Debates of 8 Jan 2013

MR SPEAKR
PRAYERS 10:52 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker 10:52 a.m.
Hon Members, item number 2 on the Order Paper -- Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Monday, the 7th of January, 2013.
Page 1 --
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 10:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 1, between paragraphs 1 and 2, in particular, paragraph 2: “The Clerk to Parliament informed the House of receipt of the Writs of Election.”, add “from the Electoral Commission.” But even before then, Mr Speaker, I should suggest that insert “The Clerk read the proclamation summoning Parliament …”
Mr Speaker 10:52 a.m.
Very well.
Page 2 …3 --
Mr Joseph Z. Amenowode 10:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, item number 56, “Amenoworde”; there is no ‘r' in the “Amenowode.”
Mr Speaker 10:52 a.m.
Very well.
Page 4 …5 --
Ms Shirley A. Botchwey 10:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, may I request that “Botchway” -- 124 --
Mr Speaker 10:52 a.m.
Which page?
Mrs Botchwey 10:52 a.m.
Page 5, it is with an ‘e' not an ‘a'.
Ms (Dr) Bernice Heloo-Adiku 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 162, may I request that my name “Heloo-Adiku, Bernice”, the order of the names. And then my titles are “Mrs” and (Dr).
Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 6, number 172, the title “Ms” is “Mrs”.
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Any other correction on page 6 before I move on to page 7?
rose
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member, is it page 6, what number? Use the microphone; kindly come forward and locate a microphone.
Mr Robert N. D. Mosore 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, number 193, the name “Doameng” is spelt wrongly here. May I seek to make a correction-- “Doameng” is spelt “D-o-a- m-e-n-g”. “k-i” should be deleted,
Thank you.
Mrs Comfort Doyoe Ghansah Cudjoe 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 5, 133, it is “Mrs” not “Ms” -- that is “Cudjoe Ghansah, Comfort Doyoe” (Mrs).
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Very well.
Page 7 --
Mr Akwasi Opong-Fosu 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, number 217 -- “Oppong” -- may I request one “p” to be deleted -- “O-p-o-n-g” is the correct spelling.
Thank you.
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Very well.
Mrs Della Sowah 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, please, may I request that number 255, “h” be deleted from the end of “Dellah” and the title is “Mrs”.
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Very well.
Hon Members, I advise that anybody who catches my eye should call his or her name first and the constituency.
Page 8 --
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, just a general comment on the names.
Since this is a new Parliament, I am sure many of us may find that our names and titles have not been properly spelt or our designations properly made.
I would advise that Hon Members should look at the Votes and Proceedings and then if there are any corrections to be made, they endeavour to see the Clerks- at-the-Table, so that the necessary corrections may be made. Otherwise, we would have a repetition of wrong spellings and titles, with “Mrs” being “Ms”. But it is appropriate that we know that there are “Mses” here, so that we deal with them appropriately.
Alhaji Amadu B. Sorogho 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want your guidance.
Mine is on both pages 2 and 8, they are related. Page 2, item number 10, Mr Speaker:
“The following Members of Parliament-elect took and sub- scribed to the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Member of Parliament.”
In line with what happens here, I was thinking that, going through, I realised that 271 Hon Members took and subscribed to the Oaths. One is not with
us; another because he has been elected as Speaker, vacated his seat; so that one is also known. But I was expecting to see two Members-elect on the Absent list -- so for the records, we can know.
Even though it is here that the following Members of Parliament-elect took and subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Member of Parliament, there is nothing to indicate that there were others, who are also Members-elect but were not in this House, so that we can know --
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Member, this is what took place and that is what we are correcting; what took place is what we are correcting.
My attention has been drawn by Leadership this morning in the Speaker's Lobby, to the fact that there are two Hon Members who have not taken their Oaths. We have made arrangements to have them sworn in tomorrow when we meet here. However, that was what transpired when we met on the 7th of January, 2013 and that is what we are correcting.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I suspect that until a Member-elect is sworn in as Member of Parliament, he has no place in the Votes and Proceedings of a Sitting of Parliament.
Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my name is “Opare-Ansah” and the constituency is “Suhum.”
Mr Speaker, on the matter raised by the Hon Member for Madina, if you look at item number 2 on page 1, it states the number of writs that the Clerk received from the Electoral Commission. So if you look at the number that took the Oath, it is clear that there is a difference. So the records are clear.
But Mr Speaker, back to why I am on my feet: on page 8, my recollection of the event of that morning was after the election of the Speaker, we had the election
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Member, you are absolutely right; you are absolutely correct. I had a certain guide put before me and the guide misled me. But I checked the Standing Orders and I corrected myself quickly. So you are absolutely right. But if what is in the Votes and Proceedings is what should be done and consistent with the Standing Orders of this House, that we are correcting the Votes and Proceedings and we have to report what transpired here, you are absolutely correct on that score. But I do not know how we would go about it.
Mr Opare-Ansah 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker --
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Let me hear from the Hon Member for Tamale South.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. As my Hon Colleague, Opare-Ansah said, when the two Deputy Speakers were being considered, in fact, in accordance with our Standing Orders --
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Members, I have been advised by the Clerk that these are highlights. The Official Report will
capture what transpired and when we get there, we can correct it. Whatever it is, we would have it said.
Mr Opare-Ansah 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would not have raised the matter except that a vote was taken and this is the Votes and Proceedings we are considering. That was why I raised the matter. Ordinarily, it would be appropriate to leave the details --
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
My advice from the Clerk is that these are just highlights because it is telling us that First and Second Deputy Speakers have been elected by the House.
Mr James K. Avedzi 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am only trying to draw your attention to the earlier issue about the two Members who were not sworn in, that the Clerks-at-the- Table should ensure that they do not sit in the Chamber and participate in the work of the House until they are sworn in.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
That is what our rules say, anyway.
Mr James C. Yanwube 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 8 , item number 269, my name is “Yanwube, James Cecil”.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Very well.
Dr Kwabena Twum-Nuamah 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 8, item number 263, my title is missing; it is “Dr”.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Very well.
Page 9?
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, items 13 and 18. Item number 13, even though I did not go to Achimota School and I am not a cattle rearer, “there being” and not “be”. It should be “There being no further nominations. ..” So substitute “being” for “been”.
Then item number 18: “The Vice- President-elect, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur”. Mr Speaker, my
correction is, add “Vice Presidential Oath” in accordance with page 206 of the national Constitution.
Mr Mahama Ayariga 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, in the same way, item number 15 of page 9, it should also read, “there being”. But Mr Speaker, going back to page 8, I tried to catch your eye -- item number 11, it should read: “The Rt. Hon Speaker recognised the presence in the House of the following distinguished per- sonalities.”
Dr Dominic A. Ayine 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 4, item number 98, my name has an initial “A” which stands for Akuritinga, and I am a doctor of law. I have a doctorate in Law, so I am “Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine”.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Members, as suggested by the Hon Member for Sekondi, any other Hon Member who has problems with spelling mistakes may approach the Clerks-at-the-Table for their names to be corrected, and the Clerks-at- the-Table are those seated in front of Mr Speaker.
Mr Justice J. Appiah 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not agree with Hon Haruna Iddrisu. “There be no further nominations” is good. I think “There be no” is correct. “There been” is not correct.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Member, I think Hon Haruna Iddrisu is correct. [Interruption.]
Hon Members, let us have order in the House.
Mr Ayariga 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I think the Hon Member has a problem with the “be” because of the “Ede Bee”. [Laughter.]
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order.
Mr Asamoah Ofosu 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, item 23, page 11, I realised that after H. E. Dr Thomas Boni-Yayi presented the goodwill message to Ghana on behalf of the African Union (AU) -- [Interruption.] [An Hon Member: You have no moral right; were you there?]
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Member, you have the floor.
Mr Asamoah Ofosu 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the record of proceedings shows that I was in attendance. I was present. He should refer to the record of proceedings and see if my name is not there. My name is “Ofosu Asamoah” and on the record of proceedings, “present -- 211, page 6, “Ofosu Asamoah”. So I am now correcting.
After the Chairman of the AU had delivered his address, the visiting Presidents took turns to congratulate His Excellency the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama -- [Interruption.] But that is not found in the Votes and Proceedings -- in any case, without prejudice to the court action. [Laughter.]
Maj (Dr)(Alhaji) Ahmed Mustapha (retd): Mr Speaker, the Hon Member was not there in the afternoon. The Hon Member is a good Friend of mine and I was particularly interested in seeing him at the Independence Square. I would have noticed if he was there. After the House was suspended in the morning, he refused to come back. Mr Speaker, Sitting was suspended yesterday for us to reconvene at the Independence Square, and I noticed that my good Friend did not turn up when we Sat at the Independence Square.
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Member, by the practice of the House, when the House is suspended and we enter the Chamber to reconvene, do we rewrite our names?
Some Hon Members 11:20 a.m.
No! Teach him. [Interruption.]
Mr Ayariga 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, so, for the records, should it reflect that the Minority did not boycott the inaugural ceremony yesterday? Mr Speaker, is that what should be captured in the records, that going by parliamentary procedures, in fact, there was no boycott because ordinarily, we do not expect them to come and register their presence at the suspended Sitting of this House after reconvening?
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg on a point of order because the Hon Mahama Ayariga is violently out of order.
This House was properly constituted with a quorum, which included the Minority and all its Members, and they participated in the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speakers.
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Members, we are correcting the Votes and Proceedings.
Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if that is the case, as Mr Haruna Iddrisu said that, we were physically not there but legally there, that is the point then, I am saying that we have a right to debate the issue as to what is happening on the — [Interruption.] Hold on! Hold on.
The argument was that Mr Ofosu Asamoah has no right to talk because he was not there. That was what he said. So Hon Mahama Ayariga, is out of order.
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Members, page 11. Any other correction?
Mr Ayariga 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 10, paragraph 22 should read:
“The Rt Hon Speaker also recognized the presence in the House of the following dignitarie . . .”
Alhaji Mohammad Mumuni 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on page 10, item 22 (i), the name there, “Dr Thomas Boni-Yayi” is not hyphenated; the hyphen should go. “Dr Thomas Boni Yayi”. The same mistake is repeated in item 23, the hyphen between “Boni” and Yayi should go. Still on page 10, (viii), H.E. The President of Togo, Mr Faure Gnassingbe. He does not use “Eyadema”. So the “Eyadema” should be deleted. It is “Faure Gnassingbe”.
Continuing, Mr Speaker, item (xvi) on page 11, “Ms Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo” is not the Chief Justice of Gabon. She is the President of the Constitutional Court of Gabon.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Hon Members, there is a difficulty here. We know what was submitted to the Speaker was the “Chief Justice of Gabon” and that was what I announced there. So, do we correct what was correct?
Alhaji Mumuni 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we had an official communication at the Foreign Ministry and what was communicated to the Ministry as to the designation of the delegate was “President of the Constitutional Court”. I had the privilege to welcome her at the airport and also I seated her at the presidential luncheon, and it was confirmed that she was the President of the Constitutional Court of Gabon and not the Chief Justice.
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Very Well.
Hon Members, if it has to do with names, I will suggest that you see the Clerks-at-the-Table for correction.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it will appear from page 10 that the list provided for the dignitaries you recognised, we are deserting our own. I do not see the names of former President Jerry John Rawlings, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, former United Nations Secretary-General, Busumuro Kofi Annan.
For those of us who were present at the Sitting, I remember that you recognised them and asked them to come and acknowledge and fraternize with President John Dramani Mahama, the Vice President, your goodself and the Chief Justice. So, your guidance.
Mr Speaker 11:20 a.m.
Clerks-at-the-Table to take note.
Mr Benjamin Komla Kpodo 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, following from what my Hon Brother has said, I think we can further correct item 22 to read:
“The Rt. Hon. Speaker also recognized the presence in the House of the following foreign dignitaries . . .”
So that a new section can be inserted to take account of the dignitaries from our country.
Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want some guidance.
Dr Kunbuor 11:30 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Speaker.
I guess that my Hon Colleague basically is supposed to spice the House with an introduction of matters that have since ceased legally, with the previous Parliament. But more significantly, his problem is a self- inflicted one.

I am happy that today he has come to realise that that power has ended -- [Laughter.] The correct spelling is what is in the record.
Alhaji Inusah A. B. Fuseini 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, Hon Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (Member of Parliament for North Tongu) indicated that we had omitted the names of some three important dignitaries. I thought that by parity of reasoning, we could add the names of the wives of the President and the Vice President because they -- [Interruption] -- This is for the record and that was what transpired, and if we are taking guidance from the fact that people went up and fraternized with the President, they were also part of those people who went up.
So I just thought that their names should be captured in the Votes and Proceedings of Parliament. After all, it was a Sitting of Parliament and they were also accorded that privilege.
Mr Dominic A. B. Nitiwul 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want the Majority Leader to give me some information. On his table, we have “K-u-m-b-o-u-r”. Now in the Votes and Proceedings we have “K-u-n-b-u-o- r”. Mr Speaker, on the Order Paper, we have “K-u-b-u-o-r” - [Laughter.] Mr

Speaker, we have three different spellings of his name. Which one are we taking?
Dr Kunbuor 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I guess you had directed and ruled that the matters of names should be addressed to the Table Office -- [Laughter] -- that was basically why I decided not to rise to make any correction. I would want to register it here very clearly and I would want those whose memories are short to take their pens and write down the correct name. The name is called “Kunbuor” and it is spelt “K-u-n-b-u-o-r”.
Thank you.
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end --
Mrs Irene Naa Torshie Addo 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the name is “Naa-Torshie Addo, Tema West.”
You did not rule on the issue of the First Ladies and then you were interrupted with the Majority Leader's name again. I believe that any time they come into this House, we recognise their presence and if they did fraternize, and being a woman, I think you should rule on that, so that it is captured.
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Hon Members, I would want to bring the Correction of Votes and Proceedings to an end.
Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedings of Monday, 7th January, 2013 as corrected, are hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Dr Benjamin Kunbuor 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, there not being any matter outstanding, I beg to move, that the House be now adjourned till tomorrow at 10.00 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Before I call on the Hon Minority Leader to second the motion, I want to find out whether there will be any meetings.
Dr Kunbuor 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we certainly will be having some committee meetings to address the consequential changes that will take place to enable us address issues of composing the various committees. I know the Leadership will meet immediately from here -- it has already been communicated -- to go and begin addressing the formula to be applied and a report will be laid in this House tomorrow on that matter.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion for adjournment, not “adjornment”, as proposed by the Majority Leader -- [Laughter.]
Mr Speaker, I thank you.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT 11:30 a.m.
  • The House was accordingly adjourned at 11.36 a.m. till Wednesday, 9th January, 2013 at 10.00 a.m.