Odekro | What has your MP done for you?

Mr Speaker

You were somewhere - [Laughter] -- You were somewhere and I know where you were and you know I know. [Laughter.]

Mr Dominic B. A. Nitiwul

Mr Speaker, I am sure that he is learning and if you allow him to speak - it is part of the learning curve. Otherwise, the Chair - he cannot be exchanging words. But Mr Speaker, he thought he heard that it was a month but you have rightly said that - It looks like you said a week because today is the end of the week -

Mr Speaker

Yes, I think that he was right because I said something like a week; yes. But we will crosscheck what I said.

Mr Nitiwul

Apart from that, Mr Speaker, if an Hon Minister is on record publicly to have said that the letter issued to him said that he should be in Cabinet -

Mr Speaker

Are you listening to me? You know that person does not appoint himself to the Cabinet. There is only one person who does that and that is the President. So, I will not trace my source and authority from any other person apart from the President.
Yes, Hon Member?

Mr Speaker

Very well, you are right.
Business Statement for the Third Week. Chairman of the Business Committee?

Mr Alfred K. Agbesi

Thank you, Mr Speaker.
The Chairman of the Committee is not available and I would want to present the Report on his behalf.

Mr Speaker

Any comment on the Business Statement?
Hon Vice Chairman of the Business Committee and Hon Deputy Majority Leader, why are you programming the Second Reading of the Right to Information Bill on Wednesday?
Have you laid the Report? Because we were going to lay the Report this week, but we were told that it was not ready. So, when are you going to lay it, then we take the debate on Wednesday?
It is an important Bill and Hon Members must have copies in good time to study it, so that we can have an informed debate on the floor of the House. In the first place, it would not have matured. Of course, we can suspend the Standing Orders. It is a very important Bill and I do not think that laying it on Tuesday and taking it on Wednesday -
So, the Business Committee may have to look at that.
Yes, Hon Members for Ablekuma North and Tema East.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu

Mr Speaker, I think my Hon Colleague was making reference to the Committee which was set up by you to investigate that particular event of the dumsor, that is, the power outage issue in the Chamber.
And through the recess period and for about the second week now - we are entering the third week - we expected that the business Committee would flash on the Business for next week, a presentation or Paper from that Committee for us to know what happened and how we are going to forestall that incident.
Mr Speaker, I think that was what my Hon Colleague talked about and it looks like we have veered off the road a bit.
Mr Speaker, would the Business Committee tell us when they would
schedule the presentation of that report from the Committee?

Mr Agbesi

Mr Speaker, rightly said, a Committee has been set up to look at the situation and if the report is ready, the Business Committee would bring it to the House. So, the Committee has not yet submitted the report; they are still in the process.

Mr Agyeman-Manu

Thank you, Mr Speaker.
We expect the Leadership of the House to put a little pressure on that Committee to work. Throughout the recess, some committees sat and travelled. This is a very important Committee and I thought we should have got their report by now.
We would want the Hon Deputy Majority Leader, who is coincidentally acting for the Chairman of the Business Committee today, to consult with the Chairman of that particular Committee and to inform him that the House is demanding their Report next week, so that we could schedule it for them to submit something to us.
Other than that, what would be the purpose? Next week, the power barges are coming and there would be no dumsor. So, what would be the purpose of that report in the House any longer?
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Agbesi

Mr Speaker, this is a good piece of advice. We shall see or talk to the Chairman and put pressure on him for the report to be brought.

Mr Speaker

Hon Deputy Majority Leader, take it on board and find out what is happening with the Committee. This is because I have not seen any report from them. So, do a follow-up and let us know the status. That is all.

Mr J. J. Appiah

Let us ensure the independence of the scheme in order to build confidence for all manner of people in the country. [Hear! Hear!]

Alhaji Ibrahim Dey Abubakari (NDC - Salaga South)

Thank you, Mr Speaker for this opportunity.
Let me first congratulate and commend the Hon Member who made this Statement, for the brilliant observation.
Mr Speaker, I would go to the need for making legislation to guide the Scholarships Secretariat. As he stated in the Statement, that this is left to the discretion of the National Co-ordinator for the Scholarships Secretariat, when people are used to discretion, it is subject to abuse. Therefore, I am also adding my voice to what the Hon Member who made the Statement said.
There is the need to let the Hon Member in charge of the Scholarships Secretariat bring a Bill for us to look at whether there is a way that we can regulate the Scholarships Secretariat. This can also enhance the decentralisation that he is calling for.
With these few words, Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.

Mr Collins Owusu-Amankwah (NPP - Manhyia North)

Mr Speaker, permit me to commend the Hon Member who made the Statement -- Hon Annoh- Dompreh.
Mr Speaker, I would want to urge the Scholarships Secretariat to be more proactive in terms of its dealings. It is better for the Secretariat to, as it were, publish the details of the scheme, including both local and international ones. How many people know that there is a Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme that one can access?
I would want to appeal to the Secretariat to be more transparent. We would want to know the quantum of foreign donations and also scholarships that come into the country --

Mr Speaker

Hon Member, let us be
very careful. When people are not on the floor of the House to defend themselves, we do not have to create the impression as though they are not transparent. Hon Member, if you have a particular experience, you can share it.
It is over 50 years, since 1960 and all successive governments have been following that same pattern. An Hon Member made a Statement and said that, the time has come for us to take a look at the issue. If we say they should make it transparent, then we are assuming that there is no transparency, there is an underhand dealing which we have evidence of -- They are not here to defend themsellves and it is likely to send a wrong signal.
As I said, They are not here to defend themselves. So, as much as possible, let us not lose sight of the important Statement that has been made by the Hon Member.

Mr Owusu-Amankwah

Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Even though, you have set the parameter, which is to stick to the issue, that was my personal observation.
The Secretariat should be more proactive as I have already reiterated, in the sense of the kind of treatment that one would go through if he or she would want to access the scheme.
I am talking from personal experience. When one of my constituents approached me, that he had already applied for the scheme, but the conditions attached to the whole process were difficult to access. So, I would want to appeal to the Secretariat to be more open, so that Ghanaians could access and enjoy the scholarships.

Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh (NDC - Juaboso)

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity. Let me also
congratulate the Hon Member who made the Statement.
Mr Speaker, I cannot but agree with the Hon Member who made the Statement, that the Scholarships Secretariat must be decentralised. If one would have to travel from my constituency, Juaboso to Accra and back one would need not less than GH¢200.00. And if we say somebody is needy, I would not be surprised that the person would find it difficult to raise GH¢200.00 just to access a scholarship. So, we should be able to decentralise it to the regions and districts, such that it would be easy for students to get access to the forms.
Mr Speaker, you would agree with me that when Hon Members travel to the various constituencies -- because they are accessible to their constituents, they hear a lot of stories regarding scholarships, financial assistance and what have you. If the Scholarships Secretariat is decentralised, it would go a long way to decrease the pressure, even on Hon Members.
Mr Speaker, as much as I agree with Hon Members who contributed to the Statement, that heads of institutions must help their students, in my opinion, it would be better that the forms are available in the various districts or regions, so that the students or their parents can easily access them.
Mr Speaker, again, a very critical issue has also been raised about statutes, I stand corrected. My attention has been drawn to the fact that it is not regulated by any statute and as a law making House, in my opinion, we should try to encourage, that we get laws to regulate this particular Secretariat.
If we are making laws, I do not think that we must put into consideration the size of the house that one belongs to because only God knows where one would find
himself in the shortest possible time. So, if we are making laws, we should make laws for the whole country. It is very important.

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Alhaji Abubakari

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the Report that we have read, all those financial breaches that have happened, the heads of institutions who failed to sanction those officers should be brought to book, in accordance with the law.

All the officers who should be

sanctioned should be sanctioned. This is in accordance with the Financial Administration Act. Otherwise, every year, we shall come here to repeat the same irregularities that have been happening until we are able to put sanctions on them to serve as a deterrent to others.

I do not want to say much because the

Hon Chairman has read the whole Report. All I would want to say is that, all these things have been happening because people are not punished when they breach the laws.

It is our duty - as we have an oversight duty over these people, to ensure that the necessary punishment is meted out to serve as deterrent to others.

With these few words, I would urge the House to support the Motion on the floor.

Thank you.

Question proposed.

Mr Speaker

Hon Members, before I open the floor, the Hon Chairman, in moving the Motion, raised a very important issue about this continuous year in and year out - I want us as a House - If it is only a routine thing that we come and do here, then, is that the way we should proceed?
Indeed, Hon Members, let me tell you that I was an Hon Member of the Public Accounts Committee at the time that the Audit Service Act was passed in the year 2000. Some of us, led by Hon Albert Kan-Dapaah and the late Hon Baah- Wiredu, decided to implement the Audit Report Implementation Committee to move the process forward. The original
Bill that came from the Executive, that provision was not in it.
Over the years, this process has continued. I do not know whether I should have - before I hand over the Chair to the Hon First Deputy Speaker, I do not know whether at the end of this debate, we should find ways of - This time, not the Leadership, but the leadership of the Public Accounts Committee, and a certain group to engage - to do some sort of engagement for us to find a way out.
I just want to throw these things out. It is going to be a ritual I am sorry, I am not supposed to take part in the debate. Because of the issues that are being raised on the floor of the House, I think that we need to highlight some of these issues, so that we know how, as a House, we are going to move the process forward, as the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana.
Hon Member for Sekondi?

Papa Owusu-Ankomah (NPP-- Sekondi)

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.
I was at the Finance Committee meeting, and monitoring proceedings here, but because I wanted to make a contribution here, I sought permission. It is in the same direction as what you have said.
Mr Speaker, we cannot continue like this. The Constitution provides us an avenue - We cannot continue lamenting. I went to the Hon Chairman and told him that I was upset with him. With his big coat, flowery English, lengthy Report, so what?
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would refer you, as I do almost every year to article 187 (6) of the Constitution.
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I beg to read;
“Parliament shall debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint where necessary, in the public interest, a committee to deal with any matters arising from it.”
Year in, year out, we come and what I say is that we express “woes of lamentations,” and we leave. It is too ritualistic. Mr Speaker, as you have said, I have also been here for a long time, but we cannot continue like this.
I see the Hon Chairman saying; “Finally, the Committee urges the Ghana Education Service (GES)”. Who should ensure that the GES employs are sanctioned? It should be this House. I am sure that, next year, all the Reports would be the same thing.
Last year, the Report they submitted was the same thing. In the year 2013 too, it was the same thing. Can we continue like this? Mr Speaker, the best way is to invoke the provisions of article 187(6), so that we cease from this yearly rituals.
Mr Speaker, I propose that -
Mr Speaker, I have said that the major problems that we face as a country -- I speak as someone who has had the singular benefit of moving round six Ministries. The problem is just one; it is our failure to comply with, or enforce regulations. Another problem is our inability to discipline -- That is it! We talk about corruption but what is it? People get away with financial murder in this country.
I am saying that, it is this House that should show the way. Mr Speaker, let us consider the provisions of article 187(6), and for once, let us follow up on the
process, so that we do not continue to be accused that we come to Parliament and just talk and talk and nothing happens, because every year, it is the same thing. Just as the Hon Ranking Member has stated, I know that he has been an Hon Member of this Committee for about seven years. Is that not correct? Likewise the Hon Chairman. But why?
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker

Hon Members, on this point, I would have wished that the two Hon Leaders were here. I think that we need to do further consultation as a House, if possible, at Closed Sittings and then we explore some of these matters being raised, especially with regard to article 187(6) of the Constitution, so that as a House, speaking with one voice -- With the greatest respect, this is not a National Democratic Congress (NDC) or New Patriotic Party (NPP) matter.
I have been on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and I have been Hon Vice Chairman of the Committee for several years. I have been involved for several years on this Committee. As I sit down here, I have become Speaker and they bring reports and the things that we were talking about in the 1990s through the 2000s, and now, we are in 2015 and they are repeating themselves. I will suggest to Leadership, next week, they should let us look for an opportunity and see how we can create a forum to discuss these things and see whether we can look at article 187(6) in detail.
Hon First Deputy Speaker to take the
Chair.

Mr George K. Arthur (NDC - Amenfi Central)

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for also raising that issue. Severally, I have also raised the issue about the way we invite people to appear before the PAC. It is that we have to invite the head of the institution while the
people who committed the offence may be there. Comparatively, I can say that, this pre-university education institutions' Report has been one of the best Reports the Committee has been dealing with, in the sense that when we take this 2010/2011 Report, most of the institutions came along with the offenders -- where even a weak 70-year-old pensioner had to appear before the Committee and accept that he had misappropriated about GH¢15,000 and he was ready to pay with his pension pay.

Mr First Deputy Speaker

Hon Member, I believe Mr Speaker had given the kind of directive that we need. So, as much as possible, I want us to cut down on the length of time we want to make our contributions.

Mr G. K. Arthur

Mr Speaker, they come and pretend they do not even know the issues that have been raised in the Auditor-General's Report. Sometimes when you challenge them, they say that as for all the issues you have raised, like the common whatsapp messages:
“as for all of them I can take charge of them but as for this particular one I am not the one who did it.”
So, Mr Speaker, I think we need to find other ways of inviting these people and compelling them; we should not say that, it is not our responsibility to compel them to come and pay. Let us find means of compelling them to satisfy it before the Report is considered. They cannot allow this Report to come out for a year or two and they sit somewhere and pretend they do not even know what has come into the Report.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you.

Ms Sarah A. Safo (NPP - Dome/ Kwabenya)

Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Report of the Auditor-General that was before the PAC and to urge all Hon Members to support it.
Mr Speaker, as Hon Members who spoke earlier already enumerated, and Mr Speaker had given direction, I would want to touch on some of the irregularities that came before the Committee during our sittings.
One of the irregularities had to do with uncompetitive procurement. There was a huge number of institutions that failed to comply with the provisions under
the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act
663).
Mr Speaker, out of a total number of 102 institutions, of the 10 regions, we noticed that the knowledge they had about PPA and their responsibilities under the Act were not known to them. Some of them had not even seen copies of the Act, how much more to know responsibilities that they were to perform under the Act.
Mr Speaker, there were situations where they appeared to have done procurements without having a procurement plan. But the PPA requires all State institutions, of which they are part, to have at the beginning of every year, a procurement plan, which they will follow throughout the year.
Some appeared before the PAC without having a procurement plan. So, as and when they thought they had to do procurements, they did it without following the required procedures and laid down rules.
Again, there were situations where they had to call for tenders or contractors without necessarily opening the procurement process widely enough for competition. This is referred to as restrictive tendering under the Procure-ment Act.
If they decide to do that, the law requires them to invite alternative price quotations based on which they can decide one tenderer they would be procuring from. None of these were done as we engaged them on the Committee.
Again, Mr Speaker, most of them also did not have Entity Tender Committees and that is the beginning of having a good procurement system in your institution. This is because, they would be charged with the responsibility of going through and checking whether there is a procurement plan or they are following the Procurement Act. Most of the institutions do not have Entity Tender Committees. So,
if they do not have the committee upon which they were to act, then it is clear they will violate certain salient provisions in the Act.
Again, on the issue of sole-sourcing, Mr Speaker, the Procurement Act, in section 42 clearly states that it is a method of procurement which is allowed under the law. But most of them are under the impression that once they say sole-sourcing, it is something that is not allowed and so, they will not follow the laid down procedures.
Under the Act, sole-sourcing is a method that is approved and permissible. It just requires you to seek permission from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), that these are the reasons and the reasons are spelt out in the Act -- in the case of emergency, urgency, or where the Intellectual Property Rights involved and for that matter, you can buy it from only one source.
These are the conditions under which you can go sole-sourcing. But they do not go for the permission from the Public Procurement Authority and they do as they wish and then violate the laws.
In concluding, Mr Speaker, a lot has been said about giving PAC adequate teeth to bite and not necessarily going through this annual ritual. But in the Act, we have the laws and the laws have prescribed sanctions. So, we are urging that as it comes to plenary and the recommendations are given, most of these acts are made offences under the Act.
The Public Procurement Act, for instance, under section 92, states that if you violate any of the provisions in the Act, it amounts to criminal offence and for that matter, you ought to be prosecuted. So, we urge that when these recommendations come, your Honourable Chair could refer them to the Attorney-General to take the
necessary steps.
Once one person is punished for a
wrongdoing, it will act as a deterrent to others and it will shape our legal framework in such a way that, we just do not make laws for them to lie on the shelves, that when you break them, you face the consequences of your action.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I support the Motion.
Thank you.

Mr First Deputy Speaker

Thank you very much.
We will take two more and then put the Question.
Yes, Hon Member?

Mr Theophilus T. Chaie (NDC - Ablekuma Central)

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the floor.
I am very happy that Mr Speaker has directed that the Hon Leaders of the Committee should meet and look at how best we can find solutions to this canker, which is actually making it very difficult for us, as a country, to raise resources that will enhance our socio-economic development.
Most of our resources are being wasted, simply because people are not up to the task and punishment is not being meted out to people who go wayward to misappropriate funds.
Mr Speaker, after going through our work, what I realised was that, with the Audit Report Implementation Committee (ARICs) that were supposed to be established, the heads of these committees were the same heads in those institutions. And if an audit report is to come out, which indicts the head of the institution, you expect the same head of the institution to sit in the chair?

Mr Speaker, with your permission, if we can take item numbered
10.

Mr First Deputy Speaker

Very well.
Item 10, by the Hon Chairman of the Committee? -- [Pause]--
Is the Hon Chairman of the Committee available?

Chairman of the Committee (Mr Simon Edem Asimah)

Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House adopts the Report of the Committee on Environment, Science and Technology on the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1986).
In doing so, I would like to present your Committee's Report,
Introduction
The Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1986) was laid before Parliament on Tuesday, 17th June, 2014. Mr Speaker referred the Convention to the Committee on Environment, Science and Technology for consideration and report pursuant to article 75 of the 1992 Constitution and Order 185 of the Standing Orders of Parliament.
Deliberations
The Committee met on 20th July, 2014 in Koforidua to consider the Convention. The Hon Deputy Minister for Environ-ment, Science, Technology and Innovations,
Hon Dr Bernice Heloo and the technical persons from the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission were in attendance at the invitation of the Committee to assist in its deliberations on the Convention. The Committee is grateful to them for their attendance and input.
Reference Documents
The Committee had recourse to the following documents during the deliberations:
i. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
ii. T h e S t a n d i n g O r d e r s o f Parliament.
iii. Convent ion on the Ear ly Notif ication of a Nuclear Accident
Background
The Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident was adopted in 1986 after the nuclear power plant accident in Chernobyl. It established a notification system in the event of a nuclear accident which has the potential for international trans-boundary release that could jeopardise the radiological safety of other nations.
The significance of the Convention is to place an obligation on the States to report the time any nuclear accident occurred, location of the accident, radiation releases and other essential data for assessing the gravity of the accident.
It is also the responsibility of the States to report any nuclear accident involving any nuclear reactor, nuclear fuel cycle facility, radioactive waste management facility and the use of radioisotopes for power generation in space objects among others. States are further enjoined to report notification of other nuclear accident that may not have been provided for, and notification is to be made to affected States directly or through the International

Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion moved by the Chairman of the Committee on Poverty Reduction and to urge the House to adopt the Report. Mr Speaker, I would make a brief comment or contribution.
Our 1992 Constitution places an obligation on the President of the Republic of Ghana, that upon assumption of office, within two years, the President must come with a co-ordinated programme on socio-
economic development framework.
Mr Speaker, applying that constitu- t iona l p rov i s ion to our cur ren t circumstances, our sitting President has been in office and is already in the third year of his term and we are now debating a document that was supposed to have been submitted that takes care of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Mr Speaker, it is just to drum home the point that it would be more useful that in the future, such a document comes to this House early enough, so that we can all look at how the President intends to fashion the socioeconomic development of our country.
Secondly, Mr Speaker, the constitutional provision does not provide any time frame but as a Committee, we also noticed that the President's Co-ordinated Programme spans 2014-2020. We noticed that the mandate or term of office for the President ends on 7th January, 2017. So, in the likely event that the sitting President now does not get re-elected, what happens to this document beyond 2016?
So, our consideration was that this document should rather have been limited to the period that the President is in office.
We also noticed that perhaps, we need to have a National Development Planning Framework, out of which any President in the future can develop his or her co- ordinated programme to suit that National Development Planning Framework. Here again, we have this document which spans 2014-2020, and then the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) looks at 2014-2017 and beyond.
So, we need to find some consistency between this and I believe that the National Development Planning Framework should

Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh (NDC-- Wa West)

Mr Speaker, first of all, let me thank the Committee for doing a thorough job on the document. This document was brought within the two years as you can refer to in our Constitution. It was our scheduling that has brought it after the two years. There are two things that I would want to talk about.
One of them is always the issue between the Ministry of Finance and the NDPC. The previous discussion, if you look at the Report, refers to that relationship, that the Government intends to separate the planning function from the finance function. The Report also urges
this House to ensure that what has been approved in the GSDSA II reflects in the budgets that are brought to this House.
I think that the onus is on Government to decide effectively how these two institutions function. The NDPC is to plan for the Ministry of Finance to outline the preparation of the budget, the year-on-year roll out of that plan and appropriately allocate resources to carry out what has been planned.
That is a very difficult thing. That is why in the same Report, we are talking about some programmes that are related and sometimes non-related and running independent of each other.
We also have a situation where the responsibility again is for government and the Hon Ministers to ensure that what they provide for the Ministry of Finance to allocate resources are in line, first of all, with this programme that we are discussing now and the earlier one that was approved.
But the issue is, what is my sector going to do? Does it fall in line with the approved programmes? Is it in the GSGDA II? If they are not, is there a compelling reason one would want some allocation of resources to a sector which are not provided for in this document?
If the Cabinet agrees, then that is the only time we can say this is what is happening. But we have not been involved as a Parliament in the preparation of the budget; the thing comes here already decided. We cannot be policemen at that stage and say that despite what has been given to us, we think it is not in the programme that the President has outlined to implement for the rest of his tenure. Therefore, the onus should still go back -
I have seen the recommendation of the Committee but I think it is misplaced. Government still has that responsibility to tidy up its acts, first of all, in making sure
that at the Cabinet level, in discussing the budget, the question they should be asking is, is it in our programme; is it relevant? If it is not, should we agree?
Secondly, the independent programmes that are running There is a need for somebody to co-ordinate this. It cannot be co-ordinated by the NDPC, neither can it be coordinated by the Ministry of Finance or the other sector Ministers that are doing those programmes. It has to be somebody in the Office of the President.
I will refer to the earlier practices that the 1992 Constitution allowed us ,where at one stage, there was somebody called Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs, in which case, that person can call the agencies that are implementing programmes that are running parallel to each other but which should be achieving the same objective.
In that direction, you can realign and make sure that maximum effect is achieved. But I also commend the President for submitting this document to us in the elaborate manner in which it was prepared. Now, all we need to do as a Parliament, is to ensure that resources that we can get locally to support the implementation of the programmes is done, where we have to approve loans to support this, we should be doing so.
The argument about over-borrowing does not come in. If we have a programme and we want to achieve a certain objective, we need to borrow and some countries borrow more than we do. It is only that in our case, some people think that we are over-borrowing. But if we also do not borrow, we cannot improve infrastructure to support the growth of our economy.
This is why I would urge all of us to support this Motion to approve the Report of the Committee and to approve the programmes that the President has
submitted to us as required in article - is it 35 (6)? What is the article? [Interruption.] I am not reading the Report; that is the thing.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity.

Mr First Deputy Speaker

Thank you very much.
Yes, Hon Member?

Mr William Kwasi Sabi (NPP-- Dormaa East)

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
In relating to what the Hon Member just said, I would want to add my voice that a plan is as good as its implementation. It is only good when it is well implemented. So, as Parliament, we have the opportunity to also scrutinise and approve budgets.
I would want to make a proposal here, if the Hon Speaker can direct the Table Office, that NDPC, in the beginning of the budget preparation, will train, maybe, Hon Chairmen and Hon Ranking Members on these programmes that are within the national development programme, so that they can use that to also monitor the kind of budgets that will come to us. Then we could also check if MMDAs and other agencies also have plans that are within the National Development Plan.
If we do not do this, what is going to happen is that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and other agencies would come with their plan and at the end of the day, they may fall outside this; especially when Parliament is adopting this as a working document and not as a Resolution, it becomes a tool that we can work with.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr First Deputy Speaker

Thank you

Mr David Tetteh Assumeng (Shai - Osudoku--NDC)

Mr Speaker, I also beg to add my voice to the Motion.
I think that the Report is a well-crafted one, which when well implemented, would better the lot of our people.
Mr Speaker, the Report is inter-sectorial and it is very important for us to make sure that every sector of the economy fulfils the objective in the Report. By so doing, we would be seen as achieving the development of the people, improving upon the economy and building well the infrastructure base of the nation. Mr Speaker, good governance would also be adhered to. Mr Speaker, this is a Report which must receive bi-partisan support, so that we could be seen to be achieving our goals and objectives.
Mr Speaker, we cannot talk of building our infrastructural base without looking for sources of funding. That is why I would want to say that as a nation, we must sit down and arrive at how we could agree on the debt situation of this country. There is always the issue of over-borrowing and rising debt stock.
I believe that this is the time for us to agree because you cannot eat your cake and have it at the same time. We would have to agree that this is what we need to do. So, if we are developing our infrastructural base -- as a nation, we have to agree that we want to extend our railway line from Accra to Paga to develop the tourism base of that place.
We must agree as a nation to look for
sources of funding, so that if such money is attained, nobody would complain that there is high rise or rocketing debt stock.
Mr Speaker, water is very important and so, we also need investment in the water sector. Presently, your Committee on Works and Housing travelled to the three northern regions of this country and we saw the practicality on the ground. We were in the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Regions.
Mr Speaker, I think that as a nation, if we agree to develop, I am of the opinion that we can turn the drift of the youth from the North to the South in the reverse way looking at the resources that we have in the northern part of this country. We would have a situation where people would be moving to the North to develop economic activities.
Mr Speaker, I believe that this Report comes out day in, day out and every year. We should not just take it as a Report and put it somewhere. I believe that we must look at every part of the Report and see how we can implement them. It is very important.
So, this must not be politicised whether it is a four-year term Report. It is true that Government is limited to a four-year term but let us have a national programme that would cut across. So, if today, someone else is in the driving seat, that person would be seen developing the same Report that we are all talking about, but not just throw it away because it has been done by Government “A”. I do not think that would help us.
Mr Speaker, this country must move forward. We cannot continue marking time and pulling down one another in terms of development. No! Let us remain focused and take this Report as a non-partisan one, look at every part of it and make sure that we urge every sector to implement it.
When we do this, I believe that we would be serving the people of this country well.
Mr Speaker, I would want to urge that the Report be adopted but in the same vein, the Chair could also direct that every sector that is supposed to see to the implementation of any side of the Report should be adhered to. We could have the directive to have this done, so that it would not just be like reading a Report and putting it down but taking it and implementing it to the letter.
On this note, Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.

Mr Second Deputy Speaker

Thank you.
Yes, Hon Member for Old Tafo?

Dr Anthony Akoto Osei (Old Tafo --NPP)

Mr Speaker, the Hon Colleague who just spoke is asking you to direct the Ministries -- that is an Executive function. This is a programme that the President is required to present to us. If and when we approve of it, it is up to the Executive to implement it. The Chair cannot assume the power and direct the Ministries. However, we, as Members of Parliament, in our oversight responsibility, can begin to track the Ministries. But the Chair would be usurping the power of the Executive.
Mr Speaker, I do not know whether I ought to support the Motion to adopt the Report. By the time I finish, maybe, I would make up my mind because I am disturbed by a few things.
First of all, if you read the co-ordinated programme and the Committee's Report, that the GSGDA, II 2014 to 2017 is carved out of it, you would begin to ask if it is really carved out of it. Why do I say that?
Mr Speaker, I do not have the books here. But look at 2014 and 2015 in the document. It talks about the year 2014, that growth rate was above 8 per cent. The Hon Minister's budget talks about the growth rate of 4.2 per cent or 4.6 per cent. The Report is carved out of the document; at least, they should have the same numbers.
In the year 2015, the document talks about another 7 per cent or 8 per cent. The Minister gives us a budget, which talks about 3.9 per cent. Was it carved out of it or we are going in different directions? And this is what has been brought to Parliament, that we should adopt. So, whose should we take? The Minister's or the other one?
It is a big difficulty. Clearly, what is in the co-ordinated plan is way out of the window. And we are being asked to adopt the Report when we know it is false. What are we doing? We should ask them to revise the Report to make it consistent.
Mr Speaker, this is because we have already approved the Minister's budget which is carved out of that programme. And we are going to adopt a Report that implicitly approves what is coming? Whom are we fooling? If we want to take it serious, we need to think through it.
The two cannot be approved and we say we have approved the Report and those figures are correct. It is not good. We know both cannot be correct but we are going through a Motion to pretend that they both are--
Mr Speaker, Parliament must begin to take itself serious. That is why I am not sure I would want us to adopt it. I seem inclined to ask the Committee to go back and ask questions. When it came, the problem was fulfilling a constitutional

Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would want to quote

“During deliberations, concern was expressed on how to support the private sector, which is seen as the engine of growth. It came to the fore that, there are too many Government initiatives …”
So, if they are too many, why are we adopting the Report?
“…that are being implemented independently sometimes creating turf wars rather than inuring to the benefit of the country.”
That is the problem we have. They are
being very diplomatic, saying that there are wars. It is complete indiscipline and that is what we must curb.

Yes, I have the evidence; STX was not in the budget? Do not let me go there. This is serious. The Chairman of the NDPC has said it; the Committee has agreed and we are allowing it go. So, what happens is that, you have on the average, every Minister talking alone to somebody for 10 projects, completely unrelated to the budget and they would want us to push them. They would rush to the Speaker, the Clerk - “Oh, please, my programme”. You ask, “Is it in the budget? And it is not there. We are doing a lot of off-budgeting activities completely unrelated to what the President brings here.

As we speak, we have approved of the budget and I have heard several Ministries talking about “oh, a grant is coming, a loan is coming.” This has nothing to do with the budget. So, are we implementing the President's programme that he brings here or are we doing our own? What are we doing as a country?

The issue with the energy crisis is that it is not in the budget. It is not. What is in the budget is a Coordinated Programme to ensure that we have energy stability.

We have a crisis. So, we must have a mechanism to solve it. Then one would hear the Minister for Power saying that he is going to sign a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) and Parliament does not know of it. We did not approve it in the budget. But now, we hear that the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) is guaranteeing. We have not approved of GNPC's programmes and activities - further indiscipline.

If it is a national crisis, bring the issue here and let us debate it, so that at least, the people's representatives can support an effort to cure the short-term problem -- totally no coordination. Several Ministers I did not want to mention -- only the Minister for Power, several Ministers-- “Oh, soon we would do this”.

It is nowhere in the President's programme but Parliament, because it is a constitutional obligation, we write nice reports, we adopt it and say they should go and implement it. What are they implementing? Excuse my language, Mr Speaker; it is garbage; garbage in, garbage out! We ought to take ourselves serious. If the budget is a three-year carving out of the President's programme, let us see that there is alignment. Make sure and go through the details.

I have given you two examples - including the GDP growth rate - where there is no alignment between the budget and that. But we have approved the budget. So, now, should we be approving the coordinated plan or we are doing it because it is coming from the President? But the budget is also coming from the President.

So, what do we do? We have a serious dilemma. If we approve of both, where we know they are incorrect, we are making a big statement on ourselves. Maybe, we are just going through the Motions but I do not think that is what we want to do.

So Mr Speaker, I am really in a big dilemma. I think that maybe, we

should step down the Motion and ask the Committee to do something to reflect some of these inconsistencies. It is because of the constitutional obligation that we are going through this but we are asking them directly to go and review and come back. It will be a provisional kind of thing because it is not implementable.

Mr Speaker, they say the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme, on page 3; and with your permission ,I beg to quote:

“In responding to a question on the impact of an IMF programme, the Chairman of NDPC assured the Committee that an IMF installed package on the Coordinated Programmes would not affect the implementation …”

The IMF programme has nothing to do with this. It is a stabilisation programme that is being used to address an emergency. It has to have an impact on the programme. So, if the Committee accepts this, coming from the Chairman, who is my good Friend, I have a difficulty.

In fact, as we speak, we do not even know the content of the IMF programme. We are told that maybe, by April - and then we say that it will not affect it. It will. We have approved the budget, which is dead on arrival; the IMF programme will change it. The Minister says he will come back with a new budget and we are saying that it will not affect the programme.

Mr Speaker, already, it has affected it; why? The GDP growth cannot be 3.9 per cent because we have dumsor. For the next six months, output will fall, revenues will fall. So, to say that the IMF programme will not affect - is not right. In fact, the IMF is asking the Government to go and recalibrate the budget.

Recalibration here means go and change the numbers. So, Minister, if we do it properly, almost all the expenditures

that we have approved, would have to be revised.

It will affect the President's programme and we need to take cognisance of that. Let us not take these ones for granted. Such statements do not help us.

That is why I have a difficulty supporting the Motion. I have a serious difficulty.

Mr Speaker, this is a very important document, which is supposed to inform us from 2014 to 2020. Mr Speaker, in the year 2020, nobody can guarantee that they would be alive. But once we are alive today, let us do the proper thing; if it means spending more time to review it properly. It will inure to our interest.

Mr Agbesi

Mr Speaker, the Hon Member on the floor keeps on repeating his issues over and over. He has over- flogged the issue he is debating. We know that we are talking about the programme that we are to adopt. But my plea is that he is going over the same things. That is my plea, Mr Speaker.
If he can come into some sort of -

Mr First Deputy Speaker

Very well.
Hon Member, can you please wind up?

Yes, Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.

Debates of 13 Feb 2015

PRAYERS 10:30 a.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS 10:30 a.m.

COMMUNICATION FROM THE 10:30 a.m.

PRESIDENT 10:30 a.m.

OFFICE OF PARLIAMENT 10:30 a.m.

PARLIAMENT HOUSE 10:30 a.m.

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 10:30 a.m.

OF GHANA 10:30 a.m.

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:30 a.m.

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Mr Dominic B. A. Nitiwul 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Nitiwul 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Ahmed Ibrahim 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Afenyo-Markin 10:40 a.m.

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Mr Alfred K. Agbesi 10:40 a.m.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE 10:40 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.

Mr Justice Joe Appiah 10:40 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.

Mr J. J. Appiah 10:40 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.

Mr J. J. Appiah 10:50 a.m.

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Mr J. J. Appiah 10:50 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.

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Mr Agbesi 10:50 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu 10:50 a.m.

Mr Agbesi 10:50 a.m.

Mr Agyeman-Manu 10:50 a.m.

Mr Agbesi 10:50 a.m.

Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.

Mr Patrick Y. Boamah 10:50 a.m.

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Mr Boamah 10:50 a.m.

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Mr Boamah 10:50 a.m.

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Mr Boamah 10:50 a.m.

PRAYERS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

COMMUNICATION FROM THE

PRESIDENT

OFFICE OF PARLIAMENT

PARLIAMENT HOUSE

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

OF GHANA

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT

Mr Speaker

Mr Speaker

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Dominic B. A. Nitiwul

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Mr Nitiwul

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Mr Ahmed Ibrahim

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

Mr Speaker

Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Afenyo-Markin

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Mr Alfred K. Agbesi

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

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Mr Justice Joe Appiah

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Mr J. J. Appiah

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Mr J. J. Appiah

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Mr J. J. Appiah

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Mr Agbesi

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Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu

Mr Agbesi

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Mr Agbesi

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Mr Patrick Y. Boamah

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Mr Boamah

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