Debates of 7 Jun 2013

Hon Members, we now take the Business Statement from the Hon Majority Leader.

Arrangement of Business
Statements
Mr Speaker, your goodself may admit Statements to be made in the House by Hon Members and Ministers of State.
Bills, Papers and Reports
Mr Speaker, Bills may be presented to the House for First Reading and those of urgent nature may be taken through the various stages in one day in accordance with Order 119. Papers and committee reports may also be presented to the House.
Motions and Resolutions
Mr Speaker, Motions may be debated and their consequential Resolutions, if any, taken during the week.
Joint caucus meeting and Closed Sitting
Mr Speaker, a joint caucus meeting is expected to be held on Wednesday, 12th June, 2013. Furthermore, a Closed Sitting of the House is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 13th June, 2013.
Conclusion
Mr Speaker, in accordance with Standing Order 160(2) and subject to Standing Order 53, the Committee submits to this Honourable House, the order in which the Business of the House shall be taken during the week.

Statements

Presentation of Papers

(a) Report of the Finance Committee on the request for waiver of stamp duty on an Offshore Syndicated Receivables-Backed Trade Finance Facility of US$1,500,000,000.00 for cocoa purchases by Ghana Cocoa Board for the year 2012/2013 crop season.

(b) Report of the Finance Committee on the request for waiver of Custom Duties, VAT/NHIL, EDIF, ECOWAS Levies, Destination Inspection Fees, withholding taxes, other taxes and levies amounting to seven million, four hundred and thirteen thousand, six hundred and eleven United States dollars (US$7,413,611.00) on goods and services relating to the execution of the Grant Agreement between the Japan International Co-operation Agency and the Government of the Republic of Ghana for the rehabilitation of the National Trunk Road N8.

Committee sittings.

Committee of Selection to consider the re-composition of committees.

Statements

Presentation of Papers --

Report of the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism on the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Bill,

2013

Presentation and First Reading of Bills

Plant Breeders Bill, 2013

Joint caucus meeting

Committee sittings.

Statements

Presentation of Papers --

(a) Report of the Finance Committee on the Term Loan Facility amounting to three bil l ion United States dollars (US$3.0 billion) between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and China Development Bank (CDB) --Deed of Security Confirmation and Amendments to the Master Facility Agreement (MFA), Five Party Agreement (FPA) and Accounts Agreement (AA).

(b) Report of the Committee of Selection on the recomposition of Committees.

Motions --

(a) Adoption of the Report of the Finance Committee on the request for waiver of stamp duty on an Offshore Syndicated Receivables-Backed Trade Finance Facility of US$ 1,500,000,000.00 for Cococa Board for the year 2012/2013 crop season.

(Consequential Resolution)

Adoption of the Report of the Finance Committee on the request for waiver of Custom Duties, VAT/ NHIL, EDIF, ECOWAS Levies,

Destination Inspection Fee, withholding taxes, other taxes and levies amounting to seven million, four hundred and thirteen thousand, six hundred and eleven United States dollars (US$7,413,611.00) on goods and services relating to the execution of the grant Agreement between the Japan International Co- operation Agency and the Government of the Republic of Ghana for the Rehabilitation of the National Trunk Road N8.
(Consequential Resolution)
Closed Sitting of the House
Committee sittings.

Statements

Motions --

Second Reading of Bills --

Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Bill, 2013

Committee sittings.

Thank you, Hon Majority Leader.
The floor is opened for comments, questions, et cetera.

Mr Speaker, my concern is on the Report of the Auditor-
General on the Consolidated Accounts for the year 2011. Mr Speaker, this Report has been in our Mails Room for more than a year gathering dust.
Mr Speaker, quite recently, five other Reports were laid and were referred to the Public Accounts Committee. But Mr Speaker, I thought that that of the Consolidated Accounts, which is very, very important, should have been laid as well.
I need your guidance on this matter.

Mr Speaker, I guess the Hon Member is an Hon Member of the Committee, and normally, the Business of the House is not arranged just based on what the Business Committee thinks. So, if the Committee had actually added that to the list which they submitted to the Business Committee, I believe, it certainly would have been laid as well.
But as I indicated the last time, I have had extensive discussions with the Hon Chairman of the Committee and he thinks that these are the ones that he intends to bring. Should he bring that to the attention of the Business Committee, it would be duly considered.

Mr Speaker, I believe there is some misunderstanding of the issue being raised. I do not know ever since when a chairman of a committee decides what he wants to bring. The point the Hon Member made is that the Auditor- General has submitted all these Reports to Parliament, except for the five that were laid -- that one has been here longer than the five that were laid.
So, he is asking the Leadership of the House why the Report of the Auditor- General on the Consolidated Fund, after a year, is not being put on the Business of the House. The Hon Chairman of the
Committee cannot decide on what report he wants to bring to the House. That is the issue.
Mr Speaker, I recall that we went to the Mails Room several times, we saw the Report, it was never distributed and we are worried. We thought that by now, there may be a reason Leadership has not found it necessary to bring that one. There may be a hitch and if so, we just want to know.

My attention has been drawn to the fact that this was a matter that came before this House at the last Parliament that has since been dissolved, and I did not initially recognise that it belonged to that category of Business. What we have been saying is that there are a number of legal issues and our Standing Orders whether those types of documents have lapsed.
In fact, why I had to discuss with the Hon Chairman of the Committee was not because we wanted him to arrange the Business for us. But we wanted to know exactly what the status of these Reports were and when they were laid. He went and disaggregated those that he believed were brought to the House during the last Parliament and then gave us the list to actually programme for the Business of the House.

Mr Speaker, I appreciate the difficulty of the Chairman of the Business Committee, the Majority Leader and the Minister for Government Business in Parliament. However, I believe that in these matters, the simplest route is to get the Clerk to advise him. This is because, the Chairman of the Committee may not be aware of what business was
pending before the Committee in the previous Parliament, even though he was an Hon Member of that Committee. It may not have even been laid. So, I would urge the Chairman of the Business Committee to get the Clerk and the Table Office to advise him on the outstanding matters, particularly matters that were before the last Parliament but were not dealt with and have thereby lapsed.
I would want to reiterate that as to the business having lapsed, there is no question about it. That is the law. Of course, the Hon Majority Leader, apart from being a Member of Parliament, is very knowledgeable about the law. But in this matter, he should just accept that he will do more work on it. He always tries to find an excuse but in this case, I believe that it is through oversight.
I would urge the Clerk's Office also to advise Leadership on this matter. I make this point rather strongly because if we are not careful, we may lose track of so many things only because the Clerk's Office has not so advised the Chair and Leadership, which is their business. The Hon Clerk -- I choose to call him that, we will deal with that later.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Thank you very much.
In the circumstances, I would direct that not only for this particular issue but all issues outstanding apart from Bills which have a certain process they go through -- I think the Clerk's Office should be in touch with the Leadership, so that we know the way forward.
The Business Statement is hereby adopted as the Statement for the week ending Friday, 14th June, 2013.
Hon Members, Mr Speaker did not admit any Statements and therefore, we have no Statements. So, Hon Majority Leader?

Mr Speaker, in the absence -- [Interruption.]

Mr Speaker, I am sorry. But since he was going to move the Motion for adjournment -- You are now the Speaker and you have to admit Statements. [Laughter.] We have been told that the Speaker is unavailable and until he comes, you are going to exercise the powers, particularly presiding over matters. I do not know, probably, he left just today and I do not know when he will be available.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Member for Sekondi and who was also a former Leader of this House, raised this matter when really there is no matter to raise. This is because you said the Speaker and you were referring to yourself --[Laughter.] You were only saying so in terms of the universal word “Speaker”. You did not exclude yourself from being a Speaker and therefore, his point should be disregarded.

Actually, if we look at it from the point of view of the fact that Mr Speaker left last night and I
was only informed to take over this morning after the announcement from the Clerk, I could not have had the time to read through a Statement and to decide whether to admit it or not. In the circumstances-- we would let the matter rest there.

Mr Speaker, in the absence of any Statement having been admitted, either by Mr Speaker who is not present or the Speaker on the Chair -- and on a more serious note, we have one of our Hon Colleagues who is bereaved and Hon Members would want to attend the funeral service in their numbers and also committee meetings, I beg to move, that this House be adjourned till Tuesday, 11th June, 2013 at 10.00 in the forenoon.

Mr Speaker, I would have said something but for your reverence, I would keep quiet about it. This is because when the Speaker is travelling, I am sure the First Deputy Speaker will know. However, Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.