Debates of 17 Mar 2015

MR SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:35 a.m.
ANNOUNCEMENTS 10:35 a.m.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE 10:35 a.m.
PRESIDENT 10:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
Hon Members, Com- munication from the Office of the President.
“16th March, 2015
RT. HON. SPEAKER
OFFICE OF PARLIAMENT 10:35 a.m.
STATE HOUSE 10:35 a.m.
Minister and Deputy Ministers-designate 10:35 a.m.
1. Mr Alexander Percival Segbefia -- Minister for Health
2. Hon Kwabena Mintah Akandoh -- Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
3. Mr Samuel Yaw Adusei -- Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing
4. Mr Kenneth Gilbert Adjei -- Deputy Minister for Defence

Furthermore, I have also nominated, in accordance with article 256 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, Mr Peter Anarfi-Mensah as Ashanti Regional Minister-designate.

Kindly accept, Rt Honourable, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(Sgd.) JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 10:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
Hon Members, the Communication is referred to the Appointments Committee.
Two Ministers and three Deputy Ministers.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:35 a.m.
Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of the Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 13th March, 2015, and the Official Report of 11th March, 2015.
  • [No correction was made to the Votes and Proceedings of Friday, 13th March, 2015]
  • [No correction was made to the Official Report of Wednesday, 11th March, 2015]
    • Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
    Hon Members, Question time.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
    Mr Alfred K. Agbesi 10:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, there is an Urgent Question to be answered by the Hon Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing and I would want to seek your permission for the Hon Deputy Minister to answer the Question on behalf of the Hon Minister, who is currently on an assignment outside Accra.
    Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, did I hear the Hon Deputy Majority Leader well when he said that the Hon Minister is outside Accra?
    Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
    He did not say that. What he said was that he was seeking permission for the Hon Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing to answer the Question on behalf of the Hon Minister. I do not know whether-- I did not hear him adding more words to that.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, what did you say?
    Mr Agbesi 10:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rose to seek your permission for the Hon Deputy Minister to answer the Question on behalf of the Hon Minister.
    Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
    Hon Minority Leader?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, there should be an ascribed reason; so, what is the reason?
    Mr Speaker 10:35 a.m.
    That is a legitimate point.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, they want to know where the substantive Minister is.
    Mr Agbesi 10:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the information is that the Hon Minister is currently out of Accra. So, Mr Speaker, we are asking permission for the Hon Deputy Minister to answer the Question.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, to be honest, I know where the Hon Minister is but I will not pursue it. I think the Hon Deputy Minister is competent to answer the Question. But as regards where the Hon Minister is, I know. So, we will still not put any impediments in the way of the Hon Deputy Minister.
    Mr Speaker 10:45 a.m.
    Very well.
    Hon Deputy Minister?
    We will start with the Urgent Question standing in the name of the Hon Member for Akim Swedru.
    URGENT QUESTION 10:45 a.m.
    Mr K. N. Osei 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Deputy Minister if he is aware that a similar situation happened a year ago and the same answer was given by the Regional Engineer and I had to cough out money from my own pocket to buy three genuine brand new pumps for them to fix in the area.
    Mr Speaker 10:45 a.m.
    Hon Kennedy Osei, is it about the taking of money from your pocket or the incident? If it is the incident, I will call him to answer, but if it is the taking money from your pocket, nobody can know when an Hon Member takes money from his pocket. So, can you please, re-phrase the question?
    Mr K. N. Osei 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am just trying to draw his attention, because that has been the attitude of the Regional Manager. When it happened, I drove to him and explained the situation to him. They told me procurement was in the process. That was about a year and a half ago. Looking at the situation, how terrible it was, I had to find the means to provide them. And now, the thing is damaged.
    So, I would like to find out whether his Ministry was aware of this situation when it happened a year ago.
    Mr Ahi 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to commend my Hon Colleague for generously contributing to repairing the damaged pumps.
    The Ministry became aware of that incident in September and that is why processes have been initiated to get the pumps restored.
    Thank you.
    Mr K. N. Osei 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker. I would like to find out from the Hon Deputy Minister if his Ministry would consider handing over the management of this community-based water system to the people of Akim Swedru. I ask this based on the premise --
    Mr Speaker 10:45 a.m.
    Hon Deputy Minister?
    Mr Ahi 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is the practice at the moment. All community water systems are managed by the various District Assemblies and the communities in which the facilities exist. So, as we speak, the system is under the management of the District Assembly and the community.
    Mr Speaker 10:45 a.m.
    Hon Member, your last supplementary question.
    Mr K. N. Osei 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, according to the Answer given by the Hon Deputy Minister, he has assured the people of Akim Swedru that by the 15th of April of this year, they will fix it.
    Mr Ahi 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, all things being equal, by 15th April, the system will be restored.
    Mr Speaker 10:45 a.m.
    Hon Members, we move to the subsequent Questions. We will take Question number 293, standing in the name of the Hon Member for Takoradi [Pause] -- [Pause]

    Hon Members, Question number 368, standing in the name of the Hon Member for Asunafo North.
    ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 10:45 a.m.
    MINISTRY OF WATER 10:45 a.m.
    RESOURCES, WORKS AND HOUSING 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Sarfo-Mensah 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker.,when the Hon Deputy Minister says that it is about 99 per cent complete, I do not understand, because the drainage works start from the Mim-Bediako main road.
    I was in Mim last week. I visited the site and the works are nowhere near the main road yet. There are even some wooden structures very close to the drainage works, and if the works were to be completed, it would require that these wooden structures are pulled down.
    So, I wonder what the Hon Deputy Minister means by “99 per cent”, unless the Hon Deputy Minister is telling the people of Mim that the scope of work does not include the drainage works reaching the Mim Bediako main road. What does the Hon Deputy Minister mean by “99 per cent complete”?
    Thank you.
    Mr Ahi 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the entire stretch is 640 metres, and concrete works have been completed. What is left to be done is filling along the stretch, and that is what I mean by “99 per cent of the work is completed.”
    Mr Sarfo-Mensah 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, in the Hon Deputy Minister's Answer, he said the backfilling would be done this year.
    The people of Mim would like to know specifically what time during the year that the backfilling would be done.
    Mr Ahi 10:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Ministry is now collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to secure funding. As soon as funding is secured, we will start the filling.
    Mr Sarfo-Mensah 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, so, is the Hon Deputy Minister assuring this House and the people of Mim that by the end of this year, 31st December, the Mim- Feteagya drainage works would have been completed?
    Mr Ahi 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the project is very dear to the heart of the Ministry. Efforts will be made to execute the remaining aspects of the project.
    Thank you.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Question number 369, the Hon Member for Asante Akim South?
    Mr William Owuraku Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have been asked by my Hon Colleague, Mr Kwaku Asante-Boateng to ask this Question on his behalf, with your permission.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Question number 369.
    Mr W. O. Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    What did you say? I want to hear what you said.
    Mr W. O. Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Should I repeat what I said? [Laughter,]
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Yes.
    Mr W. O. Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, is this a trap?
    My Hon Colleague is indisposed. Mr Speaker, may I ask the Question on his behalf?
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    That is not the grounds for asking Questions on behalf of somebody who is indisposed.
    He said his Hon Colleague is indisposed and he wants to ask the Question on his behalf. That is not what our rules say.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Very well.
    Ungrade of Juaso Water Supply System
    Q.369. Mr Willilam Owuraku Aidoo (on behalf of Mr Kwaku Asante-Boateng) asked the Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing when the Juaso water supply system would be upgraded to befit its status as the district capital of the Asante Akim South.
    Mr Sampson Ahi 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Juaso piped system was completed in 2002 for a projected population of 12,279 by
    2015.
    In line with the existing regulations, the water system was handed over to the District Assembly and the Water and Sanitation Management Team for operation, maintenance and expansion.
    Mr Speaker, now that we are in 2015, the District Assembly, with the Water and Sanitation Management Team, is expected to undertake the expansion of the water system.
    Mr W. O. Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Deputy Minister, if indeed, he is aware of the fact that the upgrading work has actually started. This is because he said they were expected to -- I would like to know from the Hon Deputy Minister if he is aware of the process which have been initiated.
    Mr Ahi 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I will take my Hon Colleague's words because it is the duty of the Assembly and the manage- ment of the system to undertake expansion works. So, if they have started the process, I will not doubt him.
    Mr W. O. Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Deputy Minister if his Ministry has been monitoring the work of the District Assembly vis-a-vis this water system.
    Mr Ahi 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Ministry has an oversight responsibility over all the systems. But day-to-day management of the systems are entirely in the hands of the various District Assemblies and the communities involved.
    Mr W. O. Aidoo 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I do not think the Hon Deputy Minister answered my question. I just wanted to know if the Ministry has a plan, a system in place, which monitors the various District Assemblies as far as the water project, which his Ministry has built and passed on to the Distr ict Assemblies for management -- whether they have a system in the Ministry for monitoring.
    Mr Ahi 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, yes, we have our regional offices which are in charge and complement the efforts of the Assemblies in monitoring the activities of the systems and the management teams.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Hon Members, that brings us to the end of --
    Yes?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, we got in touch with the Hon Member for Takoradi, and he indicated that he has been caught up in traffic; he has been trying to wriggle himself out but it has been difficult. So, we ask --
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Hon Minority Leader, I am granting his request because of the respect I have for your office. This is because if he is an Hon Member of this House -- the Business Statement has been presented to this House, and then he is caught in traffic -- there is a procedure. That was why we allowed the Hon Member to ask that Question on
    behalf of the Hon Member who was indisposed. What he had to do was to alert an Hon Member to ask the Question on his behalf. But when I called the Question, nobody was on his feet.
    I am allowing this to be done because of the respect I have for your office. But this is the last time I will allow this to happen on the floor of the House. When a Question is called and the Hon Member is not there -- just as the House is unhappy when Hon Ministers do not come to answer Questions -- The same principle applies to an Hon Member who has a Question and knows that from the Business Statement , his Question will be advertised.
    When the Question was called, nobody was on his feet. But for the respect for your office, I will allow somebody to ask the Question on his behalf.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:55 a.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Mr Speaker, that is the reason I was craving your indulgence.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    I am sure the Hon Member did not even alert you. I know you are very diligent. If he did, I know you would have taken steps for somebody to ask the Question.
    We will allow it to happen. But please, inform them that in future, we will not allow it.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is so. I called him and he said -- I think there is an accident, and he has been held up in traffic for close to two hours.
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    Very well; no problem
    -- 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:55 a.m.
    The Hon Member for Effia --
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    We will continue with Question number 293.
    Yes, Hon Member, you have the floor.
    Mr Joseph Cudjoe 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. I have been instructed by the Hon Member for Takoradi --
    Mr Speaker 10:55 a.m.
    You go ahead and ask the Question. The Hon Minority Leader has already done the work for you. [Laughter.]
    Repair of overhead water tank (Upper New Takoradi)
    Q.293. Mr Joseph Cudjoe (on behalf of Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah) asked the Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing when the overhead water tank at Upper New Takoradi would be repaired to supply water to the people of New Takoradi.
    Mr Ahi 10:55 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, water supply to the entire Takoradi metropolis, including New Takoradi, is from the GWCL Water Treatment Plant at Daboase, which is located about 28 kilometres off the Takoradi-Cape Coast Highway.
    To serve New Takoradi, which is located at a relatively high elevation compared with the Takoradi town, water is pumped from the booster station on the shoulders of New Takoradi, into an elevated Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) tank of 33,000 gallons capacity located at Upper New Takoradi.
    Mr Speaker, the GRP tank collapsed in 2007 and was rehabilitated in 2008, using galvanised steel as its supporting columns. It has been in use since then.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Yes, Hon Member, your supplementary question.
    Mr Cudjoe 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like the Hon Deputy Minister to give the people of New Takoradi an assurance in terms of time lines, when the repair work - - [Interruptions] -- when water would actually flow through their pipes. As it is now, that is not the situation.
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think the tank is being used as we speak.
    What I said was that the tank collapsed in 2007, and it was rehabilitated in 2008. It has since been in use.
    Mr Cudjoe 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, is the Hon Deputy Minister aware that water does not flow through their tanks as we speak?
    Even though he says the tank has been rehabilitated, water is still not flowing. Is he aware of this?
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Hon Members, there are two issues -- the repair of the tank, which is the subject matter of your Question.
    He says it has been repaired since 2008. It is different from water not flowing through their pipes. The Question was
    -- 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think the issue here is that Sekondi-Takoradi, on a daily basis, requires 7.5 million gallons. At the moment, there are key deficits, but the tank is in use as we speak today.
    If the Hon Member is talking about insufficient supply of water to the communities, then that is a different issue. But the tank, which has 33,000 gallons capacity, is in active service to the people.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Hon Member, when was the last time you were in New Takoradi?
    Mr Cudjoe 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I came from there this morning.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Very well. [Laughter.]
    Hon Member, any supplementary question? You have one supplementary question left.
    Are you alright? Very well.
    Hon Minority Leader?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, just to indicate to the Hon Deputy Minister -- I guess they would require a booster, because that place is elevated and the water flow is not the best. So, maybe, they may want to take that into consideration.
    But Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister indicates to us that for New Takoradi, they have a tank which holds 33,000 gallons capacity to supply potable water to that section of Takoradi.
    Mr Speaker, to what population is this 33,000 gallons required to serve? This is because it is certainly on the low side. So, to what population is this 33, 000 required to serve in New Takoradi?
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Hon Minority Leader, do you want to know the population?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Question is on the repair of the equipment to supply water to the people. Of course, if water is being supplied, you would calculate the per capita usage. That is why I am asking the Hon Deputy Minister, the population it is intended to serve.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Hon Deputy Minister?
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, what I can say is that the entire Sekondi/Takoradi requires 7.5 million gallons on a daily basis to adequately serve the water needs of the people. But that arrangement in New Takoradi is just to boost the supply of water to the people around the place.
    But efforts are being made -- We also know that there are extreme deficits in Sekondi-Takoradi with regard to water supply, but again, efforts are being made to address the problem.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Question number 367.
    Yes, Hon Member for Okaikwoi Central?
    Drains in Busoso Town (Construction)
    Q.367. Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah (on behalf of Mr Kofi Okyere-Agyekum) asked the Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing when drains would be constructed in the Busoso town to stop the yearly flooding of Busoso.
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hydrological Services Department has been tasked by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to carry out survey works and design of a drainage system including cost estimates for Busoso.
    Mr Speaker, this is to provide the Ministry with the requisite information for consideration in its development budget for 2016.
    Mr Boamah 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to find out from the Hon Deputy Minister, whether the Ministry has any interim measures to forestall the yearly
    occurrences in anticipation of the estimates that he has told this House about.
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, yes, we are considering it under this year's Flood Relief Control Programme.
    Mr Boamah 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to find out how much has been put into the Flood Relief Control Programme that he has spoken about, to ensure that adequate resources are made available to that flood relief agency or group.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Hon Member, the Hon Minister is talking about 2016 -- Very well.
    Hon Deputy Minister?
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, in 2015, the Ministry budgeted for GH¢3 million to undertake desilting and flood relief programmes. These would be considered when we start the exercise.
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Yes, Hon Member, your last supplementary question.
    Mr Boamah 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, can the Hon Deputy Minister give the people of Busoso a firm assurance that they would have their fair share of the GH¢ 3 million that was budgeted for those works?
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, subject to the release of the GH¢ 3 million budgeted for that project, they would be considered.
    rose
    Mr Speaker 11:05 a.m.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Whip?
    Mr Awuah 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister said in his Answer that in the interim, they would be put under
    Mr Ahi 11:05 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, they would be considered under the desilting programme to allow water to flow, until we have a proper programme to construct the drainage.
    Thank you.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Last question. Hon Member for Bekwai?
    Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to find out from my Hon Friend and brother-in-law, Hon Ahi, whether disilting --
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Please, mention his title even if he is your brother-in-law.
    Mr Osei-Owusu 11:15 a.m.
    Sorry.
    I would want to know from the Hon Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing whether the disilting of drains in the communities is the business of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development or the business of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in the community.
    Mr Ahi 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, to the best of my knowledge, we collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to undertake that exercise.
    Thank you.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Hon Member, is he your brother-in-law? [Laughter.]
    Hon Deputy Minister, thank you very much for attending upon the House to respond to Questions from Hon Members.
    Mr Agbesi 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, there are some Papers to be presented as captured in item numbered (6). With your kind permission, if we can take item numbered (6).
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Very well.
    Are the Papers ready to be presented?
    Mr Agbesi 11:15 a.m.
    That is so.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Very well.
    Hon Members, at the Commencement of Public Business, item numbered (6) -- Presentation of Papers, item number 6 (a) (i) by the Hon Majority Leader and Leader of the House.
    Mr Agbesi 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would want to lay the Paper on behalf of the Hon Majority Leader.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Very well.
    PAPERS 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Agbesi 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your permission and indulgence of my Hon Colleagues, we would want to seek permission for the Hon Deputy Minister for Defence to lay the Paper on behalf of his Hon Minister who is currently out of the jurisdiction.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Hon Minority Leader?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I agree.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Very well.
    By the Deputy Minister for Defence (Mr Alex P. Segbefia) (on behalf of the Minister for Defence) --
    Purchase Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and AirBus Defence and Space S.A.U. for the acquisition of one (1) C-295 CASA Aircraft and related equipment at an estimated cost of #33,325,126.00 under the Credit Facility Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and VTB Capital plc, London (as Arranger and Facility Agent) for an amount of Three Hundred million United States Dollars (US$300 million) for the Ghana Armed Forces peacekeeping efforts undertaken by
    the United Nations Organisation and other agreed uses.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I do not have anything against it and I am awaiting your referral.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    I have done that.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    All right.
    Mr Speaker, just to emphasise that, we have seen this before in this House, that is, the purchase of aircraft. To avoid any controversies, we would want the details of this to be made available to the relevant Committee. We do not want any rush work as far as this matter is concerned.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Hon Member, you agree that it should be referred to the Committee on Defence and Interior Committee? That is the Committee I referred it to.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am just indicating that given what we witnessed earlier, which occasioned the setting up of the committee by the Presidency, the status of which committee is unknown, we would want further and better particulars relating to this to be made available to the committee for diligent work to be conducted. Every bolt and knot should be made available.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Are you doubting the committee's capacity to do a good work?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am just sounding a note of caution.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    This is because at this stage, we leave it with the committee, when the committee brings the report and the House is not satisfied, then we would raise all the issues that we want to raise on the floor of the House. So, let us allow the Committee to do its work and I believe
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, borrowing a leave from the Chair, I guess it would be considered as a strategic intervention.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    No! It is not. I am only guiding.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    As you said, my intervention should be considered --
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Very well, strategic.
    6 (c) -- [Pause.] Is this Report ready?
    Who is the Chairman?
    Mr Agbesi 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am aware Hon Prof. is the Chairman of the Committee unless otherwise.
    Mr Speaker 11:15 a.m.
    Who is the Chairman, Hon Minority Leader?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, it was supposed to be Hon Dominic Azumah, the Chairman for the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development but he is not here and a lot of the work was done by Hon Prof. Gyan- Baffour.
    By Prof. George Y. Gyan-Baffour (on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee)
    -- 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Agbesi 11:15 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Chieftaincy (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was at the Second Reading stage when we had to put it off
    for today. So, if the Bill can be taken now for the debate to be concluded and the Question put. Item number (7).
    Mr Speaker 11:25 a.m.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, based on the briefing that I got this morning from the Leaders, including your goodself, my understanding is that, whatever challenge it is, can be cured at the Consideration Stage of the Bill, when we are looking at the amendments to know better rendition. Unless there is something that somebody seriously wants to raise and may want to put the Question now, so that we can get the proper rendition that would be captured in the Bill at the Consideration Stage.
    What do you say to that Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
    Mr Agbesi 11:25 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, we have just spoken to the Hon Chairman of the Committee. It appears that we do not have much to say at this stage as you are directing. So, we can go on and then get to the Consideration Stage.
    Mr Speaker 11:25 a.m.
    Hon Minority Leader, I am suggesting that we put the Question, so that at the Consideration Stage, we look at the proper rendition that will satisfy all the concerns that have been raised on the floor of the House.
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:25 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I believe the House was in agreement as far as the principle underpinning that amendment is concerned. What stalled it was the fact that, there was dispute over whether the Attorney-General's Depart- ment had submitted a second proposition to the Committee.
    The Hon Ranking Member expressed the position that the second letter that the Hon Chairman of the Committee was branding was unknown to him. We were all in agreement that the principle

    underpinning the amendment was appreciated. So, I believe that the Question could be put and then we can look at the formulation of the provision that the amendment is seeking to insert into the Act.
    Mr Speaker 11:25 a.m.
    Hon Members, thank you very much.
    We will now put the Question but I will urge that, in order to avoid any problem, the rendition should be looked at during winnowing before it is filed, so that we do not waste too much time on this small matter on the floor of the House.
    Hon Members, I will now put the Question. Item number 7 -- Motions.
    BILLS -- SECOND READING 11:25 a.m.
  • [Resumption of debate from 13-3- 2015]
    • Mr Speaker 11:25 a.m.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
    Mr Agbesi 11:25 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the President's Message on the State of the Nation is before the House for continuation of the debate. If we can go to that item, with your permission, item number 9.
    Mr Speaker 11:25 a.m.
    Hon Members, item number 9 on the Order Paper -- Motions.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, are we starting from the --
    Mr Agbesi 11:25 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, from the Minority side.
    Mr Speaker 11:25 a.m.
    Very well.
    Hon Owusu-Aduomi?
    MOTIONS 11:25 a.m.
  • [Resumption of debate from 12-3- 2015.]
    • Mr Kwabena Owusu-Aduomi (NPP -- Ejisu) 11:25 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity granted me to contribute to the debate on the President's State of the Nation Address.
    Mr Speaker, the President spent time and energy to talk about roads in his Address and even mentioned roads whose lengths have been found to be less than five kilometres for upgrading and rehabilitation to bituminous surface, without telling the House what the present state of our roads are.
    Mr Speaker, the President does not seem to have been briefed well on what the problems are on our roads. That was why he was enthusiastic on naming roads, region by region and later at the end, remarked in the last paragraph under roads, page 47 and I beg to quote:
    “… all these roads are bituminous surfacing, and not regravelling.”
    Mr Speaker, not all the roads mentioned in his Address were supposed to be bituminous surface. Mr Speaker, the spot improvement works are not bituminous surface.
    Mr Speaker, as at the end of December 2008, about 80 per cent of our road network of over 67,200 kilometres remained in the gravelled state. But because of adequate and timely maintenance ensured by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration, Mr Speaker, most of these roads were motorable all year round and facilitated the growth of the economy, especially agriculture. So, it is not that when you tar the road, it is the panacea to the problem that we have on our road network.
    MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
    Hon Member, you have one minute to go.
    Mr Owusu-Aduomi 11:35 a.m.
    Thank you Mr Speaker.
    You pay huge sums of money on fluctuation and as a result, Government is paying moneys for no work done. That is the true state of the nation.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, the procurement and implementation of our road projects are poorly managed and the awards of new projects ought to be severely controlled to enable improve- ment in the funding of the ongoing projects to facilitate early completion of all the 864 projects that are ongoing. Why do we have to add new ones to worsen the plight of Ghanaians to further slow down these ongoing projects?
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you sincerely for your --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:35 a.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Dr Alhassan Ahmed Yakubu.
    Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan (NDC -- Mion) 11:35 a.m.
    Thank you very much Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the debate, to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic for delivering the State of the Nation Address and to support the Motion ably moved by Hon Ablakwa Samuel Okudzeto.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to start by stating that the State of the Nation Address was simple, delivered by a humble President, very detailed, travelled through the nook and cranny of the country and indeed, there was something for everybody, whoever and wherever you are. Simply put, the State of the Nation Address was brilliant.
    I would want to state also that, the fact that some Ghanaians are not satisfied with the State of the Nation Address itself, is part of the state of the nation that whatever it is that is stated, you do not expect
    everybody to be happy with what is said even by the President of the Republic.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to debate this issue focussing on the agricultural sector and to state emphatically that, under President Mahama's watch and indeed, the NDC Government's watch, agriculture is on the rise.
    Mr Speaker, the sector grew by less than one per cent in 2011 and went up to 2.3 per cent in 2012, 5.2 per cent in 2013, and provisionally put at 5.3 per cent in 2014. This is a sector that is growing.
    Mr Speaker, it would be good to make some comparison, using specific commodities that constitute our food security crops, so that the issue can be put in context.
    Between 2002 and 2007, cassava in this country grew by negative-0.3 per cent, maize grew by negative -2.0 per cent, rice grew by negative -3.9 per cent, and beans grew by negative -0.2 per cent.
    Mr Speaker, between 2008 and 2013, cassava grew on average at seven per cent, maize grew on average three per cent, rice grew on average nine per cent and beans grew on average three per cent.
    Mr Speaker, this growth in the last five years, clearly, is guaranteeing our food security as a country and it is important that we appreciate this as being the true state of our country when it comes to food security.
    Mr Speaker, under President Mahama's watch, 2014 was dedicated to mobilising the human and material resources of this country to support the production of crops that would stop us from using hard earned foreign exchange to import the same crops that we have the competitive and the comparative advantage to
    produce in this country. These included rice, tomato, poultry, fish and cooking oil, what was referred to as the “gang of five” in agricultural terms.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to state that some successes have been achieved because an aggressive programme was put in place to mobilise the country to support the r ice production programme -- Collaboration Export Trade Agricultural and Industrial Development (EDIAF) and Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Trade and Industry, et cetera.
    How did this happen? It happened by expanding and building more irrigation facilities, improving technology adaption and increased mechanisation. Mr Speaker, domestic rice production is increasing year by year. By 2011, this country produced 319,000 metric tonnes of milled rice, in 2012, 332,000 metric tonnes, in 2013, 393,000 metric tonnes and in 2014, provisionally put at 417 metric tonnes.
    Mr Speaker, clearly, all these growth in the rice production sector is what is making the President to state emphatically that the rice import bill reduced between 2013 and 2014 by 41 per cent and reducing from USD 467 million in 2013 to USD 275.1 million in 2014.
    Mr Speaker, the local rice that is now being produced by Ghanaians is currently being consumed by Ghanaians. I know many off- takers who are all over the place, who are looking for local rice to mill, so that they can send it to the market.
    Mr Speaker, poultry production is on the increase. As of 2012, this country generated 57,000 metric tonnes of poultry. In 2013, 63,000 metric tonnes and 2014, provisionally put at 68,500 metric tonnes.
    Clearly, if you look at the import side in 2011, this country imported 87,409 metric tonnes of poultry. In 2012, it went down to 75,160 metric tonnes; in 2013, it went down to 60,786 metric tonnes. That is exactly why the import bill on poultry has reduced by 30 per cent from USD 208 million to USD 149 million. This is the true state of agriculture in our country and this is the President who acts on his word by mobilising the resources of the country to support his brilliant programmes, so that our agricultural sector could be growing from time to time.
    Mr Speaker, tomato was the next crop that we spent so much to import and the analysis of the tomato production system clearly indicates that there is the need for a complete revolution in the production system of tomatoes.
    To change the production environ- ment, that is exactly why up to 150 envirodrums are being imported into the country, so that the production environment can change and then we can have safety and quality guarantee for tomato consumers within the country. This would definitely affect vegetables as well.
    Mr Speaker, on the irrigation front, the Tolon and Vea Irrigation facilities in the Upper East Region and others are to be visited by massive --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Dr Alhassan 11:45 a.m.
    Thank you very much Mr Speaker.
    As I speak to you today, 10,000 hectares of land are being engineered in the Nabogu-Nasia Valley to be put to rice production. The Akomadan Irrigation facility is going to have 60 hectares of
    Dr Alhassan 11:45 a.m.


    land added on through a Korean grant facility. The Rice Sector Support Programme has put in another 6,000 hectares of land for rice production. In 2014 alone, nine irrigation facilities have been given out as contracts to be rehabilitated across the country. All these resources are being mobilised to support rice production, so that we would not spend expensive dollars or foreign cash importing rice into the country.

    Mr Speaker, 35,000 hectares of irrigable land have been added to our irrigation stock and that is to improve production for the future. All these efforts would mean nothing if as a country and as citizens, we keep our taste in foreign agriculture, while we call on domestic agriculture to grow and that is exactly why we have to eat what we grow.

    We must be proud of our own; we must be proud of fresh poultry generated in Ghana and we should consume it with pride, so that our agricultural economy can grow.

    Mr Speaker, for instance, the generation of high quality cassava flour can substitute up to 75 per cent of wheat flour in spongy cakes. It is possible that 50 per cent can also be substituted in cakes and cookies, 25 per cent in doughnuts and spaghetti, 100 per cent in chips and 20 per cent in bread. If we can do all these, clearly, it would act as a pull on production system, so that we could really get our agricultural business to grow.

    I believe that local poultry would definitely be fresh and can be traced to the farmer, the off-taker and that is why we need not find excuses to condemn our local produce but to ensure that we can consume our own products with a lot of pride. Let us be proud of our own.

    Mr Speaker, shea butter travelled through this same --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up.
    Dr Alhassan 11:45 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I do believe that if we could apply ourselves and eat what we grow, the agricultural economy of this country would be helped and all of us would be in good business.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:45 a.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is the turn of Hon Dr Appiah-Kubi.
    Dr Kojo Appiah-Kubi (NPP -- Atwima Kwanwoma) 11:45 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to comment on the Motion on the floor.
    Before I move on, let me make a few remarks on my Hon Colleague who assessed that the agricultural sector is doing well. In 2008, the agricultural sector grew by 7.4 per cent and we are now growing by 5.2 per cent.
    In 2015, it is supposed to grow by 2.9 per cent. We would have expected the Deputy Minister to tell us how he intends to reverse this declining trend instead of just doing his propaganda of upward growth in the agricultural sector.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to talk about the so-called transformation agenda of the President. He tells us of a transformation agenda that he has, a vision to transform the structure of the economy through diversification and value addition to primary products.
    He even talked about a transformation agenda on page eight and by extension, the President accepts industrialisation as a precondition for the economic transformation of this country. What is more striking and that shows how the
    transformation agenda of the President is failing, is that this country is experiencing a massive de-industria- lisation, especially in the manufacturing sector.
    The manufacturing sector is losing manufacturing capacity, especially under President Mahama. Let us talk about the factors that can be used to measure the manufacturing capacity. Let us look at the growth of the manufacturing sector. In 2011, the manufacturing sector grew by 17 per cent. It then took a declining trend when in 2012, it grew by 2 per cent; in 2013, by 0.6 per cent; 2014 by 8 per cent and in 2015, we can expect the worst.
    This shows how the transformation agenda of the President is failing and indeed, President Mahama is failing in this direction.
    Mr Speaker, let us look at another factor that can be used to measure the success of this transformation agenda, and that is the manufacturing value added and the production in the manufacturing sector. Between 2006 and 2014, the manufacturing value added -- manufacturing GDP has declined from 10.2 per cent to less than 5 per cent.
    Today, manufacturing accounts for just 5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country and this is a further indication of how the transformation agenda of President Mahama is failing.
    Let us also look at employment trends as a measure of the success of the transformation agenda. The manufac- turing sector, which by all indications, is supposed to absorb labour from transforming agricultural sector, is rather shedding off labour and employment. Today, youth employment is about 12.9
    per cent of the total employment of this country and has grown from 6.6 per cent. Even the new hiring intentions, which is a proxy of employment and is measured by the Bank of Ghana, which uses advertisement of the Daily Graphic. Over this period under President Mahama, these new hiring intentions have declined from 6,504 to about 1,477 and that is also a further indication that President Mahama and his transformation agenda are failing miserably.
    Mr Speaker, let us also use invest- ments; how far investment is going into the manufacturing sector and how far President Mahama is investing in infrastructure. Indeed, we are receiving huge sums of investments but they all go into the oil and gas sector and less and less is going into the manufacturing sector, which is supposed to be the engine of growth and absorb the labour and unemployed youth of this country. It is quite unfortunate that we and the President do not recognise that.
    Mr Speaker, let us also look at credit as the measure of the success of the transformation agenda of the President. Credit to the manufacturing sector has fallen to such a low ebb that it should be of concern to any person who is looking at the economic growth of this country.
    Today, less than 8 per cent of the total credit goes to the manufacturing sector and it has fallen from 21.4 per cent in 2004. This should be of grave concern to anybody looking at the economic growth of this country and it is also a cause of concern. It shows that President Mahama is failing and his transformation agenda is also failing miserably.
    But what are the causes, Mr Speaker? The major cause of the causes of the rising de-industrialisation trend of this country can be attributed to --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Dr Appiah-Kubi 11:55 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    The major causes can be attributed largely to policy shortfalls of the Govern- ment, which manifest themselves in lack of clear cut government industrialisation policy and prioritisation of government goals, lack of consistency, continuity and lack of political commitment in the pursuit of government policies.
    Mr Speaker, is it not ironic that this country prepared an industrialisation policy with a roadmap in 2011, which was commissioned with pomp by the Hon Minister for Trade and Industry? This industrialisation policy did not earn any mention in the Budget Statement. Neither did it earn any mention in the President's State of the Nation Address.
    Is it a wonder? It is no wonder that the industrialisation policy of President Mahama is failing.
    Mr Speaker, it must be said clear and loud that the manufacturing sector is being strangulated by President Mahama and the sooner the Government recognised that its transformation agenda has failed, the better.
    With these few words, Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Nii Armah Ashietey.
    [NII ASHIETEY]Nii Armah Ashietey (NDC -- Klottey Korle): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the State of the Nation Address and to thank and congratulate His Excellency, the President for coming to this august House to make the presentation.
    Mr Speaker, the Message that was given by His Excellency the President was very rich and detailed, and the delivery was splendid. The Message gives the indication that a lot of things are happening. Lots of works are going on in the various sectors of our economy -- in the education sector, in the health sector, roads infrastructure -- But of course, depending on where one is coming from, it is said nothing is happening.
    I am from the Klottey Korle Constituency. I am excited looking at the Ridge Hospital, which is being expanded. This is a hospital for the Greater Accra Region and for many years, it has never seen any renovation. We can talk about the Police Hospital, the Military Hospital in Kumasi and the University of Ghana Teaching Hospital. These are developments that are ongoing.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to restrict my contribution to transport and more especially, to shipping.
    God has blessed this country with a long stretch of coastline. We have the Tema and the Takoradi Harbours. These are two harbours which are playing important roles in the import and export trade of this country. These ports were constructed to take in conventional vessels and over the years, they have played their roles appropriately.
    However, Mr Speaker, international shipping trade has changed considerable over the years and today, we are talking about large vessels, containers, bulk carriers and ro ro vessels. These are things that we need to look at and that is why I am happy that we are going to make
    investments in the Tema and Takoradi Ports in terms of construction of breakwater, deep draft, berths, quays and jetties, to allow the ports to take on large vessels, the bulk carriers, the ro ros and the tankers. These would allow for the fast discharge of bulk cargoes, manganese, bauxite, cement, clinker and the rest of it.
    Mr Speaker, I am happy with the expansion programme currently taking place at the Ports of Tema and Takoradi. These, no doubt, make our ports more competitive and contribute substantially to the national economy by bringing in foreign exchange.
    Mr Speaker, the provision of railway to link Tema Port and Boankra Inland Port is long overdue. The Boankra Inland Port is stalled because there is no railway line between the Tema Port and Boankra Inland Port.
    The project -- railway to the northern part of Ghana to connect the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger must be pursued vigorously to enhance the competitiveness of the Tema Port for it to become the preferred choice for shippers in the landlocked countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
    We must not forget that we are in a competitive world and are competing with countries like Togo, la Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria and therefore --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:55 a.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes --
    Nii Ashietey: Therefore, we have to provide the basic infrastructure to make the ports more competitive and attractive. The expectation is that Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the Ghana Shippers Authority will work together to
    make the railway link between Tema, Boankra and northern Ghana a reality.
    It is worthy of note that improvement is being made in transportation on the Volta Lake to move goods and services from the southern part to the northern part of the country and vice versa. The procurement of passenger and cargo ferries for the Volta Lake Company is a decision in the right direction.
    Mr Speaker, steps must be taken, however, to create safe navigational channels on the Lake. These channels must be dredged and marked with the appropriate buoys to ensure safe navigation on the Lake.
    Steps must also be taken to remove the stumps from the Volta Lake. These stumps have become danger to safe navigation and have contributed to some of the fatal accidents on the Lake.
    In conclusion, Mr Speaker, shipping has the greatest potential to generate substantial amounts of foreign exchange to support our national economy.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:05 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, Hon Kwasi Ameyaw- Cheremeh now has the floor.
    Mr Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh (NPP -- Sunyani East) 12:05 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak to the Motion to thank His Excellency the President for the Message on the State of the Nation he delivered to this House on 26 th February, 2015.
    Mr Speaker, last year, the President, in the performance of the same constitutional duty, appeared before this House. And on page 19 of his Address, this is what he had to tell the people of Ghana:
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:05 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 12:05 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, if the President now sees that he is interested in composting, we would hold him accountable to that.
    Mr Speaker, in 2013, the President gave a directive to all the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to undertake street naming and property addressing. Mr Speaker, huge sums of the taxpayers' money have been sunk into this project. But there is little to show in terms of results.
    The President gave all the District Assemblies up to last year September to finish off this project; it is still hanging. I thought the President would speak to that. What is the true state of the street naming and property addressing system?
    Mr Speaker, the President eulogised the Electoral Commission. But I strongly believe that if he had delivered the Message of the State of the Nation a day
    after, he would not have said the things he said about the Electoral Commission.
    This is because just a day after the State of the Nation Address, the Supreme Court aborted the process. And now, we are all in a state of crisis because the term of the Assembly members has come to an end and the Government has given a directive, that the District Chief Executives (DCEs) should manage the process until new elections and new Assembly members have been elected.
    Mr Speaker, the President says he believes in good governance, and this is what he said in paragraph 2 of page 53 of the Address:
    “Mr Speaker, I have remained resolute to the key principles of good governance as enshrined in our Constitution because it is the right thing to do.”
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the combined effect of article 35 (5) and 35 (6) (b), it enjoins the State, and for that matter, the President, to ensure that reasonable regional and gender balance is achieved by way of recruitments and appointments to public offices.
    Mr Speaker, the President, by the recent Ministerial reshuffle that he has done, has created an imbalance --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up.
    Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh 12:15 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am concluding.
    The President, by the recent reshuffle, has created a regional imbalance because there is no Minister from the Ashanti Region in his Cabinet -- If the President

    is not aware, we are drawing his attention, he must act swiftly and ensure that Ashanti is not sidelined.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
    All right.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Bukari Joseph.
    Mr Joseph N. Bukari (NDC -- Saboba) 12:15 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion to thank His Excellency for the brilliant way he delivered the State of the Nation Address to us.
    Mr Speaker, Ghana has a population of about 25 million people who are of different beliefs, thinking and of course, different orientations. The way we all appreciate things, certainly differ. But the truth of the matter is that Ghana is a developing country and not a developed country. We are at the lower-middle income status.
    At this time, we have a lot of difficulties, hardships and we would face challenges. Just as the President made it clear, if it is for us to show our patriotism and ensure that we all put our hands on deck to work to develop the country for ourselves and our children --
    Mr Speaker, what do we see? Some people, when they get the opportunity to contribute or say anything, begin to run down the country as if nothing good is going on, especially our brothers or some of us who got the opportunity to travel either to the United States of America (USA) or Europe or any of the advance countries, upon return with our slangs, we run down every policy and issue that are on the table for discussion as if nothing good is happening.
    Mr Speaker, this is where we have to show patriotism.
    Mr Speaker, just like our founder -- Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah did, after 10 years in the USA, he returned and did not come to criticise. He came and put himself in the shoe, led us and attained independence for us. [Hear! Hear!] -- That was genuine patriotism.
    Mr Speaker, we have to emulate that example and behave like Osagyefo Dr Kmame Nkrumah, such that we would see the challenges that we are facing today as some of the successes that we could achieve. At the transition, at the lower- middle income status, we need to work hard to scale up to the upper levels of the middle income status.
    That is where whether one's patriotism is new or old, does not matter. What matters is for it to be genuine and that we would work towards the development of our country. On that occasion, I was moved, inspired and I had hope that we have a country that is moving.

    Mr Speaker, this would usher in the free education the President promised last year. This in its sense, does not mean anything. But what it tells us is that, with effective planning, we could record good results in our schools, especially like what we had in the year 2012, when we recorded the best results in the country.

    What did our Hon Colleagues do when they were in power? For eight years, they took time to change names and duration -- from junior secondary school to junior

    Mr Speaker, Parliament, as we sit in witnesses and benefits from a well- equipped Chamber. Anytime you are ushered in and you start the morning prayers, we all follow you in our screens. Job 600 is right behind us ready for occupancy. This is what we call good governance.

    Let us see what former President Kufuor said in the year 2001 State of the Nation Address in paragraph 4 of page 3:

    “Honourable Members therefore, continue to be deprived of offices and support services, required to make them effective. We shall finish the refurbishment of Job 600 and ensure our MPs are properly equipped administratively to serve the nation effectively.”

    Mr Speaker, on job creation, the President talked of the Youth Employ- ment Agency which is set to create about 100,000 jobs in different modules; teaching, health and sanitation modules. It is not only to create jobs for our youth, but to give them the opportunity to

    contribute effectively to the development of our country. -- [Hear! Hear!] We do not appreciate this. When we were there, after going to have our pleasures at Akosombo, we came out with policies to deduct or take moneys from all the Statutory Funds without any legal backing.

    After the eight years, what we did was what I call the “Youth Census”. We counted all the youth in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and all the cities and villages we have in our country. Mr Speaker, at the end of the day, we were able to bring legality to the Youth Employment Agency, to tell us the dos and do nots of that Agency. When one is working there and does not go by the dictates of the law, he would be held responsible. This is good governance.

    Mr Speaker, as people, it is not about what we say on daily basis, it is what we also put ourselves to do for our country.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:15 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Bukari 12:15 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is not always sitting on top of the highest roofs and all the widest streets in Accra or other cities and talking down on our country, but asking ourselves what we also bring on board to bring about development and change, such that the country will become a better country for all of us and our children.
    Mr Speaker, like I said, the President did a brilliant job that inspired me, moved me and put hope in me, that we have a country that could make it. In times of challenges, we need genuine patriotism to put hands on deck and work hard to develop our country.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Titus-Glover.
    Mr Daniel Nii K. Titus-Glover (NPP - - Tema East) 12:25 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement made by the President on 26th February, 2015.
    Mr Speaker, I listened so attentively to the President's Statement and it is sad and unfortunate that when he got to the energy sector, he never touched on Tema Oil Refinery. I would want to look at the energy sector and its impact on trade and industry, and Tema being the industrial hub of this country. I will look at the fisheries sector and a little about corruption.
    Mr Speaker, like I said, the President never touched on the only oil refinery we have in this country. The priority of the NDC Government under President Mahama is to turn the refinery into a storage tank for bulk oil distributing companies to store their finished products.
    Mr Speaker, the hard workers of Tema Oil Refinery at the time when former President Rawlings and Mr Parker were able to procure the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) plant at the cost of over US$200 million, are the same workers under Dr K. K. Sarpong who worked hard to turn the Refinery around.
    Mr Speaker, there were a lot of investments that were made in the Tema Oil Refinery -- new pipelines were connected, three new spherical gas cylinders were constructed; they had a new boiler station, a new fire tender station and today, under a Better Ghana Agenda under President Mahama, that is the true state of the Refinery.
    Qualified workers that they have spent money on, have found their way into the Gulf States to seek greener pastures. That is the true state of the Tema Oil Refinery and the President was silent on that.
    Mr Speaker, if you would recall, he told this House that the Refinery was in partnership with Saudi Petroleum. What has happened? That is the true state of the Tema Oil Refinery, the only refinery we have in this country.
    Mr Speaker, the President said he was going to fix the energy crisis and with your permission, I beg to quote page 3:
    “We have been here before. In 1983, 1998, and 2006/7 we suffered a similar occurrence. In the past what we have done has been to manage the situation. I do not intend to manage ourselves out of the situation as has been done in the past. I intend to fix it! I owe it to the Ghanaian people. I, John Dramani Mahama, will fix this energy challenge.”
    Mr Speaker, do not laugh. It is sad. In managing, one needs to plan, budget, monitor and evaluate. The President is trying to cast aspersions, telling us that his predecessors, Chairman Rawlings and Kufuor did nothing about the energy crisis in their time. That is the inference that he made here.
    Mr Speaker, we had the opportunity when the President told us at the demise of Prof. Mills -- may his soul rest in peace -- that he was given the leverage and the opportunity to serve this country. From 7th January, 2009 to present day, in John
    Mahama's Administration, he has only added two kilowatts of energy to the national grid.

    Mr Speaker, this is a serious matter. Children are dying in incubators in hospitals and workers are being thrown out of jobs. Last week Friday, I heard the General -Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, Solomon Kotei, saying that over 200 workers of Coca-cola Company had lost their jobs. Mantrac has also lost some employees; and a lot of them. This is what is happening.

    Mr Speaker, today, Ghana Shippers Authority is coming up with additional cost called advanced shipping informa- tion. It is totally needless, adding cost to the cost of doing business in our ports. Talk about the Ghana Conformity Assessment Programme as well. All that we want to ask Government is, how are we managing the cost that businesses and importers are incurring in this country already? Nothing was said by the President.

    Today, Mr Speaker, the same Government is competing with local enterprises in our domestic banks and for

    that matter, increasing the cost of borrowing. How could they even break even?

    Mr Speaker, the President also talked about fisheries and I would want to refer to page 31:

    “Mr Speaker, a new fisheries cold store has also been completed in New Takoradi for the storage and preservation of fish.”

    Mr Speaker, it is not about the cold stores that have been built --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Titus-Glover 12:25 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want the President to tell us about the US$53.8 million World Bank Fund that was meant to revamp the fisheries sector, the aquaculture, the purchase of research vessel to help our poor artisanal canoe and inshore fishermen.
    Mr Speaker, today, the priority of the NDC Government under President Mahama is to arrest and prosecute ordinary fishermen. They are prosecuting fishermen because they are doing light fishing.
    Mr Speaker, we do not have to blame the fishermen, so long as the Ministry has failed to procure the research vessel to enable these fishes that are doing family planning in the sea, so that they would be able to get the catch -- It is not about arresting and prosecuting these hardworking fishermen who even voted for President Mahama. Today, this is what we find ourselves in.
    Mr Speaker, corruption. With all due respect to your Chair, it is not about the selective prosecution of Hon Humado and
    Mr Titus-Glover 12:25 p.m.
    Hon Abuga Pele or Assibit. The selective prosecution, leaving Agambire who was given GH¢30 million to teach young men and women in northern Ghana, who already knew how to ride motorcycle right from birth. He failed. He only trained 2,226 out of over 23,000. Today, he is walking freely on the streets of Accra, drinking tea and nothing has been done about that.
    Mr Speaker, talk about the trees that were planted. What are we talking about?
    Mr Speaker, last week Thursday, with the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, we all heard what happened at the Woyome trial. Ghana is on the crossroads. It is very painful listening to the judgement by the trial Judge, that the Attorney-General's Office failed to produce enough evidence to incriminate Alfred A. Woyome.
    This is where we find ourselves. The NDC has a role to play. It is a shame that people are conniving with people in authority to take money.

    Thank you very much.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:25 p.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Daniel Ashiaman.
    Mr Daniel Kwesi Ashiaman (NDC -- Buem) 12:35 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I stand to debate the State of the Nation Address ably read by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama on 26th February, 2015.
    Mr Speaker, it was a great joy listening to His Excellency as he delivered the most comprehensive and explicit State of the Nation Address.
    Mr Speaker, His Excellency gladdened my heart by admitting the fact that the nation is facing challenges. Thereafter, he admonishes us with the following words, and I picked them from page 2, paragraph nine, line three:
    “In our journey towards creating a prosperous and dignified life for our people, we may find ourselves sometimes in the wilderness.”
    We move to paragraph 10:
    “Nobody ever said it would be easy! And as has been said, we climb the greatest hill only to realize that there are many more hills to climb . . . Challenges would come our way, but believing in ourselves and working together, we shall overcome them. We have climbed many hills together and we shall conquer many more in our journey of progress.”
    Mr Speaker, with these words, I would like to take the House through a short memory lane. On 6th March eve, 1957, His Excellency Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah declared:
    “At long last, the battle is ended, and Ghana our beloved country is free forever.”
    Most people were filled with joy in this country, thinking that it was all over for us, and so milk and honey would be on our table. But the question we would ask today is, what happened to His Excellency Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1966? He was ousted. Then came the military, and then came Dr Busia and Mr Akufo- Addo to rule this country. At the end of
    it, what happened in this country? They were ousted because of economic mismanage-ment and corruption.
    Then came General Acheampong. He worked hard for this nation, but what happened? On June 4th 1979, he was ousted from office and we hailed His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings in this country as “Junior Jesus”.
    He worked hard; he desilted gutters for this nation to go forward. He worked very hard, but what happened? In the 2000 election, when His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor won the election, many people in this country even walked naked on the streets that we were getting to the golden age of business. We thought milk and honey would be on the table for us, forgetting that we needed to work hard, only for them to land us in Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) status in three months' time.
    We have got into HIPC in this nation. When you ask them, they will tell you that even during former President Rawlings' time, there was HIPC. Then, I understand very well that the HIPC we went to, was by choice. If we were in HIPC during former President Rawlings' time but he did not go, then this shows us that this is the man who would like to work for this nation.
    This is because it is always said that it is the hand that is on your wrist that would raise you up when you fall.
    The reason I am saying all these things is that, I went home after the State of the Nation Address and then my small boys and girls asked me, “ Hon Ashiaman, why were the NPP people so quiet at the time His Excellency the President was reading the State of the Nation Address ?”
    I told them to wait, that they have realised that they have not done anything during their time. I picked the 2005 State of the Nation Address of His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor. I picked that of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama. Then we went to the health sector, page 12. Mr Speaker, Hon Members could refer.
    The main concern in those days for this nation was that, the nation was obese, thinking of managing the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV), burili ulcer, treating of malaria and campaigns. That was the state of the nation in 2005, that His Excellency John Agyekum Kuffuor read to us.
    Yes, we have agreed; it is work, it is job to be done. Then I asked my children, “When you come to His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, in these years, 617 bed capacity teaching hospital of the University of Ghana is being built, and they have realised that that cannot be compared to the malaria campaign. So, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama is succeeding. Therefore, they need to be quiet.”
    Then we moved on to look at another issue that they were concerned about -- ambulance service, treating of buruli ulcer, and we come to John Dramani Mahama, four --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Ashiaman 12:35 p.m.
    We have 420 beds at the Ridge Hospital. When we go there today, one would see all these things.
    Mr Speaker, on education, you would find out that the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) campus is actually in progress, even near completion. But when we ask that of 2005 of His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, what did he say?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:35 p.m.
    Thank you very much. Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Freda Prempeh.
    Is she not available? In that case, Hon Patrick Boamah.
    Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah (NPP-- Okaikwei Central) 12:35 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to the President's State of the Nation Address delivered to this House on the 26th of February, 2015.
    Mr Speaker, the President came to this House at the beginning of his term on the 21st of February, 2013 with this central theme underpinning his Address: “Opportunities for All”.
    Mr Speaker, on 25th February, 2014, he was here again -- “Rising to the challenge.”
    Former President Mills came to this House on the 15th of February, 2012 under this theme: “Raising Ghana to the Next Level”.
    This year, we are being told by our Hon Colleagues on the other side that this Address happens to be the best State of the Nation Address that any President has ever delivered. But if we go through the Address, we do not find any central theme underpinning it.
    What I would like to find out is whether the President has lost focus on three or four of his themes that he presented to this House.
    Mr Speaker, His Excellency's 2013 Address, page 11, under private sector, when my Hon Colleague Haruna Iddrisu was the Hon Minister for Trade and Industry, the President came here very confidently and told us and Mr Speaker, I beg to quote:
    “Mr Speaker, partnership with the private sector has brought about accelerated growth and develop- ment of the economy. Ghana has improved from the 92nd position in 2009 to the 63rd in 2012 on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index”.
    Strangely, in the 2014 Address, the President came here and decided not to report on this. This is because, doing business in Ghana had declined and Ghana had lost her attractiveness to the business community. Ghana slipped from sixty-third position to sixty-seventh position in 2014. Any Hon Member can visit the World Bank website of www.doingbusiness.org, and would see how Ghana is fairing in the area of business.
    Some Hon Members 12:45 p.m.
    Ooh!
    Mr Boamah 12:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the reasons are that the deepening energy crisis -- [Interruption] -- The over taxation of businesses. Mr Speaker, Value Added Tax (VAT) has been increased. There is also a service charge on the financial sector to the extent that most students pay their school fees by banker 's drafts. So, parents have to pay an additional 17.5 per cent on that transaction when they go to pay their wards' school fees.
    Mr Speaker, the President came here a couple of weeks ago with all the pomp and pageantry. You gave him all the opportunity to address this country.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, do not draw me into this -- [Laughter.]
    Mr Boamah 12:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am speaking on authority that the President has not visited the court premises to even ascertain the state of our courtrooms and the facilities available to Judges. Judges are not well motivated; Judiciary Service staff are not in the best of shape to assist the Judges and Justices to deliver effective judgement to give the confidence that the business community and the entire world need to attract the needed investment.
    Mr Speaker, the President came here, you gave him all the opportunity and he said to us that there were other issues that he would discuss with regard to welfare matters affecting Hon Members of Parliament (MPs). Members of Parliament are not asking for anything but what is due Parliament as an institution as enshrined under the Constitution of this country.
    Mr Speaker, last year, there were issues with regard to our foreign missions, which I would want to address. There was an issue at our mission in Tokyo, where the premises of our Embassy was engaged in gambling, which the international media captured and brought the image of Ghana into bad light.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Boamah 12:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to quote what the President said in terms of transforming the structure of the economy, at page 8 of the Address:
    “The agenda to transform the structure of the economy and position it as an export rather than an import focus economy is on course.”
    Mr Speaker, if we go and take a look at the Monetary Policy Report of the Central Bank, we would realise that trade deficit
    keeps increasing. Mr Speaker, from 2013 and 2014, the report is clear.
    Mr Speaker, I have in my hands some reports that I can table for you -- [Interruption] -- It is very reliable, Mr Speaker. Five hundred people said to lose their jobs, more industries to lay off workers -- [Interruption]
    Some Hon Members 12:45 p.m.
    Source?
    Mr Boamah 12:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, myjoyonline, dated 11th March, 2015-- “AngloGold Ashanti to lay off 2,000 of its workers” -- [Uproar.] “redundant mine workers to be laid off” Tuesday, 3rd March, 2015, “Oil workers to go home” -- [Uproar.] “Coca Cola to axe 250 staff”.
    Mr Speaker, companies are dying and they are not even in a position to retain or recruit casual workers. The President wants us to believe that the economy is buoyant and that Ghanaians must give him a second term.
    The question I would want to ask the President is that, Mr President, nti bone ben paa na Ghanafo aye wo -- [Uproar.] What at all have Ghanaians done to deserve this downward trend in their economic wellbeing?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Hon Simon Edem Asimah now has the floor.
    Mr Simon Edem Asimah (NDC -- South Dayi) 12:45 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion, to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana for the State of the Nation Address delivered in this House.
    Mr Speaker, soon after the Address was delivered by His Excellency, I went to my constituency and my constituents were all asking me, “Why was it that for
    the first time, in a very long time, the Minority side was very quiet” -- [Interruption] -- I said, I was not in their minds., so, I cannot tell” Then one said, they were dazed; they were shocked. They could not believe the comprehensive nature of delivery -- [Hear! Hear!] They could not fathom how that young man was delivering while an old man was sleeping at the gallery -- [Interruption.]
    Mr Speaker, after this, one said, “President Mahama eye nyansani” (President Mahama is a wise man). And I said, “Why did you make that statement?” They said President Mahama is a visionary, transformational, competent and a bold leader. President Mahama faces the challenges and he will transform this economy -- [Hear! Hear!] After this, I said, they were alright.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to quote what President Mahama said on page 6 of his Address to this House.

    12. 55 p.m.
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Minority Leader?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Is it on a point of order?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:45 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker, it is on a point of order, and I think that I should put this matter to rest.
    The issue is on whether my dear Friend, Hon Asimah went to his constituency and told his constituents what he believed happened that day. I think that before Parliament came to Sit, we came to a conclusion, at a pre-Sitting meeting, that the conduct of business in the House, in respect of the President, appears to be degenerating.
    Before we came to Sit, we said that from now on, we were going to try to keep heckling to the barest minimum, if we had the President here. That was the agreement, and I made it clear.
    Mr Speaker, it is for the record. My Hon Colleague is saying that when he went to his constituency, some constituents interjected and said that; “President, зyз nyansa ni.” Mr Speaker, “President зyз nyansa ni” It means that “it is wise,” not “he is wise”. If they told him that “зyз nyansa ni,” then it means that “it is wise”.
    One can find relevance for the “it is wise”, in the context of the declaration that “he is a dead goat.”
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Hon Members, please, let us take note.
    I think that, the issue needs not be raised. We have gone through the process of the State of the Nation Address in a very attractive manner and I do not want us to re-visit that issue of the absence of heckling and so on. Let us concentrate on the meat of the matter and make some progress.
    Hon Member, please, continue.
    Mr Asimah 12:45 p.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
    I referred to page 6, paragraph (1) of the State of the Nation Address as delivered by His Excellency the President of the Republic, and I beg to read:
    Mr Speaker, paragraph 2 sates 12:45 p.m.
    “… A prepaid solar meter scheme that would enable residents of remote off-grid communities own and enjoy solar lighting would be launched as a private sector activity facilitated by government.”
    “The solution will also be available for residential consumers who desire it. We estimate that in installing 200,000 rooftop solar systems we will save the country about 200 MW of power daily. It is proposed to fund this with an adjustment of the Energy Fund Levy on Petroleum Products from Gp 0.05 to Gp 1.0, part of which will be used to establish the Renewable Energy Fund.”
    That is what really interests me. Mr Speaker, this is a President, who, having realised that the country is going through crisis, came out with a sharper method of resolving the issues.
    Mr Speaker, let me quote what His Excellency, the former President of the Republic on 14th February, 2008 said, when he delivered his State of the Nation Address. President Kufuor lamented:
    “ Mr Speaker, the energy sector has proved a challenge throughout the life of this administration, because of high cost of fuel and occasional drying up of the Volta River.”
    Mr Speaker, what is the President saying over here in those days? He is telling us that the Volta River is drying up. Let us see the solution that he proposed.
    He said he was now going to construct dams on River Ankobra , River Tano and River Pra.
    Mr Speaker, the rivers are drying up, because of climate change and the solution he had at that time was to construct dams on rivers, which would dry up and the river volume would go down, bringing up the same problems. That was the proposal the President made at that time.
    But this President -- His Excellency Mahama, a visionary leader, is saying that let us change the gear, let us move a second step forward and let us use renewable energy, because climate change is a threat to all the rivers.
    Mr Speaker, that is the visionary and the type of leader that Ghana wants. One that sees, breaks the barriers and moves the country forward. That is why he was saying that he was going to transform this country and make it an industrial country, which would move the top class of all African countries. He is a visionary leader, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Speaker, let me also quote from page 54, paragraph (1) of His Excellency's Address to Parliament.
    Page 54, paragraph 1; and I beg to read
    -- 12:45 p.m.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have two more minutes to go.
    Mr Asimah 12:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to read;
    “…My resolve to address the sanitation challenge facing us has led to the creation of a comprehen- sive environmental sanitation programme, which has three components -- National Sanitation Day, develop Composting and
    encourage Recycling and Waste Separation.”
    Mr Speaker, what the President is saying over here is that the environmental challenges facing this country must be resolved and he went a step further. In 2010, we all remember that Environmental Sanitation Policy of Ghana was launched, and the main objective or goal of this, was to improve the health and life of the people of Ghana.
    To stop open defecation, the generation of waste has been handled properly, improved disposal of waste and indiscriminate littering of the street and to provide the majority of people in this country good health and improved standard of living.
    It is in the light of this, that the District Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies are being empowered to take full control of waste management and sanitation improvement. And the recent sanitation day that has been launched. I think everybody should embrace it --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up.
    Mr Asimah 12:45 p.m.
    In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I would want to say that His Excellency, President Mahama, is the only leader who is going to take Ghana to where it wants to go and we all have to support it in 2016, so that in 2020, we can remain in power.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:45 p.m.
    It is now the turn of Hon Dr Nana Ato Arthur.
    Dr Stephen Nana Ato Arthur (NPP -- Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem) 1:05 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to contribute to the Motion on the floor of the House and in doing so, please, allow me to refer to page (2), paragraph (3) of the State of the Nation Address:
    “And indeed, there are even others who would suggest that life in bondage was far better. But as long as we believe, work together and hold on to our faith, we would create the country of prosperity that our people deserve. Nobody ever said it would be easy!”
    Mr Speaker, how can His Excellency the President create a country of prosperity when there are no jobs; when school leavers have turned into street hawkers? The problem of unemployment in Ghana among our youth, including graduates from the universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions has reached a breaking point.
    According to the Daily Graphic of December 1, 2014, page 87, the Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana (UGH) had registered 24,167 graduates with the potential to register more. Now, in Ghana, it is no longer about going to school and graduating or learning a trade, but how to face the reality of graduating and joining the brigade of unemployment after national service.
    In fact, what is just assured to our graduates is national service, after that nothing. It is sad.
    Mr Speaker, this situation is very worrying. The State of the Nation Address before us does not seem to have any solution inside, with no plans to arrest this situation. We must be concerned about national security implications.
    Dr Stephen Nana Ato Arthur (NPP -- Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem) 1:05 p.m.


    Mr Speaker, the situation that occurred in the Middle East and North Africa recently, that was christened the “Arab Spring” and even the riots in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2011, as well as several others, could be attr ibuted to the increasing rate of unemployment in those nations and we must learn lessons from them.

    Mr Speaker, our situation is becoming more precarious. Several school leavers and probably adults are either finding it difficult to secure employment or are laid off for one reason or the other.

    Here, we may not need to go far. The dum sor sor dum dum, dum -- [Laughter.] That is a major factor. When we do not have any clear solution in sight, thus collapsing even our industry -- people are being laid off. Mr Speaker, every morning, we follow you, in the Opening Prayers, the second paragraph states:

    “O God, grant us a vision of our country…”

    And the third line, Mr Speaker,

    “…a country of plenty, where evil and poverty shall be done away with…”

    Mr Speaker, if we continue in this trend, President John Mahama's Government, when shall poverty ever be done away with?

    Mr Speaker, this situation in Ghana is very worrying. Within the last couple of months, the number of workers that have been laid off is unprecedented. And I would give you some few examples;

    Ghana Timber Millers Association laid off 70,000 workers, reference, September, 24, 2014 www.myjoyonline.com.

    Anglogold Ashanti, 6,000 workers; Industrial and Commercial Union has laid off 350 workers. Just last week, Coca Cola, like my Hon Brother alluded to, 250 workers. Fan Milk Ghana Limited has reduced production. Last week Friday, 13th March, 2015, Daily Graphic, Tullow Oil is preparing to lay off workers.

    Mr Speaker, if you just get these numbers, you may not feel it, but in analysing them per the chain of dependency ratio on these workers from their families, it is reasonable to say that the country is in a serious crisis.

    Mr Speaker, everyone could be a victim if your company or organisation today, wakes up to say that, the cost of production is increasing and that you should go home. There is no alternative; you will go home.

    Mr Speaker, this development is obviously as a result of economic mismanagement by this Government.

    Mr Speaker, Ghana deserves better than this. In fact, we should not only be thinking about next elections; we should be thinking about the next generation. If we think about the next elections -- [Interruption.] Mr Speaker, what I am saying is, my Vice Chairman on the Committee of Employment and Social Welfare and State Enterprises spoke and I thought he would give us figures on employment; he never touched it because there is nothing happening there. Mr Speaker, please, the Vice Chairman should allow me.

    Mr Speaker, we should not only be thinking about next elections; we should be thinking about our next generation; where we are, is not the best.

    Mr Speaker, talking about the next elections, there is an emerging trend, data that come to this House are either cooked or --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Dr (Nana) Ato Arthur 1:05 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to give you an example. If you go to page 16 of the State of the Nation Address, under health, the President is telling us that they are constructing some hospital projects and when completed, they are going to deliver, approximately 6,000 new hospital beds. Mr Speaker, I have taken my time to add everything that we have here on pages 16 and 17.
    From 617 bed University of Ghana Teaching Hospital, the 295 bed Bolgatanga Regional Hospital -- Those seven projects amount to 2,626.
    Mr Speaker, there are 12 district projects, 120 beds, they amount to 1,560 put together, 4,146 and there are six others, 60 bed each, 360 put together, 4,536.
    Where from the 6,000 beds that His Excellency the President said he was going to deliver? How do we reduce everything to sheer propaganda? It is not good for our country. People should have confidence in this our Government. We are here, even Gross Domestic Product (GDP), some figures state 4.6, some 6.7 and some 3.9 and even in this House, we cannot have reliable data.
    Mr Speaker, I am afraid; how are we going to plan?
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, it is said that failure is an option, but I do not hope this Government will choose it.
    Thank you very much for the opportunity.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, I give the floor to Hon Bernard Ahiafor.
    Mr Bernard Ahiafor (NDC -- Akatsi South) 1:15 p.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the floor of the House and also to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana for his eloquent delivery of his Address on the state of the nation.
    Mr Speaker, if we are really not thinking about the next election, we need to come together as one nation to propel the President's agenda in fixing our energy problem but not to embark on needless demonstrations.
    Mr Speaker, we were in this country when President Kufuor asked Ghanaians to come and queue under scorching sun with the promise of giving them jobs, when he knew that the jobs were non- existent. Yet we have people from that regime who will come to Parliament with newspapers on an alleged intention to declare people redundant.
    Mr Speaker, at page 10 of the 2002 State of the Nation Address delivered by His Excellency President Kufuor, he said, and I beg to quote:
    “At the moment, the energy sector faces major challenges: electricity supply capacity is nowhere near enough for the growing demand.”
    Mr Speaker, on 22nd January, 2004, this is what the President said. I beg to quote 1:15 p.m.
    “Mr Speaker, let me now address issues in the energy sector which remains one of the most crucial to our developmental effort”.
    Mr Speaker, on 22nd January, 2004, this is what the President said. I beg to quote 1:15 p.m.


    Mr Speaker, five years along the line in 2007, 8th February, specifically, at page 5 of the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Kufuor, he said, and I beg to quote:

    “Mr Speaker, I shall start my message with a report on the current crisis in the supply of energy in the country.”

    Mr Speaker, clearly, energy crisis is not happening for the first time in the history of Ghana. It has been there. That is why President Kufuor successively in his State of the Nation Addresses, mentioned these as crises.

    Mr Speaker, we need not speak as if Ghana is being confronted with the issue of energy deficit for the first time. It has been there. The issue therefore, is that, if they had fixed it, like how the President promised to fix it now, through pragmatic measures, we will not be where we are now.

    Mr Speaker, if we look at page 3 of the current State of the Nation Address, His Excellency President Mahama enumerated pragmatic measures that he is going to put in place to fix our energy problems.

    He told Ghanaians that he does not intend to manage the problem, but he intends to fix it. Some of these measures are Sunon Asogli (Phase II), 360 megawatts; Sunon Asogli (Coal fired), 750 megawatts; CenPower, 350 megawatts; Jacobsen, 360 megawatts; Amandi, 240 megawatts; GE, 240 megawatts. These are measures that a visionary President is putting in place to fix our energy situation.

    Mr Speaker, I have confidence in the President, that with these measures that he is putting in place, very soon, the energy issue will be a thing of the past.

    This is because we have seen the measures that he is going to use to address the problem.

    Mr Speaker, one Hon Member, in commenting on the State of the Nation Address, stated that the conditions of service for the Judiciary is worst off. Mr Speaker, I would want to place on record, that the conditions of service of the Judiciary now, is better than it used to be during the Kufuor Administration. Mr Speaker, to say that the conditions of service for the Judiciary is worst off today, is not the correct and honest position.

    Mr Speaker, I would also want to thank the President sincerely in summing up his State of the Nation Address, particularly by calling on Ghanaians to come together to propel our development agenda forward.

    Mr Speaker, I say so because we live in a country today, where people are fond of making divisive statements, statements that can be described as tribal bigotry, statements that will divide us in this particular country and that will not help us to come together as a nation to develop.

    Mr Speaker, we live in this country where it was alleged on a tape recording of Hon Osafo-Marfo, making statements that tend to divide this country into tribal groups. Mr Speaker, we live in a country where statements such as yen Akanfo, we Akans were made by politicians. Mr Speaker, these statements tend to divide us in this particular country.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Ahiafor 1:15 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we live in a country where a politician alleged that the Gas and the Ewes in the Ashanti Region should be chased away and beaten with
    pestles. Mr Speaker, these surely will not bring us together as a nation to propel our development agenda.
    Mr Speaker, let me conclude by thanking His Excellency the President for the eloquent manner in which he delivered the true Address on the state of the nation with high level honesty in stating our status as a nation as it is without hiding anything.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto.
    Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto (NPP -- Kwadaso) 1:25 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the debate on the floor. I will limit myself mainly to the area of agriculture and cocoa.
    Mr Speaker, let me quote what the President said about Real Sector Performance -- Agricbusiness, Trade and Industry -- from the Hansard of 26th February, 2016. I beg to quote:
    “Mr Speaker, in 2014, agriculture, industry and services sectors continued on a trajectory of positive growth with significant outputs in fisheries, livestock …”.
    Mr Speaker, this optimism is unfortunate. This is because in the agricultural sector, which is the backbone of this economy in which most people are employed, there is a severe crisis going on behind the scenes on farms and the President is not recognising it. As I speak to you, cocoa purchases for the current major season, is the lowest in eight years.
    Mr Speaker, only 510,000 metric tonnes of cocoa have been purchased this year, which is the lowest in eight years. Mr Speaker, do not forget, we went and borrowed US$1.7 billion on a London market for the cocoa trade in this country. At this rate, I am even wondering whether we will be able to pay back that kind of money.
    For the first time in 25 years, since we have been syndicating loans in London to purchase the local crop, we are in danger of defaulting on payment. This is because 510,000 metric tonnes are 160 metric tonnes less than what we did last year.
    If we were to put value to them, Mr Speaker, they are nearly half a billion dollars that we are in danger of defaulting. So, there is an ongoing crisis which is coming onto the major mainstream agriculture activity in this country and the President comes here and says that everything is alright.
    His prescriptions, Mr Speaker, are very inadequate. He is talking about fertilisers.
    Last year, in the budget, the Hon Minister for Finance, on behalf of the President, came and promised the farmers of this country 180,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser distribution at subsidised rates. What did we see? Zero was distributed.
    When we called the Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture to come and explain to us in this House why it was so, he said it was because of fiscal difficulties. Fiscal difficulties are going to be more acute this year. So, where are they going to get the money to import the 180,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for our farmers?
    This is a very serious issue that we must address and yet the President says everything is alright. He has talked about the thousand units of tractors to be imported into this country for the AMSECs. AMSECs are these units where
    Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto (NPP -- Kwadaso) 1:25 p.m.


    tractor hire services are given round the country, so that poor farmers can go and hire mechanised services in order to improve their activities.

    Mr Speaker, because of lack of maintenance, for all these years, the tractors have not been maintained. A lot of them have broken down. When you go to the Northern Region -- Salaga and beyond, or you visit any AMSEC, you would see that more than half of the implements are not even working. The machineries have broken down.

    So, if it is possible that we are going to bring thousand tractors, they are not even enough to replace existing tractors -- never mind expanding the scheme to benefit more of our farmers. Yet the President said that everything is alright.

    Mr Speaker, he talked about allocating GH¢120 million for the production of rice, poultry, shea, cashew and other agro- processing subsidies to boost produc- tion. Out of these, for poultry and rice alone, we import to the tune of more than half a billion dollars a year, which is about GH¢1.8 billion. So, if he allocates GH¢120 million for the production of these crops, he would hardly touch the source of the problem. Yet the President comes here and says everything is alr ight with our agriculture.

    Mr Speaker, I could go on and on and on. When we come back to the issue of cocoa, he said that cocoa prices to farmers were doubled. Yes, it was doubled; but for how many years? After keeping these prices constant for three years with all the inflation and devaluation of our currency while the world's price of cocoa went up?

    If we double the producer price to farmers, we do not pat ourselves on the back.

    At the time, I said that the prices should be tripled. What do we see now? Most of the cocoa produced in the Volta Region is ending up in Togo.

    We hear reports of policemen chasing people all the way to the borders for smuggled bags of cocoa. So, we are not benefitting. I am sure that the shortfall that I have talked about and the purchases are because the Volta Region cocoa is moving across the border to Togo and we do not know what is happening on the other side in the Western Region and so on.

    They have all these reports.So, poor pricing policy is causing a reduction in our production and our production is benefitting other countries instead of our own people because of very poor vision about how to price cocoa to the farmers to give them the right incentives to be able to produce more for us.

    Mr Speaker, just to put things in context, Ivory Coast and Ghana have almost the same size area under cocoa -- 1.7 million hectares. Ivory Coast last year, exported 1.67million metric tonnes of cocoa. How, much did we do? We did 870,000 metric tonnes. Now, we are in danger of having substantially less than that because of the statistics that I have given of the current crop.

    Agriculture is in a crisis --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Dr Akoto 1:25 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Agriculture is in a crisis and it needs very bold policies in order to revive it because when we talk of oil, you are talking about a product in the sea. Nobody can go there to get the oil except the big companies and just a few hands to do so. But what is on the ground where 65 per cent of the whole working population
    works, is the most important, which is agriculture and fisheries but the Government is failing farmers of this country and making them poorer.
    As I pointed out at the time of the budget debate, Mr Speaker, you would find out the percentage of the total budgetary resources going to agriculture, is significantly and steadily reducing. From 3.8 per cent in 2010, in the last budget, which was read in this House, it was 1.1. Steadily, it has been cut back and yet the kind of talk that the President came to give us here does not even recognise that there is a shortfall in his own policies towards agriculture.
    To effectively address this problem, we need more resources to go into agriculture in the order that prosperity can go to the rural areas and benefit those of us who are in the towns and to stop the migration from the North into the cities -- urban migration and all other social problems that we are now encountering.
    Mr Speaker, I think that the President's State of the Nation Address did an injustice to the farmers and the fishermen of this country. It did not recognise the difficulties that they are faced with and it gave them no hope of relief from the poverty in which they find themselves.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, Hon George Loh now has the floor.
    Mr Agbesi 1:25 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, instead of Hon George Loh, if we can have Hon Bright Demordzi.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
    Very well.
    Hon Bright Demordzi?
    Mr Bright E. K. Demordzi (NDC -- Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro) 1:25 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker,for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the State of the Nation Address presented by our President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency, John Dramani Mahama. I would also like to say that I am very excited, very grateful and I would like to commend the President for that wonderful presentation.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to structure my debate on two key relevant areas - agriculture and fisheries -- And some issues of bottleneck in the area of institutional bottleneck that is creating a lot of problems in this country.
    Mr Speaker, on the agricultural sector, my first day in secondary school in Agricultural Science class, the topic was, “What is agriculture and the challenges of agriculture in Ghana?” The first definition or the challenge that was brought up by the teacher at that time, was low level of yield in the agricultural sector.
    That has not changed much but if I look at the State of the Nation Address presented by His Excellency the President of Ghana, almost all the problems or the challenges in the agricultural sector have been solved. If we talk about low level of yield, what are the causes of low level of yield in the agricultural sector?
    We would be talking about maybe, the nature of the soil, the fertility of soil and the planting material. But in the State of the Nation Address, the President has promised us that even in the area of cocoa, he is going to give us 50,000 planting materials for the cocoa sector. I am talking about seedlings.
    In the area of soil development or nutrition of the crop, the President said that he was going to give the farmers of this country subsidised fertilisers of 180.000 metric tonnes. Mr Speaker, we
    Mr Bright E. K. Demordzi (NDC -- Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro) 1:25 p.m.


    have done this thing before. In 2008, when we had a problem of continuous rise in food prices in this country, former President John Agyekum Kufuor made a broadcast to this nation, that there was a difficulty in the area of food production. In the 2008, Hon Members can go back and read the Statement by former President John Agyekum Kufuor. The title of the Statement was “President Kufuor announces measures to reduce economic hardships” --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
    Hon Member, do you have a copy of that Statement?
    Mr Demordzi 1:25 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker, I will present a copy.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
    Very well. To the Table Office, please.
    Mr Demordzi 1:35 a.m.
    In 2008, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor made a broadcast to this nation on measures to reduce economic hardships. In that Statement, he promised Ghanaians that he was going to subsidise fertiliser in this country. That was the beginning of fertiliser stabilisation in this country. Even in that difficult situation, he was only able to subsidise 45,000. In the same year and in the same Statement, he said and I beg to quote:
    “Fellow citizens, Government is already in consultation with its development partners to import and stock-pile additional supplies of rice and wheat to enhance food security.”
    What is the meaning of this? It means that even in 2008, we were not secured in food in this country. But today, as we
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:35 a.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go.
    Mr Demordzi 1:35 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to move to a very important area, which is the fishery sector. To ensure that we have abundant fish stocked in this country, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture has developed a master plan for the agricultural sector in this country. To ensure that we have food security in the area of fish production, the Cape Coast Elmina fish Production Factory has been completed. If you come to Anomabo, we have another fish production plant there, which is almost completed. Just close to me here is a cold store completed at Hianor.
    Mr Speaker, these ensure that we have sufficient facilities to make that we keep our food resources secured. Not only that, the Fisheries College is also there to ensure that we develop our human resource capacity in the fisheries sector. For the first time, the Marine Police has been established to ensure that our fish stock is not depleted to the level that our traditional fishermen would be suffering. As we speak, there is a vessel monitoring almost all the vessels fishing across the length and breadth of our waters in this country.
    For the very first time along the coasts, we have a Community Fishing Education Unit that is going round and educating our fisher folks on the proper ways of fishing, so that we do not deplete our resources and in future have difficulties. These are some of the things that this Government is doing to ensure that our fishermen are safe. As I speak, outboard motors are being procured for the Ministry of Fisheries to ensure that our fishermen get outboard motors at a subsidised rate.
    Mr Speaker, some of the measures that the President mentioned in his State of the Nation Address are to ensure that, at least, if nothing, our fishermen would be happy. Also, in this Statement, the President said that he was going to set up a revolving Fund for our fishmongers along the coast, so that they can benefit; and he has included the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Chief Executive to ensure that there is a revolving Fund for our fishmongers.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:35 a.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up.
    Mr Demordzi 1:35 a.m.
    A step in the right direction.
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you very much for the opportunity.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:35 a.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Frank Agyen.
    Mr Frank Boakye Agyen (NPP -- Effiduase/Asokore) 1:35 a.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity to contribute my quota by way of expressing my view on the President's State of the Nation Address.
    Mr Speaker, the Presidency did not take the third arm of Government, that is the Judiciary very serious. If you look at the presentation, on page 56, only one paragraph was devoted to the Judiciary and that was when the President mentioned the edifice being put up to house some courts. The matters affecting the personnel who make up the Judiciary were not given any prominence.
    Here we are, when basic allowances like payment of monies spent by judges and staff of the Judiciary with regard to their health delivery are in arrears of about two years. Uniform allowances are not paid; basic accommodation to house Judges to give them the comfort they need to enable them perform, is neither here nor there.
    This is to the extent that even though Judges are supposedly being given some allowance in lieu of the provision of accommodation, these allowances have fallen into serious arrears. Judges are therefore, at the mercy of landlords. How do you expect them to perform without fear or favour and in such a manner that justice would be delivered to those who need it?
    Mr Speaker, apart from that, transport for Judges was not considered. Many of them do not have means of transport. Apart from that, there is not sufficient motivation to sustain the good material that the Judiciary needs. And if this is done to the third arm of Government, what type of society are we building to make sure Ghanaians and for that matter, people who want to do business with Ghanaians, have the confidence that justice would be meted out to them without fear or favour?
    Mr Speaker, apart from the Judiciary, very serious matters affecting health delivery were not considered. The President gave a litany of hospitals, clinics and others which are being built.
    Assuming all those are being built, what about the needs of the personnel who would work in these edifices?
    Doctors' pay is still woeful, and some of their allowances are in serious arrears. Nurses pay is sometimes one or two years in arrears. Training of nurses, which would enable the country to produce the manpower to take care of the health of the people, which is so paramount in any serious nation building, is tailored in such a way that students would have to pay for the cost of their training. Allowances have been withdrawn. Mr Speaker, are we serious as a nation when dealing with the health matters of the people?
    Mr Speaker, common --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have three more minutes to go --
    Mr Agyen 1:45 p.m.
    Common surgery, in these modern times -- Even in Kenya, there is this scientific approach to surgery, that is called Laparoscopy or keyhole surgery. It is such that they do not have to cut open the person's abdomen to have an effective surgery. It is not being done in Ghana.
    There is a gentleman at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital who upgraded himself and became an expert in that field. At the stroke of 60 years, he was asked to go. We do not have that as of now. Kenya has it and Kenya is younger than Ghana.
    Mr Speaker, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) pays peanut for health delivery. The effect is that mediocre drugs are given out to patients, particularly in the district hospitals because the cost is such that if potent drugs are given, the
    Mr Agyen 1:45 p.m.
    A few steps can make the National Health Insurance system so effective that they can have the money to take care of all ailments. Mr Speaker, if one goes to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and have a caesarean section -- Sometimes, there are attendant diseases or diseases that are close to pregnant women -- high level of sugar, hypertension and so on and so forth. If these are not treated before delivery is effected, the patient may lose her life.
    Insurance premium of barely GH¢361.00 would not be able to cover all that and that is all that the person who is insured and goes for such treatment would be able to pay by way of the insurance. The person has to find money to pay for the extra diseases attendant to pregnancy.

    Hon Kwaku Agyemang Kwarteng --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, you do not walk across the inner perimeter, please.
    Yes, proceed.
    Mr Agyen 1:45 p.m.
    That would guarantee a person who goes to hospital to seek health delivery.
    Mr Speaker, thank you.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, it is now the turn of Hon Amadu Moses Yahaya.
    Mr Agbesi 1:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we have come to a conclusion that after one Hon Member on each side of the House has made his or her submission, we would bring the debate to a close for the day. There is a Motion, which --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, you have not provided your last contributor. You are adding one more and we do not know who is next from your end.
    Mr Agbesi 1:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, our next contributor is Hon Joseph Naabu, popularly known as the “Third Deputy Speaker”. [Laughter.]
    Mr Joseph Bipoba Naabu (NDC -- Yunyoo) 1:45 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to talk. I would want to touch on roads in the President's State of the Nation Address.
    I would want to let Ghanaians know that in the President's State of the Nation Address, he clearly stated that the eastern corridor road is taking shape. I can assure you, Mr Speaker, I was with the President in Yendi to cut the sod for the eastern corridor road. In fact, from the number of people that attended the function from the whole of the eastern corridor area, we realised that if this road is constructed, the movement of goods and services from the South to the northern part of the country as well as entry into Burkina Faso and Togo, would be well facilitated.
    Mr Speaker, I would also want to touch on the Kwame Nkrumah Circle overhead bridge. I was surprised when I got to Burkina Faso just about two weeks
    ago, one of their drivers told me, “Honourable, your President is actually doing very well.” In fact, the driver told me that when they got to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, he got lost just because of the improvement of the interchange.
    Mr Speaker, I can assure my Hon Colleagues on the Minority side that they are only making noise. One of them told me this morning that the eastern corridor road --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, can you withdraw the use of the word, “noise”?
    Mr Naabu 1:45 p.m.
    All right. I am sorry my Hon Good Friends --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Because they have put in a lot of effort and for you to describe --
    Mr Naabu 1:45 p.m.
    I have withdrawn in toto. [Laughter.]
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Hon Member, they have put in a lot of effort and for you to describe it as noise, you need to withdraw that and apologise.
    Mr Naabu 1:45 p.m.
    All right. I have withdrawn that and apologise in toto -- [Hear! Hear!]

    Mr Speaker, I know very well that even if the money was brought in in their time, they would not have done this road. So, all those on the eastern corridor road should thank His Excellency, President
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, having regard to the state of proceedings, I direct that Sitting goes beyond the stipulated time under Standing Order 40 (3).
    Hon Members, the next Member to take the floor is Hon William Sabi.
    Mr William Kwasi Sabi (NPP -- Dormaa East) 1:55 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity. I will touch much on the National Health Insurance Scheme.
    On page 19 of the State of the Nation Address, the President spoke briefly about the National Health Insurance Scheme, and his first statement was the fact that utilisation had risen to 27.4 million for last year. He never told us of the base figure which had risen to 27.4 million and he was so happy to mention that it was an indication that the Ghanaian citizenry are enjoying the benefits of the National Health Insurance.
    However, he quickly added that they are going to strengthen the Fraud Detection Unit of the NHIA to more or

    less check fraudulent acts which were going on by facilities. I would want to state here that, it has been the practice where always, the NHIA, together with the President, whenever they speak, they want to shift the blame and woes of the NHIA onto healthcare providers.

    I think that is not fair enough. Without healthcare delivery, the NHIA would have nothing to do. This is because NHIA pays for healthcare costs after healthcare has been delivered. So, he is trying to sow some seed of enemity between the NHIA and the healthcare providers, and I am not happy with that.

    Mr Speaker, the woes of the NHIA lies in the fact that it has been mismanaged to a certain level. Before 2009, the National Health Insurance Scheme had been managed so well that there was even an amount for investment. To that extent, one year after the National Democratic Congress's (NDC) Administration took over, within the same year, they had to disinvest almost all the funds which were invested and had to pay a loan of over GH¢30 million in 2009.

    This year, the NHIA is going to pay over GH¢70 million as interest on loans. This is the situation which is arising out of mismanagement and not out of fraudulent acts. How about claims which have been submitted, vetted and approved for payment, and for over six months, health providers have not been reimbursed? Could we also attribute this to fraudulent acts?

    Mr Speaker, health issues are not being taken serious, and it looks like the President is so happy to do propaganda with some of the things they do. He quickly went on to mention the fact that they have enrolled vulnerable people of about 10,000; it is good enough.

    So many districts lack district offices and agencies for the NHIA, with able people who are willing to pay premiums to contribute to the income of the NHIA. When people are not getting the chance to register, we are so quick to make noise about registering people who are not paying premiums. It is not bad, but what about those people who are also contributing to help solve the problems? They are not getting the chances to register.

    The President was so happy to mention Ebola.

    Mr Speaker, last year, over 2,800 Ghanaians were infected with cholera in this country and over 200 of them lost their lives. Meanwhile, the President did not even mention cholera. He talked about a disease which had not even come to Ghana. Mr Speaker, we need to be serious. If we are talking about the state of the nation, then we are talking about what has actually happened or is happening in the country. We are so quick to talk about what has not even come yet.

    Maternal mortality is worsening. Nothing was said about this. In the situation where maternal mortality has gone to about 350 per 1000 live births -- now, we are rising above 370 and some are even quoting about 400 per 1000 live births.

    When President John Agyekum Kufuor, during his administration foresaw this, he was able to arrange for free maternal healthcare under the National Health Insurance Scheme -- pregnant women were given the needed care.

    This led to the decrease in the maternal mortality rate. Now, we are going back just because the NHIA is unable to pay for healthcare delivery and people are not willing to offer the maternal care, which is needed.

    Mr Speaker, these are very important things which I feel we need to talk about. If we want to improve and match forward, then we need not create some kind of enmity between two State institutions when we have healthcare delivery and healthcare payers. It is becoming an issue that we need to talk about.

    In the President's effort to address maternal healthcare, he decided to use the strategy of building Community Health (Based) Planning Services (CHPS) Compounds, which 10 per cent of the salaries of Hon Ministers were going to be deducted to build. Mr Speaker, by my estimation, by the end of the term of this President, they may build only two CHPS Compounds. And I do not know how much that is going to contribute to reducing maternal healthcare.

    We have to take serious and pragmatic measures if we really want to touch the woes of our country and move it forward.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:55 a.m.
    Thank you very much.
    Hon Members, the floor is for Hon Baba Jamal, the Hon Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations.
    Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed (NDC --Akwatia): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the President's Address on the state of the nation.
    Mr Speaker, let me start by saying that, for once, I saw an Address by the President, which was received by the House in a very serene environment devoid of heckling --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
    Hon Member, you probably were not here. I directed that we completely avoid that area; make your presentation. [Interruptions.] -- I know why I directed that we avoid it, please.
    Baba Jamal: Mr Speaker, with the greatest respect, I was actually going to commend the Leadership of the House -- according to the Hon Minority Leader -- The decision to keep all of us not heckling is something which must continue. This is because it gave all of us some credibility out there.
    I am saying this because for once, I meet people who come to me and say that, this time, we saw that the presentation was very good and devoid of all heckling. I think that it is a pat on our backs as members of Parliament, and I commend the Leadership for taking that decision.
    Mr Speaker, we heard an Address by a President who stood on his legs for over two hours. He opened his statement with very unifying words. It is not easy for a President to come out and accept that there is a problem. It takes a man to admit that there is a problem, “I am confronting it and I will solve it.”
    Mr Speaker, the President demonstrated courage and leadership. It is for all of us as Ghanaians to give him the necessary support, so that he takes us to wherever all of us would want to go. In his own words, we may not all agree on some of the things that he is doing. But at least, with a united sense of concentration and looking forward, we would be able to achieve what we want.
    I am very sad when I hear some comments. When people want to describe the Address offered by the President,
    some even say it was just a repetition of the previous State of the Nation Address and it was hopeless. This was a speech where after admitting that there was a problem and we were in financial problems -- An Address which says that it cannot be hopeless when over 1000 schools have been built around that time. Over 200 hospitals and healthcare facilities have been built; that Address cannot be hopeless. An Address which tells us that we are here and are moving towards here, that cannot be hopeless.
    Majority of us here in one way or the other, heard something happening in our constituencies and districts. These are physical things which were demonstrated on the screen here. We all saw things that were happening in our constituencies and districts. Names were mentioned and it was put to us that these are in our constituencies and distr icts; that Address cannot be hopeless.
    I think we have come to a point where as a country, we must all unite and sometimes face the facts. We might do our own political things, but let us state the facts; let us call a spade a spade. We have a President who was honest enough to tell you that these are the things he is doing and these are the ways in which he is going to do them.
    Mr Speaker, I saw a statement that gives me hope for the future, a statement that tells me, that as a country, if we unite behind a vision, we could achieve it. I saw a statement that gives me hope, especially when a major road in my district, which has been the major problem of the people, was mentioned. And as I talk to you now, I have confirmed that contractors are mobilising to that road. That statement could not be hopeless, and that Address could not be empty.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
    Thank you, Hon Members.
    This brings us to the end of contributions to the State of the Nation Address.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, we are in your hands.
    Mr Agbesi 2:05 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want us to go back to the Motion --
    Mr Speaker, the House is in your hands.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
    Very well.
    Hon Members, I therefore, direct that proceedings be brought to an end, that the House do stand adjourned till tomorrow at 10.00 o'clock in the forenoon.
    ADJOURNMENT 2:05 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 2.08 p.m. till Wednesday, 18th March, 2015 at 10.00 a.m.