Debates of 15 Dec 2010

MADAM SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:50 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 14th December, 2010.
Page 1...7 --
Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, on page 7, there seems to be a problem with the numbering. There is (d); there is no (e) but rather (f).
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
So we re-number them: (d), (e), (f) and (g).

The Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 14th December, 2010 as corrected, is adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Dr Anthony A. Osei 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, column 2141, the third paragraph, line 1, it says “Mr Speaker, two quick sense things”. I think the word “sense” should be deleted.
Then column 2142, second paragraph, last line, it says “. . . we will have the right exchange rate”. It should be “we will use the right exchange rate”, not “have the right exchange rate”.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Any other

Hon Members, the Official Report of Tuesday, 30th November, 2010 as corrected, represents the true record of proceedings.

Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh - rose
-- 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Dr Prempeh, are you going to -- we have reached Statements time.
Dr Prempeh 10:50 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, before Public Business, I was asking that the Leadership of the House should make available the newly-signed EPC and Suppliers Credit Agreement on the STX for perusal of Members, so that we can educate our communities when we go back home.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Member, we
will do that outside Parliament. You ask for it when we close; you do not have to ask for it here.
Dr Prempeh 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it should be brought formally to your office, so that we can have a formal document.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
I have not asked for
it but if you want it, it will be given to you if you talk to Leadership. I think if you talk to Leadership, it would be given to you.
Thank you.
Hon Members, I want to move on to Public Business.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the humble request by the Member for Manhyia -- [Interruptions.] Please, you will tell the Chairman of the Committee on Works and Housing to show decorum and respect -- [Interruptions.]
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Order!
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:50 a.m.
What is this wild gesticulation meant for?
Madam Speaker, the EPC certainly must come to the House. The Hon Minister said that after the signing, it would come to Parliament. So if an Hon Member makes the request, why should he have to make that wild gesticulation and be shouting “no, no, no”? It is a matter of importance to this House.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
That is why I said,
after the Sitting, we will talk about it -- He may not have copies now. So let us discuss this out of the Chamber and if the procedure is what it should be -- let us all be very happy on a day like this when our oil is coming; it started flowing -- Carols Night Day and a lot of other important occasions. So let us be happy today. I do not want to say so but I got the feeling somebody was going to make a Statement but he is not here.
Hon Members, patience and patience
-- [Interruptions.] Order! I think today we must move very fast.
rose
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Is it about the
same matter? I have finished with it. Is it about Public Business? If it is not, shall we move on?
Mr Assumeng 10:50 a.m.
No, Madam Speaker. My name has been mentioned by Hon Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. Madam Speaker, I believe I am one of the most respectful Members of Parliament on this floor and I will not misbehave or cause any issue that will create indiscipline. So for him to say that I must show decorum on the floor, I think it is a bit on the bad side. He being the Leader, who must show an example, should not have used that word on me. I think that he is being unfair to me.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
So the word “decorum” has become unparliamentary, I think?
Some Hon Members 11 a.m.
Oh!
Mr Assumeng 11 a.m.
Yes, Madam Speaker.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I did not refer to anything. I said he was engaged in some wild gesticulations. Would he say that he did not make any wild gesticulations? Madam Speaker, I do not think that he would say that he did not do that. I did not hear - if he said anything, I did not hear. I was referring to the wild gesticulations and I said that was not necessary. That was all that I said.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Yes, with this explanation, Hon Member, shall we drop the matter?
Thank you.
We move now to item 4 - Presentation of Papers, so that we can move very fast and go to the Carols.
Yes, Hon Leader, item 4 (a), is it ready?
Mr Cletus A. Avoka 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it appears that we are lucky to have all these Papers ready for laying; so we would start from item 4 (a). The Chairman is ready to lay it.
PAPERS 11 a.m.
CONSIDERATION OF ANNUAL 11 a.m.
ESTIMATES 11 a.m.
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources (Alhaji Collins Dauda) 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢98,337,463.00 for the services of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
Madam Speaker, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is responsible for the sustainable management and judicious utilization of the country's lands, forests, wildlife as well as the mineral resources of the country.
Madam Speaker, in the lands sector, our inability to determine boundaries of stool lands and customary lands continue to be a challenge in the management of our lands and the Ministry will continue with boundary demarcation of stools and customary lands in the year 2011.
Again, Madam Speaker, the Ministry would continue with the inventory of State- acquired and occupied lands, to be able to determine the stock of Government's acquisition and also determine outstanding compensation which has not been paid to owners of lands from whom land has been acquired, and also determine the extent of encroachment in these areas.
Madam Speaker, in the forestry sub- sector, the Ministry would continue with
the conservation practices in our forests and wildlife areas and also scale up the National Forests Plantation Development Programme to cover all the political districts of the country to enable us ‘green up' Ghana and also generate employment in our rural communities.
Madam Speaker, in the mining sector, we would continue to build the capacity of small-scale miners to enable them mine in an environmentally friendly manner so that the impact of their activities on the environment would be minimized.
Madam Speaker, finally, I urge Hon Members to approve the sum of GH¢98,337,463.00 for the services of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
Question proposed.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Albert Abongo) 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I support the Motion and by so doing, present the Report of the joint Committee on Lands and Forestry and Mines and Energy.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2011 fiscal year was presented to Parliament by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor on Thursday, 18th November, 2010 in accordance with article 179 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources were accordingly referred to the joint
Committee on Lands and Forestry and Mines and Energy for consideration and report, pursuant to Orders 140 (4), 177 and 188 of the Standing Orders of the House.
1.2 During the consideration of the referral, the Committee met with the Hon Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, his deputy, Mr Henry Kamel Ford, key officials of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the schedule officer from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The Committee lauds the Hon Minister and the officials for their assistance during its sitting.
2.0 References
2.1 The Committee used the under- listed as reference materials during its deliberations:
(i) The 1992 Constitution of
Ghana;
(ii) The Standing Orders of the House;
( i i i ) The Budget Statement a n d E c o n o m i c P o l i c y of Govern- ment for the year ending 31st December, 2011;
(iv) The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2011- 2013 and the draft Annual Estimates for 2011 of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources; and
(v) The Budget Estimates for the
Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for 2010.
3.0 Mission Statement
3.1 The Mission Statement of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is to ensure sustainable management and utilization of the nation's land, forest, wildlife and mineral resources for the socio-economic development and growth of Ghana. This is to be achieved through:
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, I thought you said we should capture it?
Dr A. A. Osei 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I do not know the attire the Majority Chief Whip is wearing. He is walking around the whole Parliament - [Laughter.] Madam Speaker, he is disturbing - I was trying to figure out who was wearing that attire. I do not know but in the meantime, he is distracting the Chairman of the Committee.
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Well, I think if he is walking around, it is for your benefit.
Dr A. A. Osei 11 a.m.
In that outfit?
Madam Speaker 11 a.m.
Well, I asked him this morning and he said this was only the comedies -
Dr A. A. Osei 11 a.m.
All right -- [Laughter.]
Mr Abongo 11 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I will proceed. I think the Hon Member understands that the Majority Chief Whip is supposed to give direction and he is telling me to shorten my delivery. He is asking me to save time for all of us.
4.0 Objectives
4.1 The Mission of the Ministry will be realized through the pursuit of the under- listed objectives:
(i) develop and manage sustainably, land, forest, wildlife a n d mineral resources;
(ii) facilitate equitable access, benefit sharing from and security to land, forest and mineral resources;
(iii) promote public awareness and local communities' participation in sustainable management and utilization of forest, wildlife, land and mineral resources;
( iv) review, update and consolidate existing legislation and policies a f f e c t i n g natural resource management;
(v) promote and faci l i tate effective pr ivate sector participation in land service delivery, forest, wildlife and mineral resource management and utilization;
(vi) develop and maintain
effective i n s t i tu t iona l capacity and capability at the national, regional, district and community levels for land, forest, wild-
life and mineral service delivery;
(vii) develop and research into pro- blems of forest, wildlife,
mineral resources and land use; and

(viii) build regional and global

linkages t oward the management of natu-

ral resources.

5.0 Performance for 2010

5.1 The following Table 1 shows the Budget allocations and actual releases as at the third quarter with corresponding variances of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for 2010:

5.2 A total amount of ninety-three

million, six hundred and thirty-two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-nine Ghana cedis (GH¢93,632,929.00) was allocated to the sector Ministry but an amount of thirty-five million, four hundred and forty thousand, eight Ghana cedis, forty Ghana pesewas (GH¢35,440,008.40) was eventually released for the execution of the following activities in the year 2010:

Lands sub-sector

5.3 In the year under review, the Lands Commission prepared two drafts of the three-component Lands Bill (Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Manage-ment and Adminstration; and Surveying and Mapping). The drafts were circulated for extensive consultations with stakeholders including the Committee, National House of Chiefs, Academia, Civil Society for their input. The concerns raised from consultations would be incorporated into the Lands Bill.

5.4 The Lands Commission has commenced scanning of all land records

TABLE - 11.00A.M - PAGE 9
Mr Abongo 11 a.m.
in Accra as part of its computerization process. A prototype Land Information System is on test. The system has reduced processing time for land registration from 36 months to 3 months and title registration from 36 months to 7 months in the Eastern Region.
5.5 Government returned 60 per cent of the land acquired in 1942 to the Nungua Stool. Also, inventory of State acquired lands in 13 districts is completed.
5.6 The Office of Administrator of Stool Lands has opened new district offices/collection points at Kasoa, Akumadan and Dodowa to enhance revenue collection.
Forestry sub-sector
5.7 On the issue of the National Forest Plantation Development Programme, a total land area of 15,000 hectares is under forest plantation development and has created employment for over 25,000 people.
5.8 As part of efforts to ensure the supply of legal wood in both domestic and export markets, the Forestry Commission established the Timber Validation Department to carry out the piloting of the Wood Tracking System under the Voluntary Partnership Agreement.
Mines sub-sector
5.9 A new method of gold extraction with the use of concentrates other than mercury has been developed for small- scale mining operators. Further, about 300 licences have been granted to small-scale
mining operators in the country. 5.10 The following draft regulations
have been submitted to the Attorney- General's Department and will be submitted to Parliament in due course.
They are:
i. explosives (Mining and Civil);
ii. mineral Royalties;
iii. mine Support Services;
iv. compensation and Resettlement;
v. health and Safety;
vi. mineral Licensing; and
vii. mining (General).
5.11 The Geological Survey Department produced and launched the new geological map of Ghana at the scale of 1:1,000,000, using digital technology.
5.12 T h e G e o l o g i c a l S u r v e y Department also procured a new seismic equipment for the monitoring of earthquakes and other seismic activities. Further, the process for the acquisition of airborne geophysical data to cover the entire country to aid mineral exploration was completed.
6.0 Outlook for 2011
6.1 The following Table 2 shows expenditure items with corresponding proportions to the total budget allocation for the Ministry of Lands and Natural
Resources for year 2011:

SIP - Social Intervention Programme

Lands Sub-Sector

6.2 The Lands Commission will continue with its computerization to develop an integrated land information system that will provide the infrastructure for an effective and efficient land administration system.

Forestry sub-sector

6.3 The Forestry Commission would extend the National Forest Plantation Development Programme to all the 170 political districts. The Forestry Com-mission will also accelerate the development of management plans for all

forest reserves to enhance sustainability.

6.4 The framework for the management of admitted farms and settlements in forest reserves and protected areas will be developed and implemented to prevent further encroachment by farmers.

Mines sub-sector

6.5 The Ministry will undertake institutional strengthening to provide extension services to small-scale mining operators, improve availability of information to attract mining investors as well as improve the licensing processes to reduce social conflicts in mining communities.

6.6 The implementation of the action

plan developed by the multi-agency

TABLE - 11.00A.M - PAGE 13
Mr Abongo 11:10 a.m.
Revenue Task Force to improve mining sector revenue collection, management and transparency, will be vigorously pursued. The Ministry will also conduct stratigraphic studies of the Voltaian Basin to determine its mineral potentials.
7.0 Estimates for 2011 fiscal year
7.1 For the implementation of the activities of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and its agencies in the year 2011, an amount of ninety-eight million, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, four hundred and sixty-three Ghana cedis (GH¢98,337,463.00) has been allocated. Details of the allocations are indicated in the Appendix.
8.0 Observations/Recommendations
8.1 The Committee observed that actual releases for the year 2010 were below the budget allocation for year 2010 as shown in Table 1.
8.2 The Committee further observed that there was no Legislative Instrument (L.I.) to give authority to the Lands Commission to spend a portion of its internally generated funds (IGFs) as provided by the Lands Commission Act, 2008 (Act 767). The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources develop and present a draft L.I. to Parliament for approval to assuage the situation.
8.3 On the issue of the construction of the headquarters of the Lands Commission, the Committee was informed that the procurement process had reached the negotiation stage and would be completed before the end of the year for construction to begin.
8.4 The Committee expressed concern
about the increased illegal mining in the country and the growing involvement of foreigners in the activity. To address the concern, the Ministry has instituted measures to regularise the activities of the illegal miners by issuing propective operators with licences. The licensing procedure has been simplified and the licence fee pegged at GH¢250.00 to encourage the illegal miners to regularise
their operations. Further, the Ministry continued to sensitise the miners to regularise their activities.
In addition to the above, the Ministry in collaboration with the security agencies conducted regular patrols of illegal mining sites to flush out illegal miners, especially foreigners.
8.5 The Committee noted that, mining companies with stability agreements with Government were exempt from payment of the new royalty rates as prescribed in the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2010 (Act 794). It is the view of the Committee that the stability agreements do not provide a level playing field for the operators given that those without such agreements are paying a higher royalty rate. The Committee was informed that the Ministry was currently reviewing all mining agreements and will use the opportunity to have a second look at the stability agreements.
8.6 The Committee expressed concern
about the manner in which royalties paid to District Assemblies were utilised. The Committee was informed that the Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development were developing guidelines for the utilisation of such revenues and that these guidelines will soon be submitted to Parliament.
8.7 The Committee also expressed
concern about the state of maintenance of the already established plantations and recommends that the Ministry should solicit for financial aid even as the Government is eager to expand plantation development to all the political districts.
9.0 Conclusion
9.1 The Committee recommends to the House to approve the sum of ninety-eight million, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, four hundred and sixty-three Ghana cedis (GH¢98,337,463.00) for the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the 2011 financial year.
Respectfully submitted.

space for Appendix - page 19 -
Mr Joseph B. Aidoo (NPP - Amenfi East) 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am on my feet to give support to the Motion on the floor, seeking to give approval of GH¢98,337,463.00 to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
Madam Speaker, I will start by saying that the Ministry's programme on afforestation is particularly silent on existing plantations. Madam Speaker, we have over 110,000 hectares of plantation already existing, which was inherited by the current Administration. Quite strikingly, this huge plantation had been abandoned and the new dispensation is looking to establishing a 20,000 hectare plantation.
Madam Speaker, this brings us to the issue of culture of maintenance in our country. If you have over 100,000 hectares and you are not maintaining it and then you have a plan to establish 20,000 hectares, Madam Speaker, it becomes a problem. So I would want the Ministry to pay particular attention to this existing forest estate of the country.
Madam Speaker, the other area which I want to draw attention to, relates to the domestic consumption of lumber. Madam Speaker, we know that the forest estate in Ghana used to be 8.2 million hectares some forty, fifty years ago. Now, it is just about 1.4 million hectares. Madam Speaker, the national allowable cut in the country is just about 1.5 million cubic metres; that is what should be allowed. But then we are cutting 2.5 million cubic metres, and Madam Speaker, the domestic consumption is about 400,000 cubic meters.
When you look at this figure, that is the 400,000 cubic metres from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources -- the Hon Minister is there, he can attest to that. Madam Speaker, if you look at the 400,000 cubic metres I am talking about for domestic consumption, a greater part is being consumed by the public. I mean government projects. Interestingly, this is chainsaw lumber.
Madam Speaker, when you go round, the materials being used for schools, for hospitals, for Government projects and construction, they are all chainsaw materials and this is accounting for the excess. Because ideally, you should not be cutting 1.5 million cubic metres and we are cutting 2.5 million cubic metres. The excess is coming from chainsaw.
Madam Speaker, we need not go far. Even the construction going on around this building, when you go round -- the Hon Minister sees the chainsaw materials around Parliament everyday -- [Interruptions] -- Oh, he has seen them. Maybe, because he is interested in chainsaw operators, he is just giving a blind eye to it.

Madam Speaker, on a more serious note, we have to watch this allowable cut. Madam Speaker, let me go to the land sector. If you look at the programme for the Ministry, for which we are requesting the GH¢98 million, you would realize that the Service Vote and the Investment Vote have been reduced. With respect to the Service Vote, Madam Speaker, last year the Ministry was given over GH¢10 million; this year, the Ministry is given only GH¢8.9 million. Madam Speaker, with regard to Investment, last year, the Ministry was given GH¢3.2 million, this year, it has been slashed to half, that is, GH¢1.6 million.

Madam Speaker, I am particularly concerned because when you look at the programmes of the Ministry, they do not include the issue of returning land that was compulsorily acquired by Government, for which Government is no more going to make use of such land for public purposes or for the interest of the public and which ought to be returned to the original owners.

Madam Speaker, article 20 (6) clearly states that where such land is no more going to be used for public interest or public purposes, it ought to be returned to the owners. And the previous Administration actually took steps to do inventory of such lands in the Greater Accra Region and then also made the necessary preparation for the return of such lands, which the Hon Minister had actually returned 60 per cent.

Madam Speaker, I am particularly worried about what is going on in other places in the Greater Accra Region, particularly, at Tuba where you have land that was compulsory acquired by the State and which was not used for the intended purpose and which ought to be returned to the original owners.

Madam Speaker, now, we have the National Security entering in to demolish buildings without any court warrant. This amounts to excessive use of power; arbitrary use of power of the State and Madam Speaker, unless maybe; the Ministry is condoning in this whole exercise of excessive use of power -
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Yes, ten minutes gone, finish up, please.
Mr J. B. Aidoo 11:20 a.m.
Oh! Madam Speaker, I thought I had just spoken for two minutes?
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
No, I was watching
the time -
Mr J. B. Aidoo 11:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it appears that the use of “excessive use of power” - [Laughter.]
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Member, we need to move very fast, you can see from the -
Mr J. B. Aidoo 11:20 a.m.
Yes, Madam Speaker, but the most important thing is that the Ministry is in charge of public lands, therefore, these monies that are given to the Ministry are the taxpayers' money. We want the Ministry to use these monies along the lines of the rule of law.
Madam Speaker, with these, I would

Madam Speaker, with this, I will urge Hon Members to support the Motion.

Thank you.
Mr Herod Cobbina (NDC - Sefwi Akontombra) 11:20 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion for an amount of GH¢98,337,463.00 for the services of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
Madam Speaker, if time will allow me, Hon J. B. Aidoo said the Ministry never thought about the ongoing re- afforestation plantation. He is a member of the Committee and if you look at page 7 of the Committee's Report, it talks seriously about the plantation. It says:
Madam Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Yes, wind up.
Mr Cobbina 11:30 a.m.
Government is about to establish about 170 plantations in all the districts and this may need a lot of money. So I am pleading with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to at least, in future increase the budget for the Ministry so that they can run. For instance, I have about two forest reserves in my district, which have been depleted and if this re-aforestation is organized in the district, I believe it would help in employing a lot of people and Government would also have food plantations and other things in the forest.
Madam Speaker, I talked about ‘observations' in the sense that, if we look at the observation made yesterday when we approved the Communications Budget, there were two serious observations that have been reoccurring every year - internally generated funds (IGFs) for Ghana News Agency and radar for the Meteorological Services Department for weather surveillance for aviation and agriculture. These items have been re- occurring.
Anytime the Budget is to be drawn, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning should look at the observations that we made previously so that it may guide the Ministry to give a lot of money to such sectors of the economy.
With these few words, I beg to ask Parliament to vote and accept the Motion.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Dr Matthew O. Prempeh (NPP -

Manhyia): Madam Speaker, in the year 200l, the President of Ghana launched a plantation project for the whole country's

afforestation with a target of 30,000 hectares per year. In 2009, the President of Ghana relaunched the programme with a target of 20,000. What have we done with the so far planted areas? How are we maintaining them?

Madam Speaker, the Committee noted that we have a poor maintenance culture in this country; that is something that as a House, we have to decide. If we are planting and not maintaining, what are we doing but wasting the taxpayers' money?

Madam Speaker, in the area of the land sector, we have heard so much noise this year and I hope the Hon Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, after giving such an erudite presentation to this House earlier this year, on land sales, acquisitions and leases, the public noise that is being created around, he will give firm policy directions as to where we want to go with State lands.

Madam Speaker, on the issue of plantation -- on the issue of the stability agreement, the Government has in various ways agreed to certain stability clauses in our mining laws and we realize that it is to the disadvantage of certain mining firms. Madam Speaker, it is interesting that Ghana is losing a lot of revenue through these stability laws. Why, Madam Speaker?

Is it that in Ghana here, cocoa farmers are being asked to cough out GH¢200 million to construct feeder roads but we do not collect anything from timber industry and mining industries as a nation to help in the construction of the same roads that this same heavy duty trucks apply and use?

I would like the Hon Minister for Lands and Naturual Resources to listen carefully that what is good for companies that come into this country and avoid paying revenues through stability clauses -- we should not take so much money

from our poor cocoa farmers who work night and day to sustain this country. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
An Hon Member 11:30 a.m.
You do not look
like one.
Dr Prempeh 11:30 a.m.
I do not look like one.
Thank you, Ekua. I am one.
Mr Sampson Ahi 11:30 a.m.
On a point of order.
Madam Speaker, my Hon Colleague is saying that somebody is “Minister in charge of chainsaw operators” but we know in this country that there is no such Minister. We have a Minister responsible for Lands and Natural Resources. So if he has created a new Ministry called “Ministry of chainsaw operators” and he is the Minister, he should let the House know.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Dr Prempeh 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I can understand why my Hon Friend is hard of hearing and I can forgive him. I said the Minister in charge - all chainsaw operators, Madam Speaker, are under the supervision of the Minister. So he is in charge. [Hear! Hear!]. Madam Speaker, I did not say “Minister for chainsaw operators”. I said “Minister in charge of chainsaw operators”.
Madam Speaker, I will like to proceed and finish very soon.
Mr Ahi 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I know my
Mr Ahi 11:30 a.m.


Friend to be a very good Christian and I believe he is not trying to lie. He said emphatically that “Minister in charge of chainsaw” -- sorry “Minister for chainsaw operators”. But we do not have a Minister responsible for chainsaw operators. So he should withdraw that. He should know that what he is doing is to mislead the House and he is only being mischievous. He should withdraw that.
Dr Prempeh 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I will
like to make progress.
In the Committee's Report -
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Well, since he is
insisting, let us rule on it.
Dr Prempeh 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker
- [Interruptions] -- I withdraw the statement.
Madam Speaker, I want to make progress.
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Is he in charge of
galamsey?
Dr Prempeh 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I quote -- the Committee's Report says that the Minister is trying to lincense galamsey operators. The Minister in charge of galamsey operators - [Interruption] - should be well aware that since 2003, in this country, there has been a government's programme called “Small Scale Artesanal Mining Support”. He is aware that the Governmeent sent people to China. So it is something he is following. He should not make it new. If he is converting galamsey to artesanal mining, he should tell Ghanaians and follow the system very well.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mr Francis Adu-Blay Koffie (NDC -- Prestea/Huni-Valley) 11:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I rise to contribute to the Motion on the floor of the House and will narrow it down to the illegal mining operators, popularly known as galamsey.
According to your Committee's Report, the Ministry is trying to streamline or register the illegal mining operators. Galamsey or illegal mining activities have been of great concern to all governments since the late or early l970s.
Madam Speaker, I will appeal to the sector Minister to impress upon the large- scale mining companies to cede part of their concessions where they are not interested in mining to the Minerals Commission for them to also give them out to the small-scale mining operators, thereby reducing the unemployment in the society. If you go to the mining communities, for instance, the youth always engage in this activity by always having problems with the large-scale mining operators.
In order for the Ministry to curtail or at least, minimize the illegal mining activities, there is the need for the mining companies to cede part of their concessions to the Minerals Commission for them to reduce the usual confusion between mining companies and the mining communities.
With these few words, I support the Motion.
Madam Speaker 11:30 a.m.
I think we will call the Minister to wind up.
Alhaji Collins Dauda 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I thank my Colleagues for the support they have given and the interest they have shown in the sector and just wish to make a few factual corrections.
Madam Speaker, Hon Boahen Aidoo indicated that the forest cover of this country now stands at 1.4 million hectares, which is factually inaccurate and what the figure is now is l.5 million hectares of land.
He also said that the annual allowable cut for the year is l.5 cubic metres. Madam Speaker, that has been revised and the present situation is two million that is allowed to be harvested from our forests. These are factual inaccuracies that I thought I should draw attention to.
Madam Speaker, it is unfair for anybody to allude that we have abandoned the management of existing plantations. Madam Speaker, what happens is that, if you develop a plantation and the canopies close, you are sort of relieved because the management of such plantations will not cost you as much as when you are starting a new one.
Therefore, it is important as he himself alluded to, that the extent of degradation is so high (we are told that it is estimated at 65,000 hectares per annum), and the best to do in the circumstance, is to embark upon plantation development. We do not want to be marking time on managing existing plantations without expanding the forest cover of the country.
We are expanding the forest cover while managing the existing plantations. In the lands sub-sector and particularly with regard to the Tuba area where there is some demolition exercise going on, I am surprised that he is looking at the action that is being taken by the security agencies today as arbitrary but refuses to recognize the fact that people who are encroaching, are not also acting arbitrarily.
These lands were acquired for agricultural purposes and all the developments you find in the area are all illegal developments. Therefore, if he wants to talk about arbitrariness, he must begin from the encroachment to the practice of demolition. I thought that I should let him understand
this and appreciate it.
On the small-scale miners, we are trying to develop their capacities; we are not confused about galamsey operations and small-scale mining. I have read the Committee's Report and the Report is clear about small-scale mining as opposed to galamsey operations. What the Ministry is doing is to build the capacity of those who have regularized their activities. That is what we are doing. So, my Friend the medical practitioner and Manhyia Gentleman got himself confused about the distinction between galamsey operations and small-scale mining activities.
I thank my Colleagues for the support they have shown, and I hope to continue to enjoy the support. They are being very generous to us.

Question put and Motion agreed to.

Resolved:

That this Honourable House approves an amount of GH¢98,337,463.00 for the services of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
ANNUAL ESTIMATES 10 a.m.
Minister for Health (Dr Benjamin Kunbuor) 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢987,475,507.00 for the services of the Ministry of Health for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
Over 2010, the Ministry has focused its
Minister for Health (Dr Benjamin Kunbuor) 10 a.m.


activities on achieving the health related Millenium Development Goals (MDG), and we have particularly had challenges with maternal mortality which is MDG (5). We have intensified the increase in the number of midwifery training institutions and converting existing training institutions back to certificate midwifery to beef up the critical human resource for addressing maternal mortality.

In addition, 30 tutors have been sponsored by the Ministry of Health to be trained in midwifery in the University of Cape Coast.

I am happy to announce that at the same period in 2009 where we had a total of 229 guinea worm cases, this has come down to only eight, about the same period in 2010.

Madam Speaker, it is certainly our interest in stepping up surveillance and ensuring that we actually reach eradication in 2011.

National Health Insurance Scheme coverage continues to be scaled up whereas at this time, within 2010, 15.6 million of the population have actually been covered, which represents 66.4 per cent. There are still challenges that are being addressed and we intend to focus on upscaling these developments in 2011.

Primary Health Care will continue in 2011 to be a primary course of action.

Madam Speaker, I urge Hon Members to approve the Motion

Question proposed.
Chairman of the Committee (Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka) 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity. I support the Motion as captured on page 4, item 13 of the Order Paper of today. And in doing so, I read the Report of your Committee.
1.0 Introduction
In accordance with article 179 of the Constitution, the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwabena Duffuor presented the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2011 fiscal year to the House on Thursday, 18th November, 2010.
Pursuant to Standing Orders 140 (4)
and 178 of the House, Madam Speaker referred the draft Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Health to the Committee for consideration and report.
2.0 Deliberations
The Committee held a series of meetings with the following to deliberate on the 2011 draft Annual Estimates:
1. The Deputy Minister for Health,
Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, the Acting Chief Director, Dr Sylvester Anemana as well as Chief Executives, Registrars and Directors of the following agencies and departments:
a. Ministry of Health;
b. Ghana Health Service;
c. Christian Health Association of Ghana;
d. Korle- Bu Teaching Hospital;
e . Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital;
f. Tamale Teaching Hospital;
g. Mental Health Service;
h. National Ambulance Service;
i. National Blood Transfusion
Service; j. National Health Insurance
Scheme;
k. Medical and Dental Council;
l. Pharmacy Council;
m. Nurses and Midwives Council;
n. Traditional Medicine Practice Council;
o. Food and Drugs Board;
p. Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons;
q. Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine; and
r. Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division.
The Committee is grateful to all the officials of the Ministry of Health for the information they provided during deliberations on the Estimates.
3.0 Reference Documents
In considering the draft Annual Estimates for the sector Ministry, the underlisted documents were used as reference materials:
1. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana;
2. The Standing Orders of Parliament of Ghana;
3. The 2010 Budget Statement and
Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana;
4. The 2011 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana;
5. The 2010 draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Health; and
6. The 2011 draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Health.
4.0 Mission Statement of the Ministry
The Mission Statement of the Ministry of Health for the 2011 fiscal year is to continue to improve the health status of all people living in Ghana through the development and promotion of proactive policies for good health and longevity as well as the provision of universal access to basic health services.
It would also be in line with the
achievements of the health-related MDGs by 2015, concentrate on improving health outcomes by targeting resources towards the health of women and children, prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
5.0 Objectives
The Ministry operates by the objectives cited below in pursuance of its Mission Statement and Policy within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF):
1. bridge equity gaps in access to healthcare and nutrition services and ensure sustainable financing arrangements that protect the poor;
2. improve governance and ensure efficiency and effectiveness in health service delivery;
3. improve access to quality maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health services;
4. intensify prevention and control to communicable and non- communicable diseases and promote a healthy lifestyle; and
5. strengthen institutional care, including mental health service delivery.
6 . 0 R e v i e w o f t h e M i n i s t r y 's Performance in 2010
6.1 Funds allocated
In promoting the objectives of the Ministry of Health, an amount of seven hundred and twenty-six million, eight hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and forty-two Ghana cedis (GH¢726,871,442) was allocated for its activities for 2010.
The breakdown is as follows: The amount provided was committed to the following activities:
Performance in 2010
In 2010, the Ministry of Health focused on its core objectives of delivering accessible, affordable and quality health
Chairman of the Committee (Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka) 10 a.m.


services to all by undertaking interventions to improve health service delivery and reduce the inequality gap.

To support improvement in emergency health services, 400 personnel are being trained as Emergency Medical Technicians. In addition, the Government initiated the process of procuring a total of 375 ambulances to provide the necessary capacity to the National Ambulance Service (NAS), which currently, has only 24 ambulances. Currently Parliament has given approval for the purchase of 150 ambulances out of the 375 expected to be procured.

Control of Guinea Worm Disease

Under the guinea worm control, eight cases were detected in 2010 as against 229 in the same period in 2009. Surveillance has been stepped up in endemic areas to ensure an early eradication of the disease by 2011.

Malnutrition

To reduce malnutrition in infants and children, the Ministry embarked on

a complementary feeding programme for infants and children. In line with this objective, the Ministry organised training in infant and young children's nutrition and also developed training materials to provide nutritional assessment and counselling support. Additionally, the Ministry implemented essential nutrition actions in all the regions aimed at preventing neonatal deaths, and enhancing health services for children.

National Health Insurance Scheme

(NHIS)

The National Health Insurance Scheme continued to provide financial risk protection against the cost of basic/ standard quality healthcare for all registered members with an estimated coverage of 66.4 per cent (15.6 million) of the population as at June 2010. Outstanding arrears of payment to providers between 2007 and 2008 have also been made.

The implementation of the NHIS has generated astronomical growth in healthcare utilization from about 600,000 in 2005 to 19,000,000 as at June 2010. Claims payment has consequently risen

Space for table - - page 7 - 11.40 a.m.

from GH¢18 million in 2005 to over GH¢384 million in December 2009. This calls for additional revenue measures to fill growing funding gap for the NHIA.

Primary Health Care Services

To enhance access to primary health care, the number of functional Community Health (Based) Planning Service (CHPS) zones were increased from 868 to 911. Further to this, a training manual was developed and piloted to be used in the training of CHPS committee members. This training manual is for training Regional Co-ordinators to enhance efficiency in access through the CHPS concept.

A multi-disciplinary team has finalized the referral policy, which has been adopted by the Ministry and its stakeholders. However, full implementation of the policy will take effect after a system for international referrals has been incorporated into the document.

Health Laws and Regulations

Nine Bills have been approved by Cabinet but six have been forwarded to Parliament for approval as part of the Health Sector Legal Reform initiated in early 2000. They include Health Co-ordinating Council, Mental Health, the Public Health and Traditional and Alternative Medicine Bills. Communicable Diseases

The conceptual framework for the Health Promotion Officers project was launched with the target of training 2,500 health workers while 600,000 Rapid Diagnostic Test kits were supplied for confirmation of malaria cases. Additionally, 70 health workers have

also been equipped with skills to provide training for other health workers on the Home Management of Malaria, Diarrhoea and Acute Respiratory Infections.

Human Resource Development

The post-basic certificate midwifery training programme which was cancelled in 2006 has been re-introduced. In line with this, five new midwifery training colleges have been opened, and additional five existing colleges have also been made to offer this course. This will enable the requisite numbers of midwives to be produced to support the high workload brought about by the introduction of the free maternal healthcare.

There is an increase in the production of nurses within various categories, namely, SRN, CHN, Health Care Assistants and Midwives. A committee of the Ministry has reviewed incentive packages for attracting Medical Doctors to serve in deprived communities.

Traditional Medicine Practice

As part of Government's efforts to improve traditional medicine practice, 15 BSc Herbal Medicine Graduates have been recruited for deployment through orientation while a database of information on herbal medicine and clinical data has been pre-tested and ready for use in the herbal medicine units. In addition, practitioners have been trained to form business co-operatives for assistance to operate common manufacturing facilities owned by the co-operatives.

Health Infrastructure

For infrastructural development, the main projects included the completion of Winneba District Hospital, 100-bed general hospital with Malaria Research Centre at Teshie, 21 health centres with OPEC funding and 5 polyclinics at Kpandai, Tatale, Janga, Chereponi,
Chairman of the Committee (Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka) 10 a.m.
and Karaga in the Northern Region, to improve access to health services. Feasibility studies for the development of a specialized Maternity and Children's Hospital at Ridge Hospital have also been undertaken. 7.0 Allocation for the 2011 Fiscal Year
7.1 Funds allocated
For the 2011 fiscal year, an amount of nine hundred and eighty-seven million, four hundred and seventy-five thousand, five hundred and seven Ghana cedis (GH¢ 987,475,507.00) has been allocated to

ensure a successful implementation of the programmes of the Ministry of Health. This provision does not include that of the National Health Insurance Fund Allocation.

The breakdown is as follows:

7.2 Activities for the 2011 fiscal year

The funds when provided would be committed to the following activities:

Outlook for 2011

In line with the achievements of the health related MDG's by 2015,

Government will continue to concentrate on improving health outcomes by targeting resources towards the health of women and children, prevention and control of

communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Health of women, neonates, infants and children

The sector will implement the National Child Health Policy and strategy which seeks to increase access to maternal, new born and child health services (MNCH).

Bridging equity gaps in access to health services

In line with the sector, Medium Term Development Plan, in 2011, the Ministry

will accelerate the implementation of CHPS Strategy in underserved areas through the involvement of District Assemblies. Thirteen uncompleted and ongoing CHPS compounds will be completed, while an additional 30 will be constructed and equipped to be functional. Government will also seek the required funds for the completion of about 391 uncompleted health infrastructural projects dotted around the country.

Health training institutions will be expanded and renovated while basic utilities such as water and electricity will

Space for table - page 10 - 11.40 a.m

be provided in institutions where these facilities are lacking. In addition, beds will be provided to remove patients on the floor.

Institutional care

Following the presentation of the Mental Health Act, the Ministry will develop a subsidiary legislation and adopt a community mental healthcare strategy to facilitate the implementation of the Act. The Ministry's mission of “Never Deny Care” will be pursued vigorously in all health facilities.

Prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases

To strengthen the control and prevention of disease in 2011, the Ministry will strengthen surveillance, reporting and emergency response systems. Case detection and management at health facility level will be improved and vector control strategy scaled up. The Ministry will in addition restructure all monitoring and evaluation units under optimal performance.

The sector will also intensify healthy lifestyle promotion by implementing Behaviour Enhancing Communication. To this end, public health education will be intensified with the state-of-the-art communication.

National Health Insurance Scheme

(NHIS)

The Scheme will continue to provide financial risk protection against the cost of basic quality healthcare for all citizens in Ghana. In addition, the implementation of the integrated ICT platform project will be scaled up while work will continue with Ministry of Employment and Social

Welfare to identify the very poor for subsidized NHIS membership. Efforts will also be made to intensify clinical audit of claims in operations to improve cost-containment.

Human Resources Strategy

Government will focus on scaling up the production of middle level cadres such as community psychiatric nurses, midwives, medical assistants, laboratory technologists and core auxiliary staff and also develop a human resource redeployment plan based on revised staffing norms.

The Ministry will provide training and certification to more preceptors and implement the internet Human Resources System (iHRIS) software nationwide scale- up plan.

Health Infrastructure

The construction works on district hospitals at Tarkwa and Bekwai, four regional hospitals and staff housing at Wa, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Tema for doctors, nurses, midwives and other paramedics will be carried out. Other projects to be undertaken include the refurbishment of the Tamale Teaching Hospital and the expansion of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine centres at Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals and the construction of six district hospitals at Adenta/ Madina, Twifo Praso, Konongo-Odumase, Nsawkaw, Tepa and Salaga.

Blood transfusion centres will be

established at the teaching hospitals in Kumasi and Accra. In addition, construction works will be carried out on 12 district hospitals with two at Kumawu and Effiduase in the Sekyere East District and 10 in the Krobo areas in the Eastern Region and other newly-created districts without district hospitals.
Chairman of the Committee (Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka) 10 a.m.


special permit to vehicles imported by the Ministry of Health.

Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

The Committee noted that works on the maternity block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital are only 50 per cent complete although it commenced in 1975. It was explained that the project cannot be supported by investment votes of the Ministry due to its size and so efforts are being made to secure a loan to ensure its completion. The Committee urges the Ministry to seek the required funds to ensure completion of the project.

The Committee was further informed of the frequent breakdown of the two CT scan machines at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital as well as long delays in repairs due to difficulties in the contractual agreement between the hospital and the service provider. The Committee recommends that the contractual agreement should be reconsidered to ensure optimal function of the CT scan machines.

Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

The Committee noted with concern the emergence of National Centres of Excellence at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The Committee recommends that the Ministry should ensure that structures are put in place to streamline the operations of these National Centres of Excellence.

National Ambulance Service

The Committee was pleased to note that although the National Ambulance Service is currently under-resourced with regard to ambulances and spares parts, a loan agreement has been secured to provide them with 150 more ambulances.

The Committee was further informed

that the service hopes to establish thirty more ambulance stations across the country for the benefit of all Ghanaians. To ensure proper handling of these ambulances ,400 personnel from across the country would be trained at an identified centre in Offinsu North District.

The Committee urges the National Ambulance Service to establish a maintenance unit to ensure the timely repair of ambulances that breakdown and a regular supply of spare parts. The Committee further recommends that the process by which the NHIA reimburses the National Ambulance Service should be streamlined to ensure regular funding.

Pharmacy Council

The Committee realised that the Pharmacy Council could not complete inspection of all registered pharmacies due to lack of personnel and vehicles. The Council currently has only one officer at its Tamale office responsible for inspecting pharmacies in all the three regions in the North. The Committee recommends that approval should be given to the Council to recruit more personnel.

The Committee again noted that the council is running a pilot programme by licensing district pharmacies to operate at deprived areas of the country. The Committee recommends strict supervision of these pharmacies to ensure they operate as expected.

Nurses and Midwives Council

The Committee was informed that the Council is still grappling with inadequate office space because its office complex started in 2005 is still uncompleted. The Committee urges the Ministry to speed up negotiations with the contractor to ensure early completion of the facility.

Mental Health

It was observed that all the three mental hospitals owe their service providers because the allocation made in 2010 for Service was woefully inadequate considering their commitments towards food, water, clothing and drugs. Currently, they require an amount of GH¢ 15 million to settle all arrears. The Committee is of the opinion that there should be a paradigm shift in solving the problems of mental health and therefore urges the Ministry of Health to critically consider the problems of the mental hospitals and adopt pragmatic measures at solving them.

Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons

The Committee was informed that tutors at the College have not been paid their allowances for the past three years because an amount of GH¢ 2,403,000 owed the College by the Ministry of Health has not been paid. The Committee urges the Ministry to commit funds to the payment of the allowances owed to the College to forestall future strikes by the tutors.

Christian Health Association of Ghana

The Committee realised that the Christian Health Association of Ghana did not fully disclose its IGF although it is funded by Government of Ghana. The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Health should ensure that the Association makes a full disclosure of its IGF.

9.0 Conclusion

The Ministry of Health's objective of delivering accessible, affordable and quality health services to all by undertaking interventions to improve

health delivery and reduce the inequality gap in health delivery requires that adequate resources are committed to the sector.

Regarding the fact that most of the departments and agencies in the Ministry depend mostly on their internally generated funds, it would be ideal to increase Investment and Administrative allocations of the Ministry to ensure that the MDGs 4, 5, and 6 are achieved by the year 2015.
Madam Speaker 10 a.m.
Somebody is trying to pound - Somebody is misusing the -
Mr John Agyabeng 10 a.m.
Thank you Madam Speaker -
Madam Speaker 10 a.m.
No, no! You do not misuse it like that; we have to change the heads every so often.
Mr Agyabeng 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, as a member of the Committee,--
Madam Speaker 10 a.m.
But that is not the way to call my attention, is it? Let him finish. Let him finish; we will come to you.
Mr Agyabeng 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it is a point of order, that is why --
Madam Speaker 10 a.m.
A point of order when he is seconding a Motion? Is he wrong?
Mr Agyabeng 10 a.m.
This Report has not been laid formally. That is why I want the Chairman to make sure that our Report is properly laid before it can be given to the House to debate on it.
Some Hon Members 10 a.m.
When? When?
Alhaji Muntaka 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, it was laid on Friday. Yes, the Report was laid on Friday.
Madam Speaker 10 a.m.
All right, let us investigate this. [Pause.]
If it is not laid, it will be laid; let us not waste much time over this. It could be laid and we take it later.
Clerk - Hon Member, what date of proceedings are you holding now? Which date is that since you said it is not in it? I believe it was laid on Friday.
Mr Agyabeng 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker --
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Hon Members, I
have documentary evidence. I am holding Friday, 10th December - let us thrash this thing -- Please, let me finish. I notice that paragraph 7 of the Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 10th December, 2010 says the following Papers were laid and that the Hon Chairman of the Committee, Hon Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka presented the Report of the Committee on Health Annual Budget Estimates.
Alhaji Muntaka 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
let me say that what just happened is a great breach of trust. I am saying this because on Friday, the Ranking Member was not there, and the Deputy Ranking Member was here. He and I met. When we met, we agreed even though the

Report was supposed to be then circulated immediately after laying, they had some concerns that he said we should look at.

We agreed as leaders of the Committee that despite those concerns, we should lay it because of time so that we can then look at those concerns, and that was what happened. So, if any Hon Member is saying this was not laid, I am happy that the record of this House has clearly indicated that this thing was properly laid.

Madam Speaker, this is a House of procedure. If my Colleague felt that on Friday, it was not proper for it to be laid, that was when he should have raised it and not when we are reading the Report. I feel very strongly against what he has done. It is completely wrong --
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Hon Member, but you yourself has said that you agreed to lay and then to go and meet on certain things. Did that meeting take place?
Alhaji Muntaka 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
yes. The meeting took place and we allowed those concerns that they had to be incorporated. That was done.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Hon Members,
I am trying to find out from the list of persons present whether the Hon Member was here. This is because he is being challenged that he was not even here. But I think his name is here and the Report, is that it was laid by him.
Mr Ambrose P. Dery 11:50 a.m.
Madam
Speaker, I think that we are for work in this House and we should co-operate. But when the Chairman of the Committee says that the Ranking Member was not there but that
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Hon Member, I do not think we should belabour this one.
Mr Dery 11:50 a.m.
The Ranking Member was here.
Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Let us stand it
down so that things could be put right -- Please, I want to stand this down so that this matter is looked into and if there is a mistake somewhere, we correct it and we bring it back. That is my attitude. I am not saying that I believe this one, I do not believe that one. Let us check this, put our House in order. During the course of the day, we can take it and continue from where the objection was raised.
So, I thank you.
  • [Resumption of debates at column 3317]
    • Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
    Let us move to the next Motion. Hon Acting Leader, have you got a Motion ready to be moved? We do not want to waste too much time on these matters.
    Alhaji Pelpuo 11:50 a.m.
    Madam Speaker, I think that there is a feeling that we take Motion number 7 which is for Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
    Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
    Is the Hon Minister
    here?
    Alhaji Pelpuo 11:50 a.m.
    Madam Speaker, the
    Hon Minister is unavoidably absent but his Deputy is here to move the Motion, if my Colleagues will indulge him.
    Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
    When you say
    unavoidably absent, is he dealing with any matters for this House?
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11:50 a.m.
    Madam
    Speaker, if my Leader will permit me, indeed, when it comes to Government's business in the House, this is probably the most important, if not one of the most
    important.
    I have noted that it seems as a matter of practice, Ministers are not appearing to move these Motions. It is not for nothing that Ministers are supposed to move these Motions; because these are probably the occasions where Hon Members can express concerns in respect of matters relating to their Ministries and Government representatives should be able to give authoritative answers or even undertakings.
    So, I am encouraging the Hon Deputy Majority Leader to advise Ministers to endeavour to be present. It is just an appeal that I am making. We should not treat it as just a matter of course that, well, if Hon Members will oblige, the Deputy Minister is here. It is not as if the Minority is being too difficult. So, I am appealing, Madam Speaker, to Government to get the Ministers to be here to move these Motions.
    Madam Speaker 11:50 a.m.
    Hon Member, it
    is an advice.
    Alhaji Pelpuo noon
    Madam Speaker, the advice is well taken. But the explanations are often given and it is the true situation that the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is meeting the Leaders right now as we are talking. Yes, it is important that we explain this. He said that they were consistently absent. The Hon Minister for Health was just here to move his Motion; the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports is there. Whenever it is possible, the Hon Ministers are here.
    Madam Speaker, we cannot have a
    perfect situation where every time we are complaining to the public and saying that Hon Ministers are not here when we all know that it is not possible that at all times we can have them here. It is all over
    Madam Speaker noon
    Order! Let us
    hear him.
    Alhaji Pelpuo noon
    Madam Speaker, it
    is important for them to take note that it is not all the time that we can have Hon Ministers here and when they are not here, the Hon Deputies are often acceptable.
    We are calling on them, we are craving
    their indulgence, to accept the situation where Hon Ministers are not there and their Hon Deputies are here.
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah noon
    Madam
    Madam Speaker noon
    Order!
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah noon
    Madam
    Speaker, if backbenchers make such statements, I am not incensed but when it comes from Leadership, then it appears as if Leadership itself does not appreciate the work that it is doing. To say that it is not always possible -
    Madam Speaker noon
    Order! Let us hear
    the Hon Member; let us hear him.
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah noon
    Madam

    Speaker, I will want to convey a message to the Majority Bench that, the Minority can become obstructionists but that is not its business. So when he makes such statements like that it is as if he thinks we are becoming irresponsible and I take exception to it.
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah noon
    Madam
    Madam Speaker noon
    Order!
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah noon
    Madam
    Speaker, Friday, the Hon Minister was not here; nobody could answer a question and we had to adjourn and when we say it, he says it is all over the internet. The Hon Deputy Majority Leader was not here, his Leader was not here. What business do they have to leave this House and go somewhere? They should know their priorities.
    Madam Speaker, thank you very much.
    We should not allow these things to go
    on. What does he mean?
    Alhaji Pelpuo noon
    Madam Speaker, we
    are simply craving their indulgence to take note of the fact that we are not in a perfect situation. There are times when Hon Ministers cannot be here. It is my duty as the Hon Deputy Majority Leader now to explain that there are instances
    where we cannot have the Hon Ministers here and we will call on them and please crave the indulgence of the House to allow Hon Deputy Ministers to represent them.
    It is not to say that they do not have the right to question it but it is to say that we are requesting them to come to the understanding that the reality dawns on us once in a while for Hon Deputy Ministers to represent their Hon Ministers.
    Mr Dery noon
    Madam Speaker, Hon
    Cecilia Dapaah has had an occasion to praise Hon Ministers for being present in this Chamber; we have done that. Last Friday, that was the commendation.
    Madam Speaker, the Hon Deputy
    Majority Leader made an application so that we could oblige the Hon Deputy Minister to stand in place of the substantive Minister. Then all Hon Papa Owusu- Ankomah said was, before I got up to state our position, he needed to express a concern. Then that brings the Hon Deputy Majority Leader back on his feet and then he takes off at a tangent, accusing us of making statements that are on the internet and what have you.
    Madam Speaker, when the Hon Deputy
    Majority Leader was not here, we were here. Monday, Tuesday, where was he? He was not here. I think that on Tuesday, I allowed the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to speak and I am inclined to allow any Hon Deputy Minister who is here to do so. But the important thing is that this is a Budget and we should allow comments which are constructive.
    If the Hon Minister for Health can be here, if the Hon Minister for Lands and Natural Resources can be here, if the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports can be here, there is nothing wrong with the Minority reminding Hon Ministers that they should take this House seriously. And I think that
    it is unfortunate for my Colleague, the Hon Deputy Majority Leader to make the statement that he made. [An Hon Member: He should withdraw it.] Yes.
    Madam Speaker, we suspended Sitting
    on Friday; the First Deputy Speaker suspended Sitting and expressed concern about the attitude of Hon Ministers to this. It was on the internet. Was it the act of the Minority?
    Madam Speaker, I think that we should
    co-operate in this House and there should be mutual respect; yes, there should be.

    Yesterday, when it came to the first oil, we decided, Leadership decided and stated on the floor here that we were going to stay back and work and we expect Hon Ministers to take Government business as seriously as we do.

    Madam Speaker, I think that we will deal with the applications on a case by case basis but let no one take us for granted.
    Madam Speaker noon
    Yes, I thank you,
    Hon Member.
    Hon Members, to get any work done, we have to co-operate here. It is Hon Ministers, when they are listed, who have to come and move Motions. When they cannot for unavoidable reasons, you ask Madam Speaker, with the consent of the other side, which is normally granted.
    So Hon Deputy Majority Leader, I think, to say that it is they who make these observations which are recorded on the internet, they want you to withdraw that. Any observation made in this House is
    Madam Speaker noon


    made for the House and it is not done just to demean any other person, and they want you to withdraw that part.

    I think you should, so that we work in co-operation. I will be grateful if you do that.
    Alhaji Pelpuo 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I understand what the mood of the House is. But indeed, I think that I have to be understood as well, coming from another angle on the same issue --
    Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
    Hon Member, I understand you by saying -- withdraw that part.
    Alhaji Pelpuo 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, let me make my statement.
    Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
    Withdraw that part that they make these comments which appear on the internet. It is not only them; I make them; your side also make them. Anything that is made in this House is for the good of the House. If the implication of what you said was that it is they who make work difficult, then I am asking that that part be withdrawn.
    Alhaji Pelpuo 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, the statement I made is not to give them an image that they are thinking. If that is what they are thinking, that I am saying they are the ones responsible for the internet broadcast and all that, I withdraw that.
    But importantly, I am in charge of Government business and I have to give explanations where Ministers are. And so I feel that I have the responsibility sometimes to explain it and that was the reason I tried to explain.
    Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
    The explanation went too far; you have withdrawn that part and so Hon Members, that ends the matter. Shall we go on?
    Mr Dery 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I think we understand the peculiar situation of the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning for today, so we would allow the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to move the Motion.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker 12:10 p.m.
    Order, let us listen
    to the Motion.
    Carry on.
    Mr Terkpeh 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, in so doing, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is mindful of its responsibility of ensuring growth and employment within a sustainable and stable environment for growth and development.
    Madam Speaker, the Ministry within the context of the 2011 Budget, the Medium- Term Expenditure Framework, which is also contained in the Budget document as well as the Ghana SHEP growth and development agenda, which will shortly be placed before this House, will pursue economic strategy programmes and also put in place the framework for a Public
    Financial Management Programme that would ensure that it builds appropriate capacity to manage the affairs of the country more efficiently.
    Madam Speaker, the Ministry is also mindful of the fact that we are in a very significant period of transition. Indeed, the events that are taking place in the Western Region today mark one of these significant transitions into an oil era. Madam Speaker, as you are aware, it is for this reason that this House is also working with the Ministry to put in place the framework for the effective management of our oil resources going forward from
    2011.
    The economy,, based on the rebasing exercise, has also transitioned into a middle income status. These put a lot of significant responsibilities on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. Among the activities that it is carrying include the installation of the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System, the Ghana Revenue Reforms are also ongoing and the Ministry is embarking on a performance-based budgeting system.
    Madam Speaker, it is for these and other various activities of the Ministry that I humbly request that this august House approves the sum of GH¢178,559,490.00 for its services.
    Question proposed.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I rise to support the Motion. And in doing so, I present your Committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    The 2011 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) were laid in the House on Thursday, 18th November, 2010 and referred to the Committee on Finance for consideration and report in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Order 140(4) of the Standing Orders of the House. This followed the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2011 financial year by the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Dr Kwabena Duffuor.
    To consider the Ministry's 2011 Annual Estimates, the Committee met with the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Fiifi Kwetey as well as officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and its departments and agencies and reports as follows:
    2.0 Reference documents
    In considering the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Committee referred to and/ or was guided by the following:
    i The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
    i i . Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana; and
    iii. The Budget Statement and Econo- mic Policy of the Government of Ghana fo r the 2011 financial year.
    3.0 Background
    The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning exists to ensure economic growth with stability for the promotion of sustainable development of Ghana and
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:10 p.m.


    her people through:

    the formulation and implementation of sound financial, fiscal and monetary policies;

    the efficient mobilisation, allocation and management of financial resources;

    establishing and disseminating performance-oriented guidelines and accurate user-friendly financial management information system; and

    creating an enabling environment for investment. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Ministry is committed to the pursuit of excellence, transparency, probity and accountability in the management of financial resources.

    4.0 Objectives and Targets

    The primary objectives and targets for the Ministry among others are:

    t o i m p r o v e a n d s u s t a i n macroeconomic stability and growth;

    to improve f i sca l r e source mobilisation;

    to formulate and implement sound macroeconomic policies;

    to allocate and manage financial resources efficiently, effectively and rationally;

    to account for all public finances properly and to improve public expenditure management;

    to promote effective and efficient debt management;

    to deepen the capital markets and create a more diversified financial sector;

    to improve the human resources and logistical support base of the Ministry and its agencies; and

    to mobi l i se resources f rom domestic and external sources, with authorization from Parliament, and advise Government on the total resources to be allocated to the public sector.

    The Ministry will also continue to pursue its mandate of ensuring macro- economic stability and prudent fiscal policy management.

    5.0 2010 Allocations and Outturn

    For the 2010 financial year, the

    Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning was allocated a total budget of GH¢125,052,510.00 made up of G H ¢ 8 5 , 4 0 8 , 7 2 5 . 0 0 f r o m G o G , GH¢1,770,100.00 from internally generated Funds, GH¢1,483,000.00 of HIPC and GH¢36,390,685.00 from donor sources for the activities of all cost centres of the Ministry.

    Actual outturn as at 31st October, 2010 was as follows:

    GoG disbursement --

    GH¢61,269,630.90

    IGF retention and utilisation --

    GH¢1,772,308.30

    HIPC disbursement --

    GH¢995,070.00

    Donor disbursement --

    GH¢70,060,000.00
    TOTAL -- 12:10 p.m.
    Madam Speaker 12:20 p.m.
    We have two quick five minutes' contributions from each side.

    Ranking Member of the Committee (Dr Anthony A. Osei): Thank you, Madam Speaker, for allowing me to support Motion number 7 on page 3 of the Order Paper that this House approves the sum of GH¢178,559,490.00 for the services of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the year ending 31st December, 2011.

    Madam Speaker, as you heard from the

    Deputy Minister and the Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Ministry's budget covers lots of agencies under it.

    Madam Speaker, there are a few things that we ought to note about the Ministry, that is, it is supposed to, as it were, lead us in charting the course of economic management for the country and therefore, it assumes a very central role in economic management in this country. Madam Speaker, for that reason, it is very important that when we find a few hiccups in the Ministry, we bring them to the attention of the Ministry so they can be corrected.

    Madam Speaker, if you read the

    Committee's Report on the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) at page 11,
    SPACE FOR APPENDIX - 12:20 p.m.
    Mr Alfred W. G. Abayateye (NPP - Sege) 12:30 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to support the Motion and to ask all Hon Members to approve the sum allocated to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
    Madam Speaker, the Ministry this year was able to produce preparatory work for the introduction of the programme-based budgeting and this was undertaken and a budget strategy paper was introduced. The Ministry again carried out a study on fiscal decentralization to facilitate its implementation. MOFEP this year, also built a capacity programme in public

    procurement for both private and public sectors. Again, the Ministry, this year, undertook financial sector development activities and established the contract management database. The Ministry again prepared and published the second Annual External Financing Report, among others.

    Finally, they continued with the preparatory work on the implementation of the Ghana Integrated Financial Managment Information System (GIFMIS) project.

    Madam Speaker, the coming year, the Ministry plans to carry out five policy- objectives, which I would \not like to mention. But some are here, including strengthening economic planning and forecasting to ensure development of strategic sectors; formulate and implement sound microeconomic policies; improve accessibility and use of existing database for policy formulation; analysis and decision-making; accelerate economic integration with other regional and sub- regional States; create a more diversified financial sector and improve access to financial services and then deepen the capital market.

    Madam Speaker, to carry out all these policy issues, you need to be resourced well. But due to the lack of resources to the State, the Ministry has been given this meagre sum. There are various sensitive units the Ministry works with. We know of the Statistical Service, Controller and Accountant-General and others. But with these activities to be carried out in the year, the resources are not there, therefore, you need to manage the little you have.

    Madam Speaker, you cannot work without human resource and with the GIFMIS there is the need to check out the ghost names to have a proper record so that money is spent judiciously. We need to build the capacity of the staff, human resource development, the need for further trainings in the whole country. The world now is in a computer age; so we need resources to carry out these issues.

    I want to use this opportunity to call on every Ghanaian to contribute to the building of the country. We need to pay our taxes, we need to pay our tickets -- if you are trading in the market and the ticket sellers are coming, you need to be available so that they give you the ticket and the little money you have is used for the country. Some of us are noted for -- when the tax collectors are coming to collect taxes -- We the hairdressers, the drivers, the tailors are noted for locking our kiosks, and I want to use this opportunity, if we want our nation to develop, we need to contribute our little for the benefit of the nation.

    With these few words, I want to urge all to support this Motion so that this little money is given to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the proper running of the country.

    Thank you very much.
    Madam Speaker 12:30 p.m.
    Hon Member, thank you very much. I think we should close the debate now and put the Question -- [Pause]
    Hon Members, I have not got a winding up yet. I think I was moving too fast.
    Hon Deputy Minister, a few words to wind up. I hope you took into account all that has been said?
    I am sorry.
    Mr Terkpeh 12:30 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I would be brief. I will just respond to a couple of points that were made.
    On the first issue of the arrears, the Ranking Member to the Committee did indicate that there was no indication as to a road map. Madam Speaker, precisely on page 231, at paragraph 934 of the Budget Statement, the Minister did indicate that and with your permission, I quote:
    “We will come back to this august House shortly with additional proposals on the management of arrears and commitments.”
    This was after he had indicated that this had become a very major issue for the Government. Indeed, the arrears we are talking about are not entirely new. The bulk of them were incurred years back.
    Secondly, Madam Speaker, I also wish to address the issue of Item 1. Madam Speaker, with the improvement in the IPPD system as the Committee was told, we would move towards decentralizing the budget system for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have some control over this item as, indeed, is the plan when it comes to the implementation or improvement in arrears situation.
    With this, Madam Speaker, I wish to thank and urge Hon Members to vote for the Motion.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢178,559,490.00 for the services of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the year ending 31st December,
    2011.
    Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 12:30 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I crave your indulgence, because you go on to the next Motion, to just raise an issue which might be of interest and which might be a novelty in this House.
    Some of us come religiously to listen to the debates; we would ordinarily have liked to participate in each and every debate, because we do have views to present, and then the Ministers hopefully, would take note of these and then adjust their programmes accordingly.
    As it turns out to be, the Budget is always a bit late, and so we are rushed and only two people give their views. I think under the circumstances, most of
    Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
    I thank you, Hon
    Member. I think you are right; everybody would want to contribute to everything here; it is time that is against us. And we have to manage the time. We have already moved the closing time from 17th to the 21st and all that. So what you have said is true; we will try - if the Budget had come earlier, like we were pressing, we would have had more time to do it.
    As for the second point, even though you do not find Clerks writing, these are
    recorded and when they read the Votes and Proceedings, everything is there and they would take note. You do not have to bring them to write. Of course, it is a suggestion; it is nice to see them writing and taking notes. But I am sure if they were to go to the Votes and Proceedings, they would also see the contributions which the Hon Ministers are urged to take note of.
    But I thank you.
    rose
    Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Muntaka, I stood down your matter; anything to refer -
    Alhaji Muntaka 12:40 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, we have consulted each other and we have come to some agreement.
    Madam Speaker, let me start by saying that I will have to apologise to the Hon Ranking Member when I said he was not in the House. He was actually not in the Chamber at the time that we were doing the consultation; not that he was not in the House. So I am really very sorry for that.
    The agreement was that we did lay the Paper -- it was laid. We reminded each other that we did lay it.
    So Madam Speaker, with your indulgence, we can continue now.
    Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
    Well, I thank you. That is why I stand down these things so that you would resolve them. So let us continue then, you were seconding the Motion. Can we do it quickly, please?
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 12:40 p.m.
  • [Resumption of debates from Col. 3258.]
    • Alhaji Muntaka 12:40 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, in conclusion, Madam Speaker, “the

    Ministry of Health's objective of delivering accessible affordable and quality health services to all by undertaking interventions to improve health delivery and reduce the inequality gap in health delivery requires that adequate resources are committed to the sector.

    Regarding the fact that most of the departments and agencies in the Ministry depend mostly on their internally generated funds, it would be ideal to increase Investment and Administration allocations of the Ministry to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6 are achieved by the year 2015.

    Madam Speaker, “these notwith- standing, the Committee recommends that the House approves the amount of GH¢987,475,508.00 for the activities of the Ministry of Health for the 2011 fiscal year.

    Madam Speaker, I do submit.

    Thank you very much.

    Ranking Member of the Committee (Dr Richard W. Anane): Madam Speaker, I am grateful for being given the opportunity to associate with this Motion -
    Madam Speaker 12:40 p.m.
    I wish you would not take more than ten minutes.
    Dr Anane 12:40 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I would want to go straight, first, to the Mission Statement of the Ministry.
    Madam Speaker, the Mission Statement of the Ministry emphasises that the Ministry would continue to improve upon the health status of all people living in Ghana through the development and
    promotion of proactive policies for good health and longevity as well as the provision of universal access to basic health service. Madam Speaker, it also went on to say that it will be in line with the achievements of the health related Millennium Development Goals.
    Madam Speaker, looking at the Budget, it is difficult for some of us to decipher any element of proactiveness with respect to the Millennium Development Goals. Indeed, when one looks at the Budget document itself, the main thing on the Millennium Development Goal, especially Goal 5, which is very important to us and where we are performing abysmally, is on page 147, paragraph 584 and it states --
    “Madam Speaker, supervised delivery by mid-year in 2010 was 21.9 per cent compared with 12.1 per cent in the same period in 2009.”
    Madam Speaker, this is a matter of concern to some of us and I believe to all of us because this kind of approach does not really show any element of commitment. And I would want to call on the Ministry to take note and to show more commitment. This is because if we are able to attack our Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, I am sure, Madam Speaker, we would be going somewhere.
    Madam Speaker, it is because of this that I want us to look at the Budget. Looking at the Budget for the Ministry for the year 2010, Madam Speaker, you would notice that for the total budget of about GH¢726,871,442.00 for 2010, about 62.5 per cent of the part of the \budget needed for administration, service and investment activities which are Items 2, 3 and 4, about 62.5 per cent is contributed to by internally generated funds (IGFs).
    Dr Anane 12:50 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, especially, looking at investments, out of a total investment expenditure of GH¢102,742,269.00, 54 per cent is by IGF and of the total, GH¢8.6 million is contributed by the Government of Ghana; about GH¢34 million is contributed by donor community. Madam Speaker, I am showing this to show our level of commitment to what we want to achieve.
    Madam Speaker, for the year 2011 again, looking at the budget, a total budget of GH¢987,475,508.00, about 61.3 per cent is being contributed to by internally Generated funds (IGFs), when the PE, that is, Item 1 is taken out. Madam Speaker, the disturbing issue for me is, when you again come to investment, where out of GH¢249,688,264.00, here 27.7 is contri- buted to by the IGFs.
    Madam Speaker, it is based on the fact that this is the Estimate for the year. We are yet to go to see how disbursements are going to be given. But of this, GH¢83,506,207.00 is from donor sources. Madam Speaker, of this, the Government of Ghana component is GH¢4.2 million. This is where our worry is and it tells you about the commitment of our Government to the issue of investment activities in the Ministry of Health.
    Madam Speaker, again, when the issue of health insurance was raised, it was raised because the insurance as a scheme, was instituted to help save our health front from the problems; ever increasing problems of access, especially financial access. What is worrying the Committee and I do believe the House and Members of Parliament and the public, is the fact that, yes, there is a statutory fund to be created -- the National Health Insurance Fund, and accruals are supposed to be moved from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to the National Health Insurance Fund. Madam Speaker, what
    we find is that there is always belated transfers from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to the National Health Insurance Fund. This is because we tend to have problems.
    Even though the National Health Insurance Fund and the National Health Insurance Scheme are telling the world that they have been able to make payments; they are able to make payments, Madam Speaker, based on the fact that they had to de-invest moneys that were invested to accrue some interest to ensure that the Fund increases in strength to be used to pay for arrears that ought to have been paid and to be paid for service providers.
    Madam Speaker, if this continues, what we are going to be faced with is a collapse of the system and therefore, we would want to make an appeal to the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to take note of the requisite legal provision, that is, asking the Ministry of Finance Economic Planning to ensure that these transfers are made to the Fund, so that at the end of the day, this Fund can stand the test of time and be able to cater for the needs of the service providers.
    Madam Speaker, I may just want to make only two other points for other contributors to make their contributions. One is about the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Madam Speaker, I have had an occasion to make a point on this health facility. Madam Speaker, we are worried about maternal mortality in the country. In the country, the Ashanti Region contributes about 20 per cent of the total maternal mortality in the country.
    Madam Speaker, the main hospital in Ashanti -- it is on record that Ashanti is the region least served -- [Interruptions] -- Madam Speaker, this main hospital which should have had a maternity unit has not had one and this, which was started way back in l975, was abandoned in l978, re-started in 200l and up to now,

    Madam Speaker, we have not been able to complete it.

    This is a region that contributes 20 per cent of maternal mortality. So if you have a commitment to maternal mortality and the achievement of Millennium Develop- ment Goal 5, then Madam Speaker, I want to call on Government, not just the Ministry of Health, to ensure that we have a deeper look and a quicker approach to ensuring that this facility is completed. We are told that the Ministry -
    Madam Speaker 12:50 p.m.
    Conclude.
    Dr Anane 12:50 p.m.
    Madam Speaker. I am just
    about to conclude.
    We are told that the contractor has been asked to source for funding. Madam Speaker, the issue of self-help should not be encouraged and therefore, we want to encourage the Ministry to take very quick steps to find other sources of ensuring that this facility is completed to ensure that the people of this country and the people of the region benefit from the services of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
    The last one, Madam Speaker, is about the College of Phycisians and Surgeons. I want to urge the Ministry to ensure -- [Interruption] - Madam Speaker, it is the last statement I am making. I just want to ensure that this College is taken good care of because it produces the specialists that are needed to man our various centres in the interest of national health insurance.
    Madam Speaker, with this, I want to say, thank you for the opportunity to contribute and then to ask the House to approve the budget for the Ministry of Health.
    Mr Dominic A. Azumah (NDC -- (Garu/Tempane) 12:50 p.m.
    Madam Speaker, I also rise to support the Motion on the floor and to say that the Ministry of Health
    plays a very important socio-economic development in this country and I think this House must collectively give it all the support it needs to be able to deliver on the core functions assigned to the Ministry.
    Madam Speaker, reading through the
    Report, especially one of the observations about the investment allocations made to the Ministry of Health for last year, it is clear from the Report that 39l uncompleted projects continue to hang all over this country. And the Ministry's inability to complete these projects is simply because there was lack of sufficient funding to the Ministry to be able to complete these projects.
    I think it is a worrisome situation for this House and I am happy that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning himself is sitting here to hear that there is the need to be able to do something seriously to get these projects completed at the right time.
    Madam Speaker, these are projects that are very dear to the people on the ground. They have to do with CHPS compounds, they have to do with health centres and so if we are unable to complete these projects, it makes it difficult for them to access health delivery. So I am happy that the Committee is recommending to the Finance Ministry to take a critical look at this and be able to raise sufficient money.
    Indeed, the Committee goes further to say that the Minister for Health himself has given an assurance that he is going outside the Ministry to source funding to be able to complete some of these projects. I want him to expand that scope. He needs to think of -- districts in existence with population of over 200,000 people, they do not have district hospitals. In an attempt to complete these projects, the Minister should rope in areas that do not have district hospitals and be able to source sufficient funding to be able to address these concerns --
    1.00 P.M. -- MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
    Mr Azumah 12:50 p.m.
    My second point is about the National Health Insurance Fund and all of us must be concerned. Because we are all aware that this particular Fund is tied to the VAT collection and under no circumstance, should we have difficulty in releasing these moneys to the Fund to be able to deliver. They need to explain to us what are the challenges for us to understand this difficult situation. This is because the scheme itself is so good but its operations are bogged down with a lot of challenges. And this issue of late releases to the Fund make it a little bit difficult.
    I believe that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning should look at it critically, what can be done such that the releases are fast-tracked and the people can deliver. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning needs to look at it very, very critically.
    There is a provision in the Report that suggests that the Ministry of Health should collaborate with the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare identify very poor and needy people so that they could subsidize the NHIS membership for them. I think this is a very useful and wonderful suggestion. I am making this statement coming from three regions where virtually poverty is endemic. And you will see poverty staring clear in the faces of people who want health delivery and yet cannot pay for it.
    I think if the Ministry can collaborate effectively, identify these people, give them the necessary subsidy to be able to access health delivery, the Government would have achieved one of its major objectives. I commend the Ministry and I urge the Hon Minister to do everything possible to solve the bottlenecks in the National Health Insurance and make sure that when it comes, it is able to deliver efficiently and effective health delivery
    to the people.
    On that note, I support the Motion and urge the whole of this House to give massive support to it so that we approve the budget for the Ministry of Health.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you so much.
    Dr Matthew O. Prempeh (NPP - Manhyia) 12:50 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting me the opportunity to speak for the Motion on the floor.
    The Chairman of the Committee had already spoken about the discrepancies of the Estimates in the Budget and the one from the Ministry of Health. And I hope that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning will take pains to correct those budget discrepancies.
    Mr Speaker, Ghana has committed itself to ensuring that 15 per cent of the Annual Budget is spent on health. Excluding the National Health Insurance Fund, Ghana is spending only about 8 per cent of its total revenue on health. No wonder the Millennium Development Goals are unattainable, especially Goals 4, 5 and 6.
    Maternal mortality, at least, one pregnant woman dies everyday in this country and it is so bad - [Inter-ruptions.] A woman dies everyday in this country as we speak. It is unpardonable when the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs or the Ministry of Health is denied adequate resources to make healthcare and maternal health priority issues in the country.
    Mr Speaker, Ghana should put its house in order. If you starve the Ministry of Health of funds or for that matter, if you owe the National Health Insurance Fund (my Brother Sitting here writes books a lot; I do not know why he has not written about government's indebtedness to National Health Insurance Fund). But if you starve the National Health Insurance

    Fund of funds and you give promissory notes, promissory notes do not pay health providers.

    Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, promissory notes might work for contractors in the GETFund, not for the Ministry of Health. Health is essential, health is life. Gradually, you realize that the investment fund given to the Ministry of Health is virtually zero. In the Budget this year, the Government is only thinking about funds from donors, which we have not even approved. What if those funds do not materialize?

    The Government, in the case of this oil find, should prioritize health and National Health Insurance Fund for adequate resources so that better healthcare agenda can be achieved. Mr Speaker, the Finance Minister, I know he is that busy listening somewhere. But Mr Finance Minister, you and I know -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
    Hon Member, address the Chair.
    Dr Prempeh 12:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, because his attention was somewhere --
    Mr Speaker, those of us in this Chamber know what will kill us quick, is getting involved in an accident, not a chronic health illness. And if the National Ambulance Service is not adequately resourced -- if you hold the National Health Insurance Card, when you involved in an accident and there is no ambulance, what happens? Mr Speaker, the amount of resources allocated to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs are so inadequate that I cannot believe that you want to --
    For the last two years, out of the amount of GH¢480,000,000.00 that was supposed to go to the National Health
    Insurance Fund, only GH¢217,000,000.00 has been released so far this year. How do we want the National Health Insurance Fund to pay service providers? Mr Speaker, to make it worse, paragraph 932 of the Budget presented tells us that 30 per cent of the meagre resources, the one that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is not transferring to the National Health Insurance Fund, it is going to be taken for other things, we do not know.
    Mr Speaker, if the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning wants to collapse the National Health Insurance Fund, they should tell us. They cannot go and bury in paragraph 932 that they are going to take 30 per cent of statutory funds. If we are going to treat statutory funds like Consolidated Funds, then why did we create it as a House?
    Mr Speaker, let the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning know that this House frowns upon the slow release of funds to the National Health Insurance Fund or for that matter, the other statutory funds. We have seen some innovations in the area of healthcare delivery and we all applaud and support it. Prescription forms are being made unique so that there cannot be double charging; something that we have to applaud. We are winning awards with our National Health Insurance Scheme; it is something that we applaud.
    Mr Speaker, for the last two years, we have been told that there is so much fraud in the system. As we speak, two years down the line, nobody has been prosecuted. Fraud is important, Mr Speaker. Every insurance company can collapse because of fraud but we should not make fraud an issue when we cannot even prosecute people. So far, two years, we do not have a single successful prosecution. They have even started --
    We have been promised some nine statutory Bills, some nine health-
    Dr Prempeh 12:50 p.m.


    The Ministry of Justice -- at the committee meeting, we have been told that the Public Health Bill had been approved by Cabinet. If the Public Health Bill has been approved by Cabinet, then the Attorney-General should make sure it comes to the House as quickly as possible.

    Mr Speaker, last year, you were Sitting in the Chair, when I quoted paragraph 866 of the 2010 Budget that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had hidden abolition of a special permit for nurses and teachers in this country. The whole House said, it should not happen. At the committee meeting, on paragraph 173, the Hon Minister boldly proclaims to Ghana “Special permits for nurses and teachers have been abolished”.

    The Ministry of Health is complaining that it is going to make delivery of healthcare very difficult -- and the Ministry of Health itself has started complaining to the Committee on Health. If you cannot provide the cars for the doctors and they are bringing the cars themselves and everybody is entitled to one private car in five years -- Why do you abolish the permit because the Government has got no money to provide the cars? Who is going to work in the rural area without a car? Who?

    Mr Speaker, if the Hon Minister is not conversant - [Interruptions] -- Mr Speaker, the College of Surgeons and Physicians -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, you have been on the floor for some time now and I did not want to take any point of order on you. That is why when I saw that the Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development was on his feet, I did not call him.
    Dr Prempeh 1:10 p.m.
    Should I wind up?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Yes.
    Dr Prempeh 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the College
    of Physicians and Surgeons, the mental health institutions have arrears to the tune of about GH¢20 million. The mental patients are not being given food; the College is not being able to train doctors. Where do we at all, under the NDC Government, want to take our healthcare? Do you want to collapse it?
    Mr Speaker, thank you.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, that brings us to the end of the debate.
    Hon Minister, do you want to wind up briefly?
    Dr Kunbuor 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have
    taken note of the concerns that have been raised by Hon Members of this House. I have also taken significant note of the issues that have been expressed and those that have not been expressed, and I would like to thank the Honourable House for being quite candid with the health sector.
    But Mr Speaker, there are just two issues that I want to give because they have directly been raised. The Hon Ranking Member raised a very important concern about the challenges of addressing the Millennium Development Goal 5 on maternal mortality.
    I am almost sure as a professional doctor, the Hon Ranking Member will know that Millennium Development Goal 5 in terms of maternal mortality is the most complicated of the Millennium Deve- lopment Goals. This is because the non- performance of all other seven goals have a bearing on Millennium Development Goal 5. That is why any attempt at addressing Millennium Development Goal 5 cannot be addressed by an isolated health sector. It is across sectoral approach that can actually address Millennium Development Goal 5. But we will take note of this and try and build the appropriate collaboration across the sectors.
    The second important point has to
    deal with the pep topic of the Komfo Anokye Maternity and Children's Ward. Mr Speaker, it will interest Hon Members to know that that project was started in 1975 and it stands now at fifty per cent complete. This is why I have always addressed the health sector issues by saying that if we want to start addressing our priorities rightly in health delivery, let us begin to do that. This is because one cannot explain why a project of fifty per cent complete, which has been abandoned since 1975 has become a current matter in 2010.
    That is why we have decided that until all uncompleted projects are completed, we have no business going to initiate new projects and I have had extensive discussions on these matters.
    Dr Anane 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, on a point
    of order.
    Mr Speaker, this is with specific reference to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and it is more of information for the Hon Minister.

    Mr Speaker, I do appreciate that the maternity block of this hospital was started in 1975; it was abandoned in 1978 at the level of the foundation. It was re-started in 2001 and raised to where it is.

    Mr Speaker, I was the Minister for Health and I got it restarted and therefore, I do know everything about it. Mr Speaker, that is how come I keep on talking to the Hon Minister about it for this thing to be completed. So, it is not as if the long lapse of 1975 to 2010 is what we are talking about. We are talking about the restart from 2001 to the present and that is what I want the Hon Minister to pay attention to and make sure it is completed.
    Dr Kunbuor 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, this is not
    an issue that I have major differences with the Ranking Member on. I have visited that facility three times and that is why I want to show that the Ministry has as much interest in that facility as any other person. I have visited that facility three times.
    But to set the record straight, from 1978, the project was reactivated. Again, the project was reactivated in 1996; the records are there. Again, it was stalled and it was reactivated in 2001. So almost every regime has addressed this problem. We are not saying that it was actually abandoned from 1975 but it is a matter that we are going to address.
    The last point , Mr Speaker, that I want to register and which I had an occasion in the 2010 Budget to draw attention to -- I want to repeat, no matter what happens -- when all the sectors do very well, they create health problems; when all the sectors fail, they create health problems. So, whichever way your entire economy goes, you will always end up at the health sector. And I say that as we finished the argument about exchange rate, inflation rate and the Budget being approved, it is after that you get to know there is no clinic in the village.
    I think that as we debate the health budget as I have rightly seen, we should
    be thinking about lives that are going to be lost after we have left the debate on the health budget. And that is why I think that on health issues, we need to address them a bit more concretely and that is why I agree with Hon Members on the issues that have actually been raised.
    The figure of moving from twelve

    As we stand now, by the time we exit December, we would have noticed that maternal mortality in Ghana has actually moved to the thirty-five per cent bracket, and Ghana falls under the category that is said to be making some progress in relation to maternal mortality as against countries that are making no progress at all. So, I want us to be able to look at the progression we are making in relation to the Millennium Development Goal.

    So, let me use this opportunity to thank

    Hon Members for this lively debate.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, I am going to put the Question.
    Hon Minister, what is the right figure because the figure we have on the Order Paper is different from the figure in the Committee's Report. So, what is the correct figure because we have 508 as the last three figures for the Committee's Report and on the Order Paper, we have 507 as the last three figures. Which one is the correct one?
    Dr Kunbuor 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I guess that when the Report was being indicated, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had since resolved that issue and it will be captured in the record. So, it will be in there.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    It is 507?
    Chairman, you did not amend your Report.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we
    did that yesterday. It is just an oversight. We are sorry.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Because
    this is going into the record. It will be in the Hansard so it is important. The Hansard should take note that the figure is GH¢987,475,508 in the Committee's Report. Have you amended it on the floor?
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, like I
    said, it was an oversight. Now, if you want it, I can just do the -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 p.m.
    Yes. You
    just do it for the record.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker,
    Dr Prempeh 1:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I want
    my Chairman to do the amendment well. The figure and the words in the Report do not even match, so it is not only the discrepancies in the Budget. He should amend it well.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I read it again that “we recommend to this House to approve the amount of GH¢987 million -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, what you will be correcting in your Report is the words, the figures in words. It is not the mentioning of the figures in words. That is what the Hon
    Member for Manhyia is talking about.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker,
    that is what I am trying to do now.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the
    figure is, “nine hundred and eighty-seven million, four hundred and seventy-five thousand, five hundred and seven Ghana cedis”.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    So the
    Hansard should correct those figures.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker.
    The Hansard should correct the figure to reflect the current pronouncement.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Very well.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, while we are at the figures, I think the table on page 7 may also need to be corrected because the total comes to GH¢508 --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Yes, Hon
    Minority Leader, you are right.
    Hon Chairman, do you get the point he is making?
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, like
    we stated in the very beginning of our observations, if you look at the “Obser- vations”, we said that there were some “discrepancies”. And it was yesterday that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Health tried to thrash out the difference. So the difference has been well captured.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Hon
    Chairman of the Committee, if the difference has been well captured and you know the figure, your total should be the same as what is on the Order Paper. Therefore, we should know where we are subtracting one from, so that we arrive at the same figure as the one on the Order
    Paper for the record, so that your Report tallies with that of the figure.
    You have GH¢987,475,508.00 there. It should be 507.
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Investment would be GH¢259,688,264.00
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Very well.
    And the final figure then?
    Alhaji Muntaka 1:20 p.m.
    And the final figure
    will then be, “GH¢987,475,507.00”.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Very well. That is correct now.
    Question put and motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢987,475,507.00 for the services of the Ministry of Health for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 1:20 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:20 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, the background noise is getting out of control.
    Mrs Mould-Iddrisu 1:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker,
    we would also undertake Intellectual Property, Anti-Piracy activities and the Copyright Office will also continue its legal education exercise on the Copyright Acts and the Legislative Instruments.
    The Ministry would also work towards ensuring that the proposed Intellectual Property Office for Ghana is set up. The Copyright Office would also work towards ensuring the computerisation of its registry.
    Training and updating of lawyers and
    legal staff on the Legal Aid Scheme would continue and we would continue with the Law House Project.
    Mr Speaker, we would ensure that the
    Economic and Organised Crime Office, which is set up under Act 804 is able to
    carry out its mandate and concentrate on its core mandate of recovery of proceeds of crime and also to prevent and investigate offences and predicate offences of money laundering, human trafficking, cyber crimes, among others.
    Mr Speaker, the budgetary allocation
    for this year, however, is just not adequate for the discharge of the Ministry's mandate. A comparison of the 2010 allocation with the actual expenditure for 2010 indicates an increase of about GH¢1,878,345.00. In the year 2010, the House approved a total sum of GH¢19,076,193.00.
    This marginal increase in the allocation for the Ministry of Justice would, in fact, adversely affect administration of justice in this country as this present allocation would indeed, put us in a very adverse situation as far as meeting international obligations, meeting our legal obligations and being able to defend the Republic and the Government of Ghana under arbitration and other international obligations, which the Ministry must meet, are concerned.
    Mr Speaker, legal aid has proved extremely problematic over the last few years in that the representation is completely inadequate. And due to persistent budgetary constraints, we have not been able to ensure legal representation for the indigenes.
    Another critical issue which we should consider as alarming, is the situation of the uncompleted Law House and the Ghana School of Law and the paltry allocation this year to the Ghana Law School would just be inadequate and will not enable the Ghana Law School to put up the envisaged number of auditoriums and theatres in order to enable it take the full intake of students.
    I am therefore, appealing to this august
    Mrs Mould-Iddrisu 1:30 p.m.
    House to assist the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-General's Department to salvage the situation.
    With these few words, Mr Speaker, I urge the House for the approval of the stated sum of GH¢20,954,538.00 on the Order Paper.

    Question Proposed.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr E. K. Bandua) 1:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion and present the Committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    1.1 In compliance with article 179 (1) of the Constitution, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, on the authority of H.E. the President of the Republic, presented to Parliament, the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the 2011 financial year on Thursday, 18th November, 2010.
    1.2 Pursuant to Standing Orders 140 (4) and 179 of the House, the 2011 draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Justice was referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report.
    2.0 Acknowledgment
    2.1 The Committee met on Thursday, 9th December, 2010 to consider the Estimates. The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Hon Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu and the technical team from the Ministry were in attendance at the invitation of the Committee to assist in deliberations on the Estimates. Officials from the departments and agencies under the Ministry of Justice and the schedule officer from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning were also in attendance.
    The Committee is grateful to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and her team and the schedule officer for their attendance and input in the Committee's deliberations.
    3.0 Reference
    3.1 The Committee referred to the underlisted documents during its deliberations on the Estimates:
    The 1992 Constitution of the Republic;
    The Standing Orders of Parliament;
    The Budge t S ta tement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2011 financial year; and
    Report of the Committee on C o n s t i t u t i o n a l , L e g a l a n d Parliamentary Affairs on the 2010 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Justice.
    4.0 The Ministry of Justice
    4.1 Mission Statement
    The Ministry of Justice exists to ensure a fair, efficient and transparent legal environment by promoting:
    (i) the entrenchment at the core of the body politic, an abiding respect for the rule of law and a constant observance of human rights;
    (ii) equality of access to justice and equality of treatment before the law for all citizens;
    (iii) social justice through the ini- tiation and enforcement of law;
    (iv) the operation of a fair, efficient and transparent legal system;
    (v) a culture of due process and legality; and
    (vi) investment prospects of the national economy.
    The Ministry, in pursuit of the above mandate, fosters good governance, social peace and national cohesion in furtherance
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr E. K. Bandua) 1:30 p.m.


    of economic development.

    4.2 Departments and agencies of the Ministry

    The main agencies and departments of the Ministry include:

    Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-General's Office;

    Registrar-General's Department;

    Law Reform Commission;

    Ghana School of Law;

    Council for Law Reporting;

    Legal Aid Board;

    Economic and Organised Crime Office; and

    O f f i c e o f t h e C o p y r i g h t Administrator.

    5.0 Review of 2010 Budgetary Allocation and Performance

    Within the year under review, the Ministry concentrated on increased access to justice without additional cost to the State and capacity building. In this regard, the Ministry facilitated the provision of special training sessions for 100 prosecutors in new and emerging crimes such as money laundering and cyber offences. The Ministry also trained forty (40) Attorneys in oil and gas arbitration.

    Various Bills have become law, such as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798), Economic and Organised Crime Office Act, 2009 (Act 804), Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, (Act 794), and the Mutual Legal Assistance Act. The Companies Act which has been under-going a review by a 5-member committee of experts is progressing steadily.

    The Committee observed that the departments and agencies under the Ministry had made momentous efforts to embedded the rule of law in Ghanaian society. It took note of the fact that the

    Registrar-General's Department has established an office in Tamale to provide services to the northern sector. Registration of business can now be carried out in all of its branch offices across the country in a bid to facilitate inter-branch and intra- branch work.

    The Department has also been able to build an efficient co-operation with the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) regarding Tax Identification Number (TIN) processing. Information for generation of TIN can now be sent electronically to the TIN Centre and TIN generated for a business is also sent via the same medium to the Department.

    The Committee also observed that the Economic and Organised Crime Office investigated at least, 40 per cent of all reported cases brought before it with the view to reducing fraud and combating corruption. The Office has also completed works on the first floor of its 3-storey office complex building, which office space is being utilized by its staff.

    The Committee took note of the fact that the Legal Aid Scheme carried out public education to create awareness nationwide. Community Mediation Centres under the Scheme are in operation in all the regional offices with sixteen (16) out-stations in three (3) regions. The Scheme has also represented numerous clients in courts and meditated in, and settled many cases.

    During the year under review, the Committee also took note that the Ministry chalked considerable success in the Justice for All Programme to improve access to justice at no cost. In this connection, 18 prisoners had been tried and sentenced and 19 others granted bail by the end of September, 2010. Over a hundred prisoners were also released on the 4th of November, 2010 at a sitting in Nsawam.

    5.1 The breakdown of the 2010 approved budget and the actual expenditure under the various items as at November, 2010 are indicated below:

    6.0 Key Activities earmarked for the 2011 financial year

    6.1 The Committee was informed that

    for the 2011 financial year, the Ministry and its sgencies would continue with the implementation of uncompleted programmes and embark on new projects including:

    1. review of a number of Legisla-

    tions currently in force such as:

    Ghana Contract Act, 1960 (Act

    25).

    2. completion of work on some draft legislations including:

    Contracts Bill;

    Extradition Bill;

    E n f o r c e m e n t o f F o r e i g n Judgment Bill.

    3. continuation of work on the Law House Project

    4. continuation of the ongoing c a p a c i t y b u i l d i n g a n d specialisation for Attorneys;

    5. decentralisation of the Registrar General's Department to the Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Volta Regions; and

    6. continuation of the review of the Companies Act and Subsidiary Legislations under the Statute Law Revision Project.

    7.0 Budgetary allocation for the year 2011

    7.1 The Committee observed that for the 2011 financial year, a total sum of twenty million, nine hundred and fifty- four thousand, five hundred and thirty- eight Ghana cedis (GH¢20,954,538.00) has been proposed for the recurrent and development expenses of the Ministry of Justice together with its departments and agencies. The breakdown of this amount is indicated below.

    7.2 No Expenditure Item amount in GH¢ 1. Personal
    SPACE FOR TABLE - PAGE 1:30 p.m.
    SPACE FOR TABLE - PAGE 1:30 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, in your contribution, I want you to look at paragraph 8.4, an issue which the Hon Member for Kumawu was trying to raise some time last week when the Business Statement was presented. Paragraph 8.4, you should try and address that issue.
    Ranking Member of the Committee (Mr Kwame Osei-Prempeh): Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion and in doing so, make some few comments.
    Mr Speaker, as the Report captures, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General's Department and its agencies are being seriously under-funded. It covers very important sections of society. But believe me to say that because perhaps, it is not like Ministry of Health or Education and it is a purely service Ministry, it seems very little attention is given to it.
    Mr Speaker, justice is a crucial part of our democracy and if you want to guarantee the people their basic right, it is the Ministry of Justice and Attorney- General's Department and its agencies which have to do that. Looking at the amount of money given to the Ministry
    and the releases, I believe that something more needs to be done about it.
    Mr Speaker, let me just touch on some few observations. First, is the Law School. Mr Speaker, the Ministry and General Legal Council have been bold enough to open two new campuses for the Law School. Because last year, most of the students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Law Faculty and other institutions had to stay at home. They had no avenue to attend Law School.
    The Ministry, with the General Legal Council have done well in opening the campuses but as of now, students of the Legon campus attend classes outside Legon. They are attending lectures at the Institute of Chartered Accountants' building somewhere at Shiashi. I believe this does not augur well for the training of lawyers. We need to provide accommodation for them and therefore, there is the need to help the Law School to complete the Law School project.
    Mr Speaker, about five years ago, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning allocated ¢50 billion for the start of the construction of the Law School building. But at that time there was confusion at the Law School as to who should be the head of the School and because of that they could not utilize the money.
    Even though this House approved the money for them, after the issue had been settled, the money was nowhere to be found and therefore, they lost it. This shows that the Government has the intention and supports the idea that it would be a laudable move to construct a new building for the Law School. And therefore, every effort must be made.

    L o o k i n g a t t h i s y e a r , o n l y GH¢600,000.00 has been devoted for such a project. It is a pittance, Mr Speaker.

    I believe that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, if he is here and listening to me, must please, know that we take the issue of training of lawyers seriously. In fact, in a proper democracy, the first person any Minister must see in his office must be a lawyer. When you open the first door, you must see a lawyer who would advise the Minister so that the Minister would know his right when he is doing something, whether the step he is taking is in the right direction or not.

    But because we do not have the full complement of lawyers in this country, you go to most Ministries and they do not have lawyers. So issues which can be resolved in-house would have to be sent to the Attorney-General's Office, which is also under serious constraints of lawyers and other logistics. And therefore, there is the need to support the Law School to train more lawyers for us.

    Mr Speaker, the next issue I would

    want to touch on, is on the Registrar- General's Department. We are liberalizing our economy through donor support, especially DANIDA. We have been able to transform the Registrar-General's Department but still it is not enough. We need to do more. In fact, when the Kumasi and Tamale offices were opened, for about three years, they would just receive the documents there, travel to Accra to have the registration done. Now, by God's grace they are able to do that.

    The Ministry intends opening branches in Sunyani and Ho. We do not want to repeat the same thing, that the office would just be there, receive applications and send them to Accra which is already overloaded and then they spend one month here.

    Mr Speaker, if you go to Ethiopia, they

    have a one-day registration. You present your documents for registration, the same day, it is done for you. I believe that Ghana, in all facets of our democracy, has moved further than Ethiopia and therefore,

    if Ethiopia is able to do registration for one day, Ghana should be able to do that and therefore, we need to do it.

    Mr Speaker, there is a laudable project,

    the Law House project. When the Minister told us that within the past two years, they had moved to the 8th floor, I congratulated her. They have done well to be able to house all the agencies of the Ministry. I believe it is a good project and it needs to be supported. If that is done, Mr Speaker, it would help the Ministry.

    Mr Speaker, I cannot end without

    commending the Legal Aid Scheme and the Council for Law Reporting for the yeoman's work they are doing. They are part of the Ministry which are seriously neglected and under funded but they are doing a good job for us. I believe they deserve better.

    Mr Speaker, before I end, we have created the Economic and Organised Crime Office. Mr Speaker, when we were debating the Second Reading of that Bill, I said in this House, that we were giving powers to the organization and we wanted them to use the power to serve the interest of this country, not a capricious use of power. Mr Speaker, let me reiterate that the formative months of the Office has sent worrying signals to Ghanaians and I believe that it is not going to continue.

    Let us hope that the Office should exercise the powers conferred on it by this august House in a way that would serve the interest of the good people of this country, so that when it comes to us speaking for them, for the state to give them money, we should be bold enough to say that “give them the money because we know that they would act in our best interest and that they would not act in an arbitrary way to deprive the good people of this country their rights which the Constitution has given to them.”
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:40 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, I want you to address the issue. Does the Committee come to the House, make a recommendation that it should be adjusted to 50 per cent and that ends the matter and they are automatically entitled to it? That is why I asked Hon Members to address that paragraph. What is the legal effect of that recommendation?
    Mr Chireh 1:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am a
    member of the Committee. Now, this Committee is recommending to the House but I say that beyond that, if there is a legislation that gave them 15 per cent, now, we should go further and bring some amendment that would ensure that they get the 50 per cent. And so the leadership of the Committee would have to look at that in conjunction with the Ministry itself.
    Number two, if you look at the
    Registrar-General's portion, that is, 8 (5), my Colleague made a very brilliant contribution. But beyond that, we need to reward those people who work in the department. They must be paid money that would make them happy to process things faster. If you do not give them proper pay, you do not motivate them properly, you cannot expect them to expedite action on anything. So I think that we have the issue of rewarding those
    who work there. Apart from that, as he said, we need also to give them equipment and facilities that would enable them work faster to attract business people to this economy.
    But Mr Speaker, what I think is important is that, look at the work of Parliament. Parliament approves Agreements, Parliament works on laws. The one Ministry that should make the work of Parliament move faster, better and more efficiently, is the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General's Department.
    We need to have a way of retaining the lawyers, making them work better and make sure they look at the Agreements. Before the Agreements come here, they should be timely, the laws they bring to us should be ones that we can work on faster, and that is why we should not just joke with the Ministry's appropriation. It is very important. The measure of our democracy is the work of Parliament here and also the justice people get from the courts.
    If you look at the staffing levels in the regions, it is very poor. The offices in the regions bad. We have to do something to them. They should not delay the Agreements we sign. Each of the Ministries that bring an Agreement here, loan or whatever, it requires the Attorney- General's Department to give a legal opinion. So how would these people work if they are only a few and after sometime, they go into private practice?
    This House has to look at this Ministry's request and do something about it, otherwise, our work here would always be delayed, it would not have the effect that it should have. The measure of our democracy again, is the work of the Attorney-General's Department and once we tout ourselves as being one of the best practising democracies in Africa, we should go that first step. I am urging my Colleague the Minister for Finance
    and Economic Planning to have a special arrangement to motivate the Ministry and its staff.
    Finally, Mr Speaker, you see, my Friend talked about the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and I am very happy the way he put it. This is just the teething stages. A young child learning to walk, obviously, a toddler, would normally fall. But I would say that you see, all we should do as a country, is insist on fairness and justice and the rule of law and not when individuals or some persons are involved. So I will support his suggestion that we should ensure that we facilitate the office to work very well but we should as politicians be the last group of people always to comment on activities of organizations because we have the proper forum to find out what has happened. These days, before any person would even read or understand what is happening, you are calling into a radio station and condemning one office or the other. We are demoralizing the institutions and we have to avoid this situation. That is why I would urge that for the EOCO office - [Interruption] - Please, why? Why should I wind up?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
    Hon Minister, address the Chair.
    Mr Chireh 1:50 p.m.
    I beg you all, let us support this Ministry to have the effect that it should have.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu (IND - Bekwai) 1:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I also wish to add my voice to the call for us to support this Motion.
    Mr Speaker, in supporting this Motion, I wish to observe that democracy, as this country has endorsed, rests heavily on good governance and rule of law. Mr
    Speaker, good governance is largely the strengthening of the institutions that ensure that we all follow the law. Therefore, the Attorney-General's Office itself, the Ministry of Justice, the institutions which work under it are heavily, extremely essential for us in achieving good governance and the rule of law.
    The budget, therefore, which appears to be inadequate or as has been said to be inadequate, would undermine the effort to achieve the objectives of the Ministry. Indeed, if they are not able to achieve what they start, we may have wasted the investment that we put in, in the first place. So, I also add my voice in calling for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to review, probably, adding to what has been voted for the Ministry.
    Mr Speaker, having said that, I wish to endorse the recommendations made in paragraph 8.4. But to go further to suggest to the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice that she has all the power and the men at her office, that they should just take the next step, bring recommendations to this House or amendment proposals, so that we can canvass our Hon Colleagues here to support them and probably, even ask that the entire internally generated funds are given to them and not 50 per cent. If you look at the figures, the 50 per cent may still not be sufficient to do much. So I would even recommend that the entire internally generated funds be given to them.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to observe that the Ministry of Justice should ensure and give comfort to all persons irrespective of where they belong. So statements, words like “I will prosecute former Ministers” should not be coming from a Ministry that ensures justice. All offenders should be prosecuted. Former Ministers may be offenders but issuing of words coming out
    Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu (IND - Bekwai) 1:50 p.m.
    of the Ministry should ensure that there is fairness in talking about offenders, irrespective of which colour or race they belong.
    Mr Speaker, there is one more thing I want to observe. The comments made by my Hon Friend for Nsuta/Kwamang/ Begoso and the Hon Minister for Local Government and Rural Development on the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), very clearly, confirms that both sides of the divide, probably, are not happy with the events of the immediate past. The Hon Minister goes forward to suggest that it is a teething organization. I agree entirely, which is why we must invest in the persons, every department and every agency that work with the Attotney-General. We cannot expect that because people have been trained as lawyers and have been around for certain number of years, they would have the kind of orientation that we want them to use in leading various agencies.
    Once you bring people to specialized agencies, we must invest in their training, so that they can articulate and actually mirror the kind of things we expect. We wish that the concerns that have been raised on the EOCO do not recur. [An Hon Member: Concerns like -- ] The concerns that the powers that have been given to them are directed at organised crimes and other things and not to take the powers - become an octopus, take the powers of the tax officers and the powers of the police.

    Mr Speaker, the Ghana School of Law has new campuses. It is very, very regrettable that students who have passed their examinations and are eligible to enter the Ghana School of Law cannot enter because there are not sufficient facilities. It is very regrettable that students who desire to enter the Ghana School of Law do not have access, entirely not because of any fault of theirs; they have passed the examinations. I said last year and I wish to repeat it, that those of us who are benefitting today, it is not because somebody wished it, it was because the Government of the day invested in legal education. So it is up to us, it is our turn, let us invest in legal education, so that we can have the space, get all the lawyers --

    The Attorney-General's Office is lacking lawyers; it cannot get the numbers it requires; all across the country, they are lacking lawyers. The chieftaincy tribunals do not have lawyers to assist them. But we have young men and women who are willing and ready to study. Let us invest in infrastructure that will enable them acquire the degree.

    Mr Speaker, that is my word.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
    Thank you very much. The Hon Minister may wind up --
    Hon Members, we have rules in this House. You must be on your feet for me to catch your eye. If you are sitting down, I cannot catch your eye; it is as simple as that.

    No, no, I would have call him, if he had been on his feet because I made the announcement that he should wind up so that I take one each from both sides. But

    he was not on his feet.

    Hon Members, Standing Order 40 (3); looking at the state of business, I direct that we Sit outside the prescribed period.
    Mr Ben Abdallah Banda (NPP - Offinso South) 1:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion to approve the amount stated in the Motion paper allocated for the Ministry of Justice. Mr Speaker, while supporting the Motion, I wish to make a few observations.
    Mr Speaker, the administration of justice is very, very important in every country. When justice is fair and is quickly delivered, it boosts the morale of the citizenry and it also boosts the confidence of potential investors who decide to invest in the country.
    Mr Speaker, when you look at the Legal Aid Board, it is woefully financially resourced. The funds that are allocated to it are nothing to write home about.
    Mr Speaker, legal aid services are very important, considering the fact that the rate of poverty in the country is very, very high. On the basis of this, it is not everybody who is able to access legal services in this country.
    Mr Speaker, when you read the mission statement of the Ministry is to ensure that justice is quick, justice is fair and justice is equitably distributed.
    Mr Speaker, at page 197 of the Budget Statement, the Hon Minister for Finance and Econonic Planning ably stated that and with your permission, if I may read:
    “Madam Speaker, legal aid services to the poor and needy in the
    Ghanaian society will be provided. In this regard, . . . ”
    It goes on to say a whole lot of things. But how can legal aid services be equitably distributed when the legal aid services are only situated within the regional capitals? Mr Speaker, if this country is desirous of making sure that the poor can also access legal aid services then it is highly recommended that legal aid services should be decentralized, such that we have legal aid offices at our various districts, so that it does not take somebody who is staying, let us say, at Offinso, to travel all the way from Offinso to come and access legal aid services in Kumasi. Or it does not have to take somebody who stays far away from Tamale to travel all the way from his place of abode to Tamale in order that the person can access legal aid services.
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I support the Motion to approve the amount stated in the Order Paper allocated to the Ministry of Justice.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mrs Mould-Iddrisu 2 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, let me first of all, thank Hon Members for these excellent contributions, observations and comments that have been raised and we will take all of them fully on board.
    First of all, let me correct an impression that there are students who were not taken this year at the Ghana Law School. To the best of my knowledge, every student who applied and was qualified, was admitted either to the Makola Campus, the KNUST Campus or the University of Ghana Campus. And we hope that we would be able to generate funding this year to initiate the extra buildings that we need in
    order to ensure that the Law School is the premier law school in this country.
    I also want to say a word, Mr Speaker, on the generation of IGFs. The generation of IGFs has indeed, been a source of much concern to me as the Hon Minister because of the woefully inadequate budgetary allocations from Central Government. It is a challenge to the Ministry. In that respect, I have set up a committee to look into it and see how we can generate more IGFs and accordingly, we will be coming back to this august House through my Hon Colleague, the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to hopefully give us the fiats to enable us keep 100 per cent of our IGFs.
    I would also say a word about the Agreements. I have set up an Agreements Unit and that Agreements Unit now, is able to turn around Agreements processes within a period of five working days. We spoke about the staffing levels in the regions, I would like to inform this Honourable House that we have just this last month employed the services of twenty additional Attorneys - ten of them would be posted to the regions and next year, we hope to employ even more Attorneys.
    The work of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) -- Mr Speaker, the EOCO is an infant organization. The EOCO's actions at any point in time have been governed by law, by mandate and by the requisite court processes. In that I cannot fault them.
    Let me just make a point that Economic and Organised Crime Offices, traditionally, worldwide, are not the favourite of the general public because they must be
    ruthless and they must be fearless in stamping out suspected offences in respect of economic crime and corruption.
    With these few words, I thank the Honourable House.
    Dr A. A. Osei 2 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to ask the Chairman of the Committee, if they would make the proper amendment in their Report.
    On page 7, the right number is there but in the table 7.3, the IGFs allocation of GH¢2,790,271 is inconsistent with the number at the top. If you look at the top of the page, the IGFs allocation for 2011 is correctly stated there - GH¢3,847,760; but when you go to the table, they have changed the number. So that is why we have GH¢19,897,049.
    I wonder why - it is inconsistent. It does not affect the Motion. But it affects the Committee's Report.
    Mr Bandua 2 p.m.
    The addition -- I do not seem to get him. The IGFs allocation is GH¢10,681,145 and what does he say from there?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    He is referring to your table.
    Dr A. A. Osei 2 p.m.
    IGF for 2011 goes in here. The GH¢3,847,760 is the correct amount and they have put GH¢2,790,271; it is not consistent.
    Mr Bandua 2 p.m.
    All right, all right; I have seen it.
    Dr A. A. Osei 2 p.m.
    If you make that correction, then 2011 allocation would be consistent with the number at the top.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    Hon Chairman of the Committee, there are some inconsistencies in your Report and that is what the Hon Member for Old Tafo is drawing your attention to.
    You gave a total of GH¢20,954,538 at
    Mr Bandua 2 p.m.
    Very well, we would do that.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    Hon Chairman, amend your Report. Mr Chairman, the IGF at the top of page 7 is correct, so you delete that one - the figure there and put the proper figure there.
    Mr Bandua 2 p.m.
    We have got the point, so we will amend it. So the last figure, the total should read GH¢20,954 -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    Hon Chairman, to arrive at that figure, you have to first amend the IGF figure, then you amend the total figure in your own table, in your own Committee's Report.
    Mr Bandua 2 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the IGF figure is GH¢3,847,760.00: that will replace GH¢2,790,271.00. So the total figure will read GH¢20,954,538.00. I hope the Report would be amended accordingly.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    It is now correct. No, he has amended the IGF and he has amended the total. He has amended the IGF in his table and he has amended the total.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that cannot be enough because if you amend the IGF and amend the total, you should also amend the variants.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    Yes, so consequentially, the variance - for now, we are looking at the 2011, what we are approving. But the variance - so you do
    the consequential amendments and then give it to the Hansard, so that they can capture your Report correctly, otherwise, what would be captured in the Hansard, there would be a problem.
    Mr Bandua 2 p.m.
    I thank you very much, Mr Speaker, we would do it; we would change it.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
    Very well.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢20,954,538.00 for the services of the Ministry of Justice for the financial year.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:10 p.m.
    Minister for Finance and Economic Planning (Dr Kwabena Duffuor) 2:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢187,259,779.00 for the services of the Ghana Revenue Authority for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    Mr Speaker, the Ghana Revenue Authority or (GRA) is responsible for the generation of revenue for Government and for the development of our country. During the 2011 fiscal year, Mr Speaker, before we can take a comprehensive review of the Internal Revenue Act, the Customs and Excise Management Act and complete the project to review the VAT Act -- It will also brand the GRA through the use of logo on vehicles, changing of billboards, newsletters and operational brochures.
    Mr Speaker, staff utilization, training and placement will be undertaken. The 2011 fiscal year will see the full implementation of the e-Governance automation project; the GRA will further
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 2:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion and in doing so, read your Committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    The 2011 Annual Estimates of the Revenue Agencies Authority were on Thursday, 18th November, 2010 referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Standing Orders 140 (5) and 169. This followed the presentation of the Budget and Economic Policy Statement of the Government for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    The Committee met and discussed the Estimates with the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Fiifi Kwetey, Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr George Blankson, Commissioner in Charge of Support Services Division of the Authority, Mr Anthony Minla, technical teams from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Authority and hereby presents this Report.
    1.1 Reference documents
    In considering the Estimates of the GRA, the Committee was guided by the following:
    i. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
    ii. Standing Orders of the House;
    iii . The Budget Statement and E c o - n o m i c P o l i c y o f t h e Government for the 2011 financial year;
    iv. Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791).
    2.0 Background
    The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was established by the Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791) as a single semi-autonomous public organization to replace the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and the Value Added Tax Service (VATS) for the assessment, collection, accounting and administration of tax and customs revenue.
    The objects of the Authority include
    the following:
    to provide a holistic approach to tax and customs administration;
    reduce administrative and tax compliance cost and provide better service to taxpayers;
    promote efficient collection of r evenue and t he equ i t ab l e distribution of tax burden and ensure greater transparency and integrity;
    ensure greater accountability to Government for the professional management of tax administration; and
    provide a one-stop service for taxpayers for the submission of returns and payment of taxes.
    In order to achieve the above objects, the Authority is required to assess and collect taxes, interest and penalties on taxes due to the Republic with optimum

    efficiency, and to promote tax compliance and tax education. The Authority is further required to combat tax fraud and evasion and to co-operate to that effect with competent law enforcement agencies and revenue agencies in other countries.

    The vision of the Authority is to be a world class revenue administration recognized for professionalism, integrity and excellence.

    2 . 1 R e v e n u e A g e n c i e s Expenditure Outturn for 2010

    An amount of GH¢203,186,900 was allocated to revenue agencies for the 2010 financial year for the implementation of their programmes and activities.

    The expenditure of the agencies (now GRA) for the eight months ending 31st August, 2010 was GH¢128.88 million. Expenditure to the end of 2010 is projected at GH¢179.48 million. However, due to lower than anticipated revenue outturn, year-end retention revenue of the agencies would amount to GH¢172.85 million, thus GH¢6.63 million less than the required amount to meet operational expenditure to the end of the year.

    3.0 2011 Expenditure Estimates of the Ghana Revenue Agencies (GRA)

    A total amount of GH¢187,259,779 has been allocated to GRA for the 2011 financial year to be disbursed as follows:

    Personal Emoluments -- GH¢116,813,552.99

    Administration -- GH¢40,174,204.15

    Service -- GH¢15,521,296.95

    Investment -- GH¢14,750,724.99

    Total -- GH¢187,259,779.00

    4.0 Observations

    The Committee observed that the

    mission of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is to mobilize revenue for national development in a transparent, fair, effective and efficient manner. The Authority intends to achieve this mission through professional and friendly client services, promotion of voluntary compliance, application of modern technology, effective border protection and through well trained, disciplined and highly motivated staff.

    Core values that underpin the operations of the Authority include integrity, fairness, team work, innovation and professionalism in service delivery.

    In a bid to enhance revenue mobilization,

    the GRA will in the year 2011 resource its preventive department to become more effective in combating smuggling, under-valuation and under-declaration of imports. It will also enhance the training of staff to undertake specialized audits as well as strengthen the on-line monitoring of values assigned by the Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) which impact significantly on revenue.

    As part of the integration and

    modernization programme, the GRA will establish its headquarters, divisions and departments and ensure the full implementation of the new organizational structure in the year 2011. It will also undertake staff rationalization, training and placement.

    The Committee was informed by

    officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) that the 2011 expenditure estimates of GH¢187,259,799 do not include some critical “below the line items” costing an
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 2:10 p.m.
    amount of GH¢101.82 million.
    These “below the line items” include:
    GRA integration and modernization -- GH¢6.15 million
    Establishment of petroleum unit of GRA -- GH¢29 million
    Aflao building complex cost overruns -- GH¢11.68 million
    Customs Division outstanding bills -- GH¢5.59 million
    e-Government automation process -- GH¢2.92 million
    Voluntary retirement inducement package -- GH¢12.8 million
    Customs ISO certification costs -- GH¢152,794.20
    Refunds to taxpayers -- GH¢5.0 million
    Reconstruction of border stations/posts -- GH¢10.5 million
    Kaneshie offices and other stations -- GH¢5 million
    GRA head office -- GH¢12.0 million.
    While the entire annual estimates
    of GH¢187,259,799 would be funded from 3 per cent retention revenue, the Government of Ghana (GoG) is expected to fund the “below the line items” totalling GH¢101.82 million.
    The provisional outturn of revenue
    collected by the revenue agencies for the eight months ending 31st August, 2010 is GH¢3,590.45 million. The estimated revenue collection for the period 1st September to 31 st December, 2010
    is GH¢2,171.29 million bringing the projected revenue for the year 2010 to GH¢5,761.74 million.
    The Committee noted that total tax
    revenue expected to be collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the year 2011 is GH¢7,712,451,003. This does not include expected oil revenue for the year 2011.
    The Committee observed that during
    its tour of the Aflao border complex rehabilitation and other Customs projects in the Volta Region earlier in the year 2010, it came across the Segbe Border Post which is virtually in the middle of the Denu-Ho Highway. The Committee therefore, appealed to the Ghana Revenue Authority to urgently work on that particular border post to remove the persistent danger posed by cargo trucks that are made to park almost in the middle of the road for routine customs checks.
    Officials from the Ghana Revenue
    Authority (GRA) informed the Committee that an amount of GH¢12.8 million would be needed annually from 2011 to 2012 to pay inducement package for staff who may wish to retire voluntarily during the period. A total of 800 staff with an average of 10 years service at an average monthly salary of US$800 (GH¢1,152) are estimated to voluntarily retire from the Authority.
    The Committee entreated the GRA and
    the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure that this retirement programme is carried out in a painless manner and that the staff who will voluntarily opt for the programme are paid all agreed entitlements before they leave the service of the Authority.
    Whether the Authority can achieve the 2011 revenue target of GH¢7,712,451,003 with the expenditure budget of GH¢187.3

    million, the Commissioner-General assured the Committee that even though the expenditure allocation of GH¢187.3 million is, indeed, lower than 3 per cent of the target tax revenue, the Authority is confident of achieving the revenue target while doing its best to remain under the expenditure ceiling of GH¢187.3 million representing about 2.6 per cent of expected collection.

    Some members expressed concern

    about the fact that allowances paid to staff of the Authority from January to August 2010 totalled GH¢40,031,969.63 exceeding the substantive Personal Emoluments for established posts for the same period; which amounted to

    GH¢38,899,025.12.

    It was further observed that if

    Government does not raise the amount of GH¢101.82 required to cater for the “below the line items”, the Authority might not be able to perform as expected. The Committee, therefore, urges Government to give the matter a serious consideration.

    The Committee wishes to urge all

    Ghanaians to declare their incomes honestly to the revenue agencies and to satisfy all tax obligations in accordance with article 41(j) of the 1992 Constitution.

    5.0 Conclusion

    The Committee, after carefully examining the 2011 Annual Estimates of Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA), recommends to the House to approve the sum of one hundred and eighty-seven million, two hundred and fifty-nine thousand, seven hundred and seventy-nine Ghana cedis (GH¢187,259,779) for the running of the agencies for the financial year commencing 1st January and ending 31st December, 2011.

    Respectfully submitted.

    Ranking Member of the Committee (Dr Anthony A. Osei): Mr Speaker, I rise to support Motion number 8 on the Order Paper.

    Mr Speaker, one thing that you notice immediately when you look at the budget for the GRA is that ,it is higher than that for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. It is GH¢l87 259, 779 and that for the entire Ministry, with all the agencies, is GH¢ l78 million. It shows the importance of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

    Mr Speaker, this is just sufficient for them to do the regular operations, including monitoring the so-called oil. Mr Speaker, we have started producing, and customs officials are already sleeping there. So it means that the Ghana Revenue Authority is, perhaps, the most important authority that this nation has. Mr Speaker, if they do not collect, none of the Ministries will have money to spend. So we have to pay serious attention to what they are doing.

    Mr Speaker, for that reason, if you look at the Committee's Report, you will note that they will need an additional GH¢101.00 million to be able to complete the work they are doing. That is one. And two, the amount that is being held for retention is less than the maximum 3 per cent.

    Mr Speaker, we are asking them to collect more, including health special operations on the LPSO and the retention amount is gone down to about 2.6 per cent. How do we expect them to do both?

    Mr. Speaker, this Parliament must pay attention to the request of the GRA. Mr Speaker, it is a new institution, as they say if things go well, about 800 of their staff may retire voluntarily. So you can imagine that in the next two years, they might be going through what we call “teething problems”. So we must manage it so well
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 2:20 p.m.
    such that we do not cause trouble there.
    Mr. Speaker, I want to plead with the Minister that for the next two years especially for this budget, we need to do whatever we can to ensure that the Ghana Revenue Authority does what it does.
    Mr Speaker, on page 4, they tell us to establish a petroleum unit, that is not entirely correct. There is a unit but to enhance its capacity to do the work at FPSO, they need at least, GH¢29 million. Mr Speaker, I strongly urge the Minister that if there is a contingency expenditure that must be made, then this must be of the first priority, so that they can collect the GH¢584 million that we expect for this year.
    Mr Speaker, I have already alluded to the one on the retirement inducement package that requires about l2.8 million and I think it is very important that it is found.
    Mr Speaker, it is true that we want them to be more efficient and I also agree with the Ministry, sometimes when they tell us that the tax administration is tightened, they could get more.
    So in a way, it is a challenge that they are throwing to the Authority that normally when you establish an Authority over a period of time, you get improvements and efficiency and you expect more revenue to come. But at least, for the first year or two, when they are barely together, let us baby them a bit so that they do the work that we all want them to do.
    Mr Speaker, the Aflao building complex has been alluded to. On the other side of the border, things look very nice but when you come to our side, it looks as if we are in a different world. One of these days, the Hon Minister should let us drive up there and see what I am talking about. We cannot let the Togolese think that they are
    better than us. Certainly, Ghana has been around longer than Togo and we should show them that Ghana is the gateway. So we should do what is right.
    Mr Speaker, some of the Finance Committee Members had the opportunity to visit some of these stations around and the Chairman has already alluded to a situation around his constituency, not in his constituency. It is a different constituency, where as you drive into town, the border post is really in the middle of the street, so your car must be careful -- I do not know whether it is in the Speaker's Ave-Avenor; no, no, it is not there. Sorry, sorry. So, whatever it is, the Hon Minister, should let the people get to work very quickly.
    Lastly but most importantly, we do
    know that taxpayers complain a lot about the efficiency in which our refund system is working and I plead with the Hon Minister that to the extent that it may represent the cost of doing business, let us make sure that the refund system is moving very fast, so that businesses will not complain.
    Mr Speaker, with those few words, I want to urge all my Colleagues to unanimously support our new baby, the Ghana Revenue Authority, so that they can raise money for all of us to spend.
    I thank you.

    Several Members -- rose --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, I take the mood of the House. I look at the contribution of the Ranking Member and then when he finishes, I see the number of people who are on their feet to guide me.
    Mr J. B. Aidoo 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, mine is just to solicit an explanation from either the Ranking Member or the Chairman.
    In respect of the Service and then the Administration portfolios, there had been some virements. If you look at the figures in the Budget Statement, Administration is GH¢48,716,847.00 but as reported by the Committee, it is GH¢40,174,204.00. Service in the Budget Statement is GH¢6,978,654.00 but here , we are being told by the Committee that the amount is GH¢15,521,296.95. This virement, they should explain to us.
    Dr A. A. Osei 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with respect, it was one of the first points that I should have addressed. I was going to advert our minds to this change that came during the Committee meeting, so that people can reason.
    What happened, we were told, was that when the Hon Minister comes to - these numbers are sent to the Departments and Ministries, so the reorganization is done. When they come to meet the committees, they come with that reorganization. For most departments and agencies, there is a very little change.
    In fact, you will notice that the same thing will happen for this House, our Estimates here and those that the Committee will report will change, it is double and I should have adverted our minds to the fact that the agencies brought - they have re-prioritized and this was brought to the Committee and so, it does not affect the ceiling at all.
    It is just reorganization among Items 2, 3 and 4, which they allow to do before we approve the budget. So, yes, there has been virement and I had it here to advert
    our minds to it. That is the reason. The ceiling is the same.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, thank you for being so diligent.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢187,259,799.00 for the services of the Ghana Revenue Agencies for the financial year ending 31st December, 2011.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
    Item 9.
    Mr Avoka 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we will defer
    Motion 9 for the meantime. My de facto Chairman will be coming in soon, so if you permit us, we can take Motion 11.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
    What
    about 10?
    Mr Avoka 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, rather 10,
    sorry. Motion 10 before we come to Motion 11.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
    Minister
    for Employment and Social Welfare.
    Mr Avoka 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your kind indulgence, the substantive Minister himself, for unavoidable reasons, has been unable to come but his Deputy Minister is available in the House since the whole morning. And with your kind indulgence and the permission of my Hon Colleague, the Hon Minority Leader, I want to seek permission for the Hon Deputy Minister to move the Motion on behalf of the Hon Minister.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I saw the face of the substantive Minister

    closely behind that of the President at Takoradi and I thought that when the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning for reasons of this Budget has declined to be there, he should be here. He should be here; what is he doing there? He is a good Friend of mine but priorities are priorities. What is he doing at Takoradi?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:20 p.m.
    Hon

    Hon Members, order!

    The Hon Deputy Minister was here very early in the morning and I believe that if those consultations had taken place and then you knew their sentiments, we would not even had kept him up to this point.

    So, Hon Minority Leader, your point has been made and strongly made but the man has been here throughout the morning, believing that his Motion was going to be taken.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker,
    as you have said, really, I am not aware of the presence of the Hon Deputy Minister. But I thought that in this case, which are the relevant Ministries that are supposed to be with the President. Finance and Energy are key. But the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning realizing the difficulties that we had, declined and said that he was going to be with us, and this morning he has been most useful to us in this House. So, if the Hon Minister has to exit and leave the Hon Deputy Minister, the Hon Seth Terkpeh, we can certainly engage him.
    But with respect to my dear Friend, Hon E. T. Mensah, his presence here is a matter of priority and between being here and just being on the rostrum, I believe his presence here is more required and it will be of greater consequence to the nation than being just on the rostrum doing nothing.
    Mr Avoka 2:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I appreciate
    the sentiments expressed by the Hon Minority Leader but I also want to appeal to Hon Colleagues and in particular, the Hon Minority Leader to appreciate that we are running out of time. The outstanding Motions are still many.
    We had indicated that we would have done the Budget between Monday and Wednesday, today and that tomorrow and Friday, we would be debating the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
    In the light of this one, while appreciating his concern, I still want them to exercise unanimity and allow the Hon Deputy Minister who had been here since 9 o'clock. In fact, he came very, very early and I said, “all right”, he should wait and see what happens. As much as I appreciate that, I want us to understand that we are running out of time. And then, there are too many Motions that are outstanding -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
    Hon Members, is there any other matter on the main Order Paper for us to take now before I move to the Addendum Order Paper, so that we defer it?
    Hon Majority Leader, you can then talk to your Colleague the Hon Minority Leader and see. Indeed, the point being made by the Hon Minority Leader is absolutely correct. In fact, I am only pleading because of the fact that time is running against us. But the observation of the Hon Minority Leader is absolutely correct. Because time is against us, I want to plead with Hon Members that we should relax a bit. I think the observation is absolutely correct.
    So, is there any other matter to be taken before we move to the - Is the Report on Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology ready?
    Mr Avoka 2:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology is in the House. He has also been here since morning but there is a different justification for that one.
    The Hon Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Hanny- Sherry Ayittey is a Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development and she is chairing a function outside the country now.
    Indeed, on Monday, she went to the oil field with myself and the Hon Minority Leader and she had to travel outside the country. So, I want to ask you to permit the Hon Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology to move the Motion on behalf of the substantive Minister.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
    Yesterday, it was getting the Reports to move, today, the Reports are ready, the problem is getting the people to move them.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with respect to my Colleague, some substantive Ministers are here, let us deal with them first and then we can get to the Deputy Ministers.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
    In fact, he actually said we should take the Report for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, I am the one who said that it would be neater to exhaust the Order Paper before we move to the addendum. But if we want to take the Report on the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we can go ahead and take it.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, of course, you do not know that
    you can vary the order of business -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:30 p.m.
    Next time, if I evoke Standing Orders 53 and 54, do not complain. [Laughter.]
    Hon Members, item number 1 on the Addendum Order Paper.
    I was also delaying it because I realized that the Ranking Member for the Committee on Youth and Sports too was not around but he is now in. Initially, he was not in, I was watching his direction and he just came in.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 2:30 p.m.
    Minister for Youth and Sports (Ms Akua Sena Dansua) (MP) 2:30 p.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to move Motion number 1 on the Addendum Order Paper.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢45,919,856.00 for the services of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    Mr Speaker, before I proceed, I wish on behalf of the youth of this country to commend the Government and people for the first oil pour. Because the revenue that will accrue from this oil sector will enable Government create more jobs for Ghanaians, including the youth, improve the lives of Ghanaians, including the youth and this is why we are excited at today's event. [Interruptions.] It is all Ghanaian youth, not NDC youth.
    Mr Speaker, having said that, I wish to, for purposes of time, summarise as follows:
    Minister for Youth and Sports (Ms Akua Sena Dansua) (MP) 2:30 p.m.


    The Ministry will ensure co-ordinated policy and institutional framework for youth development, enhance youth skills and employment services, mobilise the youth for accelerated development, develop comprehensive sports policy and legislation and also improve sports infrastructure and management.

    Mr Speaker, there are four agencies under the Ministry which activity must be supported with adequate resources to enable us execute our mandates and impart positively on sports and youth development in the country in line with the “Better Ghana Agenda” of Govern-ment.

    Mr Speaker, I wish to urge this House to seriously consider all the recommen- dations made by the Committee and particular, to fence the budget ring meant for international sport competitions from the total budget of the Ministry and its four agencies. The reason is that, huge budgets are spent on these competitions and they tend to create the impression that, all the moneys that are released or approved for the Ministry go to the Ministry and the four agencies, yet after the disbursement of this budget for international competitions, you realise that very little is left for the Ministry itself and its agencies to execute their mandate.

    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I humbly urge Colleagues to approve the budget as it is now and possibly, to also top it up for us to enable us deliver on our mandate to the expectation of all Ghanaians.

    Mr Speaker, I thank you.

    Question proposed.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 2:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I support the Motion ably moved by the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports and in doing so, I present your Committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    Following the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for 2011 to the House by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, in accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Standing Order number 140 (1) of the Standing Orders of the House, the Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Youth and Sports were referred to the Select Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture for consideration and report, in accordance with Orders 140 (4) and 187 of the House.
    2.0 Deliberations
    The Committee met on Tuesday, 7th December, 2010 to examine the Estimates. The Committee deliberated on the performance and achievements of the Ministry and its agencies in 2010. The Committee was presented with projections of the Ministry for the year 2011 to the satisfaction of the Committee. 3.0 Acknowledgements
    The Committee wishes to acknowledge the invaluable presence and contri-butions of the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon Akua Sena Dansua (MP), the Deputy Minister, Hon Ruben Nii Nortey Duah and the Chief Accountant. We also wish to acknowledge the contributions of the National Sports Council, National Sports College, National Youth Council and the National Youth and Employment Programme for their participation.
    4.0 Reference Documents
    In the course of its deliberations,
    the Committee made reference to the following documents:
    i. Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992;
    ii . The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana;
    iii. The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2011 financial year.
    iv. The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2011 2013; and
    v. The Annual Estimates for 2011 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
    5.0 Mission Statement
    The Ministry of Youth and Sports is responsible for developing the capacity of the youth for national development and using sports as a tool for national cohesion and expression of national pride.
    6.0 Objectives for 2011
    The policy objectives of the Ministry are as follows:
    i. ensure co-ordinated policy and institutional framework for youth development ;
    ii. enhance youth skills and employ- ment services;
    iii. promote youth employment;
    iv. Mobilize the youth for accelerated
    development;
    v. promote social well being of vulnerable youth;
    vi. develop comprehensive sports policy and legislation;
    vii. improve sports infrastructure; and
    viii. improve sports management.
    7.0 Agencies and institutions under the Ministry
    T h e M i n i s t r y h a s o v e r s i g h t
    responsibility over the following agencies and institutions:.
    a. National Sports Council;
    b. National Sports College;
    c. National Youth Council;
    d. National Youth Employment Programme.
    8.0 Performance in 2010 Allocation
    For the year 2010, the Ministry of Youth and Sports was allocated a total amount of forty-four million, six hundred thirty-six thousand, six hundred and sixty- nine Ghana cedis (GH¢44,636,669.00) to enable the Ministry and its agencies undertake their planned programmes in the fiscal year 2010.
    The breakdown of the allocation in the
    year under review was as follows:
    GH¢
    i. P. E -- 4,198,654.00
    ii. Administration - -
    2,613,402.00
    ii. Service -- 17,244,106.00
    iv. Investment -- 4,286,723.00
    v. IGF -- 1,293,784.00
    vi. MDRI -- 15,000,000.00
    Total -- 44,636,669.00
    The actual expenditure of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the year under review as at the end of September is as follows:
    It is significant to mention that the budgeted balance for the Ministry's Service Activity for the year 2010, reflects a negative balance of GH¢5,996,830.96 as a result of extra releases made to support international tournaments this year.
    9.0 Achievements of the Ministry
    In pursuance of its broad objectives, the Ministry was able to achieve the following in the year under review:
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 2:30 p.m.


    9.1 Sports --

    The national teams participated in major international tournaments. Most importantly, the Black Stars participated in the prestigious Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup tournament in South Africa. For the first time, the Black Stars reached the Quarter Final stage of the competition.

    The success of the Black Stars reinvigorated the spirit of national unity and cohesion and eventually brought the flag of Ghana into the lime light.

    The Black Stars once again, won a Silver Medal at the 2010 African Cup of Nations just before the World Cup.

    The Ministry also successfully hosted the African Tennis Junior Championship qualifier in the year under review.

    The local Black Stars qualified to participate in the second edition of the CHAN 2011 competition to be held in Sudan while the National U-20 and the U-17 women teams participated in their respective World cup competitions in Germany and in Trinidad and Tobago respectively.

    Besides, the reigning African and World U-20 Champions, the Black Satellites began their defence of the two trophies won in 2009 in Rwanda and Egypt respectively by playing qualifying matches for the 2011 African Championship, for which the team has already qualified for the tournament in Libya .

    In the other sporting disciplines, Ghana participated in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Youth Olympics in Singapore, the Ghana Cote d'Ivoire Friendship Games, the YFAK Zone III Championship, the 8-nation ICC-ICA World Qualifier and won a number of medals to raise the image of the country.

    9.2 Sports infrastructure

    The Ministry, through the National Sports Council, constructed a multipurpose outdoor sports facility and renovated the tennis court at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium. Sports gymnasia were also opened at each of the four main stadia in Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi and Tamale to cater for the training needs of sports men and women.

    9.3 Employment creation

    The National Youth Employment Programme has introduced the Trade and Vocational Modules and these have led to an increase in the number of youth enrolled under the programme. Between November 2009 and August 2010, about 60,000 beneficiaries were enrolled unto the programme.

    An exit plan is being successfully implemented and beneficiaries who served for at least, two years on the Programme are smoothly transiting into more permanent employment or are being assisted to establish their own venture.

    9.4 National Youth Council

    The National Youth Policy was launched by the Vice-President, H.E. John Mahama at Elmina in the Central Region.

    The National Youth Council, in collaboration with NVTI, GES, NSS and UNFPA, provided leadership training for about 2,000 deprived and disadvan- taged.The Council also promoted youth reproductive health services for out of school youth in Volta, Eastern, Western, Central, Northern and Upper East Regions.

    10.0 Outlook for 2011 Budget

    Looking forward into the year 2011, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has

    set to undertake the following planned programme of activities:

    10.1 International Competitions

    Ghana to participate in Bilateral Games with other African countries as well as the All African University Games to be held in Accra and the World University Games in Tokyo, Japan.

    .

    Ghana to participate in the All African Games qualifiers in the first quarter of the year, leading to the 10th All African Games to be held in Maputo, Mozambique in September. Each of the 34 associations will also attend international invitational tournaments on merits.

    To unearth talents among the Youth, Governments emphasis will be placed on inter-district and inter-regional sports festivals which will culminate in the national sports festival. In addition, schools and colleges sports programme

    as well as polytechnics and universities sports will be supported.

    10.2 Football competitions

    National teams to be supported to participate in all critical tournaments to maintain the nations hard won reputation gained over the past few years. In connection with that, the national teams will participate in the following competitions:

    The U-20 National Team, Black Satellites to defend the trophies won in 2009 under the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA.

    The senior National Team, the Black Stars, to continue to participate in the qualifying matches for the 2012 African Cup of Nations Tourna- ment in Ghana and Equatorial Guinea; and

    The local Black Stars will also participate in the 2011 edition of CHAN to be hosted by Sudan.

    TABLE 1 - PAGE 14 - 2.30 P.M

    10.3 National Youth Policy

    The National Youth Policy document, which was recently launched has been published and is being distributed. Dissemination fora are being organized on the policy and the African Youth Charter in order to bring to the fore, the rights and responsibility placed on all stakeholders.

    Five thousand, four hundred (5,400) deprived and unskilled youth to be trained in Vocational, Technical and Leadership Courses in all the 10 youth leadership and skills training institutions nationwide.

    To promote youth empowerment through counselling, education and community service. The National Youth Council in collaboration with other agencies will also establish crop and livestock production units in the 10 youth training institutes. Additionally, short- term training courses will be organized in Agriculture Extension Eervices for 480 youth in all the regions and training will be provided for 2,500 deprived youth in leadership, vocational and technical skills.

    10.4 Youth employment

    A capacity building initiative in proposal writing for the youth will be introduced on competition basis. The Ministry will also ensure the passage of the National Youth Employment Programme Law to give the programme the necessary legal status.

    The Ministry in collaboration with the Retired Miners Association (RMA) will introduce new module to be called Youth-in-mining Module to help reduce galamsey.

    10.5 Sports infrastructure

    Government to commence construction

    works on the multi-purpose sports stadium at Cape Coast and VIP stand at the Tema Sports Stadium. Additionally, rehabilitation works in Kpando, Ho, Bolga, Wa and Kalandan Park in Tamale will be undertaken. The Ashanti Goldfield Company Limited will also support the development of 10 multi-purpose courts in identified districts in the country.

    11.0 Provision for 2011 Budget

    To achieve the above-mentioned objectives for 2011, the Ministry has been allocated an amount of forty-five million, nine hundred and nineteen thousand, eight hundred and fifty-six Ghana cedis (GH¢45,919,856.00) for the year 2011. The amount is made up of GOG component ofGH¢28,480,986 and with expected IGF of GH¢653,370.00 and SIP of GH¢16,785,500.

    a. GoG -- GH¢28,480,986

    b. IGF -- GH¢653,370.00

    c. SIP -- GH¢16,785,500

    Total --

    GH¢45,919,856.00

    Table I. Below is a table representing the GoG allocation to the Ministry and its departments and agencies for the year 2011.

    12.0 Observations and recommendations

    12.1 Shortfalls in allocations

    Mr Speaker, a comparison of the 2010 and 2011 allocation to the Ministry revealed that the total allocation to the Ministry has increased by only 3 per cent. However, on item by item, there has
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 2:30 p.m.


    been a significant reduction in investment allocation by almost 100 per cent. Such a reduction in investment does not conform to the plans of the Ministry to construct a multi-purpose stadium in Cape Coast and the rehabilitation of other stadia around the country.

    The Committee therefore wishes to recommend to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to reconsider the investment allocations to the Ministry especially in the light of the fact that if care is not taken, the huge investment made in the construction of the new stadia for CAN 2008 will go down the drains due to lack of funds to maintain them.

    12.2 International tournaments

    Mr Speaker, due to the commitments of Ghana to major international sports programmes which usually awaken our sense of national unity and also raises Ghana's image in the international scene, there would be the need for Government to supplement the Ministry's budgetary allocations in order for it to continue to win laurel's to our dear nation.

    The Committee is of the view that sports over the years have played a pivotal role as a symbol of peace and national unity and must therefore be given the golden plate it deserves in distributing our national cake.

    The Committee again observed that expenditure on international competitions impact heavily on the total budget allocation to the Ministry and therefore, recommends that the budget for international competitions should be factored in the Ministry's Estimates for consideration by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning so that it does not distort the Ministry's annual allocation.

    1 2 . 3 N a t i o n a l Y o u t h Employment Programme

    The Committee observed that the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) has been allocated an amount of sixteen million, seven hundred and eighty- five thousand, five hundred Ghana cedis (GH¢16,785,500). The amount is provided under the Social Intervention Programme. According to the Ministry, the NYEP has developed an exit plan to ensure that beneficiaries who have been on the programme for at least two years are smoothly transited into more permanent employment or assisted to establish their own ventures.

    Under the exit plan, an amount of money is being deducted from the monthly salary of beneficiaries of the porgramme. An amount equal to what is being deducted is given to a person exiting the programme either in kind or cash depending on the type of material required to start work independently.

    12..4 National Sports Council (NSC)

    The Committee was informed that the constructional works at the proposed site for the Cape Coast Sports Stadium is being pursued by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Committee, therefore, wishes to recommend to Government and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to consider making resources available to the Ministry so as to enable it complete the project.

    13.0 Conclusion

    Considering the need to develop the talents and potentials of Ghana youth to meet the challenges of the 21st Century and beyond, taking into account the need to develop sports to further promote peace, unity and harmony among the people of Ghana and international community, the
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Stephen M. E. K. Ackah) 2:40 p.m.
    Committee wishes to recommend to the House to adopt its Report and approve the sum of forty-five, million, nine hundred and nineteen thousand, eight hundred and fifty-six Ghana Cedis (GH¢45,919,856.00) for the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the financial

    year 2011.

    Respectfully submitted.

    Ranking Member of the Committee (Mr Isaac K. Asiamah): Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion on the floor and in so doing, I would like to begin with page 4 of the Report that talks about the achievements of the Ministry, and it begins with Sports for the year 2010. Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would want to just read a portion of the Report:

    “The national teams participated in major international tournaments. Most importantly, the Black Stars participated in the prestigious Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup tournament in South Africa. For the first time, the Black Stars reached the quarter final stage of the competition.”

    A very laudable achievement indeed, and one would have expected that at least, with this wonderful achievement, not only coming from the Ministry but of course, the GFA, some credit would have been given to the GFA and a good rapport would have been established between the GFA and the Ministry. But I do not think that is what we are witnessing, especially between the GFA and the Presidency, of course.

    From the reports we are getting, the kind of issues that are emerging from the GFA -- at least, as a country, we should reward excellence, we should reward achieve- ment. That is what this country should be striving for.

    So if you have such an organisation, call it whatever, GFA that has over the years

    SPACE FOR TABLES 1 & 3 -

    PAGE 19 - 2.30 P.M

    achieved so much historically for this country, one would only hope that at least, we would give them that kind of respect that they deserve rather than lambast, humiliate and attack them, especially, when it is coming from government sources; it is, indeed, very unfortunate.

    Mr Speaker, I would also want to

    continue by saying that this current crop of GFA Executives has over the years done a lot for Ghana's football. For the first time of Ghana's participation in the World Cup, this same crop of people took us there and they were included in those in South Africa. So in my opinion, the GFA needs to be commended especially by the Ministry and not to be lambasted and attacked unnecessarily.

    Mr Speaker, the other issue I want to

    touch on is about the Cape Coast Sports Stadium that is at a standstill. That stadium was started by the previous Government and by almost halfway through the administration of NDC II, one would have expected that, at least, much progress would have been in that direction. As we speak, the work on the stadium is at a standstill; nothing is being done at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium. Indeed, it is most unfortunate.

    We were able to find money for the four stadia. I am saying four because the other two were completely demolished and new ones put up. Accra Sports Stadium -- refurbished totally, completely; Kumasi - to almost new status; we did one in Tamale and Sekondi. The Government was able to find money then, so I challenge the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to prosecute that project.

    Hon Akua, I hope I am doing well for you; Akua -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
    Hon
    Ranking Member, address the Chair.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Hon
    Akua and I have a very good rapport and she knows it --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, if you want to extend that rapport to the floor, you know the language to use.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is
    most unfortunate; she is way older than me; I admit it.
    Mr Speaker, I want to urge the Hon
    Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to do well to expedite action on the Cape Coast Sports Stadium; it is important. The campaign promise - The President was there and he assured them that he was going to do it. But for almost two years now, nothing has been added to what we started.
    Mr Speaker, another issue has got
    to do with the promotion of the lesser known sports. We call it the “lesser known sports” but in other countries, they are the major sporting activities. In Ghana here, we call them “lesser known sports”. I think over the years, we, have not done much to promote these lesser known sports' and it is reflected even in the Ministry's activities. So it is important that, at least, we put much emphasis on the “lesser known sports” because they also provide employment to the teeming youth of this country.
    Mr Speaker, sports today is a business
    enterprise. It is a serious business enterprise that offers employment and job opportunities to numerous people. So it is important that we place much attention on other sporting activities. I hope henceforth, we should get rid of the words “lesser-known sports” and make sure that we provide equal attention to all the sporting activities. This is because what we call “lesser known sports”, in other places, they are the major sporting events. Rugby is held in high esteem in South Africa and other places. Some of these words we use to describe other
    sporting activities, indeed, do not help us in our cause. So let us label all of them as sporting activities demanding equal attention and equal resources.
    Mr Speaker, I want to touch on the
    youth. Indeed, whatever we do, and I am happy the Hon Minister started by talking about the oil find and the prospects for the youth. I believe it is important that we place the youth so high in whatever we do. Instead of using them sometimes to promote unnecessary tension and unnecessary conflicts in our areas, we should make sure that they are well placed.
    Mr Speaker, the National Youth Policy
    document that was hurriedly launched by His Excellency the Vice-President, indeed, needs to be commented upon. I have had several consultations with all stakeholders, I mean, several youth groups and they were not consulted on that document. The document has been rushed. Indeed, that document had been rushed and we would have expected that at least, major stakeholders would have been involved.
    Our Committee was never involved; the Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture was never involved in this whole launching business. Ask the Hon Chairman, he is here. I do not think he was even consulted. Yes, the Hon Chairman is here, he was not even consulted and he should come out and deny what I am saying; he is here. If he were consulted, at least, we would have been involved. He is still sitting down; he cannot challenge me because he was not consulted and that is most unfortunate. We have the Committee on Youth, Sports - [Interruption.] Why are you asking him to --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
    Why?
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:40 p.m.
    Why? Mr Speaker,
    he is sitting down there. He wants me to come and -
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
    Pardon?
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that
    is my worry.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:40 p.m.
    I cannot
    urge any Hon Member to get up on his feet; I cannot.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think the key point is that that document has been rushed and that is most unfortunate.
    I remember when we started with this National Youth Policy about three, four years ago, the former Hon Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon Nana Akomea and Hon Frema Osei-Opare had several consultations with all stakeholders. Yes, a lot of youth groups and interest groups were all invited and even that we did not rush to launch the document. We took our time, until December, 2008 or so when it was given an Executive approval or Cabinet approval status. Even that one, we did not go out just to rush it and launch it. Mr Speaker, if we are talking of issues that border on the youth, it is most important that we take our time and come out with a document that can stand the test of time; a document that can, indeed, resolve some of these numerous problems that confront the youth.
    But here we are, it has been launched and there is no implementation plan, no time lines, no deliverables, so in the next three, four years, what do you hope to achieve? There is no indication of that sort. So the document has just been launched with just grammar. Nothing has been added to it so that it can bite. It is most unfortunate. So what do we hope to achieve in the next two, three, four, five years? The next twenty years, what do we hope to achieve for the youth?
    Nothing is indicated in the document. In the next, three, four, five, ten years, what do they hope to achieve for the youth? There is nothing. And we are talking of a country that wants to have a better future for the youth. A country that has the interest of the youth at heart, that we launched a document just to satisfy political interest? It is most unfortunate.
    Mr Ackah 2:40 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, it is unfortunate my Hon Ranking Member is making such a blanket statement, that the people did not know that they had a time to exit.
    When the NPP Administration that brought the NYEP was giving this sort of certification for people who were supposed to work with NYEP, they were aware from their letters that they were to work for two years. They knew it. They had it on their identity cards and they knew that they were to work for two years, except that they wanted to make sure that they made it like a permanent sort of thing, then they behaved as if they did not know.
    After two years, they knew they were to exit except that they had not made any exit plan for those people and that is what the NDC Government is trying to actually implement, and make sure that they have a proper exit plan so that after two years, they make sure that you go out and reorganise yourself and that sort of thing. So it is never true that they were just being laid off when they were not
    Mr Ackah 2:40 p.m.


    aware. They were aware of the conditions of their service.
    Mrs Osei-Opare 2:50 p.m.
    On a point of order. I thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to make some clarification.

    Please, let me explain because we are talking about the future. We are talking about the future of the youth and you will hear me.

    I want to say Mr Speaker, that there was an exit plan but that plan, it is not for you to answer [Interruption.] Let me explain. Mr Speaker, they want to harass me and I am ready. I want to explain.

    There is an exit plan. The plan for all responsible programmes is not simply tied with a year; it is tied with a programme. That programme was supposed to be that during the period, pupils who have been enrolled, students and others who have been enrolled would be given some training and that that exit plan, by the time they exit, which in our time we estimated that around two years.

    It is the same as the Livelihood Empowerement Against Poverty thing as the (LEAP); there is an exit plan but based on the criterion that that group of persons or the individual must have had some employable skills that make them ready for the next level.

    If you have inherited something and you do not understand, I think you should ask the person. If it were purely a motivation to create employment for a section of Ghanaians to the exclusion of

    others, we would not have thought of the youth, our children and let them have some employable skills to move to the next level. It is most unfortunate -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, you have made your point.
    Ranking Member, continue and conclude.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, on
    this issue of an exit plan, I served on the Public Accounts Committee. The other time when we invited the Director- General, Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, in fact, he was so emphatic on that. The man first of all, admitted that indeed, those under the Health Extension Services, for example, had provided useful service and therefore, they were about transiting to writing their examinations to enter other nursing training colleges. That is an example of a perfect exit plan. So that is how it is.
    He also went on to say that there were other countries that had even agreed to absorb some of the excesses or surpluses we may have. As we speak now, if you talk of “export”, Ghana stands to gain more outside from some of these nurses we train So please, there was an exit plan, let us admit it.
    Mr Speaker, so therefore, talking of
    the hope for Ghanaian youth, if you take out 80,000 people and you replace them with another 80,000 people, you have not created any single job for Ghanaians. You take 80,000 out and you add 80,000, it is zero; you have not created a single job for Ghanaians. So that is what Ghanaians are interested in. The fact of the matter is that indeed, no single job has been created; rather it has been reduced drastically, the number has reduced drastically; that is it.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, kindly conclude.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, therefore, we should also get rid of this canker in the National Youth Employment Programme --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
    Kindly
    conclude.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:50 p.m.
    Yes, a typical
    example, something happened in Bibiani in the Western Region where the District Co-ordinator had to demand sex for job and it is happening all over. Do you want to tell the youth of this country that poor female Ghanaians wanting jobs, they are harassed, they are intimidated and sex is demanded before giving them jobs? Mr Speaker, this is a very dangerous precedence and the record is there. That happened at Bibiani --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:50 p.m.
    Hon Member --
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 2:50 p.m.
    Finally, I would
    want to urge this Honourable House to, notwithstanding the above challenges, approve an amount of GH¢45,919,856.00 for the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the financial year 2011.
    Mr George K. Arthur 2:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker,
    I think -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, I called you to contribute. If you do not want to contribute, then you may sit down.

    Mr Kobla Mensah Woyome (NDC

    -- South Tongu): ;Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the floor, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢45,919,856.00 for the services of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year ending 31st December, 2011.

    Mr Speaker, I want to add my voice

    to the Hon Members who spoke earlier and congratulated the Ministry and the Government especially, for doing so well by counting on the various achievements of the Ministry. What we as a country did in terms of rallying behind our gallant sportsmen and women to chalk the various successes, especially in the World tournament in South Africa and many others.

    Mr Speaker, I will want to use this occasion to thank some wonderful and invisible hard-working gentlemen and women at the Ministry of Youth and Sports at the time, who contributed to the success -- and of course, the Minister herself.

    Mr Speaker, I want to look at the

    outlook for the 2011 Budget under item 8 and there is a portion that reads:

    “To unearth talents among the youth, government's emphasis would be placed on inter-district and inter-regional sports festivals which will culminate in national sports festival. In addition, schools and colleges sports programmes as well as polytechnics and universities sports would be supported.”

    Mr Speaker, I think this is a laudable one. Of course, we know very well that our performances at various sports activities, most especially the inter-national ones, the Olympic Games and other sporting activities internationally have not been really good. And so, it would be good to really go out there to harness, look out for the best talents and probably get them to be well-trained and feature for our dear country in these international tournaments.

    I just hope that in getting these best sportsmen and women, whoever is actually responsible in selecting these ones will be fair in doing so, so that it does not become a kind of favouritism at play.

    Mr Speaker, I want to add a little to what my Colleague earlier spoke about, which is on the National Youth Policy.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, you have one minute more.
    Mr Bedzrah 3 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that this
    particular Government is interested in making sure that the youth are not left out in the national development agenda. But Mr Speaker, there is an aspect I would like to quote:
    Under the National Youth Employment Programme, the exit plan, this Government has been able to develop, as in item 7.2, which has the heading “National Youth Employment Programme.” It reads at a point:
    “According to the Ministry, the National Youth Employment Programme has developed an exit plan to ensure that beneficiaries who have been on the programme for at least two years are at least transited into more permanent employment or assisted to establish their own ventures.”
    And it goes on to read:
    “Under the exit plan, an amount of money is being deducted from the monthly salary of beneficiaries of the programme and an amount equal to what is being deducted is given
    to a person exiting the programme either in kind or cash depending on the type of material required to start work independenly.”
    I believe if there were an exit plan, there
    would have been the mention of a plan being put together, or has been put together by this present Administration. I am sure there would have been mention of attempts in the past and probably, the attempt to build on. So this clearly indicates that we are moving forward in the right direction so far as making sure the lot of the youth are bettered --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
    Conclude.
    Mr Bedzrah 3 p.m.
    I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to add my voice to the Motion.
    Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang
    - rose -
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3 p.m.
    You know, Hon Members, when you have the Deputy Ranking Member and you have a senior Member who is also on his feet - [Laughter]-- Hon Deputy Ranking member, I will give you the chance. I will give you one minute.
    Mr O. B. Amoah (NPP 3:01 p.m.
    None

    Nsawam): Mr Speaker, I am a member of the Committee. I am not the Deputy Ranking Member.

    Thank you for this opportunity.

    Mr Speaker, I support the Motion

    for the approval of the Estimates for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

    Mr Speaker, before I begin, I wish to take this opportunity to commend and congratulate Joseph “Fresh-skin” Agbeko, the new Champion in town. Indeed, the whole Africa is proud of him. Ghanaians are very happy and Africa is proud of him.

    Mr Speaker, as we speak, we have the

    hockey clubs championship in progress and we wish our teams all the best.

    Mr Speaker, during the year 2010, football has been very good to us. At the junior level, at the World Cup Level, Ghana has done very well. Unfortunately, we cannot say so for other disciplines. Indeed, we went to the Commonwealth Games and we could have done far better than what we did in India. We are hoping that come 2011, when we go for the All Africa Games in Mozambique and 2012 Olympic Games in London, Ghana would be well prepared to hold the flag of our country very high.

    Mr Speaker, one major problem with sports especially is funding. Indeed, most people think that the Ministry of Youth and Sports has enough funding for programmes. Unfortunately, all the money is spent on competitions. There is no money for infrastructure, there is money for training, there is no money for excellence in the sense of getting our young ones into academies for them to perform for the country.

    One major area we can look at for funding, Mr Speaker, is for us to quickly have the Sports Bill in Parliament and for the Bill to be passed into an Act. Under the Bill, Ghana is hoping to have a trust fund which would raise money for sports. So long as we do not have the trust fund for sports, sports is likely to be bedevilled with lack of funding year in year out.

    So this is the time to call on the Minister for Youth and Sports to ensure that as quickly as possible, Cabinet would approve the Sports Bill for Parliament to also look at it. That is one of the major ways that we can fund sports.

    Indeed, luckily, this year, Ghana earned over US$11 million at the World Cup. It is our hope that the Government would use part of this money to look at the other disciplines, the so-called “lesser sports” which indeed, are not any less than football. We expect that Government would devote at least, US$2 million towards having multi-purpose courts and boxing gyms so that this country would excel in other disciplines apart from soccer.

    Mr Speaker, while ending on sports, we need to talk about school sports. Unfortunately, when Youth and Sports were decoupled from Education, it appeared we did not hear much about school sports. I have asked members on the Committee on Education and it appears much has not been said about schools sports even under Education. This is the time for us to look at schools sports. Indeed, after independence, most Ghanaian sportsmen were those who were trained in the schools.

    Nowadays, the impression is that you need to be a dropout before you can do well in sports. That should not be the case. We should have excellence in sports and excellence in sports can be achieved if we encourage those in schools to do sports. I believe if we devote enough funding for schools sports, we would be sowing the seeds of excellence in future.

    Coming to the youth, we have youth

    training centres across the regions. Unfortunately, it appears all our attention is now devoted to youth employment to the extent that we appear to be relegating our youth councils to the background.

    One area we can look at is to get these youth councils to be identified as educational institutions so that they would come under the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the GETFund would support these institutions. They are educational institutions, but if you go there now, Mr Speaker, it is an eyesore; they do
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Mr O.B. Amoah 3:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in
    conclusion, it appears that we all agree that the youth employment programme is a laudable one. Unfortunately, the budget for the employment programme is not big enough. We still have the problem of allowance arrears; it takes months - three to six months - before these young ones are able to get their meagre allowances. I think we should have a permanent solution to this problem. Otherwise, we are frustrating the youth and they would think that we do not really care about them.
    I believe that we should find ways of increasing the budget for youth employment so that our youth would be well trained and then they would transit to the higher sector.
    Mr Ahmed Ibrahim (NDC - Tain) 3:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to support the Motion. I just want to say some few words in support of the Motion.
    I have looked at the 2010 performance and budget of the Committee's Report, and under Service, Mr Speaker, there was a cumulative release under Service of 161 per cent and the explanation given was that it was because of international competitions and others that the Ministry was engaged in.
    Mr Speaker, the budgeted money for the Ministry was GH¢17,244.106. However, the release was GH¢27,- 721,845.64. This shows an increase of a 61 per cent.
    Mr Speaker, well, the Ministry, together with the Ghana Football Association
    (GFA) performed creditably. Many international competitions were embarked upon and we won. I do not think there is a law in the country that shows that he who performs well should not be made to give accountability.
    Mr Speaker, with this, some people have contributed, some have said the GFA did well, the Ministry did well and they deserve commendation. Well, it is true they deserve commendation. In the same way, once the budgeted money was GH¢17 million and the release was GH¢27 million, I believe the taxpayer as well as all of us as Ghanaians deserve openness, trans-parency and accountability to know why we did exceed the budgeted money, so that come 2011, when a request is made that we should pay to exceed the budgeted account, there can be a justification for it.
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I want all of us to support the Motion.
    Thank you very much.
    Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang (NPP -- New Juaben North) 3:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, when they talk about youth and sports, people think that those of us who are Gold Coasters should not speak. They forget, Mr Speaker, that I have five children and I have ten grandchildren. [Uproar!] The number that I control is much more than, maybe, the Hon Minister herself. But Mr Speaker --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    Hon Member, do you control all your grandchildren?
    Mr Owusu-Agyemang 3:01 p.m.
    Of course, I do.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    Very well.
    Mr Owusu-Agyemang 3:01 p.m.
    I am an African and they listen to me.
    But to be honest, the point that I wanted to make had been made by the
    Mr Owusu-Agyemang 3:01 p.m.


    Hon Member for Aburi-Nsawam, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah; it was about inter- collegiate.

    When we were younger -- when they were to have inter-collegiate at Cape Coast, that was when we really developed the talents and I believe that we did not need too much money to do that. Each and every college sponsored its own athletes and the Ministry gave us no money. So Mr Speaker, I believe a bit of innovative thinking and trying to look back at what made us get these specialist sportsmen and women can also help.

    Right now, Mr Speaker, our golden days are gone; we have just got a win. But our golden days are gone when we had the Real Republicans and this and that and even Robert Kottey and all those started from the secondary school.

    I believe that there is need to urge the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports and the Minister for Education to come together to see how they can catch them young and bring them up. It helps. I sponsored one of my grandchildren for football training in an academy. My granddaughter of 17 years was playing for the national team as a reserve; now she is playing for a university in America.

    So I believe we can encourage the schools and the parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to invest in sports facilities with a bit of help from our dear Sister and see whether we can move it forward.

    Having said that, the main point I wanted to make was inter-collegiate sports, which Mr Amoah really underscored and I just want to re-emphasize that. But when it is youth, I am also young -- at heart.

    Thank you.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    Chairman of the Committee, your Report, page 4 - Expenditure Returns for 2010 -- are the figures there correct under Service?
    Mr Ackah 3:01 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker. And the reason is what is assigned below, that because of competitions; I think some extra support came from the Ministry over and above the estimated projections they made. So you see that GH¢17,000 is now GH¢27,000. And it was because they gave extra money -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    GH¢27 million?
    Mr Ackah 3:01 p.m.
    GH¢27 million, just to make sure that they could cater for the various -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    How did you arrive at the minus 10?
    Mr Ackah 3:01 p.m.
    Minus 10 there means 27 minus 17, and that is extra, over and above the projected initial money.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    But the cumulative expenditure there is 22?
    Mr Ackah 3:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is why you see the total at the base. You still have minus 5,000 which is catered for between the 22 and the 27.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    So where is the 5 million?
    Mr Ackah 3:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is for the Ministry and we asked for it and the accountant promised that -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:01 p.m.
    Once you bring it, you must explain. Anyway.
    Mr J. B. Aidoo 3:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, there are
    corrections to be made on page 9, table 3; the percentage variance. Mr Speaker, for Administration, the percentage should be 19.6 and not 16. And then Investments, Mr Speaker, the difference, you have just 2.1 million out of 4.2 and that is just
    about half. So it is 50 per cent and not - [Interruption.] They have indicated 100 per cent and it is completely wrong.
    Then Mr Speaker, IGF, again, the percentage difference should not be 98. It should be 49.5 per cent. For the minor ones, I think we can ignore but where they are substantial, Mr Speaker, we ought to - and I would advise that the Committee Chairmen meticulously proofread these Reports because they are coming with too many mistakes. They should be corrected before they come to the floor.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:20 p.m.
    Very well. Yes -
    Minority Leader (Mr Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu) 3:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, just a few comments. The first one has already been addressed by my Hon Colleague.
    I was just going to say that if we approve of 4 million and the next approval is 2 million, it is 50 per cent of it and not 100 per cent. A hundred decrease, certainly is zero and not the figure that you have quoted.
    Mr Speaker, page 7 of the Committee's Report, paragraph 8.2, bullet point 3 3:20 p.m.
    “The senior national team the Black Stars, continue to participate in the qualifying matches for 2012 African Cup of Nations tournament in Ghana . . .”

    It is Gabon - 2012. The tournament is in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, not Ghana.

    Then paragraph 8.3, bullet point 2 - Mr Speaker, I am not too clear about the construction there:

    “Five thousand, four hundred deprived and unskilled youth to be trained in Vocational, Technical and Leadership courses in all the 10 youth leadership and skills training institutions nationwide.”

    I believe that it is the total, the number 5,400 is the total involvement. A total of 5,400 deprived and unskilled youth are going to be trained in all the 10 youth leadership and skills training institutions. Mr Chairman, I believe that is what you mean? We should be very clear in our minds what you mean by that otherwise, it is made to appear as if each of them is going to train 5,400. But it is not what you mean.

    Mr Speaker, of course, that distinction is called for, given the fact that in the course of the year, people make all manner of wild claims that 1.6 million have been trained or have been employed when indeed, there is nothing like that. So we need to clarify this.

    Mr Speaker, the point that I want to stick to is in respect of paragraph 8.1 - the participation of Ghana in the All Africa Games. Mr Speaker, as has already been articulated by the Hon Member for Aburi/Nsawan, who is the Deputy Ranking Member, the Ministry does not have enough provision for training of our athletes and sports persons towards such games.

    The last All Africa Games that Ghana participated in, was a total disaster for us and one would pray the Ministry, if they cannot train them -- fortunately, we have between now and next year September, about 10 months, they should design a programme of training for the sportsmen; the athletes in particular.

    Mr Speaker, because athletes do not

    achieve overnight, if you send them there untrained, Ghana is going to be humiliated. And so I just want to appeal to the Ministry to pursue from whatever quarters, resources to seriously train our sports persons.

    Mr Speaker, I have a fundamental problem with the expenditure returns for 2010. Mr Speaker, we are told that the approved budget for 2010 was GH¢28,342,885.00 for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture. And by the way, Mr Speaker, ,when my Hon Colleague for New Juaben North got up to talk and you were finding it difficult to create space for him, I thought he was going to speak to the other leg of the Ministry, which is Culture. But he declined to speak - [Interruption] - Culture is not there.
    An Hon Member 3:20 p.m.
    Culture is under Chieftaincy.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:20 p.m.
    All right. I now understand; but I thought he was going to speak to issues on Culture, since he prides himself by referring to himself as a Gold Coaster.
    Mr Speaker, the issue that I have is, this House approved of a sum of GH¢28.3 million and the language of the approval was very clear; in fact, it has become ritualistic; anyway, that is the same language he used. That for a Ministry, the House approves a sum or an amount up to a certain figure. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning does not come to this House with a supplementary Budget. How does it happen that the Ministry exceeds the target approved by this House? How does it happen? And what are the legal and constitutional implications of that?
    Mr Speaker, I believe that we should be very careful because when Parliament gave the approval to the Ministry, the language was unequivocal - that you should spend up to GH¢28.3 million. So
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:20 p.m.


    how did it happen that the Ministry went through the ceiling and spent GH¢34.3 million?

    Mr Speaker, I think it involves serious attention of this House. And I am not saying so to indict the Hon Minister but I am thinking that it is something that as a House, we should consider very, very seriously. It cannot be that Parliament approves of a sum or an amount not exceeding a certain figure and a Ministry goes out of its own way to expend monies exceeding the target that has been approved by Parliament. It cannot be. Mr Speaker, so we should certainly find an answer to this.

    Finally Mr Speaker, still on training, I had an occasion to address this matter sometime ago. Mr Speaker, it is not for nothing that centres of sports excellence are located at altitudes; it is not for nothing. It is to enable the athletes take advantage of heights. And that is why when you go to Cameroon, their own centre of sports excellence is located in the Adamawa Mountains.

    Nigeria has their own centre for sports excellence at Jos; Mali have their own, thanks to Keita in the Uplands; Guinea have their own at Kankan in the Fouta Jalon Mountains -[Hear! Hear!] Ghana, we have our own at Prampram; what is the use of it? What is the use of it? --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:20 p.m.
    Where do you recommend we should have it?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, certainly, it must be at an altitude - either Aburi, if you like, Amedzofe or Kwahu.
    Mr Speaker, we get our priorities wrong. I do not see what advantage this facility at Prampram provides our sports persons. Mr Speaker, we are not
    talking about any location in Ghana. If my Colleague was listening and listening with rapt attention, he would have heard the import in the point that I am putting forth. So we do not just wake up and locate any where at all. We do not do that. Mr Speaker, so it is important la Cote d' Ivoire is locating their own in Buake in the highlands. So Ghana, we must have a rating, otherwise, as far as I am concerned, it is a prodigal waste of resources what we have done with the facility that we call “Centre for Sports Excellence.”
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, as we say here, I will still urge the House to approve the budget for the Ministry but we must get our priorities right.
    Ms Akua S. Dansua 3:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I wish to commend Colleagues for the very useful and sometimes interesting contributions and will like to respond to a few of them.
    First of all, Mr Speaker, I will like to make some factual corrections on pages 8 and 11 of the Committee's Report on sports infrastructure, 8.5. It is AngloGold Ashanti and not Ashanti Goldfields. AngloGold Ashanti is supporting us with 20 multi-purpose courts across the country. That is one.
    Then on page 11, the first paragraph, we are now going to set up the Provident Fund, it is not like we are making the deductions already. We will start from 2011. So the sentence should read,
    “Under the exit plan, an amount of money is to be deducted and an equal amount to what is to be deducted is to be given to a person exiting the programme.”
    So it is next year. We are not doing it now.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Ranking Member touched on the perceived bad rapport among the Ministry, Government and the GFA. I want to assure him that there is no such situation and if he cares, he should
    go and read the letter that the GFA has sent to FIFA. It states clearly in there that Government, the GFA and the Ministry are collaborating to develop football in this country. I want him to do away with that perception.
    Mr Speaker, the IOC is an institution created by all of us, including Parliament. So definitely, we have empowered them to do a certain job for us and that exactly is what they are doing without the Ministry or Government's interference -- [Interruptions] -- it is very clear. What they did is clearly within their mandate, so that is that.
    On the Cape Coast Sports Stadium, we have been working tirelessly within these past two years to obtain resources to do it. I am happy to inform Colleagues that during His Excellency's recent visit to China, the Chinese Government graciously gave us a grant of RMB 80 million to construct a sporting facility for the cluster of schools in Cape Coast as well as for the people of Cape Coast. So that is starting very soon.
    On the “lesser-known” sports, Mr Speaker, a lot is being done to improve the less developed sports like hockey, table tennis, swimming and others. But we all agree that it will take time for these sports to be developed to the level of football.
    All of us have contributed to making football the number one sports in Ghana. So much as we are trying to develop the other “lesser-known” sports, it will take some time. So we need the collaboration of all of us, including Hon Colleagues in this House to develop these sports.

    - Are you happy? [Some Hon Members: Yes.] [Laughter.]

    Mr Speaker, clearly, we did not inherit an implementation plan. Honestly, we did not have one. Maybe, they had done it but they did not hand it over to the incoming Minister. So we did not see one and that is why we went at great length to do the exit plan and also have a workable and a well-costed action plan for the National Youth Policy. So we will give credit to where credit is due. We have said that you did a lot of consultation for the policy but in terms of the work plan, they did not have one and we had to actually take pains to craft it.

    Mr Speaker, the NYEP we inherited was based on paid internship, which created a lot of pressure for government resources. The beneficiaries only passed through the programme without any skills training. But what we are doing now is to focus on skills training to empower them in such a way that after the two years -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Ms Dansua 3:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, very important issues were raised. So I need to address them, otherwise, they will go into the record.
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
    Hon Ranking Member, what is the point of order that you have?
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 3:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have served on this Committee for six years as Vice Chairman and of course, Chairman of this Committee and now Ranking Member and I am speaking authoritatively that indeed, that document that was given an Executive approval in 2008 had an action plan tied to it. [Interruptions.]
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
    Hon
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.


    Members, you see, at times when you are making certain statements, the Chair cannot take a decision on it one way or the other because nobody -- she is alleging and you are also alleging, -- nobody has brought an exit plan - [Interruptions] - Hon Members, the matter will not end here and it should not end here. If there is a plan, it should be somewhere. But where I sit here, the Minister is saying that she did not see any; you are saying that by virtue of your position, you know that there was - nobody can say that what you are saying is not true; neither can I say that what the Minister is saying is not true. I believe that - what we should do as a House, is to probe this matter further so that this House and indeed, the people of this country will know the true position on this matter.

    So for now, continue.
    Mr I. K. Asiamah 3:30 p.m.
    We are producing that document tomorrow to this House.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:30 p.m.
    Hon Member, I have not called you. If you have the document, make it available through the normal processes. You know the normal processes.
    Ms Dansua 3:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, even if the Hon Colleague makes it available, it becomes irrelevant because he has been overtaken by events. We have a new one that is budgeted for.
    Mr Speaker, the issue of sexual harassment under the NYEP was also raised. Mr Speaker, much as I will not condone that, these were allegations that were made and are being investigated. So we have to wait until investigations are concluded, then we can establish that, yes, women are being harassed for employment.
    Mr Speaker, on the issue of unearthing
    new talents to revamp our national teams, yes, our focus next year is going to be on that because we have realized that most of our sports people are aging and so their performance level has reduced. So we want to use the inter-schools through the inter-colleges and universities and security agencies to unearth new talents that we will use to beef up our national teams.
    The Sports Bill is currently before Cabinet. We are not rushing it through because we want to do a thorough job and come out with a very good sports law. So I want to promise Colleagues that at least, by the end of the first quarter next year, the Bill would have been processed to this House for consideration.
    Use of World Cup income. Mr Speaker, this is an issue that the stakeholders will have to sit down and discuss. It is for the GFA, the Ministry and also Government to sit down and see how we can use this income. This is because we want to do a legacy project, something that we can point to; that, yes, after the 20l0 World Cup, this is what we have done. We do not want to give out the moneys to the clubs for them to use without any tangible -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Is the money in the country?
    Ms Sena Akua Dansua 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is in the country; we have used some to pay part of our outstanding bills but we still have some balance to do the project.
    National Youth Training Institutes -- a lot of renovation is ongoing to revamp the institutes and we intend to add up some resources in 2011 to complete these jobs. Also retooling is going on and I want to assure Hon Colleagues that we have not left the institutes to rot.
    NYEP allowances, we have paid up except for November and December but
    the problem is that the agencies that are supposed to give us monies like the NHIS, the District Assemblies Common Fund, the Communications Tax and Road Fund do not release these monies to us on time, so this is why we have a lot of backlog. But I am happy to inform Hon Colleagues that we are working seriously at paying up before the year ends. And also we note with gratitude the increase of the Communication ring-fencing Tax from 10 to 60 per cent.
    A lot has been said about ring-refencing the budget for sports competitions and this is why we overshot our budget this year. We were not going to go to the Commonwealth Games; the Amputee Association was not going to go for their tournament because we did not have the budget and we had to make a special request to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to help us and this is why our budget was overshot.
    Mr Speaker, I think with these few words, I would like to thank Hon Colleagues for their useful contributions and also commend Joseph Agbeko for winning the WBA Bantamweight Championship recently. We have already done that outside this House but I think it is worthy to put it on record.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢45,919,856.00 for the services of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, before I move to the next item, I would want to inform the House -- I have been informed based on a ruling that I gave during the Second Reading of the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill that they bring the Petroleum Commission Bill within a reasonable time. I have been informed by the Table Office that they have received copies of the Bill here. I therefore, request the Hon Majority Leader, who is the Chairman of the Business Committee to consult with his Colleague, the Hon Minority Leader, who is the Ranking Member to indicate when they will present the Bill to the House for the First Reading.
    Hon Members, thank you very much.
    Mr Avoka 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, if we can go back to the main Order Paper and take Motion 9.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    I thought we were going to take Social Welfare?
    Mr Avoka 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we will take it after that. We agreed but let us take Motion 9.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Very well, if you have agreed, then let us take the Motion 9. Is your Ranking Member here?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am not too concerned about the order, provided the Hon Ministers or Deputy Ministers are here. But Mr Speaker, I raised a fundamental issue relating to approvals by this House -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Hon Member, I have taken note of it and I think that I also agree with you. You also made a comment after making the point that this House has to come out with the way it handles it. That is why I thought that once you are in the Leadership, the necessary
    processes should be - I looked at the constitutional provisions too and I thought that this was a matter that the Leadership should take over. This is because there are two views on the matter. One view is that, once the figure that is taken within the final figure of the Appropriation Bill, it might not come to the House. But if you also look at the technical interpretation of article 179, precisely clause 8 of the Constitution, it also shows that when you vote money for a particular purpose and then it is exhausted, you must also come to the House. So, I will urge that you liaise with your Colleague the Hon Majority Leader, so that we will see how we can iron these matters so that we are all at the same wave- length in the future.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is acceptable but I would think that going by the constitutional stipulation, I believe that if we had established a Contingency Fund, then if it came to this, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning could then come to this House and with the indulgence of the Finance Committee, they could have some monies allocated to allow a particular Ministry to prosecute the agenda which may be unforeseen.
    So, while we are at this, I believe Parliament may take advantage to have a serious thinking about establishing the Contigency Fund on the lines of article
    175.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Hon Minority Leader, you are absolutely right but you also see that each year, we also have a contingency vote; instead of creating the Fund, we have been having the vote. We have never created the Fund since 1993. Since the 1992 Constitution came into force, we have never created a Fund and yet we have been creating votes.
    So, that is why I thought that this was a matter - but I agree that the safest way is to go by the Fund. We have been creating
    Mr Avoka 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your kind permission, I would want the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to move the Motion 9.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think conventionally, we have allowed the Hon Majority Leader to move such Motions and not the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning. The National Media Commission, it deals with them -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Hon Minority Leader, because the previous Hon Majority Leaders were moving it because they were also Ministers for Parliamentary Affairs. They chair the Special Budget Committee, so who is going to present the Committee's Report? It is the Hon Majority Leader because he is the Chairman of the Special Budget Committee.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with respect, they were not doing so because they were Ministers. They were doing so because they were the Leaders of the House. He does move this Motion as the Leader of the House, not as a Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. And so the Hon Majority Leader, Hon Cletus Apul Avoka is now the Hon Majority Leader and indeed, the Leader of the House, even though they will not accept that for eight years. But he is the Leader of the House and must move this Motion accordingly.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:40 p.m.
    Hon Member, look at article 108 of the Constitution:
    “Parliament shall not, unless the Bill is introduced or the Motion is introduced by, or on behalf of, the President --
    (a) proceed upon a Bill including an amendment to a Bill, that, in the opinion of the person presiding, makes provision for any of the following -”
    This is a charge on the Consolidated Fund and it can only come from somebody acting on behalf of the President.
    Mr Avoka 3:40 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, indeed, I have done consultations and I have been informed, which information, I believe to be true, that it should be moved by a Minister, particularly somebody from the finance sector. That is why I have ceded that to the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning to move the Motion. And then by our arrangement, because of my busy schedule, we have asked that the Hon Member for Wenchi (Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour) will second the Motion.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    Yes, because it is “proceed upon a Bill including an amendment to a Bill”. We have a Motion and Bill there and they said that the imposition which makes provision for any of the following:
    “the imposition of a charge on the Consolidated Fund or other public funds of Ghana or the alteration of any such charge otherwise than by reduction.”
    So, if you look clearly at article - then the person presiding, in my opinion, it is a charge on the Consolidated Fund -- that Motion and therefore, it must come from the Executive or somebody acting on behalf of the Executive. And we have tried as much as possible to establish our independence in the House, that is why we have not attached Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs to the Majority Leader this time round.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:50 p.m.
    Mr
    Speaker, with respect, the Hon Majority
    Leader indeed, doubles up as the Leader of Government's Business.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    The business that they bring here -- just to liaise between this House and the Executive.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:50 p.m.
    Mr
    Speaker, I want to believe that you are not descending into the arena of debate.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    Hon Minority Leader, unfortunately, I have to rule on this matter. In my opinion, the provisions of the Constitution is clear and I think that it is a charge on the Consolidated Fund and therefore, it must be moved by somebody acting on behalf of the President.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thought you would listen to arguments and rather not allow yourself -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    Hon Member, you made the point before I referred to the Constitution.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:50 p.m.
    Mr
    Speaker, you were speaking as the Speaker but the words. I will disagree with the words that have come out of your mouth. I am not challenging the Chair but I disagree with the words that have ensued from your mouth on this.
    M r F i r s t D e p u t y S p e a k e r : Unfortunately, your disagreement is of no moment. [Laugthter.] If you want to properly disagree, there is a method of disagreement.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:50 p.m.
    I may yield under such intimidation, but I believe that on this occasion, the Chair may be wrong.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    I hope you do not have any objections to the Hon
    Deputy Minister moving the Motion?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:50 p.m.
    No.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    Very well.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 3:50 p.m.
    Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour (on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee) 3:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I support the Motion moved
    Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour (on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee) 3:50 p.m.


    by Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, that is, Motion number 9, on page 3 of the original Order Paper.

    1.0 Introduction

    The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning presented to Parliament the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2011 financial year on Thursday, 18th November, 2010 in accordance with article 179 of the 1992 Constitution.

    Pursuant to Order 140 (4) of the Standing Orders of the House, the Speaker referred the draft Annual Budget Estimates for the National Media Commission (NMC) to the Special Budget Committee for consideration and report.

    The Committee met with the Executive Secretary to the Commission and officials of the Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and deliberated on the Estimates.

    2.0 Reference Documents

    The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;

    The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana;

    The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2011 financial year; and

    The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2010 Financial Year.

    3.0 Mission and Objectives of the NMC

    The NMC's mission is to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of
    Prof. G. Y. Gyan-Baffour (on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee) 3:50 p.m.


    the mass media in its role as the watchdog for transparency and good governance. To achieve this, the NMC will pursue the underlisted objectives:

    1. conscientize owners and prac- titioners of the mass media on the need to use the media to facilitate national development and cohesion;

    2. encourage media practitioners to focus on issues of good governance and social responsibility in their reportage and programmes;

    3. take appropriate measures to ensure the establishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards in the mass media, including the investigation, mediation and settlement of complaints made against or to the press or other mass media;

    4. take measures that would ensure that the State-owned media is insulated from governmental control;

    5. continue to take measures to ensure that persons responsible for the State-owned media afford fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions; and

    6. to educate media practitioners on responsible journalistic practices and their duty to improve trust in the mass media.

    4.0 Performance for 2010

    The Committee was informed that during the year under review, the

    National Media Commission achieved the following:

    i. continued with efforts to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication and information;

    ii. monitored media content to identify and address professional deficits, identify triggers to conflict and tracking of how much development content was carried by the media as well as the direction of coverage; and

    iii. resolved a number of media related complaints thereby ensuring peaceful and harmonious media- public relations.

    5.0 Outlook for 2011

    For the year 2011, the Commission intends to pursue the underlisted activities among others;

    i. intensify the training of media men and women on the ethics and codes of the profession;

    ii create a congenial relationship be tween the p ress and the Government; and

    iii. review its law and intensify efforts to decentralize its activities to all regions.

    6.0 Estimates for 2011

    To enable the Commission implement its activities for 2011, an amount of

    GH¢2,125,293 has been allocated to the Commission. The breakdown is as follows:

    Comparative Allocation for 2010 and 2009

    7.0 Observations and Recommendations

    A. Pol i cy Framework for the Media Industry

    It was noted that there is no policy framework to regulate the media industry in the country. According to the Commission, the absence of a policy framework has contributed to low media coverage of activities within the three northern regions, which is about 3 per cent. This low coverage on the North, the Commission warned, has the tendency to further deepen the marginalisation of the area which in the end undermines social cohesion in the country.

    Officials from the Commission further informed the Committee that the absence of a media policy had opened up the media landscape which has seen the penetration of foreign media into the country. The Commission cautioned that this growing phenomenon, if not regulated, could threaten the security of the State.

    In the light of the above, the Committee urges the National Media Commission and the Ministry of Information to as a matter of urgency, develop a comprehensive policy framework which will among others ensure that under-served areas of the country receive the necessary media coverage. This will help foster social cohesion within the country. The development of the policy will also help regulate the entry of foreign media into the country.

    The Committee further urges the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure that adequate funds

    are made available to the Commission to develop the policy.

    B. Procurement of Equipment for Media Monitoring?

    The Committee was informed that the European Union had agreed to provide the Commission with an amount of €1,000.000 for technical assistance and for the procurement of media monitoring equipment to ensure that media content is in compliance with ethical standards. Of this amount, €500,000 is earmarked for technical assistance and the balance of €500,000 for the procurement of the equipment. The cost of the equipment was estimated at €450,000 with installation cost being 10 per cent of the value of the equipment. The cost of installation was to be born by the Commission.

    The Commission noted that it requires a minimum of four (4) of the said equipment to be installed in the Greater Accra, Volta, Ashanti and Northern Regions to monitor media activities to ensure professionalism. It was noted that these four regions were selected based on factors such as media concentration and electoral challenges in the said regions.

    The Committee , however, noted that the total allocation to the Commission for Service and Investment for 2011 was only GH¢138,781.00, which is woefully inadequate for the procurement and installation of the three additional equipment. This situation, the Committee noted, will undermine the Commission's efficiency and effectiveness in the performance of its mandate.

    The Committee notes that given the 2012 is an election year and having regard to the potential of the media in inciting electoral violence arising from media content, the procurement and installation
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:50 p.m.
    You should have taken permission before the Ranking Member submits the Report on your behalf. Anyway, that is on the lighter side.
    Question proposed.
    rose
    Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 3:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, can he second his own Motion?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
    It was moved by the Hon Deputy Minister and he seconded it.

    Mr Justice Joe Appiah (NPP -

    Ablekuma North): Mr Speaker, the National Media Commission is to promote and ensure freedom and independence -- and to ensure that high journalist standard is maintained in this country.

    Mr Speaker, the National Media Commission has to train our youth on the ethics and
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.


    Mr Speaker, the National Media Commission has to train our youth on the ethics and codes of the profession in order to create good relationship between the media and the Government.

    The NMC, despite its independence, should be able to work with the Ministry of Information for good reportage. Though an amount of GH¢2,125,293.00 has been allocated to them, it is inadequate to carry out their programmes.

    The NMC is squatting; they do not have offices. They do not have their own head office. The NMC should be empowered financially to deal with journalists who write misleading headlines in the papers and deal with the public with indecent language. There must be decency and decorum in our languages and the use of foul language must stop in this country.

    The unfair coverage of some political parties should be checked by the NMC. The NMC needs training and sensitisation

    programmes for media personnel to improve their work especially in the areas of media ethics.

    Mr Speaker, we are looking forward to seeing a vibrant media in Ghana, national unity, stability, security and peace - [Interruption] -- I am referring to my notes. The NMC should present new challenges for social democracy in Ghana. The NMC should be strengthened to improve media monitoring to enhance efficiency and effectiveness and improve on the working environment and job satisfaction.

    Mr Speaker, as we are preparing for the 2012 Elections, we need the NMC to be strengthened financially to carry out its programmes.

    Mr Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4 p.m.
    I want to take one more so that you will wind up.
    Mr Joseph A. Bosompem 4 p.m.
    (NPP - Akim Swedru): Mr Speaker, I rise to
    SPACE FOR TABLE - PAGE 4 p.m.
    Majority Leader (Mr Cletus A. Avoka) 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, on behalf of the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, who moved the Motion, and on my own behalf, I wish to thank Hon Members of the Committee and Hon Members of this august House for the support they have given to this Motion.
    Mr Speaker, I just want to make some few observations. The national media institution or body is a very important institution for our democratic dispensation but with all due respect, it would appear
    that this very important institution has been marginalised since its inception. People hardly hear of it in the rural areas, in the regions of Ghana except the few enlightened ones in Accra.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the functions of the NMC, they are so laudable that if we are able to resource and manage the institution very efficiently, it will go a long way to promote transparency and accountability in our governance. It will go a long way to bring about peace and stability in the country.
    But the way we have marginalised the institution -- it has become what one may call a lame duck or a toothless bulldog. Mr Speaker, why do I say so? If you look at the functions of the Commission, their objectives are to regulate, to monitor and then evaluate the media landscape in the country.
    Now, with the proliferation of the Frequency Modulation (FM) stations in all the regions and districts in the country, the National Media Commission that is Accra based, nationally based without regional offices and district offices, and then some of the FM stations have a limited coverage.
    How will they hear and monitor the performance of these FM stations? How will they be able to monitor the performance of these numerous newspapers that we have in the system? Mr Speaker, it is also an institution that tries to mediate complaints against media reportage, and we know the amount of loose talk and then the indictment that people write against their compatriots in some of these papers.
    Now, if they are not available to be able to undertake this assignment, this can lead to conflict in the country and then destabilise the country. So they have an important role to play, and yet we are not giving them the right resources, the sufficient resources that they need to be
    able to play this role for us.
    Mr Speaker, you can also describe the National Media Commission as the Ombudsman of the people, as the poor people's lawyer. This is so in the sense that if you have a complaint, a reportage against you, instead of engaging counsel to go to the High Court to liberate yourself, to file a writ, et cetera, where you do not have those resources, you can file a petition at the National Media Commission, and they will go into the matter and then come out and exonerate you and then you might even get a compensation. That is why I call it the people's lawyer or the Ombudsman like we used to have in the past -- but it is nationally based.
    So if there is somebody who is aggrieved far away in the Western Region, Asankragwa, far away in the Upper East Region, et cetera, how will such a fellow come to Accra and file a petition so that they can assist him or her? This is a big challenge. So I want to make two recommendations.
    One, that we should try to decentralise the National Media Commission to the regions so that they can adequately take care of the interests of everybody. So that they can also adequately monitor the activities of the pressmen and women in the regions and in the districts of the country.
    We should also try and amend the law so that it will have some bite. The law as it is now, the institution, as it is, as I said, is a lame duck. They can invite somebody to appear before it and the fellow will refuse and there is nothing they can do. They even give a verdict about a matter that I have petitioned to them and then at the end of the day, they cannot enforce that verdict, that decision and therefore ,it is not useful to have an institution that cannot enforce its own decision or that cannot take action against malfeasance.
    So I think that, one, we should be able to amend the law and give the
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Item No.
    10.
    Mr Avoka 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am happy to inform you that I have discussed the issue of the Hon Deputy Minister moving the Motion on behalf of the substantive Minister, and my Colleague the Hon Minority Leader has yielded. He has graciously agreed that the Hon Deputy Minister can take the Motion. I am grateful to him.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Have you
    overcome your challenges?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 4:10 p.m.
    Mr
    Speaker, I grudgingly agreed to it; I did not graciously agree to it.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Have you
    overcome your challenges?
    Hon Majority Leader, your challenges,
    have you overcome them?
    Mr Avoka 4:10 p.m.
    They are on course, they
    will be overcomed.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Very well. Hon Deputy Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, item number 10 on the Order Paper.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:10 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Hon
    Member for Bekwai, what is the -- Hon Member, continue.
    Mr Sekyere 4:10 p.m.
    -- Resource mobilisation
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I believe that we must commend the Hon Deputy Minister for his presentation, but having regard to the state of affairs here, I believe that if he could highlight the salient points, and leave the general text to the Hansard to capture, it will help him
    and the House.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Yes,
    indeed Hon Minister, the points that you want to make, you can make them available to the Table Office so that you highlight as the Hon Member for Sekondi has suggested so that you are very brief because we will have to be as fast as possible.
    Mr Sekyere 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker that is
    exactly what I wanted to do.
    In fact, the Ministry will continue its programmes with close collaboration with social partners, to ensure peaceful industrial atmosphere for the acceleration of national development.
    Mr Speaker, the Ministry will continue to improve and extend the coverage of our household beneficiaries on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) from 45,000 to 65,000 household.
    Mr Speaker, there is one constraint that I wish to state even though -- for the benefit of the House. Our outstanding international commitment -- Ghana is an affiliate member of the African Regional Labour Centre and Africa Rehabilitation Institute. These organisations provide technical support to member countries in the form of training, knowledge transfer and expert advice.
    It is sad to note that over the past thirteen years, the Ministry has not been able to pay its dues which accumulated to the tune of US$808,055.75. All attempts made by the Ministry to get the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to settle the arrears have proved futile. And that is one of the issues that we wanted -
    In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I urge this House to approve the sum of GH¢34,901,862.00 for the services of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the year ending 31st December,
    2011.
    Question proposed.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor) 4:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion expertly moved by the Deputy Minister and in doing this, I present the Report of the Committee.
    1.0 Introduction
    Following the presentation of the 2011 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday, 18th November, 2010, and subsequent Motion for its adoption, the 2011 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare was referred to the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises for consideration and report, pursuant to Orders 140 (4) and 184 of the Standing Orders of the House and article 179 of the Constitution.
    1.1 Committee sitting
    The Committee met on Wednesday, 8th December, 2010 and considered the Estimates of the Ministry. The Committee was assisted in this endeavour by the Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, Hon E. T. Mensah, the Chief Director, and the Directors of the various agencies and departments under the Ministry. The Committee is grateful to them for their co-operation and contributions during the hearing.
    2.0 Reference document
    The following documents guided the Committee in its deliberations:
    (a) The 1992 Fourth Republican
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor) 4:20 p.m.


    Constitution of Ghana;

    (b) The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana;

    (c) The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for the 2010 financial year;

    (d) The Budget Statement and Economic Po l icy o f the Government of Ghana for the December, 2011 financial year;

    (e) The draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the 2010 financial year;

    (f) The draft Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the 2011 financial year; and

    (g) Presentat ions made and 2010 performance document submitted to the Committee on the 2011 Budget Statement.

    3.0 Mission Statement and Objectives

    The Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare exists to promote sustainable employment opportunities, management and vocational skills development, training and re-training, harmonious labour relations, safe and healthy working environment, co-operatives and group formation and social integration of the vulnerable, the excluded and the

    disadvantaged, for the development and growth of the economy.

    In order to realize its Mission Statement, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare has set for itself the following objectives:

    to become a high profile, well resourced and efficient as well as effective Ministry committed to human resource development;

    to promote and encourage the creation of an enabling environment for accelera ted growth and employment;

    to enhance the social well being of all Ghanaians;

    to integrate the vulnerable, excluded persons with disabilities and disadvantaged into the mainstream of development; and

    to p romote and s t r eng then international labour relations and co-operation.

    4.0 Review Performance in 2010

    4 . 1 N a t i o n a l P ro g r a m m e f o r the elimination of worst forms of child labour in cocoa (NPECLC)

    Ghana's effort on the fight against the worst forms of child labour especially in cocoa production has reflected in the non- inclusion of Ghana in the United States Executive Order 13126 on the Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labour.

    The National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour which seeks to eliminate child labour in all sectors of the economy has been approved by Cabinet.

    The Ministry has also developed a Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System to capture all relevant information on children in the cocoa growing communities to inform remedial interventions of the programme.

    Addi t ional ly, under the Chi ld Protection Programme, the Ministry trained 420 District Child Protection and 2,675 Community Child Protection Committee members in the handling of child protection issues in the country.

    4 . 2 L i v e l i h o o d E m p o w e r m e n t Against Poverty (LEAP)

    Under the LEAP Programme, over 45,000 extremely poor and vulnerable households from 81 districts were provided with a total financial support of GH¢5.8 million to meet their basic needs.

    To enhance capacities of District Social Welfare Officers and community LEAP implementation members to undertake outreach programmes, 652 bicycles, 45 computers and accessories, 45 each of scanners, work stations and photocopiers were provided.

    4.3 Disability issues

    The National Council on Persons with Disability initiated moves to establish regional structures aimed at carrying out advocacy and sensitisation activities on the Disability Act.

    The Council has developed a draft strategic plan to bring the activities of the Council within the context of national development agenda. Additionally, in collaboration with Ghana Federation of the Disabled, the modalities for disbursing

    the 2-3 per cent share of the District Assemblies Common Fund to persons with disability has been developed.

    4.4 Ageing policy

    The ageing policy which seeks to integrate older persons into the mainstream of society and its Implementation Action Plan has been approved by Cabinet.

    4.5 Skills training for employment

    In furtherance to the job creation agenda of Government, the Ministry t ra ined 38,420 youth in var ious employable skill areas in its vocational training institutions: the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), the Opportunities Industrialisation Centre (OIC) and the Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES).

    4.6 National Employment Policy

    The Ministry in 2010, developed a draft National Employment Policy and its Implementation Action Plan.

    4.7 Labour issues

    The Ministry facilitated tripartite dialogue to uphold and sustain industrial peace and harmony in the country. The Ministry through the Labour Department and other stakeholders, carried out sensitisation of the Labour Act (Act 651) through workshops and seminars for social partners.

    The Labour Market Information System website has been designed and subjected to review for subsequent installation and operationalisation. 4.8 Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP)

    Significant progress has been made in the implementation of the Single
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
    Hon Member for Ayawaso West Wuogon -- [Pause] -- I thought you were the Ranking Member?
    Mrs Akosua F. Osei-Opare 4:20 p.m.
    I am the Ranking Member but the deputy - [Interruption.]
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
    Will you be speaking?
    Mrs Osei-Opare 4:20 p.m.
    Later, if you would allow.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
    No, I just want to know because the normal practice is that after the Chairman presents the Committee's Report, we call on the Ranking Member so that we know the length of time to give to him.
    Deputy Renking Member of the Committee (Mr Paul Okoh ): Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion on the floor. Mr Speaker, permit me to make some few comments.
    I sometimes wonder whether it is even necessary, prudent and essential for the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises to even waste their time to go and look at the Estimates of the Ministry. This is because, Mr Speaker, I believe that the essence of committees' reports is to inform the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, and the Government on some of the observations that we make, so that they could make amends and rectify the situation.
    Mr Speaker, if you take the Report of the Committee for three years now, they are the same. We make the same recommendations, the same observations and nothing is done. If you look at the Report from 2009 up till this time, this is what
    has been happening-- [Interruptions.] It is a verbatim reproduction of what we have said all the time.
    Mr Speaker, permit me to read some of the observations that we made in the 2009 Report and compare that with other Reports that we have even made. If you look at the Budget Estimates, you would see that while the salaries are increasing, investment keeps on dropping. So what is happening is that we keep on employing people, giving them salaries and we do not even give them the resources even to work and we say that we want to develop this country. It cannot be done in that way.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to even look at some of the departments and agencies under this Ministry. If you look at them, most of them do not have even the Investment column; everything is nil, nil; and what resources are they going to use to improve upon their activities in their departments and Ministries?
    If you look at the Department of Co- operatives, it says “field officers are given GH¢2.10 a month” -- [Interruptions] - You heard me right - GH¢2.10 a month to co-operative field workers. When they go out, this is what is given them in a month. So we are telling them not to go out. That is what we are telling them; exactly what we are telling them. And what can be done -- because the Budget for the whole Ministry is 0.38 per cent of the GDP. If gold rusts, what then would iron do? If your parents are very poor, then you do not expect to get anything so the agencies and departments under this Ministry do not have anything, to work with. We are only interested in the personal emoluments.
    Then we come to Social Welfare. Mr Speaker, the other time we were talking about this intelligence investigator's issue - Anas Aremeyaw Anas and we were all querying the workers of the place.
    Mr Speaker, that was an indictment on Government, because last year, Government's money that was given to the Osu Children's Home was only GH¢200.00 - GH¢200.00, Mr Speaker - [Interruptions]-- [An Hon Member: Per annum?] -- GH¢200.00, you heard me right - [Interruptions] - [An Hon Member: Forget about 2008.]
    Mr Speaker, if people keep on shouting 2008, what happened during your time and the rest, then it means they do not even understand and believe in their own slogan “Better Ghana Agenda”. I like the slogan because it is an indication that they accept that the Government of the NPP did very well and they raised the economy to a good standard.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:20 p.m.
    Hon Member, make your submission. Do not be detracted by what you hear on the floor.
    Mr Okoh 4:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I was saying that the Osu Childrens' Home was given only GH¢200.00, which in the old currency was ¢2 million. It means the activities of the Home were largely based on the philanthropy of other people and when such things happen, what do you want them to do? And now, we are accusing them. Now, they say that if you pay peanuts, you will get unskilled labour. Go and look at the skills of people there, their training; have they even been given any training? Then we accuse them for not doing the right thing. So if we do not give them the skill, what do you expect them to do?
    Mr Charles S. Hodogbey (NDC - NorthTongu) 4:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to support Motion mumber 10 on the Order Paper. I would like to make some few observations and urge Members of the House to support the Motion.
    In the first place, I want to thank the Government for taking Ghana off the child labour stigma. In the past two years, I remember when we were in Geneva, Ghana was branded as a country using child labour. It is a good step in the right direction for Ghana making all the efforts in the past two years to have removed the stigma.
    Mr Speaker, I want to state that the Livelihood Empowerment Against
    Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah 4:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Member just said that the LEAP programme had moved from 45,000 to 65,000.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
    Hon Member, did you say that the LEAP programme had moved from 45,000 to
    65,000?
    Mr Hodogbey 4:30 p.m.
    I said the LEAP programme, the beneficiaries were 45,000 to 65,000 people. It is clear now? It is in the Report. I have to congratulate the Government.
    But Mr Speaker, it is rather unfortunate that the people who are supposed to administer this programme have to ride on bicycles. In the Report, the people ride on bicycles to give this money to the recipients. In today's world, Mr Speaker, it is rather unfortunate that the areas in which these administrators work are very rugged and poor areas. At least, the best communication or transport system to be given to them should be a motorcycle instead of a bicycle.
    On the aged, Mr Speaker, it has been noted in the Report that the Ministry is taking steps to ensure that the aged are taken care of.
    Mr Speaker, when you go to advanced countries, the aged are cared for. Governments build housing where nurses and doctors are employed to take care of the elderly people. We have to start somewhere. Ghana is developing so much that a time would come when your own grandfather should be placed in a government house whereby, at least, some burden off you would be taken while you go and visit that your elderly person.
    We must start building old folks homes in our cities so that people who are now
    aged -- we say we are now moving into middle income status -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have one minute. So conclude.
    Mr Hodogbey 4:30 p.m.
    -- to be given a chance to send their elderly people to that place .
    On the importance of the Single Spine Salary Stucture (SSSS), about 27 organizations, we were told, have benefited from this programme. I would be very happy if the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission could be able to expand the programme as quickly as possible to get to other departments as fast as possible.
    Dr Matthew Prempeh 4:30 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, my Hon Friend should know that everything he is saying is being captured -- When he says we are moving to middle income status, had it not been in the country that as a result of the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) we got to the middle income status as far back as 2006? What is he about here? It is high time my Hon Friend should know that under the good leadership of -- Ghana got to middle income status in 2006.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
    Hon Member, continue and conclude. Your closing statements.
    Mr Hodogbey 4:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the moving to the middle income status, it was just -- I rest my case - [Uproar!] But let me say this, because the most important, Mr Speaker --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
    Conclude.
    Mr Hodogbey 4:30 p.m.
    In conclusion, Ghana is supposed to ratify certain treaties,
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah 4:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Hon Member should give us some examples, so that we can follow up. The protocols that we have to ratify, that we have not -- [Interruptions.] He is urging us, he knows the benefits, he should provide us with particulars.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
    Hon Member for Sekondi, you are out of order.
    Mr Hodogbey 4:30 p.m.
    I can give him one of them; Resolution 144 of the United Nations. [Laughter.]
    Mr Leo K. Alowe (NPP - Chiana/ Paga) 4:30 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this Motion on the floor of the House, seeking support and approval for the amount of GH¢34,901,862.00 for the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare.
    I would like to observe that the Ministry has for many years been neglected to the extent that when you visit the Ministries offices, when you visit the regional offices and when the district offices, you would see the squalor, you would see the fact that nothing really is working. That has been so for many years and it would appear as if as a nation, we have conspired to relegate the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to the background. And yet it is that Ministry that has this lofty mission to promote sustainable employment opportunities, management and vocational skills development, training and re- training, harmonious labour relations, safe and healthy working environment, co-operatives, et cetera.
    -- 4:30 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:30 p.m.
    You have one minute more.
    Mr Alowe 4:10 p.m.
    I do not know whether we have opened our eyes to look throughout the country to see what is in other places. And in this budget, let me point out: If you take Ashanti Mampong Babies Home, what they are given is GH¢77,961.00, and that is only for personal emoluments. No administration, no service. How do we expect them to render the services that they are supposed to do?
    If you take the Jirapa Orphanage, they are given GH¢9,919 and that is only for personal emoluments; nothing for service. You expect that those in the orphanage should be kept clean; they should be given good water, they should be given good food, they should be taken care of in diverse ways and no provision, not even a pesewa is made available for service for Jirapa Orphanage?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Mr Alowe 4:10 p.m.
    If you go to Abor Rehabilitation, it is the same story; provision is only made for personal emoluments.
    Mr Speaker, I think it is time we ought to realize that if Ministries did not need to exist and we do not have resources for them, let us find a way of handling them. Otherwise, if we think that they ought to be there, then the necessary provision ought to be made. If you take the Department of Co-operatives as was earlier mentioned -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Hon Member, your closing sentence.
    Mr Alowe 4:10 p.m.
    Yes, so we realize that not much attention is being given; it was in the time of the Kufuor Administration that many new programmes were introduced to the Department such as the National Youth Employment Programme -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Hon Deputy Minister, do you want to make
    any winding up?
    Mr Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I want to thank Hon Members for their comments and contributions and I want to assure them that the Ministry has taken note, and we would take them on board in our activities.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢34,901,862.00 for the services of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare for the year ending 31st December,
    2011.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Hon Members, given the time and pressure under which we are, I want to plead that we take two quick ones then - Hon Members, if you do not do this -- I have been in this House for a while, if you do not do this, we would be in trouble as a House.
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    So we
    move to item 11.
    Yes, Hon Member for Amenfi East -
    Mr J. B. Aidoo 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am humbly suggesting that we take the one for Agriculture. Hon Members would be more comfortable taking the Motion for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture now -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:10 p.m.
    Well, I want to plead with you. The Labour Commission is not a controversial area. So let us just take it. If you -- Yes, the Commission is not - After that the House then decides what item to take. Then we all make the application and I would decide which one to take - [Laughter.]
    Hon Members, item 11 - Deputy Minister for Employment and Social Welfare -
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES 4:10 p.m.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Prince J. Hayibor) 4:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion moved by the Hon Deputy Minister and in doing so, I present the Report of your Committee.
    1.0 Introduction
    Following the presentation of the 2011 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday, 18th November, 2010, and subsequent Motion for its adoption, the
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Prince J. Hayibor) 4:10 p.m.


    Annual Estimates for the fiscal year 2011 of the NLC was referred to the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises for consideration and report, pursuant to Orders 140 (4) and 184 of the Standing Orders of the House and article 179 of the Constitution.

    2.0 Committee sitting

    The Committee met with the Executive Secretary and officials of the NLC and considered the Estimates of the Commission. The Committee is grateful to them for their insightful presentation and clarification during the meeting.

    3.0 Reference documents

    In considering the Estimates, the underlisted documents were consulted:

    (i) The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;

    (ii) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Govern- ment of Ghana for the 2011 financial year.

    (iii) The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Govern- ment of Ghana for the 2011 finan-

    cial year; and

    (iv) The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana.

    4.0 Mission Statement and Objectives

    The NLC exists to develop and sustain a peaceful and harmonious industrial relations environment through the use of effective dispute resolution practices within the context of the law, promotion of co-operation among the labour market

    players and mutual respect for their rights and responsibilities.

    In order to realise its mission, the NLC sets for itself the following objectives:

    to promote peaceful and harmonious industrial relations environment through the use of flexible labour market practices to attract investors both foreign and local for the growth of the economy;

    to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Commission to discharge its functions;

    to promote industrial democracy and social dialogue; and

    to develop a peaceful working environment for the enhancement of productivity.

    5.0 Review of the 2010 performance of the Commission

    The Commission made significant achievements in some areas of its operations during the period under review. 5.1 Industrial Harmony

    The NLC has set itself to become an efficient and effective industrial dispute settlement institution to create a peaceful and attractive environment for investment.

    To enhance worker-management relationships, the Commission organised the following workshop:

    Workshop on the legal process of unionization and good worker- management relations for union manager in the Free Zones enclave;

    Stakeholder workshop on employer-

    employee relations.

    5.2 Settlement of Disputes

    The Commission mediated and settled a number of industrial disputes and in some cases, paid compensations to deserving petitioners. During the period under review, the Commission settled about 500 industrial disputes involving over 2,000 workers.

    6.0 Outlook for 2011

    For the year 2011, the Commission will

    implement policies and strategies aimed at strengthening tripartism and social dialogue, minimising industrial unrest and implementing the national employment policy under Act 651.

    The Commission will continue to train and educate social partners on effective labour-management co-operation and promote good faith negotiations among stakeholders.

    The Commission intends to place more

    emphasis on one of its core functions of promoting effective co-operation between labour and management. This will be done in collaboration with the social partners, government, employers and organised labour through the following:

    e n c o u r a g i n g “ g o o d f a i t h ” negotiations to ensure the trust and confidence of the partners in the working relationship;

    promoting negot ia t ions and mediations as the best tools to resolve industrial misunder- standing;

    training on negotiation skills for the public and private sector negotiators, workers' unions and management;

    sensitizing social partners to use the collective bargaining process to ensure good governance;

    educating the partners in the working relationship to respect the rights of both the employer and the employee;

    organising programmes to educate stakeholders on labour laws; and

    promoting peaceful and harmonious industrial relation environment for national and industrial security.

    The Commission intends to train private school entrepreneurs on the legal processes regulating employment relationship. The Commission will further intensify its efforts to clear all outstanding cases and ensure the settlement of new cases by the end of 2011.

    7.0 Total allocation for the year 2011

    For the implementation of the above activities and programmes, the Commission has been allocated a total amount of eight hundred and ten thousand, one hundred and twenty-two Ghana cedis (GH¢810,122.00) to cover Personal Emoluments, Administration, Service and Investment expenses.

    Below is the breakdown of the allocation for year 2011: 8.0 Observations and recommendations

    8 .1 Es tab l i shment o f Western Regional Office

    The Committee was happy to note that the Commission has established an office in the Western Region. This, the Committee sees as timely as it will help resolve the many labour issues that may arise as a result of the concentration of many companies in the region because of the oil find. This would bring about efficiency in the resolution of labour

    disputes.

    The Committee holds the view that

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

    8.2 Lack of adequate knowledge on the Labour Act, Act 651

    The Committee noted that lack of adequate knowledge on the Labour Act has resulted in the abuse of labour processes. In the opinion of the Committee, many of the strike actions that have occurred recently are a manifestation of lack of understanding on the labour processes. However, the Committee observed that the Commission will be unable to undertake the training programme on the Labour Act due to inadequate budgetary allocation.

    8.3 Inadequate staffing

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

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

    8.4 Inadequate Budgetary Allocations

    The Commit tee was informed that the budgetary requirement of the
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Prince J. Hayibor) 4:50 p.m.
    Commission for 2011 is one million, six hundred and ninety-two thousand, six hundred and sixty-six Ghana cedis, twenty-two pasewas (GH¢1,692,666.22.). However, a meagre eight hundred and ten thousand, one hundred and twenty- two Ghana cedis (GH¢810,122.00) was approved, indicating a shortfall of eight hundred and eighty-two thousand, one hundred and twenty-two Ghana cedis
    (GH¢882,122.00).
    The Committee is worried that the gap between what was requested and the amount approved in the 2011 budget for the Commission's activities is woefully inadequate. Since the Commission's mandate is service oriented, the Committee strongly believes that the shortfall would adversely affect the implementation of the Commission's programmes and activities since the budgetary requirements were based on a costing of stated programmes and activities.
    Furthermore, the Commission would not be able to recruit the needed staff for its new office in the Western Region.
    Adequate funding is, therefore,
    paramount if the Commission is to develop and sustain a peaceful and harmonious industrial relations environment.
    9.0 Conclusion
    The Committee holds the view that ensuring and maintaining a peaceful industrial climate is as important as National security issues and therefore needs to be given the necessary attention and adequately funded.
    The Committee therefore finds the Draft Budget Estimates of the Commission justifiable and recommends to the House, for approval, the sum of eight hundred and ten thousand, one hundred and twenty-two Ghana cedis (GH¢810,122.00) from GoG
    sources for the activities of the NLC for the 2011 financial year.
    In addition, the Committee recommends that a supplementary budget be raised to enable the Commission carry out its planned programmes and activities.
    Respectfully submitted.

    Ranking Member of the Commitee (Mrs Akosua F. Osei-Opare): I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this Motion.

    Mr Speaker, we all recognize the need for industrial peace for any nation to develop, particularly when this country is making feverish efforts to get foreign investment into the country, it is critical that our labour front is seen to be properly managed such that it would bring investor confidence.

    Mr Speaker, increasingly, we are having a lot of labour unrests in the country. We have seen the NLC being dragged to court and in fact, losing cases. During one such hearing, it came to light that they do not have sufficient staff to deal with matters. Therefore, the recommendation of the Committee, that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning re-looks at the provision for staffing and allow them to employ more, is very, very critical and must be taken very seriously.

    Again, if you look at the administration budget, you will find that 29 per cent of that budget is going for utilities alone, that is water and electricity. Mr Speaker, how will they survive when 29 per cent of their budget goes to utilities? This means that the Commission is going to

    be crippled administratively in the year 2011 and if we are to take the role that they play, that has been established by law in this country to bring industrial peace, then you want
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Prince J. Hayibor) 4:50 p.m.
    giving money, by giving services free of charge, that is not good enough.
    So I am calling on the Executive to re-look at the law that established the National Labour Commission and bring an amendment here, which I am sure will be supported by Hon Members to ensure that they can charge reasonably for the services they provide.

    Question put and Motion agreed to.

    Resolved --

    That this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢810,122.00, for the services of the National Labour Commission for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, item -
    Dr A. A. Osei 4:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, last Friday,
    you had an opportunity to remind us that when we are approving Estimates, at least, one of the Hon Ministers from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning ought to be in the House. Right now, you have just called for a Vote;there is no Minister here. Mr Speaker, this is not right. Mr Speaker, that is why on Friday you suspended the Sitting.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, I know Hon Seth Terkpeh is around.
    Dr A. A. Osei 4:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, when you
    called the Question and I looked round, there was none of them here.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Member, before you came, it was raised.
    Dr A. A. Osei 4:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, you have
    been in this House since l993 and you know it is not the regular thing.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, what item should we take? Some say we should take Agriculture.
    Hon Members, item l4 -
    Dr A. A. Osei 4:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, you called
    item l4 and the Deputy Minister got up --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 4:50 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, you know that an application has been made on his behalf earlier, that the Minister has travelled out of the jurisdiction. I learnt she chairs an international Commission. The Majority Leader said it and mentioned the name of the Conference earlier -
    Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang 4:50 p.m.
    Mr. Speaker, just let the acting, acting, acting, acting --[Laughter] - she should have asked for permission.
    Mr Dominic A. Azumah 4:50 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we are humbly requesting that with your kind permission and the permission of the Minority, you allow the Hon Deputy Minister to move the Motion on behalf of the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology (Madam Hanny-Sherry Ayittey) who is the Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology. She is currently attending an important international meeting.
    With your permission, Mr Speaker, if you can allow the Deputy Minister to move the Motion.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon Members, the Hon Majority Leader came, they did consultation and that was when the Hon Minority Leader said he had grudgingly agreed that the Deputy can hold the fort. I directed that they should

    talk to the Minority on this matter and the two of them took permission, went and came back and the Hon Majority Leader said it and he confirmed it.
    Dr A. A. Osei 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon
    Member for Old Tafo, do you know at times when you get up to make this sort of objections, I remember the good old days?
    Dr A. A. Osei 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am not
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    That one, I agree with you. I agree with you.
    Dr A. A. Osei 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I just want you to guide him. Guide him. My Senior Colleague, that is his nephew, so we have agreed that we will allow him to do that.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon Members, time changes, indeed.
    Mr J. B. Aidoo 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am acting and the point is that the Hon Minority Leader conferred with me in respect of the Deputy Minister for Employment and Social Welfare; that was what he conferred with me. [Interruption.] He indicated that he was grudgingly obliging, but when it comes to the Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, he had not conferred anything with me.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon
    Member for Amenfi East, I know where your interest is in this matter -- you want us to take Agriculture -
    Dr A. A. Osei 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am in a
    quandary as to what is happening. I see my Chief Whip Sitting here and an Hon
    Member of the House is saying that the Minority Leader had conferred with him. Is there a coup d'état in this House?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon Members, you know the workload is quite huge and it is important for us to make progress, otherwise, it is - when we defer the issues, same House, will come and confront them. So, I want to plead with you, let us take two quick Motions then we adjourn.
    Permission has been granted you to move the Motion, Hon Deputy Minister for Environment and Science and Technology. It should be very brief and veer away from controversies.
    ANNUAL ESTIMTES 5 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    I do not trust you.
    Mr J. B. Aidoo 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, you know we have up to today to sit as Committee of the Whole? It is important.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon
    Members, I agree that we should have the Committee of the Whole but because of the programme we have this evening, I would want us to defer it to tomorrow -- the Committee of the Whole, tomorrow. I know some fundamental progress has been made.
    Papa Owusu-Ankomah 5 p.m.
    Thank you
    very much, Mr Speaker, for recognizing me. I would not have got up to speak except that I will just appeal to the House to listen to Mr Speaker as much as possible. [Interruptions.] My Colleagues have not waited for me to complete my sentence --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Am
    Dr Boamah 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to
    move, on behalf of my hardworking Minister, that this Honourable House -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon Chief
    Whip, have you got the sense of the House about the Committee of the Whole? Have you got the sense of the House? It is very, very important.
    Dr Boamah 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, very much so.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon
    Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, please, I warned you that you should veer away from any controversies, so you move your Motion.
    Dr Boamah 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House approves the sum of GH¢177,443,578.00 for the services of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology for the year ending 31st December, 2011.
    Mr Speaker, for want of time, I will entreat the Hansard to capture the full statement so that I can summarize.
    These monies will be used by the Ministry of Environment, Science and
    Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah 5 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister is making some comments of craving the indulgence of the House for the Hansard Department to capture some statements. Whatever he is reading from or referring to has not been laid before this House. Hon Members do not have copies and I do not know how the Hansard Department is going to be able to get a copy of this document to capture and so, he reading excerpts from --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon Minority Chief Whip, you are absolutely right because --
    Mr Opare-Ansah 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is the document --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    The document is only known to him, the Deputy Minister who is moving it, but he can, after that, make it available to the Table Office.
    Mr Opare-Ansah 5 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, at the commencement of the Deputy Minister's statement to move this Motion, he alluded to the fact that his Minister is hardworking. Which other Ministers are not hardworking? He should tell this House.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5 p.m.
    Hon Chief Whip, that is his opinion; that is his opinion.
    Dr Boamah 5:10 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I will make copies of the document available to the Hansard Department for their capturing.
    The amount of GH¢177,443,578.00 will be used to help in the commencement of implementation of phase I of the Action

    Plan for the utilisation of local building materials in the construction industry.

    We will also continue with the Mathematics, Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme, which has also an ICT component, which is currently producing 2,666 laptops. It is a local company, RLG Communications Limited that is assembling and producing these computers.

    The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will also continue with its rural electrification project, which has to do with promoting the use of “lesser known” wood species for electric poles.

    The Ministry, through the Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) will finalise two Regulations to the EPA Act, 490. These Regulations will strengthen not only the governance of the oil and gas sector but also various forms of e-waste; monitoring of mining activities will also be accentuated to ensure sustainable development.

    Mr Speaker, for the implementation of the above activities and other programmes contained in the Budget, I wish to humbly request that the House approves the sum of GH¢177,443,578,00.

    Question Proposed.

    Chairman of the Committee (Mr

    Raymond A. Tawiah): Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion moved by the Hon Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology.

    Mr Speaker, in ding so, I present the Report of the Committee.

    1.0 Introduction

    1.1 The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for

    the 2011 financial year was presented to the House by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Hon Dr Kwabena Duffuor on Thursday, 18th November, 2010 in accordance with article 179 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.

    Subsequently, the Annual Budget

    Estimates of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology for year 2011 were referred to the Committee on Environment, Science and Technology for consideration and report pursuant to Standing Orders 140 (4) and 185 of the House.

    1.2 The Committee met on Thursday, 9th December, 2010 and considered the referral. The Committee benefited from clarifications on the referral from the Hon Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Hanny Sherry- Ayittey, officials from the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP). Officials of the under-listed Department and Agencies under the purview of MEST were also in attendance to offer clarifications on their respective budgetary allocations:

    i. Environmental Protection Agency

    (EPA);

    ii. Ghana Atomic Energy Commission

    (GAEC);

    iii. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); and

    iv. Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD).

    The Committee is grateful to the Hon Minister and all officials who were present at the Committee's sitting for their co- operation.

    2.0 Reference documents

    The Committee made reference to the following documents during its deli- berations:

    i. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;

    ii. The Standing Orders of Parliament;

    iii. The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2011 Financial Year;

    iv. The Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490);

    v. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Act, 1996 (Act

    521);

    vi. The Atomic Energy Commission Act, 2000 (Act 588);

    vii. The Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462); and

    viii. The Report of the Committee on Environment, Science and Technology on the 2010 Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology.

    3.0 The Mission Statement of MEST

    MEST exists to establish a strong and vibrant scientific and technological base for accelerated and sustainable development to enhance the quality of life for all through the development and promotion of appropriate technologies, safe and sound environmental practices and regulated human settlements.

    4 . 0 R e v i e w o f y e a r 2 0 1 0 budgetary allocation and the

    performance of MEST

    4.1 The allocation to MEST for year 2010 for its programmes and activities and the disbursement of funds as at November ending is shown in Table 1 below:

    4.2 As shown in Table 1, with the exception of disbursement for Personal Emolument, all other items of expenditure fell below target. According to the Sector Minister, the overexpenditure on Personal Emolument was due to salary increases during the year. It is also pertinent to note that the budgetary allocation of GH¢74,727,022.00 for year 2010 was for total donor expected inflows for a number of projects in the entire Sector covering a period of two to eight years. An amount of GH¢5,800,847.00 was released to MEST from the expected donor inflow for year

    2010.

    On the whole, total releases made

    to MEST adversely affected the imple- mentation of some of its programmes and activities outlined for the year under review. That notwithstanding, the Ministry, its Departments and Agencies were able to undertake some programmes and activities. A few of these programmes and activities are highlighted below:

    Science and Technology

    a. MEST (Headquarters)

    i . Ghana Sc ience , Techno logy and Innovation Policy and Plan

    The Ministry formulated the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy which was launched at the National forum on 17th March, 2010.

    i i . M a t h e m a t i c s , S c i e n c e a n d Technology Scholarship Scheme

    (MASTESS)

    To address the falling standards of mathematics, science and technology education, the Ministry in collaboration with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and other key Ministries and Agencies, set aside 2 per cent of the GETFund for the establishment of an annual MASTESS which provided scholarships to needy students. The Scholarship Scheme covers students studying Science and Technical subjects in the Secondary, Technical and Tertiary institutions across the country.

    b. GAEC

    i. Construction Works

    Sixty per cent of works on the construction of a Library and Information Communication Technology (ICT) block for the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) was completed. A National Accelerator Facility was also about 90 per cent completed. These construction works are funded by the GETFund.

    ii. Gamma Irradiation Facility

    The Commission through a grant/ loan facility of US$800,000 received from the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF), upgraded its Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF). The application of irradiation technology for food preservation prolongs the shelf life of agricultural products thereby reducing post-harvest losses.

    c. CSIR

    i. Agriculture and Agro-Processing

    CSIR (Animal Research Institute) continued with the implementation of the Guinea Fowl Development Programme in
    Dr Boamah 5:10 p.m.


    regional and district offices.

    Science and technology

    i. MEST Headquarters

    a. Initiation of the National Science and Technology Theme Park Project

    MEST will initiate works on the establishment of Ghana's first Science and Technology Park in Cape Coast. The establishment of the park will involve feasibility studies and the preparation of a business plan. b. Implementation of action plan for the utilisation of local building materials in the construction industry

    The first phase of the action plan for the utilisation of local building materials in the construction Industry will take place in year 2011. It will involve the training of more artisans in the use of local building materials such as clay brick and tiles, pozollana cement and bamboo.

    ii. CSIR

    i. Technology for increasing meat and egg production

    CSIR will promote the technology for increasing meat and egg production to increase protein intake. It will also promote the use of crop residue and industrial by-products as feed for livestock and production of vaccines locally for livestock and poultry. The knowledge and expertise will be utilized for sustainable management of capture fishery and aquaculture to enhance food and nutrition in Ghana. Fabrication and extension of the use of FRISMO (improved smoking oven) for women fish processors to enhance preservation of fish.

    ii. Use of local building materials

    CSIR will continue to promote the use of local building materials (clay and pozzolana) and fast track construction techniques for affordable housing delivery. The use of pozzolana lime technology is stabilising rural- type roads and extending their lifesp an.

    iii. GAEC

    i. Provision of infrastructure

    In order to build the human resource capacity to support the nuclear industry in Ghana and within the sub-region, GAEC will complete the construction and installation of the accelerator facility and also initiate the construction of a faculty block and a second hostel facility.

    ii. Gamma Irradiation Facility

    The Upgraded Gamma Irradiation facility will be used to reduce post-harvest losses and help in the treatment of food and medical items for export.

    6.0 2011 Budget Estimates

    6.1 For year 2011, an amount of one hundred and seventy-seven million, four hundred and forty-three thousand, five hundred and seventy-eight Ghana cedis (GH¢177,443,578.00) has been allocated to MEST to enable it undertake its programmes and activities. The breakdown is as follows:

    Government of Ghana (GoG) -- GH¢67,954,610.00

    Internally Generated Funds (IGFs) -- GH¢10,954,220.00

    Donor support -- GH¢98,534,748.00

    6.2 The GoG allocation of sixty-seven million, nine hundred and fifty-four thousand, six hundred and ten Ghana cedis (GH¢67,954,610.00) and the distribution to MEST, its departments and agencies for year 2011 is shown in Table 2 below:

    6.3 The donor component of ninety- eight million, five hundred and thirty-four thousand, seven hundred and forty-eight Ghana cedis (GH¢98,534,748.00) is to cater for the Service and Investment activities of MEST.

    6.4 The IGF component of the total budgetary allocation amounting to ten million, nine hundred and fifty-four thousand, two hundred and twenty Ghana cedis (GH¢10,954,220.00) is to cover the Administration expenses of EPA, Service expenses of GAEC and EPA and Investment activities of CSIR and EPA. The breakdown is as follows:

    a. EPA (Admin) -- GH¢1,364,334.00

    b. GAEC and EPA (Service) -- GH¢6,929,421.00

    c. CSIR and EPA (Investment) -- GH¢2,660,465.00

    T otal --

    GH¢10,954,220.00

    7.0 Observations and recommendations

    The Committee made the following observations and recommendations during the consideration of the referral:

    i. Allocation for investment and service activity

    As indicated to the Committee by the Sector Minister, the budgetary requirement of MEST for its Investment activity for year 2011 is GH¢24,237,489.00 while Service activity is ¢16,478,565.00. However, for its Investment activity, MEST has been allocated GH¢792,000.00 creating a shortfall of GH¢23,445,489.00. For Service activity, it has been allocated GH¢679,648.00, with a shortfall of

    GH¢15,798.917.00.

    It was noted by the Committee that the allocation made to MEST for year 2011 for its Investment activities will be used for the rehabilitation of offices, residential buildings and the procurement of office equipment for the Ministry, its Departments and Agencies. Allocation for Service will also be applied to some of the main programmes and core businesses of the Sector such as science and technology programmes, research development activities, environmental programmes, and payment of some outstanding and current committed contributions to affiliated international organisations.

    In effect, some programmes and activities of MEST will be greatly hampered. Critical programmes of CSIR such as the procurement of equipment for the production of paper from bamboo and the establishment of the Bio-diversity Theme Park at Arboretum, Bunsu may not be implemented. TCPD would also be unable to purchase important pieces of equipment such as plotters and scanners to establish the proposed Geographic Information System (GIS) workstation.
    Dr Boamah 5:10 p.m.
    establishing a strong and vibrant scientific and technological base for accelerated and sustainable development to enhance the quality of life of the citizenry cannot be overemphasised. It is therefore necessary that MEST is adequately resourced to enable it develop and promote appropriate technologies, safe and sound environmental practices and regulate human settlements in order to achieve the development objectives of Government.
    Unfortunately, the amount allocated to MEST for its operations for year 2011 is inadequate to bring into fruition, the aim of Government. The Committee therefore urges MOFEP to ensure that the budgetary requirement of MEST is met in subsequent national budgets to enable it achieve its goals and objectives.
    The Committee hereby recommends
    to the House for approval, the sum of one hundred and seventy-seven million, four hundred and forty-three thousand, five hundred and seventy-eight Ghana cedis (GH¢177,443,578.00) being the total budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology for the financial year ending 31st December,
    2011.
    Respectfully submitted.

    Mr Speaker, the first point is that, if you look at the amount given to the Ministry, you will wonder whether we are serious

    with our science and technology policy. Mr Speaker, in the 2009/2010 Budget, I did welcome the re-birth of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, but Mr Speaker, the sad thing is that, that Ministry is not being given enough money to work with. Like my Hon Colleague from the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare complained, there is enough money to pay salaries but that is it.

    Mr Speaker, if you go to page 8 of the Committee's Report, where there is a breakdown of the inflows, the bulk of it is from donor support, and if last year is anything to go by, of the GH¢74 million that was allocated as coming from donor support, only about GH¢6 million did get to the Ministry. So, my fear is that, of this amount of GH¢98 million, if we work with the same 7.6 per cent, it is most likely that the Ministry is not going to get more than GH¢10 million from the donor support.

    The GoG money is going to pay salaries. If you look at Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), there is nothing. Mr Speaker, hweehwee; nothing for Investment and really, you begin to wonder whether we are serious with our science and technology policy.

    The second point is that, Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) is the agency which is going to monitor all that is going to happen in the Western Region as far as oil production is concerned. Today, we are going to begin to see oil, we do not have any law on pollution, we do not have instruments that will be used in regulating activities of these oil companies. And I thought that EPA would be empowered to, as a matter of urgency, embark on these exercises to get the regulations in place. Unfortunately, if you look at the money for EPA, there is absolutely nothing.

    Mr Speaker, I get worried that here we are believing strongly in science and technology, there had been not less than a thousand interventions asking

    us to pay particular attention to science and technology, yet when you come to take a look at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning - I hope one of the Deputies is here -- looking at their policy on behalf of the President, there is no commitment whatsoever to science and technology. If you look at science and technology and education, it is the same thing; things to be built, structures to be built, equipment to be brought in, are all commitment, there is no financial commitment.
    Dr A. A. Osei 5:20 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I keep reminding us that this Budget is given by the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning on the authority of the President. So if we are making an appeal, let us appeal to His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills. I do not know if it is the dash or the what? Not the Hon Minister. It is the President who brings this here; so I will plead with the Hon Member to appeal to the President. The Hon Minister is only a messenger.
    Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, this clearly shows where his affinity is. But clearly, I did make a statement.
    Dr A. A. Osei 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my Hon Senior Colleague is telling us that it shows where my affinity is.
    As a Professor, I am just reminding him that it is on the authority of His Excellency Professor John Atta Mills. So I do not know why he chooses to go through the Hon Minister for Finance and Economic Planning instead of going - Is he afraid of the President? He should go to the authority, not the messenger. The messenger is just bringing the message.
    Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I was only referring to his professional affinity.
    Mr Speaker, let us read the back page
    -- 5:20 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5:20 p.m.
    Item number 15, the last item.
    Hon Members, I will take the sense of the House. If the -
    Mr Gershon K. B. Gbediame 5:20 p.m.
    Mr
    Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader and the Hon Minority Leader are having a committee meeting and I want to crave the indulgence of Hon Colleagues that the Committee of the Whole cannot be held in their absence. Therefore, I want to humbly plead -
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5:20 p.m.
    Hon Members, you know that the agricultural sector is a key sector, so if Hon Members are not in the mood to take it, we should not push it.
    Mr J. B. Aidoo 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, as you rightly said, the agricultural sector is a very important sector and we cannot just take 30 minutes to look at this important --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5:20 p.m.
    Hon Member, I have already agreed. I have agreed with you that we take the agricultural sector tomorrow. We will take the Agricultural sector tomorrow and we should allow more Hon Members to express their opinion on it.
    Hon Members, I think that we should not -
    Mr Gbediame 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Hon Members will notice on their mobile phones that text messages have been sent to them inviting them for this evening's programme, for the Christmas Carols.
    May I take this opportunity also by your kind permission, to inform the whole House that Hon Members are to be seated by 5.30 p.m. There is going to be a live coverage, therefore, we want the programme to start exactly at 6.00 p.m. They should kindly come so that we give praises to God and thank him for having led us through a whole year.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5:20 p.m.
    Hon Member, if you have any information for Hon Members, you should devote about five to ten minutes and tell Hon Members before we go for the Carols Night. It is very, very important.
    Hon Members -
    Dr A. A. Osei 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Majority Chief Whip is inviting us to the festival, but he has not told us the dress code, whether we should be in white like the style he is in, or whether we can come like this. His dress code is very -
    Mr Gbediame 5:20 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, there is no prescribed dress code, so they may not see me in this attire over there. I am only jubilating because of the oil that is being pumped today.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 5:20 p.m.
    Hon Chief Whip, have at least, about 10 minutes with the Hon Members and brief them and if you like, you can send for the Hon Majority and Minority Leaders - for about five to ten minutes. They need some information as to the progress that has been made on the issue that they want to hear.
    Hon Members, on that note, the House is accordingly adjourned till tomorrow at ten in the forenoon.
    Thank you very much for your support and co-operation.
    ADJOURNMENT 5:20 p.m.