Debates of 4 Jun 2013

MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
PRAYERS 11:37 a.m.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 11:37 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Hon Members, I have the pleasure to introduce to you a nine-member delegation from the delegated Legislation Committee of the National Assembly of Zambia who are on a week-long official visit to Ghana.
The purpose of the delegation's visit is to share in our experiences in the passage of subsidiary legislation. The visit is also intended to foster deeper relations between the two Legislatures and the two countries.
The delegation comprises the follow- ing:
Hon Cornelius Mweetwa -- Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Committee
Hon Moono Lubezhi -- Member of Parliament
Hon Misheck Mutelo -- Member of Parliament
Hon Allan Mbewe -- Member of Parliament

Hon Abel Sichula -- Member of Parliament

Hon Isaac Banda -- Member of Parliament

Hon Boniface Mutale -- Member of Parliament

Stephen Kawimbe -- Deputy Principal Clerk of Committees

Sage Sawuika -- Secretary to the Committee

Hon Members, I, on your behalf, wish them a pleasant stay in the country and fruitful deliberations.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 11:37 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Hon Members, Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 31st May, 2013 --
Dr Anthony A. Osei 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I refer to Standing Order 13(2) and I beg to quote:
“Whenever the House is informed by the Clerk at the Table of the unavoidable absence of Mr Speaker, the First Deputy Speaker shall perform the duties and exercise …”
The Clerk has not done so, I believe. So, I thought, maybe, you might do that. We have no idea; so, if we can follow our Standing Orders, I would appreciate it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Hon Member, I think that all it is, is that the Rt. Hon Speaker is engaged in some assignment and that is why he is not here.
Dr A. A. Osei 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am glad that you explained that. This is because some people were thinking that he was at some celebration and I wanted to get clarity. [Laughter.]
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe this Standing Order applies when the Speaker is unable to perform his actions as a Speaker, probably, when he has left the country. That is it. It is then that the First Deputy Speaker will be performing the functions of the Speaker and not necessarily just presiding. It is just like when the President has to attend a function and he is unable to perform and the Vice President attends on his behalf. He is not acting as President, even though, for the time being, he is performing the functions of the President as his representative.
So, I believe that is something the House should take note of. The Speaker is in the country and he is performing his functions as the Speaker. You are just presiding because he is not in the position to preside now, but you are not acting as the Speaker.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the former Hon Majority Leader and Member for Sekondi is really injecting his own understanding of the Standing Order into what otherwise is plain language.
Mr Speaker, Order 13(2) provides and if my Hon Colleague would really read it 11:37 a.m.
“Whenever the House is informed by the Clerk at the Table of the unavoidable absence of Mr. Speaker …”
Mr Speaker, it has nothing to do with whether he is out of the jurisdiction or not. It has nothing to do with that at all; he is “… unavoidably absent …” He could be here. He could be indisposed. He could be -- like my Hon Colleague, perhaps, is
thinking -- at some ceremony taking place this morning. Mr Speaker, so the House is entitled to know.
For the information of my Hon Colleague, when you sit in the Chair, the Orders are clear.--
“The Deputy Speaker shall perform the duties and exercise the authority of Mr Speaker in relation to all proceedings of the House…”
Proceedings of this House, not administrative functions. Mr Speaker, so, my Hon Colleague, the Hon Member for Sekondi, in my considered opinion, is wrong.

Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague, the former Hon Majority Leader, in my considered opinion, is wrong in this case.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would not want to debate this point with my Hon Colleagues. But it is a point worth noting by the House and the House will be guided by experiences of other Parliaments. But I ask, why then is it that when the Speaker leaves and you come in, there is no formal explanation? We must try and live the provisions of our Standing Orders.
But of course, I am not prepared to debate my own Hon Leader on this matter. It will be contrary to parliamentary protocol and decorum.
Dr Benjamin B. Kunbuor 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, perhaps, we can proceed because I am guided by the adage that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that will suffer. [Laughter.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Now, let us continue with the consideration of the Votes and Proceedings--
Page 1 …. 6--
Mr Kwabena M. Akandoh 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, page 6, number 20, I was present on Friday but I was marked absent.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
All right. Table Office, please, take note.
Any more corrections?
Mr Solomon N. Boar 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, there is something very strange here. On page 8, on Friday, 31st May, 2013, the Hon Member for Zabzugu, in whose name Statement is standing, gave me the permission to make the Statement on his behalf. This is because he had fallen ill. I remember, it was your goodself that was in the Chair and the Statement was ably made by me.
It is very strange to find that the Table Office, in fact, even came to my table and took my name and the name of my Constituency -- “Solomon Boar, Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu”. Here, they have captured that it was made by Hon John Bennam, on behalf of the Hon Member for Tatale/Sanguli. Interestingly, if one goes to page 6, number 40, Hon Members absent that day, Hon John Bennam was absent. -- [Laughter] -- I think that the Table Office has not been fair to me. [Laughter] -- Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
All right. Thank you very much.
Please, take note and effect the necessary correction.
Yes, any more corrections?
Mr Joseph Y. Chireh 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on page 7, item 7, on the statement there that the Hon Majority Leader made a Statement -- the Hon Majority Leader did not make any Statement. He presented the Business Statement.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
I agree with you.
Please, Table Office, effect the necessary correction.

In the absence of any further corrections, the Votes and Proceedings for Friday, 31st May, 2013 are adopted as a true reflection of the proceedings for that day.

Hon Members, commencement of Public Business -- Presentation of Papers.
Dr Benjamin B. Kunbuor 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we can take item number 4.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Item number 4 (i)?
PAPERS 11:50 a.m.
Mr Kennedy O. Agyapong 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I only need clarification here. I am trying to find out the stamp duty. Is it one per cent or ten per cent because the 150 million is ten per cent of 1.5 billion. So, I would want to know from the Finance Committee Chairman if it is one per cent or ten per cent. If, indeed, it is one per cent, then they should correct it.
Mr James K. Avedzi 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is a document which is being referred to the Committee. It is for us to go and look at it and then report back to the House. In fact, this is coming from the Hon Minister for Finance, so, it should not be an issue for the Chairman of the Finance Committee.
Dr A. A. Osei 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if this Paper is being laid and it is in error, we need to withdraw it and re-lay it.The stamp duty is one per cent, not ten per cent.
So, the Hon Minister who laid it should explain how the 150 million got there or we should just withdraw it and re-lay it. It is one per cent, not ten per cent.
Mr Avedzi 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, there is no percentage in the document being laid. There is a figure that if one expressed it, will get the ten per cent. That is all right.
But if the Committee goes into consideration, we would look at that and report back to the House. The issue about percentage is not the issue.
Dr Kunbuor 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I guess on this issue, this is not the first time that matters have been laid in this House and once it is laid, it becomes a property of the House. And the House can determine, even draw attention to the fact that they think that this was done in this particular context. So, the formality of laying should go on. But what will happen is that, once it becomes the property of the House and
it is appropriately referred, all these other possible defects can be addressed.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I take a different view. The stamp duty as a percentage of the stated amount is one per cent. Now, we have not been given the percentage; we have been given the amount. And if one follows the path now being advocated by the Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee, it would mean that if they ran into rumble strips, they have to come back and the Paper would have to be re-laid. This is because he is not the originator of that Paper.
It is a Cabinet document that is coming to this House. So, he cannot say that, well, when it comes before us, they will report on it. If they report on it and say to us that that figure is a representative of one per cent of the total, the Paper will have to re- laid.
So, I am thinking that the Hon Majority Leader, in his competent position as the Leader of Government Business in this House, and I believe the voice of Cabinet on the floor of this House, he should be able to tell us. It does not lie in the mouth of the Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee at all. It lies within the ambit of the Hon Majority Leader, the Hon Minister in Charge of Government Business in Parliament to tell us what to do in the circumstance.
Dr Kunbuor 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I guess the Hon Minority Leader did not follow.
As a matter of procedure, the item 4(i) has been laid and referred to the Finance Committee. Then, we proceeded to item 4(ii) which has also been laid and it was then the subject of referral. The point to have arrested and required a withdrawal should have even been before it was read.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Yes, thank you very much.
It has been laid and referred. So, when the Committee considers the Paper, it will come up with whatever recommendation and these items will be taken care of.
Shall we move on to item number 4(iii)?
Mr Anthony Osei Boakye 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Paper, item 4(i), as laid by the Hon Minister, in my view, is totally wrong, in the sense that the dates are not correct. [Uproar.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order.
I have given a ruling on the matter and we are moving on.
Please, let us make some progress.

Order! Order!

By the Minister for Government Business in Parliament/Majority Leader (Dr Benjamin B. Kunbuor) --

Report of the Auditor-General on the Accounts of District Assemblies for the year ended 31st December,

2011.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Management and Utilisation of District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) and Other Statutory Funds for the year ended 31st December,

2011.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Pre- University Educational Institutions) for the financial year ended 31st December, 2011.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the half year ended 31st December 2011.

Referred to the Public Accounts Committee.
Mr First Deputy Speaker noon
Hon Majority Leader, the Rt Hon Speaker did not admit any Statements, so, we are entirely in your hands.
Dr Benjamin B. Kunbuor noon
Mr Speaker, given the number of Committee meetings that we have pending, and in the absence of any other Business, Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that the House be adjourned to 5th June, 2013 at 10.00 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker noon
Can we have some order?
Dr Kunbuor noon
Mr Speaker, I have deliberately not heard the comments and the invitations for a Statement to be made on a very, very significant anniversary that Mr Speaker has not admitted. But if the Statement is admitted by Mr Speaker, it would be duly made.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noon
Mr Speaker, in seconding the Motion for adjournment, I would want to observe -- [Inter- ruption.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker noon
Order! Order!
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noon
I would want to observe that it is unfortunate that very active participants of the events being commemorated today have not come up with any Statement to that effect. Mr Speaker, it is also noteworthy that some of the active participants, today, are dressed in robes that they so much despised in those tumultuous days. But Mr Speaker, we would not proceed further.
The Hon Majority Leader has moved for adjournment and knowing him and his
own role, I would not want to be a sympathiser, weeping more than the bereaved, in which case, I dutifully, Mr Speaker, beg to second the Motion for adjournment-- in that case, signifying to the rest of us, mortal souls in the country, that we should be banishing this thought from our memory.
Mr Speaker, I thank you and I beg to second the Motion for adjournment.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT noon