point we will have to inform the general public, especially those of them who are eager to measure the performance of Members of Parliament to take note that when we leave here, we do some other work, and today we have some committee
work to be done.
On that score, I beg to move, that we adjourn for the day until the forenoon tomorrow -- but also to caution, Mr Speaker, that tomorrow, we will be having winnowing for the Students' Loan Trust Fund Bill and those who have already filed amendments should make themselves available for the winnowing, so that we can have an elaborate discussion on them before we come to the floor of Parliament.
Mr Ambrose P. Dery 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I
beg to second the motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT 10:40 a.m.