Debates of 11 Mar 2014

MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:55 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:55 a.m.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings. I have the Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 7th March, 2014.
Mr Emmanuel K. Agyarko 10:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, most respectfully, I was here on Friday, but I have been marked absent.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Noted.
Page 2 . . . 16.
Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 7th March, 2014 as corrected are hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.
I also have the Official Report of 4th March, 2014.
Dr Ahmed Y. Alhassan 10:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, column 1124, last paragraph, fifth line, an expression has been attributed to me; the expression I used was “And the stony silence” not “story, silenced”. It says here; “and the story, silenced from such human rights…”. I said “And the stony silence”.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Thank you.

Hon Members, the Official Report of Tuesday, 4th March, 2014 as corrected is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.

No Statement?
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member.
Mr Assumeng 10:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if you would permit me to raise an issue of national importance?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:55 a.m.
If you do not raise it, I would not know what it is.
Mr Assumeng 10:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it has been an issue of bribery allegation against Hon Members of Parliament and I really need your guidance on the issue. This is because, in my view, it is an issue of national importance and we have to deal with it.
So, I crave your indulgence to, maybe, give a directive on the issue.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:55 a.m.
Hon Member, what Order were you coming under?
Mr Assumeng 10:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, that was why I said that, it was an issue of national importance which finds itself in the Standing Orders.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.
Hon Member, is it an issue which defies the Standing Orders or comes outside the Standing Orders?
Mr Assumeng 11:05 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I need your guidance on the issue. The issue is an indictment on Hon Members of Parliament, and I need your guidance on it.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.
Hon Member, no matter how serious the issue is, I am not allowed to take part in the debate. So I would need your guidance to be able to let me give you guidance. What you would do is that, you tell me what Standing Order you are coming under. You indicate to me the options available to me under that Standing Order, then I can assist you. But this omnibus general guidance is a little difficult for me. I do not know.
Hon Maj. Derek Oduro (rtd).
Maj. Derek Oduro (retd) : Mr Speaker, what my Colleague is saying is a very serious issue. There has been a communication in the Daily Graphic of Monday, 10th March which sought to indict Members of Parliament for taking bribes and this was said by no other person than a Colleague from this House, by name Hon A. S. K. Bagbin, who said that somewhere in Koforidua.
We have the Hon Member here in Parliament and we would want him to clear the air so that, this indictment on the Legislature as an institution, we would have a way to settle it or to know how -- Whether it is true or not. He said it — I am a Member of this Parliament, this is my third term and I have not seen such a thing in this House.
So, if an Hon Member, an old Colleague from this House who has been a leader of Government Business in this House, is making this allegation, then there is a need for him to come and prove that this actually happens in this House.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.
Thank you.
Hon Yieleh Chireh.
Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh 11:05 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have listened to my two Colleagues but I would prefer that, given the gravity of this situation, the
Leadership of the House should be engaged by the Speakership before we know the way to go. Particularly, as the person who made the statement is not here.
Secondly, he had been a Leader and it is important that Speakership and Leadership of the House first look at the matter and then guide the rest of us in Parliament.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.
Should we take somebody from the Minority fore bench?
Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah 11:05 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to agree with the last Hon Member who spoke. The suggestion he made that unfortunately, the Hon Member who is alleged to have made that allegation is not here in Parliament. I think it is proper the issue is referred to Leadership to handle and perhaps report back to the House later.
Dr Benjamin B. Kunbuor 11:05 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this matter and publication has come to the attention of Leadership and we did hold a short meeting with Mr Speaker and he fixed today at 2.00 p.m. for both sides of the House and the Leadership to meet, very much in line with what the Hon Deputy Whip has indicated.
We would have to get in touch with the Hon Member and we are putting in the administrative process to get in touch with him , then, we begin to take it from there.
So, Mr Speaker, while one does not intend to curtail any discussion on this matter, once Leadership and the Hon Speaker would be meeting on this matter, I would entreat that Hon Members should give us the opportunity to address this rather significant matter properly.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Majority Leader. Hon Member for Shai-Osudoku. You asked for my guidance and we have heard various Hon Members express their views.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.


You want me to give my guidance or if you want, you can call it a ruling.

Hon Members, Standing Order 53 of the rules deals with the order of business that can be conducted in the House. What the Hon Member for Shai-Osudoku sought to bring attention of the Speaker to, can be found under Standing Order 53 (l) because in effect, it is a complaint of contempt of Parliament.

Other Hon members spoke about the fact that the integrity of Parliament has been in some manner undermined. I also would want to refer you to Standing Order 73 (1) and (2) which deals with complaints of contempt of Parliament and it states, if I may read:

“73. (1) A Member may, at the time appointed for Complaints of Contempt of Parliament under the provisions of Order 53 (Order of Business) bring to the House any complaint of contempt of Parliament, provided he has previously notified Mr Speaker.

(2) In urgent circumstances such complaints may, with Mr Speaker's prior permission, be made at a time other than that appointed for it.”

So, it was done at the right time.

The Hon Member was correct in raising the matter at this time but he did not notify Mr Speaker as we are required to do under the rules. If it were not a matter of national importance, I would have let the matter rest here. This is because one must, in bringing these matters to the attention of the House, obey the rules.

But because it is a matter of national importance, I believe that I would remind all of us of what the Hon Majority Leader said, that perhaps, some people did not hear that Leadership is meeting on the

matter and the matter would not be swept under the carpet.

Thank you very much. Let us continue.
Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh 11:05 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is not to challenge your ruling but I would want to suggest that, if the matter is being referred to Leadership, then some dates in terms of timelines should be given so that Leadership would report back to the House.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:05 a.m.
Let us continue.
Hon Annoh-Dompreh, when the Speaker rules and you want to amend the ruling in any manner, you must come by way of Motion. What you have suggested is that, I should amend what I said. I will not amend it. What I am saying is that, the Hon Majority Leader has said that Leadership is considering it and it will not be swept under the carpet.
In fact, if you had listened to the Hon Majority Leader, he said they would be meeting at 2.00 o'clock. Let us give some credit to our Leadership. You can raise this matter tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. So, for today, because it is of a matter of national importance, I have ignored the requirement of Standing Order 73 and I have said that, the Leadership would deal with it. They would deal with it at 2.00 o'clock, thank you.
Hon Majority Leader, do you want to lay the Papers or we should go straight to debates?
Dr Kunbuor 11:15 a.m.
Mr Speaker, no Statement has been admitted, so we could take Item number 4.
PAPERS 11:15 a.m.
MOTIONS 11:15 a.m.
Mr Cletus A. Avoka (NDC -- Zebilla) 11:15 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Motion ably moved by the Hon Member for Tamale South and Minister for Trade and Industry, (Mr Haruna Iddrisu), thanking His Excellency the President for delivering the State of the Nation Address on Tuesday, the 25th of February, 2014 under article 67 of the 1992 Constitution.
Mr Speaker, given the time constraint, I intend to make a few observations and comments on the Address. My first observation is with regard to the manner of the debate by Hon Colleagues in this august House.
Let me first of all, Mr Speaker, commend the President for his statesmanly address. The President's Address departed significantly from Addresses we have witnessed in the past, where time, space and needless energy have often been
spent on castigating and finding faults with previous regimes or governments.
President Mahama's Address tackled issues confronting the country and proffered ways and means of addressing those challenges. This admittedly, Mr Speaker, is a mark of a good statesman. In this respect, I invite Hon Colleagues to take a cue from this demeanour and then follow suit.
In my view, Mr Speaker, our contribution to the State of the Nation Address should not be seen as a comparison between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Admini- stration and that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or any other party for that matter.
Secondly, it should not also just be a criticism of the President Mahama-led NDC Administration.
Thirdly, in the same vein, it should not also be about heaping praises on the President and the current administration.
My view is that, the President merely gave us skeletal ideas about the challenges, because if he was to tackle sector by sector and give us all the information, we would have spent the whole day sitting to listen to him.
So, what he virtually did was to give us some skeletal information and it behoves this august House to add flesh to the skeletal information. In other words, Mr Speaker, my view is that, we should be able to take the Address, analyse it and then even if one differs from what the President said, one can add some other information.
Mr Isaac K. Asiamah 11:15 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on a point of order.
Mr Speaker, if the former Leader says that the President did provide skeletal information, is he saying that the information he gave lacked substance or has no value. What sort of skeletal information --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:15 a.m.
Hon Avoka, continue.
Mr Avoka 11:15 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my respectful view is that, Hon Members who would want to associate with the President's Address would add more information to enrich it. Hon Members who even disagree can give alternative ways of meeting the challenges or addressing the challenges of this country, rather than actually heap praises or attack the Address, per se.
In this respect, Mr Speaker, I would want to comment on education; my first comment on the Address is with regard to education. Education is dear to my heart and I believe, to the hearts of other Colleagues in this august House. At page 4, column 2 of the State of the Nation Address, the President said this about education and Mr Speaker, with your permission I beg to quote:
“When it comes to education, Mr Speaker, government's top areas of focus are quality, access and affordability...”
In the same vein, last year at page 1, the President made a similar observation when he called for, and I beg to quote:
“Sound, meaningful and relevant education...”
Against the backdrop of this require- ment for sound and quality education, my first observation is that, with the proliferation of private tertiary educational institutions, particularly private universities, we have a challenge in our educational system.
Mr Speaker, as I talk to you, my investigation reveals that, with a country of about 24 million people, we have 55 private tertiary institutions or private
universities and then nine public universities. These private universities offer courses basically in business and humanities and produce several thousands of graduates every year into the job market. We have a challenge there when we have to burden the market with thousands of young graduates.
Mr Speaker, the President succinctly noted at page 6, column 2 as follows and with your permission I beg to quote:
“Additionally, many universities and tertiary institutions go for the softer course options and churn out graduates in business and the humanities at the expense of science, technology and allied courses which are increasingly in demand in an economy in transition from lower middle income to middle income status.”
Mr Speaker, what are the challenges against the backdrop of the proliferation of these private universities? Let me first state that one is not against private universities in the country; I think that some of them are well established and they serve a useful purpose by closing the gap. But we are talking about the proliferation, and the status of some of them.
Mr Speaker, what are the challenges? I have observed that the first challenge is that, some of them have poor and inadequate infrastructure; some of them gradually have two blocks, one for administration and one for lectures. Indeed, some of our well established senior high schools can boast of better infrastructure than some of these private institutions or universities.
Secondly, some of them do not have library materials and facilities for quality academic pursuits.
Thirdly, the admission requirements are very liberal. Of late, when some students
do not have the core subjects like Mathematics and English, they even admit them, hoping that during the four years that they are in the university, they can write and pass that subject. That is a big challenge.
Some of them are located in environments not conducive and suitable enough for academic pursuits; very horrible environments.
Mr Ignatius B. Awuah 11:15 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my senior Colleague, under normal circumstances, I would have allowed him to go on with his debate, but he is making some points which need clarification.
First, he said that, most of these private institutions are offering softer courses. I do not know which courses are termed softer courses and which ones are not softer.
Besides, he is saying that, when it comes to admissions, some of them do not even admit people with the required passes and that they admit them and allow them to fill in later. I doubt whether that meets National Accreditation Board's requirement for enrolment into our tertiary institutions, and since this is a House of records, I would want him to affirm these points that he is making or perhaps try to veer off those things since they go a long way in affecting the integrity of our institutions.
Mr Avoka 11:25 a.m.
What is the pleasure of Mr Speaker?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Avoka.
Mr Avoka 11:25 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover: On a point of order.

Mr Speaker, Hon Awuah drew your attention to --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
He did not refer me to any point of order.
Nii Kwartei Titus Glover: He referred you to --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Titus- Glover, please, resume your seat.
Hon Awuah said that but under normal circumstances -- I was waiting for him to point out the Order he was coming under. There is nothing in our Standing Orders that say that if something is abnormal -- I know what he is talking about but if he points me to the order -- I am not supposed to take part in the debate.
Hon Titus -Glover, if you can point me to the Order that you want to come under, we are in business. If not, Hon Cletus Avoka, conclude.
Let me just say that, if you get up to raise a point of order in general terms, I would not assist you. But if you point to the specific order, I would come to your aid.
Continue, Hon Avoka.
Mr Avoka 11:25 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the point I just made is that, there is no even distribution of these private universities as far as the country is concerned. And if we can discern from the list that I have, out of 55

private universities that we have in the country, 34 are located in Greater Accra, Ashanti Region has 6, Eastern Region 5, Central Region 4, Brong Ahafo Region 3, Western Region 1, Volta Region 1, Upper East Region 1, Upper West Region 1, and Northern Region nil. More than half of them are located in the GreaterAccra Region.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Two more minutes.
Mr Avoka 11:25 a.m.
Very well.
Mr Speaker, this concentration of the universities in the cities aggravate the rural-urban drift, this time not for non- existent jobs but for university education.
I recommend that the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service and the National Accreditation Board should review and tighten the criteria of admissions to these schools. Meanwhile, they should suspend granting further accreditation and evaluate the existing ones to ensure that they have all met the required standards.
Also, accreditation should be given to universities that adopt science and technology rather than the humanities and the arts.
Finally, on this one, accreditation should be given to those universities that can go to the rural areas to mitigate the drift from the rural areas to the urban centres.
The President also mentioned the conversion of the 10 polytechnics to technical universities. My concern is whether we do not need any middle-level manpower again in the country because
that was the objective of having the polytechnics in the country. I think there are more questions to be resolved than answers on this one. This is because I cannot appreciate that the infrastructure that we have in some of these polytechnics can easily be converted to universities to satisfy that requirement.
Mr Speaker, finally, the President talked about infrastructure which I appreciate- -particularly, road infrastructure. But the missing link there was the Bolgatanga - Bawku main trunk road which spans about 84 kilometres. Mr Speaker, Bawku is the main political, social and economic nerve centre of the Upper East Region. That road has been in a deplorable state for some time now. I would want to take advantage of this forum and appeal to His Excellency the President to try and get a dedicated fund, not GoG, but a dedicated Fund to undertake this project.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I invite my Hon Colleagues to seriously take note of the President's concluding remarks in his Address. He has urged us to close our ranks and fight corruption together. We should hold our hands together, change our attitudes and work hard to develop this country because Ghana is the only country that we have.
Thank you very much.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Members, I would be grateful if going forward, when one rises on a point of order, one indicates to me the Order that one is coming under. If an Hon Member is misleading the House, if what he is saying is not accurate, one should say that and state the Order number; then I would position to invite him to provide that information or whatever. But let us be straight to the point. Anytime one rises, I would ask what order one is coming under.
Mr Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh (NPP - - Sunyani East) 11:25 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the debate.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
The background murmuring is too much. Let us have some order.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:25 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was saying that, if we are going to deepen centralisation, that would be at the expense of local governance and decentralisation, but I do not think that is the President's mind. So, the scriptwriters should have checked this because, this is going everywhere in the world and I think it is not the best.
Mr Speaker, the true state of local governance or decentralisation in the country, for the past year, was one of hopelessness in the sense that, it took the President one whole year to complete the cycle of nomination of District Chief executives. It is unprecedented in the local government history of this country, that the President, after being inducted into office would take a whole year to appoint his District Chief Executives (DCEs).
Mr Speaker, the President went on to say that we have made some significant headway in the areas of fiscal decen- tralisation and yet, he does not go on to tell us what Government has really put in place to ensure that fiscal decentralisation takes root in this country. Even the little
that is there for the District Assemblies, we do not give it to them. As we speak today, the third quarter of the District Assemblies Common Fund for last year is outstanding. The fourth quarter of 2013 is still outstanding, and as we speak today, the formula that would enable the Administrator of the Common Fund to distribute the Fund for 2014 has not been presented for approval. It is also outstanding.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Hon Akoto Osei, do you have a point of order?
Dr A. A. Osei 11:25 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague may have --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:25 a.m.
Order number?
Dr A. A. Osei 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, but for the record. What he said was that the fourth quarter was due and I wanted to notify the House that it is due at the end of March, so it is not overdue. That is what he said and I wanted to draw his attention to it.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the fourth quarter Common Fund is due from 1st January to the end of March, so it is pending. It is outstanding. It is due. Government could pay on the 1st of January. It has not been paid. Government has not paid the third quarter and we have not approved the formula for 2014, which means that, the first quarter of 2014 is most likely to fall into arrears again. Government has collected the taxes.
Where is the money? Why is government not paying the District Assemblies? What are we using the money for? These are the questions that I am asking and government must be able to provide answers.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Hon Avedzi, Order number?
Mr James K. Avedzi 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, Order number 92 (b).
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Order number 92 (b), are you prepared to yield to him, Hon Ameyaw-Cheremeh?
Can you read the Order for us?
Mr Avedzi 11:35 a.m.
Order number 91 (a):
“Debates may be interrupted --
(a) by a point of order being raised:
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Point of order based on what?
Mr Avedzi 11:35 a.m.
On the statement that he made.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
I heard the statement; what is wrong with that statement?
Mr Avedzi 11:35 a.m.
That government collected revenue, where is the money?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
I would not allow this, Hon Avedzi. [Interruption.]
Let us have some order.
Hon Avedzi, I will give you some time. I would call you again. Look at the rules book properly and indicate to me what Order you are coming under. If you indicate to me the right Order, I would recognise you.
Order 91 (a) says:
“Debates may be interrupted-- by a point of order being raised”
This is in my view,with respect, it is a procedural provision. When you read further, it tells you the substance, under what circumstances you can raise that point of order, not just the fact that a point of order can be raised.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is a notorious fact that, government has reneged on its constitutional duty of giving the District Assemblies what is due them. The Assemblies are pleading and nothing is happening. I do not think anybody should be satisfied with the status quo.
Mr Speaker, not too long ago, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission indicated to the country that he might not be able to hold district assembly elections this year. This is because Government has failed to transfer the necessary funds to the Commission to begin the process. I expected the President to give an assurance to the country that it would commit funds to the Electoral Commission to conduct the District Level Elections as and when it is due.
Four years ago, we had a ‘tot' by ‘tot' elections and we would not want to experience what happened four years ago when it took the Electoral Commission about one week and one month to conduct a simple district assembly elections. If we are not careful, we are going to experience a repeat of what happened four years ago.
So, Government must come back and assure the people of Ghana that local democracy would not suffer because Government would be reluctant in releasing moneys to the Electoral Commission to perform its duty as the constitution envisages.
Mr Speaker, last year, the country experienced unprecedented fire outbreaks and the President was silent. The fire outbreaks necessitated the invitation of some experts from the United States of America (USA) to investigate the matter. Before then, some government func-
tionaries were on record to have said that, it was the opposition that was causing the fires. The people came, they did their work, and have left the country. We have not been formally told what contains in that report. I thought when the President was here two weeks ago; it gave him a nice opportunity to tell the people of Ghana what happened.
Mr James Agalga 11:35 a.m.
-- rose --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Hon Deputy Minister for the Interior. You would be guided by what I have said to everybody so far.
Hon Deputy Minister, could you indicate the Order that you are coming under?
Mr James Agalga 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member is grossly misleading this House. [Interruptions.]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Hon Members, order!
Hon Deputy Minister, I have seen that you have taken the Standing Order. I will give you the opportunity to glance through it in a second because I would be asking you to read what you have referred to.
Let me just also advise that descriptive words of misleading would not mislead me, ‘grossly misleading', ‘very misleading.'
Hon Member, come to the Order number.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, what I said was that, it hurt the whole country when the fires happened. It burnt down markets, offices, houses; we lost both property and human beings and so if the taxpayer's money was used in --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Deputy Minister for the Interior, you are coming under which Order?
Mr Agalga 11:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I come under Order 92(1) and with your kind permission, I beg to read:
“No Member shall interrupt any other Member except:--
a) by rising to a point of order, that is, where any of these Orders is alleged to have been infringed, whereupon the Member speaking shall resume his seat and the Member interrupting shall simply direct attention to the point which he desires to bring to notice and submit it to Mr Speaker for decision.
Mr Speaker, the point I would want to make is that, there are some factual inaccuracies in the submission of the Hon Member's --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
Hon Minister, unlike the court where you stand when the Judge is speaking to you, here we sit. I just said, you would agree with me that Standing Order should be read as a whole. But when you look at Order 91 (b) it says;
“Debates may be interrupted --
(a) by a point of order being raised;
Then you go to 92 (1) that you just read. 92 (1) (a)
“No Member shall interrupt any other Member except:--
(a) by rising on a point of order, that is, where any of these Orders is alleged to have been infringed,
When you rise on a point of order, you are rising on Order 91 (a) and then you come to Order 92 (1) (a), then you show me the Order which is being infringed. It
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.


is not sufficient for you to just say Order 91 and 92 because 91 (a) and 92 (1) (a), with respect to you, in my opinion, is a procedural matter. It deals with the procedure. Tell me the substantive Order that has been infringed. If you cannot come to that, I will go back to the Hon Member to conclude.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the President also alluded to the fact that, he and his Executives, that is the Cabinet --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Hon Quashigah, did you rise on a point of order?
Mr Quashigah 11:45 a.m.
Rightly so, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Order number?
Mr Quashigah 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I rise on Order 93(2) which says:
“It shall be out of order to use offensive, abusive, insulting, blasphemous or unbecoming words or to impute improper motives to any other Member or to make personal allusions.”
Mr Speaker, my emphasis is on imputing improper motives. Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague on the other side, obviously, tried to impute improper motive to the President of the land --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
The President is not a Member of Parliament.
You are out of order.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was saying that, the President also alluded or told the nation that -- [Interruption.]
Hon Ahmed Ibrahim -- rose --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Hon Members, let us allow each other to -- this is a House of debate --
Mr Ahmed Ibrahim 11:45 a.m.
On a point of order.
Mr Speaker, in connection with the matter raised by the Hon Deputy Minister for the Interior, I think he was referring to Order 92 --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Do not think for him --
Mr A. Ibrahim 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, and as the Deputy Minister for the Interior --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
With respect to all of you, we know that points of order, if we want to stretch them, there would be a point of order on every issue.
But we are a House of records as you rightly said and we deal with the rules. So, when one gets up on a point of order, just take me to the Order then I would agree with you. It is simple.
Hon Quashigah was right until he came to ‘any other Member'. The President is not a Member so I am not allowed to discuss that.
The Hon Member talked about Order 92(1)(a) and Order 91(a). That is a procedural provision that allows you to rise on a point of order. But when you read Order 92(1) (a), it says that you must show the Order that has been infringed. That is what I am waiting for.
Hon Member, I would give you two more minutes to conclude, and I would not let anybody interrupt you again.
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was reiterating the point that, the President said the Presidency and the Executive, that is his Cabinet, are taking a pay cut, reducing their salaries by per cent to enable them contribute to the construction of CHPS Compounds across the country. We have not been told how much that 10 per cent would be and how many CHPS Compounds it can construct.
But Mr Speaker, I would offer the President a suggestion that may be more useful if he was to construct more CHPS Compounds.
The suggestion that I make to the President is that, he must reduce the size of his Government. Mr Speaker, we were given this programme on the 25th of February, 2014 and Mr Speaker, there are 30 Ministers of State, 33 Deputy Ministers, 10 Regional Ministers and 10 Deputy Regional Ministers.
Mr Speaker, if the President would come down to 50 Ministers and Deputy Ministers, we would have more than necessary funds to construct CHPS Compounds rather than cutting down 10 per cent of his salary.
How much is that when compared to the cutting down of the size of the Government? This is a party that campaigned that it would establish a lean Government, when you appoint 83 Ministers do; you call that a lean Government? Is that a lean Government? [Uproar].
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
In conclusion?
Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that what the President has done is just to give in to propaganda; he does not really mean it. We have not been told how much he takes, how much the Ministers would contribute to the CHPS Compound. [Hear! Hear!]
Mr James K. Avedzi (NDC -- Ketu North) 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to support the Motion, that this Honourable House thanks His Excellency the President for the Message on the State of the Nation, which he delivered to this Parliament on 25th of February, 2014.
Mr Speaker, I am going to limit my contribution to only one of the pillars; that is pillar number two -- “Building a strong and resilient economy”.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
Hon Members, Order.
Mr Avedzi 11:45 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the President was very emphatic; he was very truthful in telling us the state of the economy as he has seen it.
Mr Speaker, the President was able to tell us that the economy's fundamentals still remain sound. Why should we say the economy remains sound? If you look at the performance of our economy in 2013, the GDP is estimated to grow at 7.4 per cent. Mr Speaker, the final figures are not yet out, but I believe that this figure or performance would be achieved, if not, it would be missed with a slim margin.
Mr Speaker, if you compare this performance with the performance of the global economy, the global average for 2013 is 3.3 per cent, if Ghana is performing at 7.4 per cent that makes the economy a strong economy.
Mr Speaker, even if you look at the Sub-Saharan average which is 5.2 per cent, again, the performance of Ghana's economy is above average. Mr Speaker, even if you take out the contribution of the oil in the GDP performance, then the non-oil sector would go up by 5.81 per cent. Again, this is also high performance.
Mr Avedzi 11:45 a.m.


Mr Speaker, if you look at the three major sectors of the economy, there had been a kind of recovery in terms of the performance of the agricultural sector. In 2012, the agricultural sector contributed 1.2 per cent to GDP, but this has grown to 3.4 per cent in 2013. The Services sector grew from 7 per cent to 9.1 per cent and it is the industry that dropped from 10.2 per cent to 9.2 per cent.

Mr Speaker, the President also talked about budget deficit. Over the years, Ghana has been performing such that our total expenditure exceeds our revenue. That contributed to the budget deficit. We always complain; why should we have such huge budget deficit? What are the factors that are contributing to the budget deficit? These deficits, in which areas are they being used?

Are the deficits being used to pay wages or they are going into investment infrastructure that can generate enough economic activity?

What should be the worry for us as a country is what the President talked about in terms of the huge wage bill. This huge wage bill, who is responsible? We also have huge subsidies on utilities?

Who is enjoying the subsidy? It is we the people of this country. It is you and I who are sitting in this chamber, and it is those people outside who are Ghanaians, they are the ones who are enjoying the subsidy. So, if these are contributing to budget deficits, then all of us are contributing to budget deficits.

Mr Speaker, if you look at the total expenditure which exceeded the total revenue, what is the role of us as citizens of this country, in order to ensure that we have enough revenue to meet our

expenditure? It means that all of us must play a role in revenue generation --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member, if you have a point of order, you first show me the order number.
Prof. Gyan Baffour 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member is just deceiving everybody in this Chamber.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member --
Prof. Gyan Baffour 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not have the Order number here; he is deceiving the people --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member, I will give you the opportunity when you have the number. Can you continue, Hon Avedzi?
Mr Avedzi 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much --
Prof. Gyan Baffour 11:55 a.m.
It is Order 97 -- Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member, can you read Order 97 to us, please -- [interruptions] -- you said Order 97 --
Hon Avedzi, continue.
Mr Avedzi 11:55 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I asked a question 11:55 a.m.
what are our roles as citizens, to ensure that the revenue that we need to generate as a country is realised? Our own law says that any income that is received in Ghana-
- 11:55 a.m.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Members, Order 97 is when the Speaker rises. Were you inviting me to rise to address the House?
Prof. Gyan Baffour 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am referring to Order 92 --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Order 92 what?
Prof. Gyan Baffour 11:55 a.m.
Order 92 (2), Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
92 (2) there are (a) and (b) -- 2 what? [Laughter.]
Prof. Gyan-Baffour 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, 1 (a). Mr Speaker, the Hon Member is saying that --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Which says what Hon Member?
Hon Member, we have established some ground rules this morning and if I can, with respect inform you of the ground rules. But when you rise up on a point of order --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Prof. Gyan-Baffuor could you please sit down? Thank you.
When you rise on a point of order, you indicate to us what order you are coming under. When you indicate to us the order you are coming under, then we can see our way clear. But the omnibus point of order will not be accepted.
Thank you.
Hon Avedzi continue while the Hon Member looks for his order number.
Mr Avedzi 11:55 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, the point I was making is that, our own tax law, Act 592 stated that any income that is earned in this country, brought into this country and received into this country, must pay tax to government and that is the money or what would form the revenue for government to meet the expenditure it incurs.
So, the role of us as citizens is to assist government to ensure that, people who earn income, receive income, income
brought into this country, pay the appropriate tax that the law is asking for.
In that way, we would be helping the government to raise the needed revenue in order to meet Government expenditure; then we would be solving the problem of budget deficit as we are all complaining about. For instance, the 2014 Budget that we approved in this House in December 2013, stated that, the total revenue for Government is GH¢26 billion and the total expenditure is GH¢36 billion.
There is a gap of GH¢10 billion, how do we fund that gap? So, Mr Speaker, this is the issue that we are talking about, that if we play our roles as citizens, then the gap would be narrowed in order to ensure that we do not have a big budget deficit.
Mr Speaker, one point that His Excellency the President also raised is about providing solutions to some of these problems, and one of these solutions is that we should change the basic structure of our economy. We should not depend too much on imports. We should produce what we consume in this country, we should produce what we use in this country. Then we would be providing the solutions by way of changing the structure of our economy.
Some of the difficult measures that are being put in place were that His Excellency the President quoted on page 10 of the State of the Nation Address. Mr Speaker, if you permit me, I would read page 10.
“Mr Speaker, we have had to take difficult measures to arrest this trend and restore the macro economy to good health. While these measures have been unpleasant and difficult to take, ultimately they are necessary to create a good econo- mic environment in which businesses --”
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member, do you rise on a point of order?
Mr Hammond 11:55 a.m.
Yes, thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Order number?
Mr Hammond 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is a matter that I intended to raise with you and that is this, that for about 12, 14, 15, years that some of us have been in this House, it has been taken for granted that a point of order is meant to activate the Speaker's discretion to either call the person or not to call the person.
Interestingly, Mr Speaker, you have introduced this new development which everybody seems to be scratching their heads about -- [Interruptions]-- You see, they are shouting over there -- order number what? Order number what? Not a single one of them appreciate the point we are making. It is extremely important.
I was coming to their aid so that Mr Speaker, you may give some guidance. So those of them who have no clue about what we are talking about, might go back and read the Orders and then find specifically the very important thing that Mr Speaker you are making.
Mr Speaker, the reason why I actually got up on a point of order, which you might help me on the specific paragraph is that, he is talking about pages, yet there are no page numbers in the document that we have. So which one, Mr Speaker, is he referring to?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Avedzi, will you continue?
Mr Avedzi 11:55 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Hon Member has misled the entire House. The State of the Nation Address has numbers, the pages are there -- probably he has not seen it. May be he needs a magnifying glass to look at the pages.
Mr Speaker, the point I am making is that, His Excellency has provided measures that we need to take as a country in order to come out of this -- and one of these is the refinancing of our domestic debt to reduce the pressure we have in the budget.
That is one measure which we need to take. Number two, we also need to dis- aggregate our debt profile in order to kind of look at those institutions that can finance their projects on their own balance sheet, that would also help us.
Mr Speaker, another area is to look at the fundamentals of our economy, as we said, to change the basic structure of the economy. Reduce importation of the items that we would be using when we have the comparative advantage and then also add value to our exports.
If you add value to the cocoa that we produce, if we refine our gold before we export it, if we provide an integrated bauxite and aluminum industry, if we revamp the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), BOOST, Volta Aluminum Company Ltd. Tema Ship Yard and Dry dock and many others, we would be solving the problem we have as a country.
If we do not do that, we would continue to have a budget deficit which we would complain about all the time, we will continue to have not enough revenue to meet our expenditure, we would continue to have expenditure which is escalating and throwing the budget into deficit. That would not help us as a country.
I would want to thank His Excellency the President for telling us the truth as he has seen it, and I congratulate him for giving us this State of the Nation Address.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
12. 05 p.m.
Mrs Gifty E. Kusi (NPP -- Tarkwa- Nsuaem) 11:55 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
Mr Speaker, I refer you to paragraph (4) on page 3 of the Address. Mr Speaker, the pages are so faint, next time they should print them well.
Mr Speaker, the paragraph starts with;
“Finally in other work, Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection convened a team of doctors to perform the necessary surgeries on women with obstetric fistula in the Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Central Regions….”.
Mr Speaker, the Catholic Church of Ghana with the aim of responding adequately to the needs of the disadvantaged and marginalised women with obstetric fistula, Mr Speaker, they built obstetr ic fistula complex and christened it Mercy Women Centre at Mankessim in the Cape Coast Arch- diocese and they had been operating until 2010 when they were able to build the centre.
Mr Speaker, according to a report released by them, Central Region has between 3,000 and 5,000 fistula patients with incidents of about 200 a year. Even the United Nations Fund for Population Activity(UNFPA) in 2012 took about 113 women and 92 underwent repairs at the centre and at Tamale Fistula Centre alone 81 were operated upon.
From the Ministry's report which was made available to us in December, Mr Speaker, the fistula women that the Ministry was able to attend to were only 28; three from Volta Region, 11 from Central Region and 10 from Upper East, and I have the report here.
Mr Speaker, out of the 200 that happened, even in Central Region, the President said they convened a -- no doctor was convened anywhere. They took the women to Mercy Centre and they paid for the operation, and when we asked the Ministry why only 28,they said there was no money.
So out of so many women who suffer from fistula, the Ministry was able to do 28 and the President in a whole State of the Nation's Address, reports that “they convened a team” as if they did some work. 28 women!Mr Speaker, a lot of women are suffering, so this is nothing to write home about; for a whole President to report this in a State of the Nation's Address.
Mr Speaker, in paragraph five (5) on page (2) two, the President said;
“The Ministry's flagship programme, however, is the Livelihood Empo- werment Against Poverty
…(LEAP)…” .
Mr Speaker, the LEAP was started in 2007 as a national social protection strategy, based on the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II under President Kufour's Administration.
Mr Murtala M. Ibrahim 11:55 a.m.
On a point of order. I refer to Order 89, and Mr Speaker, with your permission I beg to quote:
“A Member shall not read his speech, but may read extracts from written or printed documents in
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member, you may proceed please.
Mrs Kusi 11:55 a.m.
Thank you. Mr Speaker, I am referring to my notes and I talk statistics, I give you numbers and those numbers cannot be in my head, Mr Speaker.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not see the indictment in the Order that my Hon Colleague read. Order 89 provides and Mr Speaker with your permission I beg to quote:
“A Member shall not read his speech, but may read extracts from written or printed documents in support of his argument and may refresh his memory by reference to notes”.
Mr Speaker, she is continuously refreshing her memory by constant reference to her notes. That is all that she is doing and it does not offend any rule at all. [Interruption.] So I do not see the beef of my Colleague at all.
Mrs Kusi 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the President said the Ministry's flagship programme however is “The Ministry's of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty otherwise known as LEAP”. Mr Speaker, I was trying to give the history of this whole thing that -- [Interruption.]
Dr Kunbuor 11:55 a.m.
Sorry Mr Speaker, that I could not catch your eye when the Hon Minority Leader read the rather significant point of continuous refreshing of her memory. I would want the records to get it that, it is not that the Hon Member has persistent memory failings and that is why she has to continuously refresh. [Laughter.]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
When the Majority and Minority Leaders were not in the House, we were quietly making progress.Now that they have come, we are in trouble [Laughter.]
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe nothing in what I read implies that the Hon Member on her feet has persistent memory failings. Mr Speaker, refreshing your memory does not mean that your memory has failed and I believe the Hon Majority Leader understands that very well.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Thank you very much Hon Member.
Mrs Kusi 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to tell the Majority Leader to know that I do not have a loss of memory and I was referring to the text in the State of the Nation's Address, yes.So please.
Mr Speaker, it was reported in the 2008 Budget that the LEAP was piloted in 21 districts and the capacity of the staff of the Social Welfare Department was strengthened to support the LEAP.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Order! Order
Mrs Kusi 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, in 2008, it was reported that the beneficiaries were 23,000 and then it moved to 30,000 in 2009, 45,000 in 2011 and in 2012, 71,000.
Mr Speaker, the President said that, it was his hope that it increases to 100,000 and to 150,000 in 2015. Whether they would be able to increase or not depends on funding, this is because, the Government of Ghana is supposed to pay 50 per cent and then a GIFID donation would be added and a loan from World Bank would be added. I hope that this “no money” syndrome would not affect the programme and the programme would run as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government started it. Because most of the programmes that they started never have been --
Ms Rachel F. Appoh 11:55 a.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, Order 93(2) the last line stipulates that an Hon Member should not make personal allusions. I am referring the Hon Member to page three, fourth paragraph of the State of the Nation's Address.
“Finally the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection convened a team of doctors to perform the necessary surgeries on women with Obstetric fistula.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Hon Member, you said you are coming under Order 93, the last line?
Ms Appoh 11:55 a.m.
Yes.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Order 93 has (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5)
Ms Appoh 11:55 a.m.
Mr Speaker, 93(2).
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
Which says?
Ms Appoh 11:55 a.m.
The Hon Member does not have the facts, but here is the case she is saying that -- we have not conveyed any doctors --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, I do not think any Hon Member can say that a reference to a Ministry of which the Hon Member is a Minister or Deputy Minister is personal allusion. I rule you out of order.
Mrs Apoh 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, I have ruled you out of order.
Mrs Kusi 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker — I saw a report —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Kusi, please can you resume your seat?
Mrs Kusi 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, let us have some order. Hon Member, my ruling is that, when there is reference to a Ministry of which a Member is a Minister, it cannot by any stretch of the imagination be interpreted to be a personal allusion to the person. It is not personal to you, it is to the Ministry. Hon Kusi, continue.
Mrs Kusi 12:15 p.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker, as I was saying, 50 per cent of the funding for LEAP comes from government sources, and I pray that the Government would find money and that the programme would go on because it was a very important programme that the Kufuor administration started. Also, I would want to say that, the President said this is the most important programme in the Ministry.
Ms Kusi 12:15 p.m.
I am referring to this statement in the light of one of the poor and vulnerable groups in this country, the Kayayei.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, in conclusion?
Mrs Kusi 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am concluding, this is my last point --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, no, it should be your last sentence.
Ms Kusi 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my last sentence. The Minister was here last two weeks or a week ago, to give us a Statement on the state of Kayayei. For six years, when one of her predecessors had registered over two thousand Kayayei, she is now going to register them. And think of what they are going to do to Kayayei and they are the vulnerable people in this country. Why have they not acted since the last six years? I leave the people of Ghana to judge. Thank you Mr Speaker. [Hear! Hear!]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Members, on 5th June, 2013, this question
of reading from one's notes copiously and so on arose and in column 153, the Speaker in his ruling referred to the ruling of a former Speaker and said that one could refer to ones notes except that, and I quote the Speaker:
“A former Speaker ruled that when you are referring to your notes, you should be seeing the Speaker's face more often than the notes that you are referring to. You should be looking at the Speaker more than the notes you are referring to.”
So that is the text that the Speaker has put down and I agree to that text. So yes, you can refer to your notes but you should see the Speaker's face more than you look at your notes. Hon Dr Kwabena Donkor?
Dr Kwabena Donkor (NDC -- Pru East) 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the privilege of contributing to the Motion on the floor.
In thanking his Excellency the President, I would want to highlight on two areas of the State of the Nation Address. Mr Speaker, the President on page 10 of his Address and with you permission I beg to quote:
“…the basic structure of our economy has not changed from colonial times. The Gold Coast was designed by Colonial masters to be exporters of raw materials and importers of finished goods. This is what best served their needs and purposes”
Mr Speaker, the needs of the colonial masters therefore, the colonial economy are different from the needs of the modern polity we call Ghana. Mr Speaker, the needs must not just be different --
Mr Alexander K. Afenyo-Markin 12:15 p.m.
— rose —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, you must precede what you are saying by quoting the Standing Order you are coming under.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am grateful. Rightly so. I come under Standing Order 91 (a).
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, can you read it?
MrAfenyo-Markin 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, ”Standing Order 91 (a): debates may be interrupted --
(a)by a point of order being raised.”
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
I do not know whether you just walked in. but I believe that I ruled previously.
MrAfenyo-Markin 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, I am on a point of Order --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
No, no, I ruled previously today that, Standing Order 91 (a) cannot be read alone. It should be read together with Standing Order 92 (1) (a) and that states that:
“No Member shall interrupt any other member except:
(a) by rising to a point of order, that is, where any of these Orders is alleged to have been infringed, whereupon the Member speaking shall resume his seat and the Member interrupting shall simply direct attention to the point which he desires to bring to notice and submit it to Mr Speaker for decision.”
So, when one rises on Standing Order 91 (a) then one quickly goes to seek refuge under Standing Order 92(1)(a) and indicate to me which order has been infringed. So the Standing Order 91 (a) is procedural, I have recognised you. You have risen on a point of order and I have recognised you, tell me which Standing Order has been infringed?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is an issue of relevance --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Member, which Standing Order has been infringed?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am referring —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Then continue with the reference, when you get your reference I would recognise you. Hon Member, can you continue?
Dr Donkor 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I quoted from page 10 of the State of the Nation Address. And page 10 if you may let me reiterate states:
“the basic structure of our economy has not changed from colonial times…”
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Atta Akyea, you have caught my eye. I hope you are rising on a point of order.
Mr Samuel Atta Akyea 12:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is not a point of order but [Interruption.] Oh! Let me, I would want your directions in a matter. It seems to me that everybody on the other side is talking about thanking the President for delivering the State of the Nation Address. I would want to seek your direction on this matter. If the President should act in accordance with Article 67, should we thank him? Is it not a constitutional duty he is presiding over?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
Hon Atta Akyea, yes, we can thank people for doing what they are supposed to do. There is nothing out of order about that.
Thank you. When you get your opportunity to contribute, you can take that as a major point if you so desire. Hon Atta-Akyea, I thank you very much.
Dr Donkor 12:15 p.m.
It is interesting to note that, in transforming the economy, and which is the basis of one of -- one of the themes of the Address, the President stated that we cannot continue operating on an economy whose structure was designed to serve a purpose other than today's purpose.
It would be interesting to note that, the very first export of cocoa from Ghana occurred in 1891 and it was a mere 80 pounds (lbs) in weight. In the same 1891, a million cubic feet of timber was exported worth £22,000 Sterling. Again, in 1901, 45,000 ounces of gold was produced by our first modern mine, the Tarkwa Mines.
Before they ask the source, the source is Kwabena Donkor; Structural Adjustment and Mass Poverty in Ghana,
1997.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Is the Kwabena Donkor you?
Dr Donkor 12:25 p.m.
Rightly so, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Would you want to give a copy to the Speaker?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:25 p.m.
On a point of Order. Mr Speaker, under your guidance, I want to say I have come properly, under Orders 91 and 92 and I am fortified by 93(4). Mr Speaker, 93 (4), enjoins a Member making a speech to make reference to the subject matter under discussion. Mr Speaker, I am saying that
the Hon Member is completely misleading this House. We are talking about the State of the Nation --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
If he is misleading, you have not --
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he is quoting from the Guggisburg economy and it is not relevant to the subject matter.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Hon Member, you said what he has said is not relevant to the subject matter. You have not said anything about misleading, so tell us, why do you say so?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member in making a contribution makes reference to structural challenges in our economy and he is attributing same to the colonial era.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
I rule you out of order; I find it relevant. I remember that in the State of the Nation Address, the President talked about change. I believe that it is on that line that he is proceeding.
Dr Donkor 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on page 10 (c), the theme that is transforming our economy. We cannot transform our economy without transforming the structure of the economy and His Excellency the President directly referred to this and that was why I quoted the President's reference first. [Interruption.]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Let us have some order, please.
Dr Donkor 12:25 p.m.
The President's recognition that the structure of our economy needs to change has been ably reiterated by the leader of the largest opposition party in this country, Nana Akufo-Addo a fortnight ago, when he addressed students of the School of African and Oriental Studies in London, said that, the structure of our economy no longer serves
our needs. Mr Speaker, when we have two leading figures of our current polity agreeing that our colonial structure no longer serves today's purpose, and that, there is a need for an economic transformation, I would want to call on the House as a collective, to support His Excellency the President and all those who think along this line.
Mr Speaker, a careful analysis of our 2014 Budget, reporting on 2013 exports, indicates that, 84.5 per cent of our total exports was made up of minerals, unprocessed cocoa and crude oil. So essentially the nature of our economy has not changed since the colonial times and it is important that, our President today recognises that we must change the nature of our economy if we are to industrialise and become a manufacturing country.
Mr Speaker, with thousands of --
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to elucidate some matter raised by the Hon Member. Since he is quoting copiously from what the President stated in this House, that the basic structure --That is, page 10; he has quoted it several times over. That the basic structure of our economy has not changed from colonial times; he is quoting from what the President said.
Mr Speaker, the President goes on to say that, the first President sought to break this vicious cycle. In other words, that the structure, and he is saying the nature of the economy is not good. It has never been good. Mr Speaker, he is now alluding to what the President said on page 11. The President said in paragraph (2) and with your permission, I beg to quote:
“ Mr Speaker, the result is that we are still largely dependent on the export of raw material, gold, cocoa,
timber, oil and mineral exports and on the import of finished goods. That is still the basic structure of our economy.”
Still not good. Mr Speaker, in the context, how does he reconcile the bold statement by the President that the fundamentals of the economy remain very resilient and very good when he himself is lamenting that the structure and nature of the economy is not good?
Dr Donkor 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in this august House, the first gentleman of the land has recognised this challenge, therefore, in addressing this challenge, I would want us as a nation and as a people, to line up behind the President to look at processing our raw materials instead of exporting them raw; to look at utilising the huge mineral deposits. In fact, we have 1.4 billion tonnes of iron ore in Shani alone in the Northern Region --
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am on a point of elucidation and the Hon Member is proceeding. I am asking for reconciliation of what he said, what the President said at the conclusion and what the President alluded to at page 10. He is lamenting that the structure is not good. Can he explain? Mr Speaker, I believe he can do better than listening to an Hon Colleague who has gone to sit by him.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader, with respect, when I read Order 92 (1) (b), it says:
“No Member shall interrupt any other Member except to elucidate some matter raised …”
The elucidation is by you, not by him. It is you who interrupted, he has given you the space, then you would elucidate. This is because it says that -- and I stand to be corrected --
“No Member shall interrupt any other Member except to elucidate some matter raised by the Member.”
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.


My view is that, it is the Hon Member who is rising to interrupt who elucidates, not the Hon Member who is speaking, this is because the Hon Member who is speaking, obviously, perhaps has limited knowledge in that area, and that is why you rise to say that, “Oh, I have some extra information, so I am elucidating some point.” That is what I think. Of course, knowledge is not in my bosom, it is in the bosom of the Lord. So what is you view?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree entirely with you. But when I juxtapose the two statements; one leg of which the Hon Member was amplifying, I posed a rhetorical question to him; how does he reconcile the two. Mr Speaker, so it was to him?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Thank you very much and I am glad that you qualify it with the adjective,”rhetorical” because I believe that, rhetorical questions are not answered. So if you can continue.
Dr Donkor 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the trans- formation agenda that the President so ably projected in this House can only be actualized by the availability of sufficient electrical power in our economy. We need to be made available quality, reliable, affordable power with adequate redundancy.
Mr Speaker, this is made more urgent on the determination of the President to see to the realisation of the vision of our founding fathers to have an integrated aluminium industry.
Mr Speaker, I stand here confident in the assertion of the President, that, we would be adding sufficient generating capacity to existing stock of our generating assets.
Mr Speaker, I stand here again recognising that at Oppong-Manse in the Western Region --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
And you should be getting ready to sit.
Dr Donkor 12:35 p.m.
I recognise that at Oppong-Manse in the Western Region, we have 400 million tonnes of iron ore. If we were to translate all that into raw material for smelter, the thousands of educated youth coming out of our tertiary institutions would be gainfully employed.
Mr Speaker, on this note, I want to thank His Excellency the President for hitting the nail right on the head and proffering hope to this country.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Mr Kobina T. Hammond (NPP -- Adansi Asokwa) 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am also happy for the opportunity to contribute to the debate.
Mr Speaker, on Monday, 3rd March 2014, at the symposium organised by the African Society and the School of African Oriental Studies of the University of London in London, some very clear, stark and explosive economic homily were lopped towards the Hon Minister for Finance and the Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
Mr Speaker, it was a symposium in which Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo spoke and the Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration spoke and the Hon Minister for Finance was called upon to respond to some of the issues that were raised.
Mr Speaker, it was at this symposium that this lady Manji Chetto had the privilege to kind of moderately contribute to the debate.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member should have been there, the guy who just stood up, should have been there to listen to what was said about the economic development --
Mr Quashigah 12:35 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I rise on Order 93 (4) which says:
“the speech of a Member must have reference to the subject matter under discussion.”
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
I have ruled you out of order. I would not even listen to you, Hon Quashigah.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr Hammond 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it was there that this lady told the Hon Minister for Finance -- The two Hon Ministers and the whole world that, the President of Ghana appears to be misleading the whole world about the economy of Ghana. And the basis was this --
Mr Agbodza 12:35 p.m.
On a point of order. He said -- [Interruption]. I was there. [Interruption]. Listen. Listen. I was at the same function. The lady never said anything about the President misleading us. In fact, the lady never said anything about the President misleading us. In fact, the lady -- [Uproar.] Are you the Speaker?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Member, I saw you walk in and perhaps you were not here when we set some ground rules for today's debate. We are ending tomorrow. In order to let the debate flow, we decided in consultation with Hon Members generally, to apply the Standing Orders very strictly. I have limited the Speaker's discretion.
So, when you rise, you mention the Order number you are coming under and on that basis -- Please, we have already ruled that you are coming under Order 91(a) because that is a procedural order. And do not mention Order 92 (1) (a) as well. It says that, you may rise on a point of order and point out the order which has been infringed. We are applying it
strictly and the sword is cutting both ways, without fear or favour or ill-will towards any person.
Hon Hammond, continue.
Mr Hammond 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the point was made quite clearly that Ghana may have achieved a certain level of advertisement as a country which is politically stable, that has not under any circumstances been translated into a country that has an economy worthy to write home about.
Indeed, the point was made that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completely written Ghana off. That the IMF has the tendency of boosting up the economic growth of countries which even do not show prospects for development.
Mr Avedzi 12:35 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, on Order 91 (a) and I am also coming under Order 92 (a).
Mr Speaker, he said --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Member, you must have a third Order because Order 92 (a) says that you must show us the order that has been infringed. So, please, give me a third one. It is a three- legged --
Mr Avedzi 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, Order 93 (4) has been infringed.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Which says what? What does Order 93 (4) say?
Mr Avedzi 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not have a copy of the Order.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
So find a copy.
Hon Hammond, continue.
Mr Avedzi 12:35 p.m.
On a point of order.
Mr Speaker, Order 93(4) says that the speech of a Member must have reference to the subject matter under discussion. Mr Speaker, the subject matter under discussion is the State of the Nation Address which was delivered to this House and the Hon Member is making reference to a body which was not even mentioned in that Address; he said IMF has written off Ghana completely which is not a true statement.
The Hon Member should rather correct himself and withdraw that and come to the subject matter which is the State of the Nation Address but not issues that border on another body.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Avedzi, I have respect for you personally and also respect for your high office as Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee. Since they were talking about a matter relating to finance, I decided to hear you out. But with respect, his last but one sentence -- I was also moving along your line -- but in his last but one sentence, he came to say -- and I nearly asked him what document -- he raised the document and said that; therefore what has been said in terms of the growth or something is not correct.
He linked it to this statement. So, in my respectful view, he is not out of order.
Can you continue?
Mr Avedzi 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Avedzi, I have not recognised you.
Since I have ruled, the only thing you can do about it is through a Motion. But you can raise another point of order. I have no problem. So, let him speak for one minute and I would recognise you.
Mr Hammond 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I was struggling with the page numbering --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, it is a question of procedure. That is all.
Dr Kunbuor 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I guess that it is indeed an issue that we need to address. This is because, over the year, we have handled motions of this nature. They have exceeded the tenure of the engagements in relation to this. We are not alluding to the fact that the Motion is requesting Hon Members to thank His Excellency the President for the Message on the State of the Nation.
The practice has always been that one, first of all -- in the absence of a counter Motion -- proceeds along those lines. But in that, one is entitled to make other comments that might not be thankful to the President. The premise of it is that, the Motion requires that the House or Hon Members thank His Excellency the President. If we stayed within those confines then it becomes easier for us to see how we are dealing with the substantive Motion and how we are making some other comments that go to enrich the substance of the Motion.
Mr Hammond 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not sure I am supposed to say anything because I do not understand my Friend.
But Mr Speaker, the point I was making is this; Page 9 of the President's Address, at the very first paragraph, makes the point that I have been belabouring all along.
Mr Speaker, with your permission I beg to quote 12:45 p.m.
“Mr Speaker, despite the short-term challenges we face, our economic fundamentals remain sound and our mid-term prospects are good. Growth continues to be robust at an estimated 7.4 per cent last year and we will still retain our vision to accelerate and maintain Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of above 8 going forward.”
That is the point that was discussed in the presence of the Hon Minister for Finance and this was drawn to his attention.
Mr Speaker, I move on to another point that the President made in the Address. Mr Speaker, what he said was “That everything His Excellency the President would do would have at the back of it, the interest of the people of the country.”
Mr Speaker, you would see that the Presidency does not seem to know how many people there are in this country. If you take a whole document like this, which posits the interest of the people in this country and the same people do not even know the people in the country, we then sit up and ask the question, “What on earth is going on?” The very first paragraph of the document, this is page 1, fifth paragraph, the one on the second column.
You would read the President said that “We are a nation of 24 million people.”
Mr Speaker, you then go on -- I heard somebody ask what? Yes, that is what we are dealing with. It is scandalous.
Mr Speaker, you then go to page 16, first column, second paragraph and with your permission I beg to quote:
“Mr Speaker, in 2000 Ghana's population was roughly 18.9 million; by 2010 it had increased by more than 30 per cent to 24.6 million.”
Are we 24 million or 24.6 million in this country? They should get the statistics right. This is because all that they have postulated to be done in this document is based on the understanding that, they know how many people there are in this country. In any event, we move on from there.
In the same first page, this is what the President said and with your permission I beg to quote:
“Mr Speaker, last year in my first State of the Nation Address, I defined the four basic pillars around which my approach to governance and socio-economic transformation would involve.They are: Putting People First; Building a Strong and Resilient Economy; Expanding Infrastructure for Growth; and, Maintaining Transparent and Accountable Governance.”
Mr Speaker, the question is, one year down the line, which one of these has been achieved?
Mr Speaker, I would go on, but for lack of time, I would like to deal with matters of energy development.
Everybody, by various definitions has described energy as the fulcrum, as the pivot, as the pillar, as the life blood -- name it -- that runs the economy of any country. So, all these supposition and the preposition to transform the economy to a proper middle income is posited on the- act that there is adequate generation of
Mr Speaker, with your permission I beg to quote 12:45 p.m.


Mr Speaker, the remaining 142 megawatts generation is what generated some heat in this room, that is, the Takoradi Free Flow Plant. I have maintained it variously that, as soon as that plant was commissioned, it broke down and it has not functioned since April 2013. The President has indicated that, by the year 2016, there is going to be a generation capacity of 5,000 megawatts in the country.

Mr Speaker, as a country, if the whole of last year, all that was produced was 534 megawatts, how on earth within the next two years going to produce the extra 3,000 megawatts that the President talked about, and with which fuel in any event? These are the matters that the Government must be telling the people the truth about. I had the occasion --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon K. T. Hammond, I think you should be winding up.
Mr Hammond 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I had the occasion to listen to my younger Brother and Hon Member for North Tongu give us an insight to the warped thinking of the Government when it comes to this economic developers -- juxtapositions of opposites, when he said that, the Government thinking when it comes to transforming the economy, particularly, with respect to vital institutions like Tema Oil Refinery and Electricity Company of
Ghana (ECG) are different and the President said it in this document that they would want to revive Tema Oil Refinery.
Do you know what the Hon Minister said in his programme to the Hon Member for North Tongu? He said that this institution would wallow in its own stool because it is considered inefficient. That is the reason why the Government would not give it the oil that we produce in this country to refine, when we are talking about that country becoming a tooling institution --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Member, I do not think there is any North Tongu Constituency.
Mr Kobena M. Woyome 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe the Hon Member got it wrong by referring to a situation from the Hon Member for North Tongu because, clearly the Member of Parliament for North Tongu has not --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Is there a North Tongu Constituency?
Mr Woyome 12:45 p.m.
Yes, we have North Tongu, South Tongu and Central Tongu.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Who is the Member for North Tongu?
Mr Woyome 12:45 p.m.
Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Who is capable of speaking for himself -- more than capable.
Hon Members, Order 100 is still very much part of the rules and I would not want to refer the Hon Member to Order 100. Hon Okudzeto does not want to comment.
Mr Hammond 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he would have known that he is not my Brother, so I prefaced it by saying that my brother
from North Tongu. He knows who I was talking about. I see him sitting down there. He was the person who spoke.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Member, I think you are concluding now.
Mr Hammond 12:45 p.m.
I am concluding.
The point is that, government has this different position on what ECG can do so that ECG, according to my younger Brother from North Tongu, can distribute prepaid metres that are unworkable, that are expensive and all that, but the Government says for reasons of boosting the economy, they could do that but Tema Oil Refinery is not going to receive a drop of oil to refine to make it a proper and tooling institution. That is the juxtaposition-- that is the thinking of the Government when it comes to these matters.
The Government has deceived these people, the people of Ghana. The whole of this document, Mr Speaker, I beg to say, is full of contradictions. The point is made by the President on this. We move on to the next page and it is completely undermined. I am not so happy to thank the President for presenting this document.
As my Hon Colleague, the Leader has said, at least, it is mandatory in my opinion to congratulate the President for presenting this document which the IMF is entirely unhappy about, but I do so -- to thank the President.
Minister of State (Mr Fifi F. Kwetey (MP) 12:55 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion ably moved by the Hon Minister for Trade and Industry, urging us to thank His Excellency, the President for the wonderful Message on the State of the Nation delivered on 25th of February, 2014.
Mr Speaker, let me premise this by saying that, the President was extremely candid in his presentation, especially, when it came to the presentation on the state of the economy,. The President acknowledged the difficulties and also he was very factual when he said notwithstanding these difficulties, the fundamentals of the economy are sound.
Mr Speaker, despite the massive difficulties we have had with the external conditions facing our country, which has led to the loss of about US$1.3 billion, despite the massive skyrocketing in the compensation envelope which as at 2008 stood at GH¢2.5 billion and as at the close of 2013 had gone up to GH¢10.5 billion, the economy of Ghana continues to show that growth remains strong.
It was projected at 7.4 per cent for the year 2013. It is important, Mr Speaker, to appreciate that there is the need for some consistency in order to appreciate what the President talked about. If in one breath, we believe when institutions quote things that appear negative against the economy and in another breath, we disbelieve those institutions when they say things that appear positive to the economy, it is difficult for us to understand the statement made by the President.
Ms Sarah A. Safo 12:55 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I rise under Order 89 which states, and with your permission, I beg to read:
“A Member shall not read his speech, but may read extracts from written or printed documents in support of his argument and may refresh his memory by reference to notes.”
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member, when he started, I was watching him closely and he was reading copiously. Mr Speaker, he is in direct breach of Order 89. We would allow him to make reference to his notes, but not to read to this House when he is contributing to the Motion on the floor.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Fifi Kwetey, you would look at the Speaker when he is talking to you. Once I recognise somebody, you sit down, let the person get up, he would tell us what Order he is coming under. If he is not coming under a proper Order, I would rule him out. I said it before that the sword will cut both ways without fear or favour or even towards any person.
Hon Akoto Osei, do you have a point of order? Tell us the Order number.
Dr A. A. Osei 12:55 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I come under Order 91(b), and furthermore, Order 30(e) and (f). Mr Speaker, the Hon Member just said that --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Can you read it, please? Can you read the Order 30 (e) and (f)?
Dr A. A. Osei 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, Order 91 says:
“Debates may be interrupted --
(b) by a matter of privilege suddenly arising;…”
Mr Speaker, Order 30(e) 12:55 p.m.
“Any act or conduct calculated or intended to deceive Parliament or any of its Committees;
(f) deliberate misleading of Parliament …”

Mr Speaker, following the presentation of the State of the Nation-- the President's own institution, the Ghana Statistical Service, has come out to state categorically that, GDP growth is no longer projected at 7.4 per cent -- that is the President's own institution -- and that it is because the third quarter growth rate is 0.3 per cent; it is below 6 per cent.

So, the Hon Member's statement is deliberately misleading Hon Members so he should withdraw.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Fifi Kwetey, continue.
Mr Kwetey 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, what I said was very simple.
The President explained that the projected growth for 2013 remains 7.4 per cent. The Hon Ranking Member does know that often times, the projected happen to be the understated. If you take the year 2013, what was projected happened to be understated compared with the actual; 2011 it was understated compared with the actual; 2012, it was understated compared to the actual.
He does know that recent history shows that what is even projected invariably turns to be understated. I would not be surprised really if at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014 the growth figure shows clearly that it is even ahead of the 7.4 per cent.
Dr A. A. Osei 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my points were two. The use of the words: “cocaine in GDP growth” [Interruption.] That is completely unacceptable.
Mr Speaker, the Ghana Statistical Service does not use that compound in the estimation of growth, so a Minister of State should be clever in using that word.
My second point is that, the Govern- ment's Statistical Service has revised that growth rate, he as the Minister of State, should know better, including the fact that the IMF has told the Hon Minister and he the Hon Minister of State knows that, it would be considerably below 6 per cent.
Mr Kwetey 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I did explain earlier that, invariably, what is even projected always turns out to be underrated compared with the actual and I am talking about historical evidence right from the year 2010 all the way to 2012. That had been the case.
Even the 7.4 per cent would surely be proven to become understated when the fourth quarter result becomes available.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Fifi Kwetey, the Hon A. A. Osei made reference to Order 91(a) and Order 92 (1) (a). Now, the point that I have been making since we started Sitting was, when you look at 92(1)(a), it tells you that , you must state which Order has been infringed. We thought about Order 30 and indeed, at a point in time, I was wondering whether I should indicate to Hon Members that their recourse should be to Order 30. I did not need to do that; Hon A. A. Osei has found it himself.
He refers to Order 30(e) and (f) and he says that what you have infringed is that you are misleading Parliament by saying that there was a time in this country that the growth was based on illicit drugs. You made that statement and I heard it. If you are in a position to support that statement, fine; if not, withdraw it and let us proceed. That is all.
Mr Kwetey 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if I could clarify what I said.
I said the growth of 7.4 per cent mentioned by the President is not just pure growth but also sustainable. I mentioned that, it is pure growth because it is happening at a time when we no more have incidence of cocaine in our economy; where cocaine influx in our economy is no more. We no more have a situation where huge truck loads of cocaine vanish from our territory.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Joseph Osei-Owusu, do you have a point of order and what is it based on? Your point of order is based on what Order?
Mr Osei-Owusu 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is about your directive. You asked the Hon Fiifi Kwetey to either substantiate the allegation or withdraw. He went on --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Osei-Owusu -- do not put the cart before the horse -- the man has not finished speaking. When he finishes speaking I will bring him back to that point. So do not think about it at all. He should either withdraw or substantiate. In my view, people have made statements that I let pass by and so on, but it is a very serious statement that he has made. So either he substantiates it or withdraws or he comes back and substantiates it tomorrow. If he does not withdraw, I will not allow him to speak.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, the point I made, if it is injurious to this House or goes against this House, I am ready to rephrase it.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
You will withdraw before you re-phrase.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
No problem, Mr Speaker. I withdraw what I said early and re-phrase.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Fiifi Kwetey, please, I would not accept that. Hon Fifi Kwetey, once you have withdrawn it, continue with your statement. If you re-phrase it in the
process, it is up to you. If you re-phrase it in the process I will ask you to withdraw that as well. So you withdraw it categorically and then continue.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, I withdraw it and in continuing, I would want to say that, we wish to congratulate this country for having growth that is not just sustainable but also growth that is happening without any of those external influences that we used to have in the past. [Hear! Hear!].
And in continuing, Mr Speaker, let me also explain that in relation to inflation, one of those fundamentals --
Again, the President acknowledged that inflation clearly has inched up and has gone to a little above 13 per cent but we need to appreciate that in spite of the difficulties that we have had. In spite of the fact that, for example, the inflation basket has been revised and that has brought about an increase in inflation-- in spite of the fact that we had to remove subsidies and those --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Member, before you start, you would have to ground your point on a specific Order in the rules. So, refer me to that first.
Mr Hammond 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I was here when we went through amply -- [Interruptions] -- Order 32 (f) -- [Interruptions] -- So what is the problem?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Order 32 is not genuine -- [Interruptions.]
Mr Hammond 1:05 p.m.
It is the (f). Mr Speaker, it is the misleading of the House. In the whole of the President's Address he said that our economy is stagnated because
of external influences. He just said as a former Minister for Finance that, well, they have been broke, we have vouched those further influences. What is he talking about? He is misleading the House.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Fifi Kwetey, continue please.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, the point I sought to make relating to inflation is that, in spite of the fact that there has been revision in the inflation basket that clearly has led to higher inflation, there has been removal of subsidies that have fed into inflation. Recent revelations would show that we feel sometimes happy at least, we do not have inflation in the region of 18 per cent that we saw at the end of 2008; neither did we see inflation inching up to 21 per cent that we saw at the end of the first half of 2009-- This is because of the difficulties that we saw at the end of 2008.
Relating to another fundamental of the economy which has to do with the currency strength, it is true that because of the adverse conditions that we have in external condition and the recent tapering of the US dollar, the cedi has had some challenges. In the first month of this year, we saw the cedi depreciate at 7 per cent but because of competent policies brought about by Central Bank, February saw a reduction in that depreciation to 5 per cent and the last two weeks of this year shows the depreciation is standing at about 0.67 per cent.
This shows that, the policies that the Central Bank brought into effect are beginning to work, the same way they did work at the end of the first half of 2012.
Now relating to the fiscal deficit, which is another key fundamental of the economy, we need to appreciate that, it is true that over the last two years, the fiscal deficit has been high and of course it would be high if we are dealing with a compensation package of about 10.5 billion as opposed to the 2.5 billion that we had in the year 2008.
We clearly are going to have huge deficits. In spite of that we must appreciate that, at least, we do not have a situation where a government at the beginning of the year, sought to have a deficit of 4 per cent and ended the year at 14.5 per cent deficit. We do not have that situation today. That was a calamitous situation. What we have today, in light of what we have in the compensation package must be said to be pretty high but --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Dr Akoto Osei, do you have a point of order?
Dr A. A. Osei 1:05 p.m.
Yes. Mr Speaker, I come under the same order.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
You come under which order?
Dr A. A. Osei 1:05 p.m.
I come under Order 30 (f).
Mr Speaker, he is part of the people who prepared the budget. 2014 was when the compensation package was 10.5 per cent. In 2013 it was not 10.5 per cent. So for him to say that 2013 the deficit was wide because the compensation package was 10.5 per cent, he is grossly misleading this Parliament.
The year 2013 is different from 2014, he cannot use the same number for the two years. He is a Minister of State in charge of Finance and Allied Institutions; he should not be misleading this House. He should seek to correct himself.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Continue, Hon Member.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Ranking Member needs to get his facts right. If he refers appropriately to the Budget Statement, he would know that, at the close of 2013 the total package, including arrears came up to 20.5 billion Ghana cedis and that had to come from the coffers of Ghana. The point I am making is that these deficits that we have today, much as they may be double digits, clearly they can be explained.
Dr A. A. Osei 1:05 p.m.
When we make statements in this House, we have to be very careful. Mr Speaker, page 209 of this Budget Statement -- it is not my Budget statement. Mr Speaker, in 2013 compen- sation of employees was 9.72 per cent; 2014, compensation of employees -- that is his budget that he helped to write 10.5 per cent. So what is he talking about? What does he mean by I should get my facts right? He rather should get his facts right.
He should know better. Mr Speaker, he should withdraw. It is his own budget -- We have people here. If he writes a budget and he does not know the figures it is not very good. I am not quoting my numbers. It is his numbers.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, obviously, the Ranking Member is not clearly listening to me. This is because I did not just talk about compensation -- I said compen- sation together with arrears at the end of 2013. [Interruptions] -- the Official Report would capture in detail what I said. I said compensation together with arrears amounted to GH¢10.5 billion in the 2013 fiscal year.
Mr Speaker, let me just move on quickly and talk about -- [Interruption] -- first in our history, that has to do with the establishment of the Youth Enterprise Support, that comes from the President
and the Government, and that clearly is concerned with the difficulties we have with youth unemployment.

Mr Speaker, let me conclude by saying that, on the issue of corruption --
Dr A. A. Osei 1:05 p.m.
-- rose --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Dr Osei, do you have a point of order.
Dr A. A. Osei 1:05 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, we need to get our facts clear. He said I was not listening. Even if for the purpose of argument, I would want to grant him that.
Mr Speaker, from his own book, compensation and arrears together are over GH¢11.2 and not GH¢10.5. [Interruption] So you have to get your numbers right.
Mr Kwetey 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank the Hon Member for actually letting us know, but it is actually a worse situation than that. So clearly, I was even making the case better. So you are saying that it is 11, that makes the situation even far worse, which explains the double digit fiscal deficits that we have.
Mr Speaker, I would want to just finish by talking briefly about corruption, and to say that, we totally need to congratulate the President for again for being very candid on the issue of corruption.
Explaining that we do not need to segment corruption and make it look as if it is simply an issue of one government, as opposed to the other, because it is pervasive, it is institutional, it is very deep within the psyche of our people.
Having said that, we need to appreciate the fact that, the President is clearly not simply relaxing about corruption. He is taking measures to ensure that we penalise people who are involved in it and we also deter people who want to engage in it and as a result of that Mr Speaker, we need to appreciate that today, we do not have a lot of situations that we used to have in the past.
For instance, we do not have a situation for example, where a member of government would have the courage to buy his own residential property that belongs to the State, we do not have that any more. We do not have situations where cocaine vanishes from our waters. We do not have that any more.
We do not have a situation where a Member of Parliament is actually languishing in jail today because of cocaine. That tells you the extent in which -- sanity is being brought into our country and we are reducing the decadence, we are reducing the degeneration -- [Interruption].
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
I recognised him before you sat down so stand in readiness to continue your contribution.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am grateful. Mr Speaker, I come under Order 30(f) --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
You have to thank Hon Akoto Osei, all of you were at sea,you have to thank him.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member in his submission said that the growth was not influenced by some external factors --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
We have dealt with that issue, the next one.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he ended -- again, he is talking about the state of the economy and making certain allusions to the effect that, we are not in an era where cocaine and others are vanishing.
Mr Speaker, we know as a fact that, currently, there is a Police Officer who is being prosecuted, because some cocaine at the Police vault in their Administration vanished. We should not limit issues of cocaine to partisan politics or to a particular government.
Mr Speaker, cocaine has turned into soda in their Administration, they have arrested several people, the operation West Bridge was brought by the Kufour Administration. He cannot say here that cocaine was all over the place during the previous government's era.
In their era, cocaine was being found all over the place, so what is his locus in this matter? He is misleading this House Mr Speaker; the biggest catch was in Germany, under their Administration. So the Hon Member cannot mislead this House. Mr Speaker, I am grateful.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Hon Member, if you are given a window of opportunity and then you go to town in this manner, next time, that window would not be opened to you.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I took your implied leave,but I withdraw --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
No, I have not asked you to withdraw anything, when I start mentioning your name, it means that your time is up. The little contributions that you have made is enough,so that we can proceed, that is all.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Hon Mustapha Ussif.
Mr Mustapha Ussif (NPP -- Yagaba/ Kubori) 1:15 p.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Motion ably moved by my Hon Colleague Haruna Iddrisu, Member of Parliament for Tamale South.
Mr Speaker, in doing so.if you would permit me, I would like to focus my debate on the issue of Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), trans- parency, accountable governance and the issue of investment in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, in 2008 when the then flag- bearer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) launched the NPP Manifesto, the people of Northern Ghana were very happy. This is because we had a policy in that Manifesto, the Northern Development Fund (NDF) and that NDF was to bridge the gap between the South and the North.
Mr Speaker, in the same year, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, His Excellency the late Prof. Evans Atta Mills launched the NDC Manifesto, the people of northern Ghana were all happy, because, in that Manifesto, we had the SADA.

Mr Speaker, with the issue of corruption, 2009 up to date have been a long journey. The journey started with Wayome, it moved from there to Waterville to Isofoton to Subah, and to GYEEDA then to Vicky Hammah.Mr Speaker, yet we have a President, the President came to this august House,

without telling this House the concrete measures that he has put in place to curb this menace.

We have in this country, the former United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, we have in this country the Ex-President, Jerry John Rawlings.

Mr Speaker,imagine Mr Kofi Annan in New York, imagine Mr Kofi Annan in London promoting business investment opportunities in Ghana.

Mr Speaker, you need no one to tell you the sort of investments that would be pouring into this country. Mr Speaker, let us take advantage of these great men while they are still living. We should not bemoaning these great men when they are dead and gone. Just some few weeks ago, we had a report that, one of our great men, the former President J. A. Kufour was invited by the Senegalese Government to go and raise funds for investment purposes.

Mr Speaker, imagine Ex-President Rawlings in London advertising and promoting investment opportunities in the agricultural sector or the infrastructural sector. You need no one to tell you; no, you do not need God to come and tell you that there are a lot of investors who would be pouring into this country.

Mr Speaker, I propose to the President to make these great men of Ghana Investment Ambassadors --[Hear! Hear!] to be able to use their talents to bring the investment that we all are yearning for.

Mr Speaker, let me refer you to the President's State of the Nation's Address, on page 18 and with your permission, Mr Speaker, I beg to quote:

“Ghana's electricity connectivity at 75% is currently the highest in the subregion of Africa after South Africa....”

Mr Speaker, if indeed this high percentage of, electricity connectivity is true, then I am sad to announce to you that, there is one Constituency in this country, Yagaba/Kubori Constituency- no single community in this District, not even the District Capital is connected to the national grid.

Mr Speaker, where is the equitable distribution of State resources in this country? The leaders have failed us. The people of Yagaba/Kubori are not benefiting from this one.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Thank you Hon Member for keeping within the 10 minutes. I urge all of us to take a cue. Ten minutes, make your point, resume your seat. Hon Benard Ahiafor.
Mr Bernard Ahiafor (NDC-- Akatsi South) 1:15 p.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the floor of the House.
Mr Speaker, the President announced that he was promoting education, focusing on quality, access and affordability. Mr Speaker, in this direction, the Government is removing schools under trees [Hear! Hear!] thereby creating the enabling environment for teaching and learning. [Hear! Hear!]

Mr Speaker, the President's vision in ensuring food security in the country has been largely achieved. We have plenty yams, maize, cassava, plantain. Local rice production has even increased by 60 per cent. [Hear! Hear!] Surely, this is better than asking Ghanaians to go and eat Kokonte as if Kokonte is the only staple food in Ghana.
Dr Akoto Afriyie 1:25 p.m.
— rose —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon Member, do you have a point of order?
Mr Ahiafor 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, these achievements were as a result of the much attention given by the Government to the agriculture sector.[Interruptions.]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon Member, I have recognised another Hon Member.
Dr Akoto 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I come under Standing Order 93, and it states -- [Interruption]
Mr Speaker, he is saying that rice production increased by 60 per cent.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon Member, with respect, Standing Order 93(4) — I will give you a second, to look through the Standing Orders and then you come back. Hon Member, continue please.
Dr Akoto 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, “Standing Order 30(f) --”deliberate misleading of Parliament or any of its committees”.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
So, what has he said that is misleading?
Dr Akoto 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he is main- taining that rice production increased by 60 per cent.[Interruption.] Of course, it is local rice. So I want him to give us the source of this information, this is because I do not believe that rice production, has ever increased by 60 per cent in one year since records began. It is never possible, so he should give us the exact source that he is quoting from. Mr Speaker, he is misleading this House.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon Member, your source please.
Mr Ahiafor 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, page 13 of the Address. With permission, if I may read:
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Continue, Hon Member.
Mr Ahiafor 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, under the Better Ghana Agenda, we have variety of our traditional staple foods to eat. They are at a very reasonable price at the market.
Mr Speaker, Government's support of GH¢10 million to the Youth Enterprise Support Programme is surely going to create jobs in this country. Gone were the days, when Ghanaians were asked to go and queue and write their names for a non- existent job only to be told that the Ghanaian who was complaining of unemployment was lazy.
Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful — rose —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon Member, do you have a point of order?
Mrs Owusu Ekuful 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am coming under Standing Order 30(f), the Hon Member is misleading this House. In saying that the President mentioned in his State of the Nation Address that, a US$10 million Youth Fund would solve all the problems of the youths in this country.
In 2013, in the same State of the Nation Address, the President indicated that a youth development fund would be set up to address the problems of the youth.
He repeated this same promise in 2014. The youth of this country are still suffering from unemployment to the extent that, we have an unemployed graduates association. The mere announcement does not solve the problem, so he should stop misleading the House.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr Ahiafor 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the support of GH¢10 million to the Youth Enterprise Support Programme, will create jobs in the country. The point is that, giving the support to the Youth Enterprise Programme is far better than asking Ghanaians to come and queue looking for non-existent jobs --[Hear! Hear!] Only to be told that Ghanaians complaining about unemployment are lazy.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Another Hon Member who has stayed within his time. Hon William Aidoo. We have Hon William Quaitoo too but Hon William Aidoo.
Mr William OwurakuAidoo (NPP-- Afigya Kwabre South) 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the floor. The year was 2007 and Ghanaians received the good news with fanfare, when President Kufour told the good people of this country that Ghana had discovered oil in commercial quantities. The hope was that,in time, Ghana's dependence on donor support and our liquidity problems were going to be reduced drastically.
Seven years down the road, several billions of dollars in the Treasury, what do we have? Our dependency on donor support has not gone down as expected and liquidity problems that we face here, have become drastically worse and Hon Members in this House would attest to it.
Everywhere you turn, no money. Everywhere you turn, left or right, no money. No money!
The question that my constituents keep asking me is, what happened to the oil money? We seem to be doing worse, now that we have oil than when we did not have oil under the able leadership of President Kufuor.
Mr Speaker, our dependence on donor support has not gone down -- as I said earlier -- and indeed, of the GH¢1.3 billion budgeted for the Energy Ministry, 68 per cent is donor dependent. That is fiscal year 2014. This is terrible. To all intent and purpose, as I stand here, dum so, dum so is rearing its ugly head again.
Some Hon Members 1:25 p.m.
It is here, it is here.
MrAidoo 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is coming back with a vengeance and anybody here who doubts can go out there and talk to manufacturers, hairdressers, car sprayers and fitters and they would tell you that, they are all reeling under this erratic and undependable energy supply we are experiencing currently in the country.
Mr Speaker, on page 18 of the President's Address on the state of the nation, His Excellency said and Mr Speaker, with your indulgence I beg to quote:
“A total of 534 megawatts of power generation was added in 2013.”
I do believe, Hon Members who spoke earlier have alluded to this. 400 like he said; nothing to do with this present government and the President, was all from Bui Dam. As he said, 132, that is the T-3, we never had any use for it, after few weeks of its supposed commissioning it broke down and to date, Ghanaians are not getting even a megawatt from it.
Mr Speaker, on page 19 of the President's Address, the President spoke about giving 50,000 cylinders to augment the penetration of the usage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Mr Speaker, I have friends who live in a relatively affluent parts of Accra; East Legon and Accra Airport Residential areas. Mr Speaker, they are all reverting to the use of charcoal from the use of LPG, all for the sake of the cost of gas. How much more my constituents at Afigya Kwabre -- can they afford to buy LPG.
I can predict Mr Speaker, that the 50,000 LPG cylinders that are going to be supplied to the good people of this country, are going to end up as mini white elephants sitting in people's kitchens.
MrAidoo 1:35 p.m.


Mr Speaker, the President, I am sure, meant well by introducing these 50,000 cylinders, so that the environment would be protected. I am afraid the whole programme is doomed to failure from the onset, for the simple reason that today, every two weeks the price of gas goes up and Ghanaians who are suffering and whose standards of living keep going down every two weeks are the ones who attest to this.

Mr Speaker, again, due to bad management of the cedi/dollar rela- tionship, every two weeks, fuel price go up and you can ask every driver in this country, you can ask every passenger who patronises public transport -- every two weeks, they have to find extra money to augment their limited family budget due to this continual bi-weekly rise in fuel prices. Mr Speaker, there is one thing that the President failed to alert Ghanaians --

As I stand here right now, the level of water in Akosombo dam is currently close to the minimum operating level.

Mr Speaker, the President said absolutely nothing at all about it. If nothing is done about it, if funds are not provided for the purchase of crude to augment the firing of some generators at the Aboadze Thermal Plant, I can bet your bottom dollar that, Ghanaians are going to face yet more dum so, dum so even worse than we had in 2013.

Mr Speaker, the Bui Dam; we have a problem there right now. Only two generators are working as I speak to you. The third one is not working simply because, there is no transmission lines ready to evacuate the power that is being generated from the dam.

Mr Speaker, I would conclude by saying that, the President in future would do well to highlight more on our challenges instead of the boastful points that he came here to tell us.
Mr Noah Ben Azure (NDC -- Binduri) 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Motion ably moved by the Minister for Trade and Industry and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Mr Haruna Iddrisu.

I would want to add that on basic education, look at accessibility, affordability, availability and quality. [Hear! Hear!] This is what the Govern- ment has done, the Government of the NDC has expanded school infrastructure at the basic education. Because of this expansion of infrastructure, I would want to say that schools under trees are now a thing of the past. [Hear! Hear!]

I also would want to add that, under the shift system, where students or children were attending schools in turns, where it was hampering teaching and learning in our basic schools, the shift system is now a thing of the past.This has enhanced children of school-going age as they now have a conducive environment that would enhance teaching and learning in our basic schools.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on a point of order. Mr Speaker, respectfully, I come under Order 30(f) and Mr Speaker, with your permission it reads:
“deliberate misleading of Parliament or any of its committees”
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member says that schools under trees --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon Member, under Order 30 (f), --
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am fortified first by Standing Order 91 (a) and 92 (a) and Mr Speaker, the third one is the operating one, that is 30 (f).
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member is saying, firmly and confidently that schools under trees are a thing of the past. That is what he is saying. Mr Speaker, even the President acknowledged that they have reduced it, but they have not completely dealt with it. So if he is saying that there is no single school under tree in this country, it is very misleading.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Hon Afenyo-Markin, so by coming under Order 30 (f), what are you inviting me to do?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the misleading aspect of his statement is to the effect that --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
What are you inviting me to do?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, to rule that his statement that schools under trees are no more in existence is misleading.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
But Order 30 (f) does not give me power to rule that he is misleading -- Order 30 (f) says that that act constitutes a breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament. When it is a breach of privilege, it is not the Speaker who rules on it.What happens? It is referred to the Privileges Committee. So perhaps, you are inviting me to refer him
to the Privileges Committee or you are saying that he should withdraw, otherwise, you are inviting me to refer the Hon Member to the Privileges Committee. I would do neither of the two.
Mr Azure 1:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to add that, other social interventions that enhance enrolment drive in our basic schools include -- [Interruptions]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:35 p.m.
Order! Order!
Mr Azure 1:35 p.m.
-- include school feeding programme, free textbook distribution, free exercise books, free school uniform. [Hear! Hear!] I would want to add that this Government has been able to distribute 12 million textbooks and exercise books to schools in our country and this has gone to enhance the teaching and learning we are talking about. This has also improved the quality of education in our educational institutions. [Hear! Hear!]
Mr Speaker, our schools at all levels, be it secondary level, be it basic level, be it at the university or at the tertiary level need qualified and professional personnel to man it, particularly, in the basic schools. The President in his wisdom has taken away this quota system in our colleges of education and has placed the teacher trainees under the student loan system.
This has improved the intake of our teacher trainees in our training colleges from 9,000 to 15,000. [Hear! Hear!] I would want to say that, with a difference of 6,000 students, intake it is in itself a job opportunity and a job security for the teacher trainees, because they would get jobs and their jobs are secured.
I would want to also emphasise that this has arisen to 40 per cent -- the difference between the 19,000 and the 15,000 is about 4 per cent.
Ms Rosemund C. Abrah 1:45 p.m.
On a point of order. He is misleading the House. I am coming under Order 30 (1). The Hon Member who spoke said something about the fact that, in 1971, all Teacher Training Colleges were closed down. It is wrong. Let us place it on record. The Nkrumah Accelerated Development Plan necessitated that we opened a lot of schools which were then code-named “mushroom schools”.
When we got the number of teachers that we needed, schools, like Dompoase, Toase, et cetera were converted to secondary schools. It does not mean that all training colleges were closed down.
Mr Azure 1:45 p.m.
I would want to continue by saying that, this Government has started the building of 200 Community Secondary Schools that is cut across the length and breadth of this country and this is going to help the massive JHS products who would be moving to the SHS. I would want to add that, with this one, it would help our Junior High Schools (JHS) students to get admissions into the Senior High Schools.
It is based on this that the Government is introducing or meeting the consti- tutional mandate of article 25(1) (b), by the introduction of the progressive introduction of free senior secondary education by 2015/2016 academic year.
Mr Speaker, the progression is not only limited to secondary schools and JHS, it is also expanded to the universities --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Hon Member, please, wind up.
Mr Azure 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I want to say that, the agama lizard that runs rapidly for short distances and climbs trees and walks vertically with its tail says that, if it fell from the Iroko tree and nobody praises it, it would praise itself. I would want to add that, if nobody would praise the NDC Government, we would praise ourselves.
I am taking a cue from the former President Kufuor when he said; if nobody will award him, he will award himself. And true to his word, he awarded himself the Grand Order of Star and the Eagle of Ghana awards. I am taking a cue from the former President.
Mr Speaker, thank you, very much for giving me this opportunity.
Mr Williams Agyapong Quaittoo (NPP -- Akim Oda) 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, last week, in this House, many Hon Members who spoke ahead of me, made comments about the nature in which the Address is captured. My Hon Colleagues on the other side said it was nice, glossy and all that. But I want to remind them that the worth of a book is not found in the cover but rather the content. At the end of this debate, we would all be able to judge whether this book has some worth or not.
Mr Speaker, anyone who has not lived in this country for the last five years or more, and has not been following the
politics of Ghana, but reads this Address, would definitely conclude that, Ghana is heading for paradise by 2016. But Mr Speaker, those of us who have lived here for the past five years and have followed the politics of Ghana, particularly, the actions of NDC Government and their two Presidents, would conclude that this book is rather not a promise of paradise but rather, a paradise of promises.
Several promises have been made in this book that, to me, judging from the past, actions of the Government, I would not believe that 10 per cent of the promises woould be carried through.

Have we ever seen any child in our constituencies getting a computer? -- [Hon Members: No.] I have not seen one child in my constituency.

Mr Speaker, they promised that they would expand the school feeding programme to cover all basic schools. What do we see now? Three terms down the line, women who are supplying this food to the schools are being dragged to court. They have not been paid for the last three months. Why because, almost all of them are NDC Women Organisers, so they cannot talk.

They have not been paid for three terms. We still expect that they would go borrow money from somewhere --
Mr Ntow 1:45 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I want my Hon Colleague to substantiate the allegation that the
women who are running the School Feeding Programme are NDC. He should prove it, otherwise, he should withdraw it and apologise.
Secondly, if he does not know, in my constituency, when this programme started, only two schools benefitted. Now, it has been expanded to cover 25 basic schools. So if he does not have the facts, he should not generalise it. He should concentrate and limit himself to his constituency.
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am giving an example. In Asamankese, someone was dragged to court. Someone was dragged to court. [Hon Members: Prove it.] I should prove? There are several people.
Mr Speaker, they promised to --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Member, you made a categorical statement of fact. You have been asked to substantiate. The secrete that we were guarding, the Order 30, Hon Akoto Osei has made it open to all so now, we are using it to gag everybody today. Hon Akoto Osei has made it open. Just now, my hands are tied. But he says that you should substantiate. Hon Quaittoo, if you can substantiate, fine. If you cannot substantiate, then you withdraw and then we continue.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not withdrawing the statement because I know someone in Asamankese who is a caterer for about five schools and a supplier dragged her to court because she could not pay the supplier.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Quaittoo, the question is that, you made two points. The first point was that, the people were being taken to court. That
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.


point has not been challenged. So you have not been asked to withdraw that point. The second point you made was that, the people who are being taken to court are not complaining because they are National Democratic Congress (NDC) women organizers. If you have a name, or if you can substantiate, substantiate it, if not, withdraw and let us make progress. It is simple.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I did not hear you well on the second point.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
I am saying that, the second leg of your submission was that, the people who are being taken to court were not complaining because they are NDC women organizers. If you have any evidence, provide that evidence, if you do not have it, then let us proceed by you withdrawing.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you so much. I withdraw that statement, “the fact that they are almost all NDC people”, But of course, they all have interest in NDC, anyway.
Mr Speaker, they also promised to modernize agriculture through one, the provision of improved seed varieties. In 2013 Budget, they promised to supply over 500,000 improved seeds in the area of cotton, maize and all that. But in 2014, it was reported that they were able to supply only 20,000.
Mr Speaker, the next point is that, they have greater access to tractor services, therefore, they promise to provide almost about 2,000 tractors. What do we see? Only 100 were procured at a whopping amount of US$100,000 per tractor and its accessories. So they promised 2,000 and were able to procure only 100.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture, do you have a point of order?
Dr Ahmed Alhassan 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I really wish my Hon Colleague could proceed with his debate. I would challenge him to produce a receipt of a tractor that has been bought for US$100,000 in this country. He should produce a receipt to that effect; else he should withdraw that because no tractor has been sold in this country for US$100,000 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. It is not right. That is not correct.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, sorry, it is
GH¢100,000.
Dr Ahmed Alhassan 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, changing the currency would not change my position. He should produce a receipt of a tractor from the Ministry that cost GH¢100,000. It is not correct.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it was given to the Committee on Food and Agriculture by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture themselves. In their Budget Statement, it was there, GH¢100,000 for a tractor and its accessories. I asked a question and that was what they said. I do not do procurement. How can I produce a receipt? [Interruption.] Mr Speaker, he himself can find out.
Mr Speaker, they promised to establish a fisheries college in Anomabo. What are we seeing? As we speak today, only the land has been cleared. Again, they promised to construct a fish processing plant at Elmina, the land is still even under litigation.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Members, having regard to the state of business in the House, I direct in accordance with Order 40 (3) that Sitting be held outside the prescribed period.
Mr Kobena Mensah Woyome -- rose
-- 1:55 p.m.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Woyome, do you have a point of order?
Mr Woyome 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes. Actually, I wanted to find out from the Hon Member concerning the submission at the Committee indicating that a tractor was estimated at GH¢100,000 as against an actual purchase figure. I am actually confused. I would want us to know whether he has evidence that somebody has purchased a tractor for an amount of GH¢100,000. We want that.
There should be a difference between something that is budgeted for and something that is actual.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
The difficulty I have is that, when somebody makes a statement on the floor and the person's source is either a Committee meeting or a Hansard or something that happened in Parliament, it is difficult for me to ask the person to withdraw unless it can be shown. There are several Members of the Committee on Agriculture present and I would appreciate it if --
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, do I have the floor? Again, they promised to work towards the production of --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
You do not have the floor.
Dr Alhassan 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is a House of record, and even if he is quoting figures from a Committee meeting, he should be as accurate as possible. I want to challenge the Hon Member, that the Ministry of Agriculture has never ever provided such figures to the Committee on Food and Agriculture in Parliament. He should please, change his figures and get his figures right.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Who are the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Committee on Food and Agriculture?
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not withdrawing that statement. I can prove it. They promised to -- Yes, I can bring the document. Mr Speaker, personally, I asked the question and they told me that it is not only a tractor but a tractor and its accessories, costing GH¢100,000.
Dr Alhassan 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture does not sell tractors without accessories. So it is not as if to say, on certain occasions the Ministry sells tractors, without acces- sories, on occasions -- When the Ministry says they are selling tractors they mean tractors plus accessories. That figure is wrong and that tractor has never cost GH¢100,000.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, when a Committee meets, the minutes of the meeting have to be captured. I think for the avoidance of doubt, the Deputy Minister is saying that, the Ministry does not sell a tractor and its accessories at a cost of GH¢100,000. The Member of Parliament is saying that the figure was given at the Committee sitting.
It is for the record of the Committee meeting on that particular day to verify and authenticate what the Hon Member is saying. It cannot be the word of the Deputy Minister against the Hon Member of the Committee, it cannot be. The Committee's record should show. That should be the ultimate proof. So I guess we can live it at that.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
I also believe that it is not the responsibility of the Member of Parliament to produce a record of what happened in Parliament. That record the Deputy Minister is saying is in Parliament's bosom. So, the Hon Member would subsequently direct us as to which Committee meeting he was speaking about and it would be brought to the floor.
Hon Member, continue.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you so much. It was the Committee on Food and Agriculture meeting on the budget hearing. I saw the figure clearly. I asked a question and they said, yes, a tractor and its accessories, cost GH¢100,000.00
Mr Speaker, again, they promised to work towards sustainable production of the historic 1 million tonnes of cocoa by first, extending and expanding the high- tech as well as the mass spraying exercise. What are we seeing today? This morning, l overheard one of them on radio say that the mass spraying exercise is not dead.
I would want to tell the NDC Government that COCOBOD is having an exit strategy, to stop the mass spraying exercise and the high-tech programmes in about five years.
The Government has been silent on it; nothing is happening. We are not hearing anything from the Government and yet, these activities or exercises, every day, farmers are complaining that they are no more having their cocoa sprayed or the fertilizer is not coming.
Mr Speaker, again, they promised to pay, at least, 70 per cent of the Freight On Board (FOB) price to farmers. What are we seeing today? The amount they are paying is about 46, 47 per cent of the FOB price.
Mr Speaker, I would just stop here and tell the whole world that, if someone should ask for my view on the promises made by the President to build 50 SHSs by 15th of August, 2015, I would decisively say that no, it would not happen because of the few promises that I have mentioned.
Mr Speaker, in this Address --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
I hope you are running up, Hon Member?
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in this Address, I have been able to indentify about sixteen promises that have been made by the President, which I do not see Ghana being able to realise. Let me start mentioning them: one --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
I am sorry, you do not have time to mention all the sixteen. So, if you can --
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if you would allow me two minutes. First, they said that our economy is on track and that by 2016, it would be scaling and flying.
Secondly, that in about 2015, there would be universal access to electricity and other forms of energy to all Ghanaians.
Third, that the Kotokraba Market and Cape Coast Stadium would be completed to honour our late President Mills.
Fourthly, that all trees under school -- I am sorry, Mr Speaker. [Laughter.] All schools under trees would be eliminated.
Mr Speaker, he also said, that a national theatre would be built in Kumasi, and that by the end of 2015, residents of Northern Accra, Royale, Adenta, East Legon, Ashongman would all have water running through their taps. Our camera got this.
The next one, Mr Speaker, was that the multi-purpose market at Aboabo in Tamale would also be completed and that the Eastern corridor roads would all be completed by 2016.
Mr Speaker, again, they said that galamsey would be stopped by 2016 and that houses would be built for teachers. The fourteenth one was that, jute sacks would be produced in Ghana by 2016 and the last but not the least, they said that there would be construction of 1,600 CHPS Compounds. Again, the last one, they said they would provide free SHS to all students in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, on a more serious note --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Conclude. The last sentence?
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my conclusion is that, it is about time we made our Hon President understand that his oath of office --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
The President is not an honourable Member.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, His Excellency the President should understand that his oath of office requires him to move away from electioneering propaganda to that of making serious policies and governance. He should be truthful to Ghanaians and tell them the truth, whether it is difficult or not.
Again, the President --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Thank you.
Mr John Majisi (NDC -- Krachi Nchumuru) 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity given me to support the Motion, that this Honourable House thanks His Excellency the President for the Message on the State of the Nation, which was delivered in Parliament on Tuesday, 25th February, 2014.
In doing so, I am going to focus my contribution on social protection, children and gender. I am going to be very specific. I am going to look at the inclusion of persons with disability. Mr Speaker, from the President's submission, he said a lot about the inclusion of persons with disability and that is going to be my concern. Mr Speaker, the President has a vision to promote the inclusion of all persons who are disadvantaged and for that matter, persons with disability.
The President's submission is linked to certain special provisions in our Constitution, in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the
Disability Law, the Mental Health Act, 2012 and the Salamanca Declaration of 1994. The Constitution and all these laws are talking about inclusion and are also talking about protection of rights. I think that we need to commend our President for being very particular about special laws and the Constitution.
There are a lot of events that have taken place since 2012 to date, which actually demonstrate the fact that the President is concerned about the inclusion of persons with disability. One of them is Ghana signing unto the Marrakech Treaty in Morocco. The Treaty is about making it possible for published material to be made accessible to persons with disability.
Under this Treaty, published materials which otherwise cannot be accessed by person with disability can be put in accessible format so that people who cannot read from normal print can access it the way that would benefit them. I think that this is total demonstration of the President's concern about the inclusion of persons with disability.
It is also important to mention that, all along, we have been talking about the Disability Law and the fact that most people are not very sure that the Disability Law is working. But the President, because of his concern, has been able to establish a Board which is the Board on Persons with Disability Law, which is going to make the implementation of Disability Law effective.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 2:05 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, the President, in his State of the Nation Address to this House, never made specific mention of persons
Mr Afenyo-Markin 2:05 p.m.


with disabilities. There is nothing like that. Mr Speaker, it is important for us to situate our submissions within the context of the submissions by the President before this House. Under Order 93 (4), Mr Speaker, with your permission, I beg to quote:

“The speech of a Member must have reference to the subject matter under discussion.”

Mr Speaker, with the greatest respect to my Hon Friend, what he is saying about the Disability Law and all that was not part of His Excellency's Address.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
But let us give him the opportunity. Maybe, he would go along and situate it within the President's State of the Nation Address. So, let us give him the opportunity.
Mr Majisi 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think the President talked about inclusion and he made mention of the inclusion of the vulnerable. He made mention of the disadvantaged, he made mention of the aged -- [Interruption.] Please, I am saying that I am being very specific. Out of the people that have been mentioned - - I am very specific and that is why I am talking about the persons with disability.
If the Hon Member is saying he never talked about persons with disability, I do not think it is true. It is in the Address and that is why I am actually talking about persons with disability.
Mr Speaker, whatever the President is intending to do cannot be done unless we co-operate. I would want to make a special appeal to the Hon Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, that the issue of disability is the concern of everyone; the issue of inclusion is the concern of everyone. So, on this note, I
Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, our Standing Orders, Order 48 (1) requires that this House proceeds with its Business when it has quorum. Mr Speaker, looking round the Chamber, there is not a quorum to continue the proceedings. I suggest that, we be true to our Standing Orders and adjourn proceedings consequently.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Hon Member, will you continue? Hon Member, I think you have finished with your contribution. I said you should continue and you are not continuing. So, I take it that you have nothing useful to add.
Mr Majisi 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I say that, we need to co-operate with the President, we need to realize the vision of inclusion. The inclusion is the concern of everyone, it is the concern of us as Hon Members of Parliament, and we should be able to promote the inclusion of persons with disability at our various constituencies.
I am actually commending the Minister and asking the Minister to see how she can work with the District Assemblies to enable them utilize the District Assemblies Common Fund to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in their various districts.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Dr Kwabena Twum-Nuamah (NPP-- Berekum East) 2:15 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the floor.
Mr Speaker, I will say that Ghana has undertaken various interventions to enable it achieve the health-related millennium development goals--goals (4), (5) and (6) and Mr Speaker most of these interventions predate the current Government. Mr Speaker, the President in his Address, spoke on some of the steps his Government has taken to achieve these Mellennium Development Goals (MDGs) and with your permission, I will quote from his Address, quoting from the 25th February Official Report, from column 869, paragraph 3.
Mr Speaker “to this end, Government is pursuing the vision of bringing health- care to the doorsteps of our people in even the remotest of locations. We have been engaged in an aggressive roll out of Community (Based) Health Planning and Services ( CHPS). The CHPS compounds are staffed with trained nurses, midwives and other auxiliary health personnel.”
Mr Speaker, according to the 2013 Address by the President, he said, the Government aimed at building 1,600 CHPS compounds by the year 2016. Mr Speaker, currently, the total number of CHPs compounds in the country is estimated at 940 and the gap is 2,500. So Mr Speaker, even if all the 1,600 as promised by the President are achieved in the four years, we would have managed to close the gap by only 64 per cent.
Mr Speaker, if the Government is to construct 1, 600 CHPS compounds in four years, then we expect it would build at least, 400 of them in the first year. But Mr speaker, in the 2014 Budget Statement in paragraph 730 of 139, the Minister for Finance indicated that only 19 CHPS
compounds were constructed in the year 2013 and work had commenced on 25 new ones. So, Mr Speaker, the question is, can we achieve this target of 1,600 CHPS compounds by the year 2016?
Dr Twum-Nuamah 2:15 p.m.
Can the new initiative that the President and his appointees would use ten per cent of their salaries to construct CHPS compounds help to achieve this target?
Some Hon Members 2:15 p.m.
No!
Dr Twum-Nuamah 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, only time will tell. Mr Speaker, the President also said that they have trained more than 3,000 health personnel. Mr Speaker, on the face value, this is a good thing but the challenge now is, most of these personnel are not being employed by the Govern- ment, simply because the State has not got enough funds to put these health personnel on the pay roll.
So even though we have trained and we still continue to train some of these health personnel, even though the country needs them to further the health agenda we are not able to employ them because, the country does not have enough funds to pay them.
Mr Speaker, 2,000 Ghanaian doctors who were trained with the tax payer's money outside the country came down to Ghana, wrote their examinations and were integrated into the health system in Ghana but for the past two years, have not got any salary because they have not been mechanized.
Mr Speaker, the last batch of dental doctors who graduated in Komfo Anokye last year, some of them have not even been given hospitals to do their housemanship; the system cannot take them even though we need a lot of them. So the question is, what steps are we taking to ensure that

we make the best use of the health personnel that we are training with a lot of resources.

Mr Speaker, let me at this juncture commend the President --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon Woyome, do you have a point of order?
Mr Woyome 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, I will want my Hon Colleague to help us because, we need the statistics, we need to be well-informed. He just alluded to the fact that, about 2,000 of health personnel who had been trained outside the country, who wrote examinations and integrated into the health system have not been paid for the past two years.
Can we have the source? That should be known to us so that we can be very much well informed about the current situation so far as health is concerned.
Dr Twum-Nuamah 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the information can easily be made available to the Hon Member. It is from the Ghana Health Service. We meet them as a Committee and some of these challenges are made available to us. So, I am not really playing politics at all. I am just speaking the facts.
Mr Speaker, I want to commend the President on the initiative of retooling 40 district hospitals under the National Medical Equipment Replacement Programme. Coming from this hospital for more than five years, I can attest to how difficult it is for a doctor to work with meagre resources at the hospital, so any initiative that will aim to improve the equipment level of hospitals in the country should be commended.
But Mr Speaker, the challenge we have here is that, the number of hospitals in the country is so large compared to the 40. So, we still have a long way to go.
The other problem is that, the contracts we sign with some of these multilaterals to refurbish our hospitals really put a lot of strain on the budgets of the hospitals.
We are not able to really maintain some of these maintenance activities, so at the end of the day, most of the equipment break down and there would be no resources to replace them. So, I will entreat the Government to lay down structures to retool our hospitals continuously, so that we would not have the situation whereby most of them will break down and affect health delivery.
Mr Speaker, I would also want to commend the Government for initiating the refurbishment of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, that is the Ridge Hospital and the seven new hospitals all over the country, but Mr Speaker, as a developing country with scarce resources, we must always make sure there is value for money in all our undertakings.
Mr Speaker, it would surprise you to note that the Ridge Hospital would turn up to be the most expensive hospital all over the world with US$6,000 per square metre value, compared to an upper value on the whole world, which US$5,000 per square metre. The question is, if a country which does not have enough resources is going to expand our hospitals would not ensure but that there is value for money, how are we going to ensure that we roll out a lot more of such hospitals in the country?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Two minutes remaining.
Dr Twum-Nuamah 2:15 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, I would move on to a very important topic. All these things I have mentioned about the hospitals, and the CHPS compounds are all aimed at
ensuring that people get health care, but health care is not free. People must pay for health care and the only means by which poor people can access health care is through health insurance. Mr Speaker, the Health Insurance of Ghana is plagued with a lot of problems. In fact, cash flow problems.
Mr Speaker, I can tell you that as we speak, the Health Insurance Authority which used to have an investment portfolio of GH¢20million in 2008, has reduced to current levels of GH¢87 million. Even if they pay all their debts it would reduce further to GH¢47 million.
Mr Speaker, Mr President was silent on health insurance and I think his silence was too loud. Is it that he is happy with the current status of health insurance?
Mr Speaker, we are aware of the menace, the problems we are facing as far as capitation is concerned in the country. We are told that it is being rolled out to three other regions. What is the President saying about capitation? He was also silent about capitation and I believe that if we want to make use of all these investments in the health sector, the most important vehicle is to make sure the people of Ghana can access health, and it can only be done through health insurance.
So every step has been taken to ensure that the Insurance Authority would be able to put their house in order to ensure that we have enough resources to pay their claims.
Mr Speaker, I would want to end my contribution by refering to the President's State of the Nation Address in 2013. He said a sick population cannot generate the productivity needed to maintain an acceleration of our economy.
Mr Speaker, I will conclude by saying that we need to ensure that Ghanaian people are healthy, so that together we can help build a prosperous nation for the country.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
I have a number of names here but I have been advised by Leadership that I take one more contribution from each side of the House and then bring the curtain down for today. The other Hon Members would have a bite of the cherry tomorrow.
Mr Mutawakilu Adam (NDC -- Damngo) 2:25 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me this opportunity -- [Interruption.]
Dr A. A. Osei 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have heard your direction but I just want to remind you that, over 15 minutes ago an Hon Member raised an issue about quorum, and I have not heard you address that matter yet.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Mr Mutawakilu Adam 2:25 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Motion ably moved by the Hon Member of Parliament for Tamale South and Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon Haruna Iddrisu, urging us to thank His Excellency the President for the Message on the State of the Nation Address which he delivered on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, 25th February, 2014.
In this respect, Mr Speaker, I would like to concentrate on page 18, on the Energy Sector of the State of the Nation Address.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Joe Osei-Owusu are you still standing by your previous position?
Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu 2:25 p.m.
When I applied, because you did not respond, I assumed that my application had lapsed, and I do not intend to repeat it, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Joe Osei-Owusu, I thank you very much, your solomonic wisdom today has made itself evident. Hon Member, can you continue.
Mr Adam 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in doing this, the President indicated clearly that Ghana would achieve 5,000 megawatts energy by 2016 and outlined how much was to be achieved in 2013; that is 534 megawatts. If we look at the Budget for 2014, he outlined what would be achieved every year up to 2016.
In 2014, per the Budget Statement, we would achieve 342 megawatts in 2014, 1,400 megawatts in 2015 and 413 megawatts in 2016. Let us look at it. In 2014, per the State of the Nation Address, are we achieving the 342 megawatts?
He indicated clearly that there is expansion work on the Kpone Thermal Power Plant of 220 megawatts, 110 megawatts of T2 and 12 megawatts of solar. If you sum it up, you would get 342 and that clearly indicates that the President is on truck.
Mr Speaker, I would also like to add that the President did not only concentrate on power generation, but looked at the other aspects. He included transmission as well as distribution. He indicated that to ensure that there is economic trans- mission; there are certain expansion works that are going on in respect of transmission.
Ms Ursula Owusu 2:25 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I come under Order 92 and Order 30 (f). The Hon Member is misleading the House by saying that the Solar Project is generating 12 megawatts of energy. It is two (2), not 12.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Member, you would take that on board?
Mr Adam 2:25 p.m.
The Hon Colleague is not picking me right. I said that two megawatts in 2013, so she should be very clear with that. I am talking of 2014, the expansion work and other works going on. So until the end of 2014, we cannot say this is what is being done. The two (2) megawatts is the one at Navrongo and that relates to 2013, to be very frank with her.
The President also looked at the transmission and he indicated clearly that, in respect of distribution, Ghana has achieved 75 per cent as at the end of last year and it is the second largest in sub-
Saharan Africa, with the exception of South Africa. This is a significant improvement, if we look at 2009, the distribution was 54 per cent and looking at it as at now, there is an increase of 21 per cent and that is significant. The President is promising that, come 2016, everybody would have access to electricity. There is a definition of access to electricity, it does not mean that everybody in Ghana even if you live in your farm, you would have access to electricity.
I would urge Hon Members to go and find out what it means: everybody having access to electricity per the technical definition.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Can you tell us?
Mr Adam 2:25 p.m.
That means that a community above the population of 500.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Thank you.
Mr Adam 2:25 p.m.
It does not mean that because two people have decided to go and settle in the farm and they are doing their farming activities and the President says that by 2016 every Ghanaian would have access to electricity, there would be access to electricity. We would also realise that -- [Interruption.]
Mr Gabriel K. Essilfie 2:35 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I think the Hon Member, just this explanation he gave is misleading. Is he saying that if I go and settle on my farm and I have money, I cannot get electricity connected from Electricity Company to my farm? Access is access. If we are talking about to the community for
the poor people, it is different. But somebody who has money and has the thing or he can afford the connection to his farm, once it is available, it is access. So, the definition, I do not think it is correct.
Mr Adam 2:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my Hon Member has not realized that I am not talking of private extension. I am talking of public, what Government intends to do is what I am talking about. I am not talking of somebody who has his own money sitting somewhere but Government has not budgeted for that. That is his personal money if he decides to extend it, that is all right.
We are looking at the Government's Budget and what it intends to achieve come 2016. That is what I am talking about. So, it is very evident that Government in ensuring that this communities which fall under this population —
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Two more minutes.
Mr Adam 2:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Government says the solar lanterns would be distributed to be able to cushion them on their inability to get the national grid.
On this note, I want to thank the President for the excellent State of the Nation Address delivered and thank you very much.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Thank you. I think Hon Alex Kofi Agyekum will bring the curtain down for today.
Mr Alexander Kofi Agyekum (NPP -- Mpohor) 2:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. I would also like to crave the indulgence of Hon Members to continue to endure for the next ten minutes. I would
Mr Alexander Kofi Agyekum (NPP -- Mpohor) 2:35 p.m.
just be brief and go straight to the Address by the President on the issue of law and order. It is almost everybody's business when there is peace in the country and the reason is that wherever plans that, the Government has put in place without the needed peace, we cannot proceed as a country.
When the Hon Minister for Finance came to this House, a number of issues were raised concerning our men and women in the security forces.
The President just alluded to the fact that our men and women in the forces are working under very serious and degrading situations. I personally, and with the Committee members, have visited a lot of garrisons and barracks.
It would interest us to note that, even though our men and women in the forces cannot go on demonstrations, the situation that, they are currently under is such that if they were allowed to go on demonstration, they would have de- monstrated. About their accommodation, especially those who are single and not married. If we look at the way they have been congested in some rooms, Mr Speaker, it is not good.
When the President was also speaking and talking about peacekeeping opera- tions outside, after mentioning all the areas that we are having this peace- keeping, he failed to mention La Cote D'lvoire. We want to find out whether our men over there are no longer under the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
If they are under UN peacekeeping Operation and His Excellency came here and failed to recognize that our men and women are there, then that is quite a disincentive. If we want to find out if they are there, under whose authority are they still operating?
Apart from that, failing to mention that we have officers and men serving there, is along something that is quite disturbing and we want the President to at least send a word of encouragement to them and apologize to them. If some people are working for this State and we have not recognized them, then that is very serious.
We are also talking about something related to our border patrol.
We have said it over and over on the floor of this House that, now crime across borders of this country is always increasing yet the people who are patrolling our borders are not resourced well. A typical example is the border post along Ghana and Togo. Our men and women over there have not been re- sourced such that the Act establishing the Ghana Immigration Service does not allow them to carry weapons.
Meanwhile, their counterparts at the Togo border have been armed and our men, Immigration Officers just use some clubs and whistles and when they see some smugglers coming, they just whistle and that is the end. This is not good enough. The President must keep faith with these security forces by bringing a Bill to this House to change the Act, such that, they can be allowed to carry weapons.
I was also so much amazed about the extent to which the President did not say anything about the state of disrepair of our various police accommodation. He just made mention of the fact that the Police Force has increased from 29,117 to 32, an increase of about 1,000. But no reference was made to the accommodation issue but merely increasing the number without corresponding increase in where they will sleep.
We are not making any headway and I will always keep on saying that, our security as a country, is very important.
Moreover, apart from that he made mention of the Police Taining School at Winneba and after the State of the Nation Address, I have personally visited there. If we go there, we would see that basic things that they need for the training of our policemen are lacking. They do not have a reference library and research facilities and these are people that we are training to come over and provide security for us.
It is very important that the Hon Ministers for Defence and Interior take cue from this and ensures that, such facilities are provided, espcially, the CID Section. We need them and we need to give them a lot of equipment to be able to facilitate the kind of training that they are giving to our men and women there.
Lastly, I would like to quote something on page 23, under Parliament, I think the second paragraph. Mr Speaker, with your indulgence, let me just read that:
“Mr Speaker, I will continue to work to enhance the dignity and respect of this august House.”
Mr Speaker, this is not just a lip- service. If the President wants to ensure the dignity and respect of this House, then enough funds must be made available to this House. I am saying so because I am a Member of the House Committee. There are so many things that we need to do.
Mr Speaker, with your indulgence, let me use this platform to appeal to the President to expedite action on the Bill that we are supposed to present to this House, relating to the Constitutional Review Committee. We need to change certain things in our Constitution that would ensure that certain grey areas are ironed out.

Apart from that, I think we have come far and the issue of having almost 50 per cent of our Ministers drawn from Parliament, we need to take a second look at it. When we do that, the issue of almost always politicizing every single national issue on the floor of this House, would cease. Parliament must be made to be truly independent of the Executive and we need to do that.

The President, we are aware he has received the Report and we do not know why he is keeping it. He should bring it here for us to debate and then see the way forward. We cannot continue to have for example, a Minister for Justice and then there is the same Minister being the Attorney-General. We cannot have that, being the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Government Business. All these things I think that are conflicting issues that need to be ironed out.

If he is saying that he is going to ensure that Parliament works efficiently, then that is an area that we expect the President to expedite action on. Mr Speaker, I thank you for the time and I believe that the Hon Minister for Defence is not here but wherever he is, this message must be carried to him that all of us are under security threat if they fail to resource the security service well enough to continue their work efficiently.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Thank you. Thank you, Hon Members, for your co-operation. This brings us to the end of proceedings for today.
ADJOURNMENT 2:35 p.m.