Debates of 10 Dec 2018

MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:48 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:48 a.m.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:48 a.m.
Hon Members, correction of Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 6th December,
2018.
Page 1…8 --
Mr Avedzi 10:48 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on Thursday I was in this House but on page 8 item, numbered 7, I have been marked absent. So the correction should be effected.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:48 a.m.
Table Office should take note of the Hon Member's concern.
Page 9…28.
Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 6th December, 2018 as corrected be hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, we now move to item numbered 3 on the Order Paper, which is Urgent Question, but I have been informed
that the Minister for Justice and the Attorney-General is not available to answer the Question. Infact, she is outside the country and so we move to item numbered 4.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:48 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member?
Alhaji Muntaka 10:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is the second Question. Last week we had one. The Hon Minister said she had not got a response from the Judicial Service and it is same with this one.
Mr Speaker, I believe that as a House, this provides us with an opportunity to go around it and find out how to get these Answers, either from the Judicial Service et cetera. Other than that, questions of this nature may never be answered.
Mr Speaker, I know it is not just about the Minister for Justice and Attorney- General, but it has to also do with the Answer coming from the Judicial Service.
And so we would be grateful, with your wisdom, if we could find a way of getting answers from this body. Since it is also an independent institution, we could try the option of getting somebody within the Judiciary to address the House, even if it is a Committee of the Whole.
But a number of Questions have come and the Hon Minister just writes that she has not gotten the answer from the Judicial Service and it becomes a worry. And this is also same.
Maybe, that is why partly, she did not programme to be here. She had written to tell us that she had not gotten the Answer.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:58 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, your Hon Colleague has raised some concerns.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, respectfully, I was receiving some information and so I did not really follow the issue that he raised very well. And so if he could encapsulate it for me, then I would know what response to proffer.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:58 a.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip, you may summarise the concerns that you raised.
Alhaji Muntaka 10:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the concern I raised was that, Questions which Answers emanate from the Judicial Service have always been a difficulty for the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to answer.
Last week, we had a similar Question and the Hon Minister wrote that she had not gotten the Judicial Service to provide her with the Answer. I believe it is partly because of that she did not programme to be here. She also said she has not gotten the Answer from the Judicial Service.
Mr Speaker, this has happened a number of times, and I am of the view that Parliament as a House should find a way of going round it to get Answers of this nature from the Judiciary.
And I suggest that because, maybe they are also an independent institution, if we could create a Committee of the Whole for somebody in there to come and answer, instead of channelling this Question through the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. She writes and says that she does not have an Answer; it is scheduled for her to answer and he or she cannot answer.
Mr Speaker, and so that is why I am saying that Parliament should try and find a way of getting these Answers instead of putting the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in the difficulty of not getting the Answers, let alone being able to come to this House. I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I appreciate the principle, but if we have to do that, then we have to spread it out and not limit it just to the Judiciary. For instance, yes, we appreciate that as per article 127, it is provided, and I beg to quote:
“(1) In the exercise of the Judicial power of Ghana, the Judiciary, in both its judicial and administrative functions, including financial administration, is subject only to this Constitution and shall not be subject to the control or direction of any person or authority.”
Mr Speaker, and so it becomes difficult for the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to push them. And so, if his opinion is that, in the face of that, Parliament could further interrogate this matter and perhaps, decide to invite such parties to face the Committee of the Whole, or if we like, a Joint Caucus, that would be worth considering.
But I am just saying that we should not just pick and choose. We should think through.
The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), and all these other bodies that come under the purview of the Special Budget Committee, if for purposes of speeding up the interrogation of matters that we believe should be interrogated we deem it fit and appropriate to invite them to the plenary, then the best option is at
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:58 a.m.
Hon Members, since we are reviewing our Standing Orders, I think this is one of the issues that should be handled under the new Standing Orders. You should discuss it further and try to provide for it.
This is because our supervisory powers go beyond the independence of Arms, institutions or commissions. It is given to us to cover all. And so look at it properly.
Maybe, we may need to bring the Heads of such institutions to always appear before Parliament or as we said, other committees. But it is important for them to be before the whole plenary and not any other committees except matters that we need to hold in camera.
But it is something that you should further interrogate and let us get a response to.
And so I would move to item numbered 4.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree that our oversight functions go beyond just the Executive. It spreads to all these institutions.
And even the language of the Constitution, which provides that in the performance of the functions of these institutions; the Auditor-General, the Judiciary, NCCE, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), et cetera, they are not subject
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 10:58 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, well noted.
I will carry your concerns to the Rt Hon Speaker, who I ably represent here.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 10:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, once the leader of Government Business goes to the subject of the Standing Orders, it is only appropriate that I add that at the last discussion, the decision was to get the Rt Hon Speaker to engage former Rt Hon Speakers and other experienced persons to come and validate what can now be accepted as an improved Standing Orders for us to adopt. We need to work at it.
Mr Speaker, but once the Hon Leader also makes reference to the Constitution, and yourself, a good lawyer; there are three co-equal Organs of State; the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature. And it is not for nothing that in every part of the Constitution where the power is vested, the words, “subject to this Constitution” becomes a guiding phrase. For instance, if we read article 125(4) or article 93(2), the expression, “subject to this Constitution” means that, they shall not be under the control or
authority of any person, but that they exercise their mandate subject to this Constitution.
I still think that his suggestion with the Minority Chief Whip, that the Judicial Service finds space to come like the other Constitutional Organs to meet us at the Committee of the Whole to provide answers to many of these issues would be worth looking at in the future.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Members, we are actually referring to the General Legal Council.
Hon Members, I think we have the Hon Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in the House and so I would move to item numbered 4 -- Questions.
Question numbered 487 which stands in the name of Dr (Mrs) Bernice Adiku Heloo, Hon Member for Hohoe. Hon Member, you may now ask your Question.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 11:08 a.m.
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, 11:08 a.m.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND 11:08 a.m.
INNOVATION 11:08 a.m.
Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (Prof. K. Frimpong-Boateng) 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker,
Background
The MASTESS was an incentive programme to provide scholarships and bursaries for needy but brilliant students in Mathematics, Science and Technology related subjects in tertiary and second cycle institutions.
In 2009, Cabinet gave approval for the implementation of the Mathematics, Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme (MASTESS) by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the GETFund.
The Programme was officially launched on 17th August, 2009 by Ms. Sherry Ayittey, the Minister responsible for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation on behalf of the President.
The introduction of MASTEsS became necessary following a decline in the interest of students to take up the study of science and mathematics, coupled with the poor results students obtained at the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
It was to be funded by 2 per cent of funds allocated to GETFund. The allocation was to be deposited in a special account called ‘MASTESS Fund' to be disbursed by the Scholarships Secre- tariat. It was estimated that the MASTESS programme would benefit 41,400 brilliant but needy students annually, to enable them pursue both secondary and tertiary education. The implementation of the programme started in 2010.
MASTESS Funds released by GETFund since 2010 to 2014 was GH¢10.5 million with the following breakdown:
1. 2010/2011-- GH¢2.5 million;
Dr (Mrs) Heloo 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, from the Answer given by the Hon Minister, it is clear that the MASTESS Programme has not been officially stopped. So I would like to know what the Ministry has done or is currently doing to get the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to
release to the MASTESS Fund the two per cent that they are due.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would thank the Hon Member for the question.
Mr Speaker, the fact of the matter is that the MASTESS Programme stopped in the year 2015 and it was not handed over to us.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Member, any further supplementary question?
Dr (Mrs) Heloo 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to know who stopped the MASTESS Programme and the way forward.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, in the year 2015, I believe the Hon Member asking the Question was the Deputy Minister in that Ministry at the time and that was the time the Programme was stopped.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Minister, is it that funds were not released or the MASTESS Programme was stopped? I ask this question because you talked about funds not being released and then you talked about truncation. And you said that you got all this information from the internet which meant that it was not in your handing over notes. So, please try to clarify this matter for us to know.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the MASTESS Programme was not handed over to us and there was no information on it in the handing over notes. So, I got the information on the figures in my Answer from the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI Directorate) and the Background and History from the internet.
Mr Speaker, so what I am saying is that at the time that the Programme was stopped at the end of the year 2014, 12,755 students had benefitted and a total amount of 10.5 million Ghana cedis had been disbursed.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Member, you would ask your last supplementary question.
Dr (Mrs) Heloo 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to know from the Hon Minister if he is aware that there are some undisbursed funds at the Scholarships Secretariat for the same MASTESS Programme?
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not aware of that but we can follow up and see.
I thank you.
Mr Emmanuel Gyamfi 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to find out from the Hon Minister what the duration for this particular MASTESS Programme was? The Programme stopped in 2015 and I could see that it was not the actual date when it was stopped --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Member, the Programme stopped in the year 2014 because that was when money was released. In the year 2015, no money was released. Is that the case, Hon Minister?
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng 11:08 a.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, the last tranche of funds were released in the year 2014 and so effectively, the MASTESS Programme stopped at that point. It was supposed to be an open-ended programme but because funds were not released, I guess that was the reason it was not carried through further.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:08 a.m.
So on the Hon Member's Question --- maybe he would repeat it for you to respond to it, Hon Minister.
Mr Gyamfi 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to find out from the Hon Minister whether he intends bringing back the programme?
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we have not been able to establish whether this is a statutory programme that we are bound to continue. I have sighted a Cabinet memo but I do not know what it

decided to do with the programme and also, whether it was ratified by Parliament. These are some of the things we would want to find out. We would want to find out whether it is part of statutory disbursement and then we see how it could be continued.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:18 a.m.
Hon Minister, in paragraph 2 of your Answer you said that, in 2009, Cabinet gave approval and now you said you did not know whether Cabinet gave approval and whether it is statutory. According to your Answer, it was launched on the 17th of August, 2009 by the then Hon Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation on behalf of the President.
So, could you clarify the situation?
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, as I indicated, the programme was launched on 17th of August, 2009 by the Hon Minister. From the information gathered on the internet, there was Cabinet approval but I have not sighted the official document approving of the programme.
Mr Speaker, also, I am not sure about what Parliament decided on and whether it ratified it. These are my difficulties at the moment.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that it was because of the lack of interest of students to take up the study of science and mathematics. The programme certainly would be a very good one that ought to be supported and if possible be continued.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister has indicated to us that the programme was to
be funded by two per cent of funds allocated to GETFund on yearly basis. Now, for 2010/2011, GH¢2.5 million was allocated but dropped to GH¢2 million in
2011/2012.
Is it the case that the allocation to GETFund dropped or maybe somebody elected not to pay the full complement? Certainly, 2011/2012 GETFund was a higher amount than that of 2010/2011?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:18 a.m.
Hon Minister, your information is actually very scanty because if it is actually two per cent from the GETFund, there should be information as to whether this was approved by Parliament in the formula.
Anyway, try and respond to the issue raised by the Hon Majority Leader.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, I agree with you that the information provided may be scanty but that is all that I have from the internet because there was no handing over notes on this particular project. Therefore the information available to us at the Ministry is very scanty.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:18 a.m.
Hon Minister, did you ask GETFund for the formula of those years to see whether Parliament approved some funds for this programme?
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe we would have to find out whether Parliament ratified the pro- gramme, then, we would have the authority to go to GETFund and ask further questions.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:18 a.m.
Hon Minister, you could have done that through the GETFund. If there was no approval by Parliament, it meant that it
did not come before Parliament. That is why I said the information is scanty and we are doing this because of the importance of this programme. We all know what the situation is on the ground with regards to the study of mathematics, science and technological fields.
It is something that the House would want you to inquire further into and maybe come back to the House to give us more information. Hon Member, you are also put at notice to do further search and if there is the need for you to come back with another question, you are entitled to do so.
I could see the Hon Minority Chief Whip itching to be on his feet.
Yes?
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, reading the Answer from the Hon Minister, is there any indication of interest or it is something he envisages to continue?
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, of course, we have interest in that programme because the study of science and technology is very important to us. That is why the Ministry is also promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education.
Mr Speaker, so we would do our further search as you directed and I would have to maybe sit down with my Sister, the Hon Member to get all the details about the programme and at the appropriate time if I am requested by the Honourable House, I would come again to provide the Answers.
Alhaji Muntaka 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to know whether the Hon Minister,
as head of policy for that Ministry would be interested in pursuing this programme or not because his Answer did not indicate that.
Now, he says he would consult my Hon Colleague and get the details of the programme and come back to the House. Does that mean that he is interested in pursuing it as a head of policy or this Government is not interested in pursuing this programme?
Is there no funding and that there would be no funding even in future by his estimation for this programme? That is the direction I wanted explanation on.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:18 a.m.
I admitted your supplementary question just because of the nature of the subject. If not, the Hon Minister stated that he has scanty information. The information is so scanty that one could not be interested in something that one does not have information on. That is the difficulty.
But if the Hon Minister wants to respond to it, why not?
Prof Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
The principle of the programme is very good but we need to get some more information and audit the programme to find out whether the programme increased enrolment in science education and whether it affected the results of students who benefited from the programme.
These are some of the facts that we would want to gather but we are interested in science and technology education and when we finish the audit we would take it up and move on with the programme.
Dr Kwaku Afiriyie 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I
would want some clarifications from the Hon Minister. The internet is a very wide area that if he could provide to the House the website, so that we could go there and read for ourselves.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:18 a.m.
Hon Minister, they would want the website of the programme.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng 11:18 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would make the website available to the Hon Minister for Western Region.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:28 a.m.
It is not just the Hon Minister for Western Region but the House.
He has asked the question for and on behalf of the whole House and Ghanaians are interested.
You had sufficient leads, but you did not go further. Because if you referred to Cabinet approval, it meant that you had a document that shows Cabinet approval, and you could have pursued it to the Cabinet Secretariat to get further clarification on it.
You then talked about a launch. It was launched on 17 th August, 2009 by a colleague, a former Hon Minister. So, there is another lead for you to have gone further to look for information.
Then there is reference to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). There are releases of money and all those things. You could have even come to the Office of the Clerk-to-Parliament to look for further documentation on it. It is not an Urgent Question, but much work could have been done on this issue than you have presented to the House.
Hon Minister, I am sorry; that is my impression.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that as the Hon Minister himself conceded, the principle is a worthy one and he may want to reconsider same.
Mr Speaker, except that as the then Hon Majority Leader, you would remember that we had difficulty working this into the formula because it had not come to Parliament for any approval at all. I would want to believe that was one of the reasons funds could no longer be released to the programme even though it is a worthy one.
So, I believe that in the consideration by the Hon Minister, going forward, if they decide to resurrect it, they may not only need Cabinet approval but they may have to come to Parliament with it in order for us, at the end of the day when we come to consider the fomula of GETFund, to be able to work it into it.
This is because it was one hiccup that we suffered and that led to the abortion of the programme, which is a worthy one indeed.
So as you have recommended to the Hon Minister to pursue these lines, if he comes to a determination to continue, what may be required -- at the end of the day, it would not only be Cabinet approval; it would also come to Parliament to seek the approval of the House. That would then liberate us to work it into the GETFund formula when it comes up for consideration.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:28 a.m.
That was why I thought the Hon Minister should have pursued it further to make all these available in his Answer to the Question. That would have clarified the situation, so we know that this was not before the House and we did not approve two per
cent of GETFund for the funding of such a programme. We would then know what action to take next.
As it is now, it has to be followed up because we all know that as the Hon Minister stated in principle, it is a very good programme and something that is worthy of pursuit. We should follow it up.
Hon Minister, it is proper that on behalf of the House, I thank you for attending upon the House to respond to the Question. You are now discharged.

Hon Majority Leader, I have been brought the file on Statements, and there are so many Statements in it. Which particular one are we to take today?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, there is one Statement on gas explosion -- a tragedy that happened at the Manhyia North Constituency and the Hon Member should have taken this Statement last Thursday; but because of limited space, we asked that he does it today. It is on gas explosions in Ghana by Mr Collins Owusu Amankwah, the Hon Member of Parliament for Manhyia North.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, that Statement is not among those that I have been given. It is not among the Statements here.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is a very short Statement. If you cannot trace what was submitted to the Rt Hon Speaker, we could go on the other ones --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Once it was approved by the Rt Hon Speaker, I just need a copy and then we would go on. [Pause.]
Hon Members, item numbered 5 on the Order Paper -- Statements. We now have a Statement before us in the name of the Hon Member for the Manhyia North Constituency, Mr Collins Owusu Amankwah. It is a Statement on gas explosions in Ghana and the way forward.
Hon Member, you may make the Statement.
STATEMENTS 11:38 a.m.
Mr Collins Owusu Amankwah (NPP- - Manhyia North) 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the unique opportunity and for your patience to let me make a Statement on the Floor of the House on the above subject.
Mr Speaker, I start with great empathy and condolence to the families and friends of those who have lost their dear ones due to these recurrent gas explosions.
Recently, two persons lost their lives in a gas explosion in Kumasi, in which one Mr Collins Obeng, a 37 year old young and vibrant man, as well as a yet to be identified 68 year old man lost their lives.
Mr Speaker, not long ago on 7 th September, 2017, the country experienced a fatal gas explosion at North Legon on the Madina-Atomic Energy road where seven lives perished.
In recent years, the country has suffered horrendous explosions. Records have it that we have lost about 252 lives in twelve years due to such explosions. It
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Hon Members, you are now invited under Standing Order 72 to comment on the Statement that has just been made.
Mr George M. Duker (NPP--Tarkwa- Nsuaem) 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Statement ably made by my Hon Colleague.
Indeed, gas explosions that have happened in our country have actually disturbed various families and I would use this platform to extend my condolences to the bereaved families.
Mr Speaker, beyond showing condolences and also giving some sort of benefit to bereaved families, we must think outside the box to, in a way, proffer some solutions to this.
That is why this Government has gone ahead to move out from the old Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) marketing model to introduce the cylinder recirculation model which is to be implemented early next year. This is thinking outside the box to curtail the trend of explosions and how these explosions happen.
Most of the time, they do happen at the time of discharge when the tankers carrying the gas get to their respective stations. During the discharge, these explosions do occur and this is the time for us to do away with these explosions.

Mr Speaker, the cylinder recirculation model will include three phases; first one is the bottling plant which will be sited at the outskirts of the community centres. These bottling plant centres are going to produce the domestic gas that we use and by this, I mean, refilling the gas into the cylinders.

The cylinders will also be transported to the cylinder redistribution centres and this will do away with the current way of filling our cylinders.

I happened to join a team that visited La Cote D'Ivoire and India with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and I had the opportunity to see what La Cote D' Ivoire had practiced for over five decades and it will interest you to know that for the past 50 years, they had never experienced any gas explosions.

That was revealing to us and I believe that if this cylinder recirculation model is introduced and supported by Hon Members of this august House, Ghana will go a long way in securing the safety of the citizenry.

Mr Speaker, as I speak with you, risk assessment has been done in all the 10 regional centres and plans are far advanced to get this cylinder recirculation remodel started.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Hon Member, you are going far beyond but because you are a first timer, I am being generous. If you want to make a Statement on that policy, you are entitled to do so but you are to comment on the issue of gas explosion; you can refer to it but not to go into details of that policy. That is why I am stopping you in your tracks.
Mr Duker 11:48 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have taken a cue.
I would want to draw the attention of Ghanaians to explosions that also happen in our homes; many explosions happen but we do not hear of them. If we go to the hospitals they are reported and so we must be careful as we use --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:48 p.m.
There is no problem in drawing our attention to this, but you were telling us the details of a policy. This Statement is not on that issue -- you could refer to the policy but not to tell us the details of that policy.
I have said that you are entitled to make a complete Statement on that matter. You
could come back later on this, but you have to comment on the Statement that has just been made.
Mr Duker 11:48 p.m.
Mr Speaker, exactly so.
I wish to commend the Hon Member who made the Statement.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Ms Laadi Ayii Ayamba (NDC -- Pusiga) 11:48 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement that has been ably made by my Hon Colleague on the other Side.
Mr Speaker, the issue of gas explosions in this country has continuously been a problem that we have always been grappling with. The disaster on 3rd June reminds all of us, that is if we cannot remember any of the other explosions. I send my sympathies to the families of all those who passed away in those explosions.
Mr Speaker, many a time when discussions come up it is about where the gas stations have been sited, but there are so many questions that lead to places where the gas stations have been sited and why these disasters occur.
Mr Speaker, precisely so, thousands of questions come up and it seems we do not find answers although we have laid down rules and regulations that should enable us to not have these disasters.
Mr Speaker, the first question is, is there any gas station that has ever been sited without any permission for the owner or proprietor to site it there? Has any gas station been sited in a particular place or location which is not known and the agencies that are supposed to know are not aware that a gas station is about to be sited there?
Are we trying to say that sometimes -- excuse my language -- we are insensitive to some of these issues when they come up; we simply see that the gas stations are sited at places where we know that the least trickle of fire would cause a problem. Yet we allow this to happen.
I believe that there is no gas station that has been sited overnight and there is no place where we would find a gas station that took the owner just a day to site the gas station. Are we saying that we do not monitor the agencies that are supposed to be monitoring where these gas stations are sited to see if they are doing the monitoring or they have simply kept a blind eye on where these gas stations are sited?
Mr Speaker, I believe that we need to sit up and step up on our laws that bind certain activities which take place. We should not continue to cry foul and discuss these issues when in actual fact what should be done to curb this particular menace is not being put in place.
Mr Speaker, meanwhile we have the offices and so what are the officers doing? Lest I forget, I want us to ask ourselves that those gas stations that had the gas explosions and which we said they should be closed - have they been closed down? If not, why?
Mr Speaker, also, the victims that were affected, have we been able to take care of them? Up till now and from time to time -- with the disaster on 3rd June, 2015, I continuously hear people who come on radio stations talk about how they have no place to lay their heads up till now and not to even mention their health.
Mr Speaker, I remember a gentleman, but I cannot recall his name immediately,
but he comes out to continuously talk about the injury on his head which he has still not gotten proper treatment for. Mr Speaker, if we say that we would support our victims of such circumstances then we should ensure that we support them properly.
If we have the agencies and the officers are supposed to do their work, so that good work would be done in order to stop these disasters then we should ensure that they work. Otherwise we would continue to come out with Statements every year, yet it is the same problem and issues that would come up.
Mr Speaker, God forbid but at another time we would hear about something that we do not want. We do not want something of this sort to occur anymore.
Mr Speaker, it is important that even the tanker drivers who go to the gas stations should also be trained to know how to handle leakages. Mr Speaker, the other issue is that many a time the attendants at the gas stations do not know anything. They have no clue on what should be done when there is a disaster.
We do not know if these people are being trained. Sometimes we hear there was a leakage; whether it was the tanker carrying the gas or the tank that has been buried in the ground. Mr Speaker, I cannot tell whether they are checked day in and day out when gas is brought, but definitely there is a technical problem which needs to be catered for.
Mr Speaker, some people go to a gas station and leave their car engines still on and those who work there do not have the guts to tell them to turn off their engines. Mr Speaker, some of the gas stations are very close to fuel stations where people who go to fill their vehicles
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:48 p.m.
Am I getting the signal that I should take a contribution each from both sides of the House? And would that be inclusive of the Hon Leaders? Leaders, do you have interest in community?
Mr Nyindam 11:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we would take one person from here and one person from there, and if any Leader wants to add his or her voice, that Leader could do so.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
Do you have interest in commenting on this Statement, Leaders?
Mr Nyindam 11:58 a.m.
Mr Speaker, he is from Kumasi, and he might want to add something. I do not think we have anything to add.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
Hon Minority Chief, do you want to comment?
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka 11:58 a.m.
Yes.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
All right. It is not now. Let me listen to your able ‘Generals first'.
Rev. John Ntim Fordjour -- rose -- Dr Kwabena Twum-Nuamah --
rose --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
By looking at both of you, I thought one would give up. Do you recognise the difficulty in choosing?
The senior decided that it is time for the junior to learn at his feet. So, I thank you for that.
Yes, my Hon Member?
Rev John Ntim Fordjour (NPP -- Assin South): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity given me to comment on the Statement ably made by the Hon Member for Manhyia North and to add my voice to his in commiserating with the families and loved ones of the persons who unfortunately lost their lives in the recent explosion of gas that occurred in Kumasi.
Mr Speaker, it is indeed sad that the loss of lives through explosion of gas, whether domestic or at commercial gas fuel stations or at hotels and at other facilities have been perennial. Since the year 2007, it has been estimated that over 250 lives have been lost.
It is a very worrying trend. References has been made to the June 3rd disaster and to the unfortunate Atomic Junction
gas explosion and many other sad occurrences.
Each time these explosions occurred, we lamented. We have discussed ways forward and the very factors that have come to the fore had had to centre around the issue of safety and more importantly policy directions as well.
Over the years, it seems as though we have not moved beyond the discussions and the discourse that go in the aftermath of these unfortunate incidents, very assertive efforts which have actually yielded a significant reduction, if not a total elimination of this worrying trend.
It is worrying again because usually, when explosions occurred and the majority had had to happen at gas fuel stations, the properties have had the potential of being restored.
When owners have signed up to various insurance policies, it is possible that the whole facility even after it had been burnt to ashes could be restored but what happens to the 250 lives and more that are lost and are irreplaceable? These are lives that would have potentially contributed greatly to nation building and the development of our nation.
Mr Speaker, a cursory look at the regulatory framework of the sector whose mandate collectively is to ensure public safety and the safety of the citizenry in preventing gas explosions reviewed a multiplicity of agencies; the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Ghana National Fire Service, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and other agencies who come together.
One would have thought that a very assertive collaboration of all these agencies should have been able to nip this perennial trend in the bud.
Mr Speaker, I am glad that going forward and beyond the lamentations, we are having a more effective policy direction that will eliminate this trend strongly. I strongly support this policy direction in the fact that the hazards or the risks would have to be eliminated from source.
And so the policy of gas recirculation is a policy that I would want to urge the Ministry of Energy and the implementing agency, NPA and all other relevant implementing agencies and stakeholders who have a role to play in infatuating this policy to speed up processes so that in the next few months we should be able to see the roll out of this policy right from the filling of gas which has been the major source of these explosions at the discharge point of the various fuel stations.
The new gas recirculation policy will eliminate the harzards and introduce a process whereby gas cylinders are going to be bottled in a very safe and controlled environment far away from dwelling of humans. Just as we purchase bottled drinks, one goes with an empty cylinder and in exchange have a filled and safely bottled cylinder.
That is the way forward to go. But between now and the time that this policy sees full implementation where significant reduction would be seen, I must also urge various households and users of this very important substance that actually put food on the table and even help in industrial manufacturing and in welding and other very important undertakings to exercise absolute circumspection and adherence to safety precautions.
Mr Speaker, we must not come again to Parliament to lament another gas explosion. I would want to believe that a time has come -- [Interruption.] . Although we all acknowledge that there is an inherent weakness even in the
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
Yes, Hon Kpodo?
Hon Members, the rule is that, once you stand up with a senior Member and the senior is unprepared to give way, he is the one that the Speaker would recognise because this is a House of law and order.
When you are calculating seniority, it is not only the years of experience in Parliament. It is like what is done in the public services. They even calculate it to the extent of your birth date.
Mr Benjamin K. Kpodo (NDC -- Hon Central) 12:08 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I join my Hon Colleagues to congratulate the Hon Member who made the Statement and to also extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the explosions.
Mr Speaker, when the Atomic Junction gas station caught fire, it was terrible; very frightening. People were running from Madina right up to places like Trasacco Valley.
Mr Speaker, my opinion is that we should completely change our gas distribution system; the liquefied petroleum gas that we send to our homes. It is about time we introduced a more refined and highly technological means of sending this to our homes for use.
It is an improvement to say that we are filling the gas cylinders and taking them round to exchange for empty gas cylinders, but that is not the ultimate.
When you go outside Ghana, to England for instance, gas is transported from central preparation centres through pipelines to the various homes, and they use it for both heating and cooking. It is about time we started thinking of introducing that technology in our country, so that we would have fewer gas preparation centres.
Right now, if you go to East Legon, you would find many filling stations dispensing gas into cylinders, and the
more the stations, the more the likelihood of explosions. The explosions could happen at many places -- one here, one there. You would be encircled and not know where to run to.
That is why I believe that if we introduce the technology where the gas is prepare at a particular point and distributed over wide areas through the piping system, it would enhance safety, and more troubles of the kind we have had would not occur.
Mr Speaker, I believe it should be a policy driven by Government and the agencies which manage our gas distribution system, so that over time, we would achieve higher safety procedures for distributing and using gas in our homes. That is what I would call for; we should start now and license entrepreneurs who would be ready to lay the pipes and get gas to the various homes for use, either in our kitchens or anywhere else that we need them.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka (NDC-- Asawase) 12:08 p.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
I beg first to commend my Hon Colleague, Mr Collins Owusu Amankwah, for making this Statement, and also to extend my condolences to the families that lost their dear ones.
Mr Speaker, I do not intend to make a long comment on this, except to say that I do not know when we as a country would act. We have seen the 2015 Circle explosion which claimed over 100 lives. We have seen so many of them, from La to Atomic Junction, as my Hon Colleague
mentioned severally, yet all we do after each one is come and make a Statement, and then it ends there.
Mr Speaker, it is true that after the Atomic Junction explosion the Executive Director for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that they did not have any Regulation to guide the citing of not only gas stations, but also fuel stations, and that they were using an administrative mechanism which is more or less a guideline.
Mr Speaker, I would like to refer Hon Members to the National Petroleum Authority Act, (2005) Act 691. I am just interested in the section 13, Application for License. It says;
“(1) A person may apply to the Board for license in the manner determined by the Board with the prescribed fee”.
It goes further to say in section 14, on Conditions of License;
“(1) A license shall not be granted to an applicant unless the applicant has complied with any other requirement specified by the Board and any other relevant enactment”.
Mr Speaker, whereas there are no elaborate steps, with these sections, I believe that if the National Petroleum Authority was really interested in ensuring that the right thing is done, with just this section, they would not grant the license for people to even start in the first place.
Mr Speaker, I am beginning to get worried and scared that our citizens might think that we just joked with this by making Statements and then that ends it, until another life is lost.
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka (NDC-- Asawase) 12:08 p.m.


I would challenge my Hon Colleague Collins Owusu Amankwah and team up with him to bring amendments to these sections, so that we would see who would come up to say they do not want the amendments to be done.

We would take the guidelines they have, which people are not complying with, put them into the Act and prescribe punishment. That is when this House could be said to be acting.

Those who are mandated to bring the Regulation or amendment to this House do not seem to be interested, and over the years these things have happened again and again, and then all we do is just make Statements.

I would partner my Hon Colleague, take the Regulations, come back and propose amendments to Act 691. We would see whether it would go through this House or not, because this is a matter that is so injurious to the ordinary citizen.

We are all not safe. If you look at the number of explosions, people went there to buy fuel and then it exploded with them there. It could happen to any of us. I do not believe we need to wait, with the greatest respect, until the explosion affects a Minister of State, a Member of Parliament or a judge, before we act.

The time to act is now, and I would urge my Hon Colleagues to team up with me to bring out the amendment to change the law by incorporating the guidelines that people are not following into to Act and then prescribe punishment.

When we do this, it might go a long way to end this anarchy, because it is hurting and destroying the lives of innocent people and the properties of many Ghanaians.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:08 p.m.
Hon Members, we have come to the end of Statements.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:08 p.m.
Would you like to make a comment on the -- ?
Mr Nyindam 12:08 p.m.
Mr Speaker, not really. I indicated earlier that we were not going to add anything, but the Hon Minister for Employment and Social Welfare expressed some interest in making some comments. So, if you would not mind, I would just -- Mr Speaker, all right, thank you very much, he has declined.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:08 p.m.
Hon Minister, thank you very much.
We would now proceed to public business, At the Commencement of Public Business, item 6 on the Order Paper.
Mr Nyindam 12:08 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with your permission and the leave of the House, I would like to ask that the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance lay the Paper on behalf of the Minister for Finance?
Alhaji Muntaka 12:08 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have to rise at this point, because as we speak, the Health Committee and the Gender Committee do not have the Estimates.
Mr Speaker, I would like to urge that as we take steps -- [Interruption] -- Hon Members are mentioning other Com- mittees. As we take steps to lay them, do we have sufficient copies, so that we do not just lay and then we have this battle of not having copies in the House?
So Mr Speaker, we just want assurance, and we would also urge Leadership on the Majority to do well and get the rest of
the Estimates. I am sure we are not going to spend Christmas here. The closer it gets to Christmas, the more difficult it is for us to play our oversight role. Other than that, we do not have any objection to another Minister laying this for them.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, item 6(a) (i)?
PAPERS 12:18 p.m.
Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker,
could you add the leadership of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs to this one? This is for the purchase of tractors, so the leadership of the Committee could be added.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Member, I would want you to be specific. When you say leadership, do you mean
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:18 p.m.
Rightly so, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
The four of them?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:18 p.m.
Yes please.
Alhaji Muntaka 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thought he would propose that it should be a Joint Committee of the Committees on Finance and Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs. Mr Speaker, if you look at --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Members, I personally do not like only leadership of the Committee; I prefer Joint Committees because the other Hon Members of the Committee are equally important and they also have to get to know what happens at the sector. It should not just be the leadership of the Committee.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the practice is that the financing agreement would normally go to the Finance Committee.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Practice from where?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, our Standing Orders say that the Finance Committee would consider the terms and conditions of a loan and the one before is as such. Then later on, the commercial agreement comes before the House.
It is in that one that all the nitty-gritties of these come in, so if you add the leadership of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs to it, I believe it sits well.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Laborious to who?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am telling you, I made the application. These Joint Committees run forever. So, add the leadership of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs to this and when the commercial agreement comes --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Chairman, please, when a Report is presented to the House, it is not only the leaders of the Committee who are given the opportunity to debate it.
The Hon Members of the Committee are also given opportunity to debate, so I do not think there is anything wrong with making the whole Committee -- It does not become laborious at all. We work as a House, so now, from all indication, it should be a Joint Committee on Finance and Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs. So, the directive should be amended.
Referred to the Joint Committee on Finance and Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, item numbered 6 (a) (ii).
By the Deputy Minister for Finance (Mrs Abena Osei-Asare) (on behalf of the Minister for Finance) --
Request for waiver of Import Duties, Import VAT/GETFund Levy, Import NHIL, ECOWAS/AU Levy, EXIM Levy, Special Import Levy amounting to the Ghana cedi
equivalent of one million, three hundred and eighteen thousand, one hundred and fifty-two euros (€1,318,152.00) on materials and equipment to be imported for the Up-Grading and Enhancement of Technical and Vocational Training Centres.
Referred to the Finance Committee.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Item
numbered 6(b). Hon Chairman of the Committee on Works and Housing?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Works and Housing on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources for the year ending 31st December,
2019.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Item numbered 6(c). Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee?
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to draw your attention to the fact that the item numbered 6(c)(i) is not ready, but we have those numbered 6(c)(v), (vi) and (viii). These are the Papers that the Hon Chairman can lay.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
So, only three Papers are ready.
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
Exactly.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
We would take the items numbered 6(c)(v), (vi) and (viii). Chairman of the Finance Committee.
By the Chairman of the Committee --
(v) Report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Budget Estimates
of the Ministry of Planning for the year ending 31st December,
2019.
(vi) Report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation for the year ending 31st December, 2019.
(vii) Report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Budget Estimates of Other Government Obligations for the year ending 31st December 2019.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Item numbered 6 (d).
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, kindly let us go to the item numbered 6(e). We would lay the Papers numbered (i), (ii) and (iii). They would be laid by the Hon Chairman for the Committee on Roads and Transport.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Members, item numbered 6(e)(i). Chairman for the Committee on Roads and Transport?
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
The Hon Ranking Member of the Committee is on his feet.
Mr Agbodza 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I just want to confirm from the Hon Chairman of the Committee if those Reports are ready.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Chairman, the issue has been raised as to whether the Reports are ready.
12. 28 p. m.
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Hon Ranking Member was just here with me; the Reports are ready. He just came to have a look at it and he says that we would lay it today. So I am surprised and do not know what he is talking about.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Ranking Member?
Mr Agbodza 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman told me that a draft Report was ready. Amendments were made to the Report but I have not seen the final Report and that is why I am asking whether the final Report is ready.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Chairman, is the Report ready?
Mr Aye-Paye 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Reports are ready and my Hon Ranking Member has seen the draft Reports. We would just get the final Report for distribution. [Pause.]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Chairman, do you have copies of the Report with you?
Mr Ayeh-Paye 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Report is ready but because it has not been distributed, I have not seen my copy; but it is ready.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Chairman, once you are taken on, I have to go to this extent. You are to present the Report, so you must have a copy of the Report to be presented. Usually, it is laid at the Table.
If your Hon Colleague had conceded to it, we would not have gone to that extent. That is why I ask whether you have a copy of the Report.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minority Chief Whip?
Alhaji Muntaka 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague, the Hon Deputy Majority Whip should not create the impression as though if these Papers are not laid, they cannot move a Motion. [Interruption.] He said that the Hon Minister has been here and is waiting for this to be laid.
Mr Speaker, but the principle should be well established. Technically, if we look at our Standing Orders, the Committee's Report needs to go back for all Members of the Committee. The practice has been that, at least, the Hon Chairman and the Hon Ranking Member would try to strike an understanding and then see a copy.
Mr Speaker, if they do a draft, make amendments and say that the final Report is ready and it is not shown to the Hon Ranking Member but laid here, how could he be sure that all the amendments that were made in the draft are in?
What would it take to show it to the Hon Ranking Member for him to be sure that now we are set so it could be laid? We should, at least, keep to the practice where we show it to the Hon Ranking Member. Other than that, the whole Committee was supposed to have looked at it.
I do not think that we should split hairs over this. This is something that they could even do behind the Lobby. He could show it to the Hon Ranking Member, and then come back to lay it instead of all the arguments that we are making.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Well, do we have to keep on making these exchanges?
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not think so.
Since the Hon Ranking Member has indicated that he has not seen the Report, we could move to item numbered 16 to move the Motion.
Mr Agbodza 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want this to be clear.
I met the Hon Deputy Whip and the Hon Chairman of the Committee and we discussed the draft Report. We agreed that we would lay the Report and the Clerk to the Committee was with us. The Clerk to the Committee was supposed to do some final work.
When my Hon Chairman was laying the Report, I asked if he could confirm that the Clerk to the Committee had done exactly what we had said. I did not intend to say that we had agreed on something which we are not supposed to do.
I have seen the draft Report, but what is being laid is what I do not know. What if the Clerk to the Committee did something different from what we agreed on?
The direction of the Hon Minority Chief Whip should not be that we have agreed to lay it, but I have come to stab the Hon Chairman in the back. I cannot do that; I just said that I have not seen the final Report.
So if the final Report is available, like the Hon Minority Chief Whip agreed, we could just go behind the division and have a look at it and then he could go ahead to lay it. That is all there is, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Well, I would allow the Hon Chairman and the Hon Ranking Member to agree on this matter and come back. We still have some time, so I would go by the advice of the Hon Deputy Majority Whip to go to the other item.
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, unfor- tunately, the Hon Chairman has to move the Motion for item numbered 16. So, if they are going out to confer, it also stops us from moving to item numbered 16 on the Order Paper.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
We were to move to item numbered 16. So, we would not lay the other Papers on the Order Paper?
Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
After the Report of the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Transport, we would have moved to take the Motion. So if we want them to go and confer, let us do the Motion numbered 16 on the Order Paper. After that, if they go and reconcile, we could, with your permission, lay the other Papers if they agree.
Mr Speaker, but for now, let us move to item numbered 16 because the Hon Minister has waited for quite a long time.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Hon Members, we are being called upon to suspend the laying of the Papers on item 6(f), 6(g), 6(h), 6(k), 6(j), 6(i), 6(l), 6(m), 6(n), 6(o), 6(p), 6(q), 6(r), 6(s), 6(t), 6(u), 6(v) to a later time; maybe, today or tomorrow. We are advised to move to item numbered
16.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
Yes, Hon
Minority Chief Whip?
Alhaji Muntaka 12:18 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we do not have any objection doing item numbered 16, but we just would like to remind ourselves that looking at the number in the Chamber now, we would not be able to take a decision. So, if our Hon Colleagues opposite and all of us could remind our Hon Colleagues who are in committee meetings to come and join, it would do us a lot of good.
This is a very important commercial agreement and looking at those of us sitting in the Chamber, we would not be able to take a decision on it.
We could debate it and maybe, stand the Question down, but if we intend to finish it, we would need to signal the Hon Members at Committee meetings to join us.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Well, as Hon Leaders, you know what to do, so I would proceed to item numbered 16.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon First
Deputy Majority Whip, are we not going to take item numbered 16?
Mr Nyindam 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that is the indication, but the Hon Minister has asked for few minutes to work on some aspect of the Report. [Interruption.]
Mr Speaker, I would want to crave your indulgence for Sitting to be suspended for 10 minutes.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon First Deputy Majority Whip, an Hon Minister cannot come to the House and ask for few minutes. That information is for your consumption, and not for the consumption of the House.
Mr Nyindam 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is rather the Hon Chairman of the Committee. I am grateful.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Member, this issue has nothing to do with you, so why are you on your feet? It is not an issue with regard to the Hon Ranking Member on Roads and Transport.
Mr Agbodza 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am at a loss. This is the first time I have heard that a Report that has been laid and distributed to Hon Members -- [Interruption] -- I find it strange with regards to the application the Hon Majority Whip made. I have never heard of such an application in this House before and I would want to seek your advice.
Mr Speaker, is it to say that whenever the Hon Minister finishes his amendment, this Report would be withdrawn and a new one given to us?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Member, since you are at a loss, when you find yourself, you could come back. [Laughter] [Hear! Hear!]
Hon Majority Whip, how many minutes should Sitting be suspended?
Mr Nyindam 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, Sitting could be suspended for 20 minutes. [Interruption.]
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minority Chief Whip?
Alhaji Muntaka 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to suggest that Sitting should be suspended for an hour, so that whatever needs to be done would be done properly, instead of rushing and resuming after 20 minutes. This is because the Hon Majority Whip initially said Sitting could be suspended for 10 minutes.
Mr Speaker, if we could resume after an hour, then we would all know that we should be in the Chamber by 1.30 p.m., so that ample time would be given to the Hon Chairman of the Committee and the Hon Ranking Member to solve the issues they may have.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Majority Whip, do you still insist on the 20 minutes?
Mr Nyindam 12:38 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Members, I will proceed to suspend Sitting for 20 minutes. It is 12.40 p.m., so we would return at 1.00 p.m. prompt.
The House is accordingly suspended.
12.40 p.m. -- Sitting suspended.
1.07 p.m. -- Sitting resumed.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Members, you may resume your seats.
Hon Members, I recall we were at item numbered 16, and the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Transport was to move the Motion —
Ms Adwoa Safo — rose —
Mr Speaker, I believe that was the last indication before the suspension. But respectfully, if we could vary the order of Business and come back and lay a few Papers with your leave. The Papers to be laid are captured on the Order Paper as item numbered 6(e), (i), (ii), and (iii).
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
I would want to know whether the differences have been resolved. We got to those items and the Hon Chairman and the Ranking Member had some differences and so we asked them to resolve that. I would want to know whether that has been done then we could go to that item and duly lay the Papers.
Mr Samuel Ayeh-Paye 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the issue has been resolved. I met the Hon Ranking Member and we have resolved the issue and so we can lay the reports now.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Ranking Member can you confirm that?
Mr Agbodza 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker that is so.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Hon Members, we would now go back to item numbered 6 (e) and lay the three Papers there; (i), (ii), and (iii).
PAPERS 12:38 p.m.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, do we now proceed to item number 16?
Ms Safo 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, rightly so.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Hon Members, item numbered 16 — Motions.
MOTIONS 12:38 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Samuel Ayeh-Paye 12:38 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House adopts the Report of the Committee on Roads and Transport on the Commercial Agreements including Financing Cost in the amount of up to US$646,637,879.74 between the Government of the Republic of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Roads and Highways AND Sinohydro Corporation Limited for the following road Projects constituting phase 1 Projects under the Master Project Support Agreements (MPSA): (i) Accra Inner-City Roads (ii) Kumasi Inner-City Roads (iii) Tamale Interchange Project (iv) PTC Roundabout Interchange Project, Takoradi (v) Adenta-
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:17 p.m.
Any seconder?
Yes, Hon Ranking Member?
Ranking Member of the Committee (Mr Kwame Govers Agbodza): Mr Speaker, I rise to second the Motion and by so doing, submit the following comments of my own.
Mr Speaker, it is important for Government to secure funding to improve on our road infrastructure. Indeed, the largest number of Questions put and Answered on this Floor, without a doubt, is to the Minister for Roads and Highways. It tells everybody how important roads are to all Members of Parliament and to the entire country.
Mr Speaker, the Sinohydro Agreement should have been very easy to support and defend. However, too many issues come up and need the attention of this House and I would take time to enumerate some of them. There are ten different contracts in this Agreement.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, please, are you on a point of order?
Mr Ayeh-Paye 1:27 p.m.
Rightly so, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
All right, could you draw my attention to the Standing Orders? I ask this because you are the Hon Chairman of the Committee and you have just moved a Motion. Your Ranking Member has seconded and you have risen on a point of order.
Mr Ayeh-Paye 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he is seriously misleading the House because looking at page 11 of the Report, item numbered 8.4, there is an information on value for money audit. We asked this at the Committee level and the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, just hold your peace. If he is misleading the House, there would be somebody who would get up and draw our attention. You do not raise a point of order because the House would not be misled. There would be people who would give the right information.
If it was that you made a statement which he misunderstood, I would have given you a chance under the Standing Orders but if he is just misleading, we have enough people to lead us properly. We would not be misled.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, you are lucky the Hon Minister himself is present. So you have nothing to worry. Other Hon Members are there.
When one rises on a point of order, there must be a disorder. Somebody is not going according to one Order and you are drawing our attention to it. So, this could not be a point of order.
Yes, please continue.
Mr Agbodza 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, indeed, the issue of value-for-money was raised at the Committee but the point is that, normally, when this House takes the opportunity to relax the rules and approve agreements in lieu of value -for -money, we do so on the basis that, the contract specifically states that there is a condition precedent which would state that only after a value- for-money audit has been done and the terms of same adopted --
That is when we do that. So, there is a caveat for us to say that even if the developer goes ahead --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Hon Member, you have asked the Hon Minister to address that issue. So move on to other things but when you refer to the House relaxing rules --
I cannot recall when we relaxed rules just to approve a contract and we said that value-for-money audit report would be presented later on. But leave that because the Hon Minister would address it.
Mr Agbodza 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for your guidance.
Mr Speaker, if you read Lots 6 and 8, for instance, Lot 6 is the Sunyani Inner City Roads. There is no breakdown for general items. General items are not necessarily part of the road but is necessary mobilisation for the Project. Once we do not have a breakdown, the things in there could be anything. That is where people have suspicion as to what those lump sums are for.
When we requested a breakdown of those items, we did not get them. It is not a good idea to have a project as expensive as this and not get a breakdown of the general items.
Mr Speaker, when we have a breakdown of the general items for instance, when we take the project called Ofoase/Akim Oda and Abirem, as part of the general item, we are supposed to provide client project management services such as residential and office accommodation, engineer site visits and other things for US$720,000.00.
This is not East Legon, and I am of the view that this amount of money is far too expensive for that purpose. Indeed, one
could buy a two bedroom house for US$50,000.00. So, I could not understand why we need to pay US$720,000.00 for the client project management services at Ofoase.
Mr Speaker, if we go further under the general items; obtain land in consultation with the client for the contractor site set up for US$600,000.00.
Mr Speaker, once again, this is not East or West Legon; this is Ofoase. So, what do we need US$600,000.00 to just secure a site for the contractor's site compound? I believe this is inflated. This is far more than what it ought to be.
Mr Speaker, for compensation to people who would be affected is reasonable.
Mr Speaker, if we go to Lot 7, we would see that a provisional sum for monthly photographs of US$30,000.00. Just to give you guidance on this, if one wants to produce interim payment certificates and the person vetting the certificates in the office is not necessarily the same person on site, we would need to show pictures of where one has reached and attach it to the certificate so that the person approving it would know the level it has gotten to. For this Project alone, it is US$30,000.00 for pictures.
Mr Speaker, if we take other projects like the Kumasi Inner City Roads, the pictures provide progress photographs -- US$106,000.00 for site photographs.
Mr Speaker, there is another one for which the site photographs is US$141,000.00. I believe these figures are far too expensive. I cannot imagine the kind of photographs we would take. Even if we would be adding 1000 pictures to
the interim certificate, it would not get to that amount.
Mr Speaker, if we add all of them, we would notice that photographs alone have run into hundreds of thousands of dollars; a minimum of US$400,000.00. Mr Speaker, this would be a record setting photo- graphy.
I am not sure that even if we take a celebrity photographer to just take such photographs for you, they would charge you that much. Mr Speaker, a number of vehicles were procured under this Project for project management; yet not all the projects have these vehicles procured.
Mr Speaker, we asked a question about the fact that we could see too many lapses in this. Have we got a legal opinion from the Attorney-General's Department advising the Hon Minister or Cabinet as to the decisions we are taking in terms of the clause one, which I have already pointed out to you that it is an anomaly?
Like I said, we were told at the Committee meeting that the contract sum included tax but what I have read to you says that, it does not. So, we are asking whether the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice has given a legal opinion. Shockingly, Mr Speaker, there is no legal opinion on this Project.
Mr Speaker, we are being urged to approve a loan to serve a purpose we all appreciate but the process is less than what this House is supposed to be approving.
I do not see why I could recommend to this House to approve a loan where value- for-money audit is not obligatory; when we are not even sure whether the sum includes taxes; and we have no Public Procurement Authority approval and some of the Lots do not have specifications on

the general items. This is a loan where a kilometre of road is US$1.2 million. I believe this document could be put together in a better shape.

So Mr Speaker, I would recommend to the Hon Minister that this Side of the House is not against the building of roads. Indeed, people have mocked us in the past for only taunting infrastructural development which we make no apologies for but I believe if the new Government wants to embark on this, they could do so in a much more transparent way.

Mr Speaker, I say that, our Side has no hesitation to state that, in principle, we support the building of roads but the things I have listed here are fundamental to this Agreement and for that matter we could support this Agreement at this stage. We want it to be withdrawn and put together --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Hon Member, you stood up and seconded the Motion. I thought that your comments were just to elicit more information on the issues you have raised.
You are however ending up with not seconding the Motion. Maybe, you have held on until the Motion is seconded and then when it is for the consideration of the House, you could raise these issues you are raising to show that you are not in support of the Motion.
So do you second or oppose the Motion, so that we know what to do?
Mr Agbodza 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my preamble was quite clear that I second the Motion. I, however, had serious reservations --
Mr Agbodza 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I seek your advice on this. I have been here not too long ago, but I have seen Hon Ranking Members do exactly what I have done today. They second Motions and state their points.
Mr Speaker, but I am no scholar in Parliament. All I am saying is that if it is something that is not done, I would learn from it today; but I would look forward that whenever anyone else raises it, we would draw your attention.
If the issue is such that I do not support it, I have taken back the point that I would not support. I have raised those issues based on my request to the Hon Minister to give clarification to those things to convince me before --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
I now understand because if you second something, you cannot call on that thing to be withdrawn. Yes, you could second a Motion and draw the attention of the House to some minor issues that need to be relooked at.
Hon Member, but the issues that you have raised are all so weighty and against the Motion. They are very serious issues, and are not those that the House could gloss over and debate it because you have completely undermined the basis of the
Motion. So, you cannot at the same time second the Motion and speak against it.
That is what I have drawn your attention to; but if your view is that you second the Motion, we take it that you have raised those issues for the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways to address.
Is that the case?
Mr Agbodza 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, precisely so, I draw attention to these issues so that the House and the Hon Minister takes cognisance of them because I believe they are fundamental to the value of these Agreements that are before us.
Mr Speaker, I have nothing more useful to add at this stage.
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
I advise that the statement that those on the Minority Side of the House would not support should be withdrawn.
Mr Agbodza 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, you are at liberty to do that if it makes my presentation much more understandable.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Question proposed. Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi (NPP--
Asante Akim Central): Mr Speaker, I am not an Hon Member of the Committee, but I have in my hand the Report that the Committee unanimously submited to the House. If I may have your permission, the conclusion reads:
“The Committee having examined the Contract Agreement and satisfied with Government desire to bolster the economy through infrastructural development to usher a rapid socio-economic development and akin to oversee social transformation, recommends to the House to adopt its report and approve, in accordance with article 181 of the 1992 Constitution, the Commercial Agreements including financing costs of the projects amounting up to US$646,637,879.74 between the Government of the Republic of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Sinohydro Corporation Limited for the road projects constituting Phase I of the Projects under the Master Support Agreement (MPSA) …”
Mr Speaker, it goes on to list the number of roads --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Hon Member, do you quote this to support your statement that this is unanimous?
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 1:37 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Where is it so stated?
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, to the extent that there is no dissent, the Committee is recommending --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
We are not told whether it was a majority or unanimous decision; we were not told, but the Committee on a whole has recommended the Agreement -- I agree with that; but you stated “unanimous”; that was why I wanted to see it in the Report. It is not there.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.


the extent that they did not state that it was by a majority decision, the obvious inference from this Report is that there is no dissent between --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Where did you get that inference from?
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that is trite.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
When it is unanimous, it is so stated.
Please, you can go on. We agree that it is the Committee that has recommended the Agreement.
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Constitution states in article 181 that Parliament shall approve such contracts and in doing so examine the details.
Mr Speaker, your Committee has examined the contract and has recommended that same be approved. I am therefore, of the opinion and agree to the Motion on the Floor that the amount be approved for the Project.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Emmanuel K. Bedzrah (NDC-- Ho West) 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to add my voice. Even though our Hon Ranking Member has supported the Motion, I would want to add a few technical issues to the Commercial Agreement of Sinohydro Corporation Limited.
Mr Speaker, this Agreement brings to mind four fundamental issues. The first one has to do with the contractual issues of the Agreement. Ghana is giving out 661 kilometres of its roads to a foreign contractor on an Engineer, Procure and Construct (EPC) arrangement.
The contractual issues that I have is to find out from them whether due diligence assessment has been made on the contractor, Sinhydro Corporation Limited, to carry out work on 661 kilometres of our roads -- feeder, urban and trunk roads.
Do we not have local contractors who could partner Sinohydro Corporation Limited in a Master Facility Agreement to do these roads? That has to do with contractual issues.
I have gone through all the contractual arrangements and seen that the Hon Minister has signed. I have in my hand the Agreement of Lot 3, the Tamale Interchange, and the Hon Minister has signed on behalf of the Government of Ghana. So, it means that there is an agreement; there is a contract between Sinohydro Corporation Limited and the Government of Ghana.
How many of us know the capability of Sinohydro Corporation Limited? Have we done due diligence to know that Sinohydro Corporation Limited has the capacity in terms of equipment, personnel and everything to carry out this work within the period assigned them? That is the first one.
Mr Speaker, the second one has to do with what my Hon Colleague has mentioned about value- for- money. In this country, we all know that we need to do due diligence through value- for- money to know the cost of each project. In this document, which has to do with the contractual arrangement, the Bill of Quantities (BoQ) --
If due diligence had been done, we would not request in the BoQ that I have for Lot 3, which is the Tamale Roads and Interchanges in Ghana phase I.

If you look at the BoQ which is the general item of that, LOT 8.310.1 to 310.3 set up of contractor's site camp. You are not building a house. An amount of US$500,000 has been set aside for just setting up contractor's site camp and it does not end there, maintenance of the camp for the period is US$100,000 a n d demolition of the camp is US$10,000 and all amounting to US$610,000 for only contractor's camp.

Mr Speaker, if value-for-money has been done, I am sure that Hon Colleagues from the building environment industry including professional quantity sur- veyors would look into this and tell you that there is something wrong.

We are giving out our resources to a company that we do not know whether they will be able to do the road works or not and because there was no due diligence assessment which we have not seen and whether or not they have the capacity, we are giving out money to construct our roads.

Mr Speaker, we have competent contractors and in your Committee's Report, it was stated that Technology transfer; bitumen road and there is technology transfer, are we joking? We have local Ghanaian contractors who do bitumen surfacing, asphalting but the Committee has termed it as Technology Transfer; bitumen? Jesus Christ! No wonder the rates are so high.

For me as a professional quantity surveyor, I have reservations on this contract.

Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:47 p.m.
Well, the Hon Minister is taking notes of all the concerns being raised and so I will give the opportunity to this Side of the House again since there is nobody on my right Side.
Yes, Hon Richard Quashigah?
Mr Richard Quashigah (NDC -- Keta) 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion before us.
It is abundantly clear that roads are very important to this country and indeed, the road deficits in our country will warrant all efforts to be made to construct as many roads that are practicable.
Mr Speaker, we know too well that in doing so, we often times go to borrow to construct these roads but what agitates my mind is the issue of cost which has been abundantly trumpeted by the Hon Ranking Member of the Committee. Having looked at the Report, I am extremely worried that even the counterpart funding which Government is supposed to make available is also being borrowed at an interest rate.
I get so disturbed when we talk about borrowing because two years ago, in this country, we heard very well-meaning people complain about the rate of borrowing and what ought to be done to ensure that we moved from borrowing. The excessive borrowing that is on-going, for me, is becoming unprecedented to the extent that we also have to borrow the counterpart funding and pay interest on it.
Mr Speaker, we are being told that there is no value-for-money audit but that will be done, on page 11 paragraph 8.4 and it states that:

“The Committee was informed that value for money audit of the project will be undertaken by the Ministry of Finance…”

Mr Speaker, “will be”? Why must we approve a loan facility predicated on a certain futuristic action which could be detrimental to the entire project and become a cost burden on many young Ghanaians yet to take decisions by themselves?

This is more or less, ‘a chicken and egg' situation. Which should come first? Must we do a value- for -money audit first before approving a facility or must we approve a facility first before doing a value for money audit?

It is becoming abundantly clear and justifiably so such that we are in a country where we know the value of things but not their cost.

We believe that it does not matter the quantum of money that is spent to achieve a particular project but as long as the project is there and millions of dollars are spent in achieving the project, where a quarter of that large amount could do, we do not care. That is what we are being told today.

Mr Speaker, it is obvious that every reasonable person will reject this Report. We cannot continue on this trajectory --
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that my Hon Colleague is using unparliamentary language by casting insinuations and this is insulting.
For him to say a Report has been submitted by a Committee and there is no counter motion, and to say that ‘every reasonable person will reject this Report',
I do not know where this is coming from and I take this as insulting.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member should withdraw and apologise to the House.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:47 p.m.
Hon Member, did you say that?
Mr Quashigah 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I referred to the Report as one that would be rejected by any reasonable person. Reasonability --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:47 p.m.
Hon Member, that is very unParliamentary. You have to withdraw that.
Mr Quashigah 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I take a cue and withdraw the use of “reasonable” and replace it with “common knowledge”.
Mr Speaker, common knowledge will tell us --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:47 p.m.
Hon Member, common knowledge will not fit into that sentence. [Interruption.]
Mr Quashigah 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you. It is not uncommon knowledge that anything that will ensure that the state loses money should be acceptable. For this reason, it will be necessary that Parliament rejects this Report.
When we go to page 11, paragraph 8.8, it talks about “local content” and the Report says:
“The Committee reiterates its advice to the Ministry to ensure that the agreement specifies how the 30 per cent of local content is assessed.”
The Committee was informed that the contract agreement makes provision for the local content participation of Ghanaian contractors of at least 30 per cent. Though the contract agreement did
not include an explicit provision of the 30 per cent local content;
“…That aspect of at least 30 per cent clause is included in the Master Project Support Agreement approved by Parliament.”
Mr Speaker, there is no clarity because if the contract agreement does not explicitly make provision for the 30 per cent local content, then I am worried. At the end of the day, should our friends whom we have dealt with before --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:57 p.m.
Hon Member, hold on. An Hon Colleague Member is on his feet.
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of correction and I would refer the Hon Member to page 12 of the Report. Mr Speaker, I beg to read the second paragraph:
“The Committee was informed that the contract agreement makes provision for local content/ participation of Ghanaian contractors of at least 30 per cent.”
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague stated the opposite. This has been stated before the other conditions were said. Mr Speaker, that was what he read, but he conveniently omitted the first two lines and moved to the other part. That is why I am drawing his attention.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Quashigah 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is obvious that the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Employment and Social
Welfare probably did not pay full attention when I read portions of the Report. I did not jump to the second paragraph on page 12, I started from the first paragraph on page 12 and read through the entire second paragraph. Mr Speaker, he stopped after the first sentence but in that paragraph, the Report says:
“The Committee was informed that the contract agreement makes provision for local content/ participation of Ghanaian contrac- tors of at least 30 per cent. Though the contract agreement did not include an explicit provision of the 30 per cent local content, that aspect of at least 30 per cent clause is included in the Master Project Support Agreement approved by Parliament (MPSA) ...”
Mr Speaker, if indeed the Hon Members of the Committee had clarity on this point, then they would not have even raised it because it was predicated as though the contract agreement did not include it.
We are dealing with a company that we have dealt with before. We have traversed a certain road before with this entity and we know how some contracts were truncated based on subsequent misunderstandings as a result of contracts that were approved by this House.
So, if we are being told that 30 per cent of our local people would benefit from this project, then it must be explicit and vividly clear. It must not be captured in scenarios that would leave doubts in the minds of every discerning person.
Mr Speaker, I believe that there are too many things that are not right with this Report. To walk on a narrow and righteous road, we should reject this Report, ask them to go and do a better job and bring us a Report that would indeed be in sync with the expectations of Ghanaians.
Mr Quashigah 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in this House, we represent people; we are not here on our own. Would our constituents be very happy with the kind of agreements that we would sign on their behalf?
I do not believe that the people of Keta whom I represent would think that I have supported a worthy course should they go through the contents of this Report.
Mr Speaker, I also do not think that the people in all other constituents would be excited about signing them up to a contract for which we have not determined the true values.
We know the values of projects like this and so we must know the real cost. We are being told that some moneys are being given away for the clearing of the sites and these are frightening. Mr Speaker, US$100 to the ordinary Ghanaian --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:57 p.m.
Hon Member, I thought that you were winding up, but you are reopening some issues and so let me allow your Hon Colleague Member who is on his feet to raise a point of order.
M Anyimadu-Antwi: Mr Speaker, still on the paragraph that I referred to, and my Hon Colleague has also read it. I said that the 30 per cent clause is included in the Master Project Support Agreement.
I do not understand why my Hon Colleague is insisting that it has not been stated and for that matter the Agreement is not a proper one. Mr Speaker, it is at the same clause that even though it has not
been explicitly stated, it is in the Master Project Support Agreement which is the larger agreement from which this smaller agreement has been carved out.
So if it has been stated then it is there and that is why the Committee recommended to the House that same should be approved.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Quashigah 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not dispute the fact that it was mentioned that it should be included in the Master Project Support Agreement.
Mr Speaker, but that does not negate the point I made earlier, that per the Committee's own Report, the phrase “though the contract agreement did not include an explicit provision”, it means that the Hon Members of the Committee are not totally convinced about how it has been couched.
Mr Speaker, that notwithstanding, that is my view and the position I hold. Therefore, I believe that we should do a better job than what we are doing on behalf of the people of Ghana.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:57 p.m.
Leadership, how many contributions should I take from each side of the House?
Mr Nyindam 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we could take a contribution each from both Sides and then Leadership could wind up. Mr Speaker, they have had a lot of bite but we did not complain. We could allow them to do all the debates, but we have to go back and take the Estimates.
Mr Speaker, they know that most of the Committees have not looked at their
Estimates and we have up to 22nd December to do all of our business. The Hon Minority Chief Whip has always been complaining that we cannot spend the Christmas holidays here.
We do not have any problem with the debates, but for the sake of time, we could take a contribution each from both Sides of the House and then the Leadership would conclude.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:57 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, whereas I agree with him about the Estimates at the Committees, I just want to take a compromised position that instead of just a contribution each, we could maybe make it two contributions each and then have the Leadership speak.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:57 p.m.
Two contributions from each Side including the Hon Minister who would have to windup. Or does it exclude the Hon Minister?
Mr Nyindam 1:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as he said, we do not have any problem. But if it should be two contributions each, then the time should be limited so that Hon Members would not talk for 30 minutes with repetitions.
Mr Speaker, with your guidance, then we should make it five minutes for each of the two contributions.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:57 p.m.
Well, earlier, you did not agree on the time limits. If that had been done, then the Hon Member speaking would have been guided by the time limits, but that has not been done. You are now raising it and your Hon Colleagues would disagree with you at this time. You should have done that at
the usual closed Sitting, but let us be mindful of the importance of this agreement because it is a very key infrastructural instrument. So the issues must be raised for us to discuss and be convinced before it is approved.
So, we would take one more from the Majority Side and the next time we are there, we would give opportunity to the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways to clarify some of the issues you have raised. Then we can put the Question.
Yes, Hon Member?
Mr Kwabena Owusu-Aduomi (NPP-- Ejisu) 2:07 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, this is a very important project; a project that would benefit all of us. However, our Hon Colleagues on the other Side are trying to water down the relevance of this Project. For instance, site camp which is costing US$500,000 depends on the area that one is putting up the camp. As he rightly said, it is in the metropolitan area. How much would the acquisition of land alone cost?
Mr Speaker, apart from that, every site camp also consists of offices for the contractor. It is not just two or three sheds that we are putting up. He should know that we also need the materials and laboratory for the contractor for all the works that would be done. These are all part of the contractor's head camp.
Mr Speaker, apart from that, the contractor also has to construct a mechanical workshop for the servicing and repairs of the vehicles and other plants that would be used for this camp. In that again, one would need a place for storing of spare parts and others.
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Member, the one who raised the issue is on his feet. I just want to listen to what he wants to say.
Hon Member, are you on a point of order?
Mr Bedzrah 2:07 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker. My Hon Colleague, Engineer Owusu-Aduomi, just stated that we have site offices in the contract. It also has laboratory for equipment. I would want to quote him from his own document that the Hon Minister signed. They would set up a laboratory.
They have an amount of GH¢59,000 for soil investigation, independent laboratory testing, and equipment for US$33,000. He is telling me that they have it in the setting up of offices. They have separate amounts for the laboratory, equipment and testing.
Mr Owusu-Aduomi 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, laboratory testing is different from setting up a laboratory. It is after one has set up his laboratory that he goes to site to do his testing. So, he cannot say setting up laboratory is the same as laboratory testing. He should know.
Mr Speaker, there is also another issue of technology transfer. He just said ‘‘asphalt. Ah, Jesus Christ!'' Asphalt is a material that is very complex in nature. Asphalt types keep on changing as technology changes.
The old time asphalt that we saw Construction Pioneers (CP) Limited and others putting on our roads are entirely different from the asphalt that we have now. All the time, there is the need for our technical officers to know new types of asphalt that are being brought on our roads.
There are asphalts that even when a vehicle moves on, one does not even hear any noise.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Member, just a minute. The one who raised the issue is on his feet. So, let us listen to him.
Mr Agbodza 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would defer at any time to Engineer Owusu-Aduomi, but at the Committee, we asked a specific question whether the specifications for this road project are different from what we are building today. We were told emphatically that it is not.
We are using the same specifications. So, when it is feeder roads, then the Department of Feeder Roads has got their own standards of specification; Ghana Highways Authority has got their own standards.
When he is talking about new things in asphalt, it is nothing new. It is exactly what we have been doing today. So I urge my Hon Colleague who is an engineer to speak to the document. We are not doing any new type of asphalt. It is the same thing we are doing.
Mr Owusu-Aduomi 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is never true that we had that discussion. What we discussed was what of the Department of Feeder Roads; its typical cross sections, the cross sections on trunk roads, the cross sections that we have on our urban roads.
Those were the specifications. For instance, if you want a concrete strength of 30 N/mm². That is what we indicated.
So, it was the specification requirement even that the Ministry has. If you have a project of this nature, and you are producing asphalt, it does not mean that the asphalts that were in existence about 20 to 30 years ago is the asphalt that you would put.
Mr Speaker, the point is that, if you are putting asphalt -- [Interruption] -- Is he saying that these asphalt that they are putting were 30 years ago asphalt? Technology transfer is important.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Members, you have not gone ahead to tell us the different types of asphalt, but you are saving that it is part of specification and saying that it is the same specification. But you still insist that, you did not discuss that. It means the asphalt part is not included in the specification. Is that the case?
Mr Owusu-Aduomi 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that is not what I am saying. What I am indicating is that if you just say that asphalt, we know many years ago -- [Interruption] -- Therefore, if there is no need for our technical officers to know technology or transfer of technology, it is not right.
It is not right even with the form work we provide. We have been using timber for form work all the time. You can go on a project that you would no more use timber for form work.
So, all the time, things are changing. Once technology changes, there is the need for us that the materials we use would also change. You would go to some areas, and they prepare concrete by putting the materials on the ground with shovels and others.
You go to areas where they use concrete mixers but you would go on other projects that you also have concrete batch plants designed for asphalt as they know.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Member, let me listen to your Colleague opposite.
Mr Kwadwo Nyampong Aboagye 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think my Hon Colleague, the engineer, is going into things which might not enhance the debate. Specification is specification. The Ministry of Roads and Highways appointed consultants to write specifications for the Ministry and the agencies.
What we are talking about is the end product. If you want concrete of 25/20, there are guidelines as to how to produce it, but it is not absolute.
If somebody puts the concrete on the Floor and puts it in a formwork and ends up with 25/20, so be it. if somebody puts it on a plastic sheet and gets the same, so be it. But as for the specifications, they are in black and white as to what is in the Department of Feeder Roads and what is in Feeder Roads, Urban Roads, Highways and what is in bridges.
There is nothing new to learn from there. If we need to learn from something, we have other ways to get it.
Thank you.
Mr Owusu-Aduomi 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he has supported me in everything. This is because, like he rightly said, what we want is the end product. What I am saying is that, it is not the olden days' method of construction that would be put here. Technology is changing.
Therefore, there would be the need for those technical officers who would be on the project to learn new things that they might not know. And so, there is nothing strange with technology transfer on such a project.
The Hon Bedzrah used asphalt. I am telling him that the asphalt that we had some years ago is not the same type of asphalt that we are producing now. So, there is nothing wrong if in this contract, there is transfer of technology because the asphalt might be a new type of asphalt.
The point is that you need to get the required mixture for the asphalt. We need to learn new technology every now and then.
Mr Speaker, a lot of issues have been raised on the local content. If a Contractor signs an agreement with the Government, it is the Government that would make it clear that it needs a certain percentage for its people, and that is the 30 per cent that we have talked about. But assuming that there is no local content in the project, does it mean that the Project is not viable?
So why should we make so many comments on local content? Even if there is no local content, it does not invalidate this Project.
Mr Abdul-Rauf Tanko Ibrahim (NDC -- Yagaba/Kubori) 2:07 p.m.
Thank you very much Mr Speaker.
I beg to contribute to the Motion on the Floor requesting that an amount of US$ 646,637,879.74 be approved for certain roads to be constructed throughout the country.
Mr Speaker, there is no doubt that the roads in this country need to be upgraded. We are all aware that there is nobody in this House who would be against government's decision to upgrade or construct roads in the country.
Mr Speaker, however, it is only fair and proper that when we are dealing with projects of this nature which run into millions of dollars, ample time is given to the Hon Members of this House to scrutinise the document.
Mr Speaker, once we are working, we should bear in mind that the general public is watching whatever we are doing in this House. We do not have to do anything to get bashings from the general public.
In the first place, the documents were given to Members of the Committee for two days, and we were asked to go through the documents. We are dealing with 10 projects; 10 contract documents running into millions of dollars, Mr Speaker, US$646 million, not 646 thousand.
Mr Speaker, once we go through this within a short time --
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the committee, would you like to raise a point of order on the number of days in which the papers were given to you?
Mr Ayeh-Paye 2:07 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I would like to correct an impression that has been created by the Hon Member who just resumed his seat.
The documents were given to the Members of the Committee more than a week before the Meeting. At a point, we even had to postpone the meeting on two different occasions, so I am surprised that he says that he was given the documents just two days to the meeting. That cannot be correct.
This meeting was postponed two consecutive times, so it cannot be two days. It was one week to the meeting.
Mr A. T. Ibrahim 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman of the Committee would bear with me that there were instances that documents were made available to him but they were only made available to the Committee after some days.
I would like to assure this House that these documents were given to us for two days, and these were very bulky documents. We had to scrutinise the documents and do a proper report that would represent all our interests.
Mr Speaker, if you look at the Report, on page 12, as already mentioned by the Hon Ranking Member of the Committee, the cost of certain items in the bill of quantities is very ridiculous, for instance at page 12, which with your kind permission, I read;
“ On the unit cost of photographs which the Committee deemed has been on the high side, the Ministry explained to the Committee that the unit rate for a set of photographs is within acceptable industry limit price and that the unit of measurement has been adduced for the pictures (set) represented a collection of various pictures…”
Mr Speaker, it is only fair that as much as the Hon Minister is defending the
Report, he makes the cost available. How can we snap a picture for US$60? A copy of a picture for US$60?
Mr Speaker, if you go further, on page 13 of the same Report, it says and with your permission I read;
“Project Support Vehicle
The Committee was informed that under the contract agreement, a number of vehicles, mainly pickups would have to be purchased for project monitoring. The Ministry assured the Committee that the vehicles purchased are solely for monitoring the projects and identifiable with the contract”.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister would bear with us that the contractors were in this country to do their own survey. We should be told the kind of vehicles that the contractors are earmarking for the supervision of the projects.
How can we use US$50,000 for one pickup and even the cost of that specific pickup is not mentioned? It should at least be made known to us. We should know the kind of pickups they are going to buy.
Mr Speaker, on my part, a lot has to be done on this contract document, and we have to be given ample time to scrutinise the document so that we would submit a very good Report to the benefit of all of us.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Members, the debate so far does not show that there was lack of time for Hon Members to delve into the documents.
There is so much knowledge from Hon Members, and you have given out so much information that is not available in
Alhaji Muntaka 2:07 p.m.
-- rose --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Yes Hon
Member, after you, it would be the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways. That is the guidance I got.
Alhaji Mohammed-Muburak Muntaka (NDC- Asawase) 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
Mr Speaker, the Committee's Report and the contract document leaves so much to be desired.
Mr Speaker, there is no doubt on the mind of any Hon Member in this House about the relevance of all the roads that have been mentioned in this Agreement. Mr Speaker, these are roads that we needed like yesterday, but my worry is, if I am naked and I need clothes, the clothes must not be sold to me as if they were metal clothes.
Mr Speaker, the cost here is very worrying and because this has happened before, I would suggest that the approval be conditional and would be contingent on value-for-money audit on each of the
Alhaji Mohammed-Muburak Muntaka (NDC- Asawase) 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Committee in its own Report said in paragraph 8.4 on page 11, which with your permission, I read:
“The Committee was informed that value for money audit of the project will be undertaken by the Ministry of Finance and is on a condition precedent for the effectiveness of the contract.”
Mr Speaker, if you go through each of the lots, there is not a single sentence in any of the documents that states this. The Ministry of Finance does not do value- for-money audit; it authorises people to do value- for- money audit.
Mr Speaker, my first contribution is that, we must make these things conditional, that the value-for-money audit would be done on each of the projects. If you look at some of the figures, they look scary. For example, when you put all the figures of lot 9 together and you look at the offices and the camp that would be set up, it brings you to approximately US$1.548 million. This is equivalent to almost GH¢7.5 million.
Mr Speaker, when you take the SSNIT affordable housing project, each block has eight apartments. Each apartment of two bedrooms sells averagely for GH¢300,000. It means that a whole block is about GH¢2.4 million. This camp that would be set up is equivalent to three blocks of this SSNIT affordable housing. How can this be real? What would be in that camp that it must cost this much?
Mr Speaker, when you go through the lots, by the time you put all of the 10 lots together, out of this GH¢646 million, we would spend close to almost US$10 million for just setting up camps.
Mr Speaker, this cannot be real. We are dealing with a group that would do this work as thank you. It would not be that we would advertise for others to bid and what have you; it is a thank you. The moment we finish this and we just give the go ahead, we have committed ourselves and they would do it and demand their money.
Mr Speaker, my view is that we must take the issue of value-for-money very seriously. Other than that, we would short change our own people on behalf of Sinohydro Corporation Limited. If you look at the document, there is nowhere, looking at the quantum and the magnitude that the Attorney-General's Office has not given any advice.
Mr Speaker, this House and all of us as a country must know that many times, we enter these agreements without the involvement of the Attorney-General's Office but where there are challenges, we ask them to go and defend us. When we start, we do not bring them in.
Mr Speaker, as a Parliament, we should make this one of the standard operating procedures here so that when such agreements and loans are brought, we must get advice from the Attorney-General where they have a technical eye to look at it clause-by-clause, so that where it is necessary, they would give advice on whether to proceed or not.
Lastly, Mr Speaker, there is nowhere in this document that the capability of Sinohydro Corporation Limited has been
mentioned. Yet, we want to commit this quantum of roads to these individuals. Mr Speaker, with the greatest of respect, we have so many living examples of how we have contracted Chinese to do something and its end result.
I do not in any way say that they have not done one or two other things well, but the practice is that, when one deals with Chinese companies, one needs to be more diligent and careful. Once the contract is signed, they would hold you by your tail for you to fulfil your part of the agreement when sometimes it is very difficult for them to fulfil their part.
So, Mr Speaker, we on this Side have no doubt in our minds how important these roads are, but I just want to draw the attention of the Hon Minister to something.

Mr Speaker, you can hear some Hon Members screaming that I have enough roads. The residents of my constituency who do not have good roads are listening as they are told that they have more than enough.

Mr Speaker, I will not demand that if Manhyia Sub-Metro is given 11 kilometres of road, Asawase must also get same. The minimum here is 6.29 kilometres but zero kilometres for Asawase in the same city.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Defence says I should wait for phase 2. We are in the city together. It is only equitable that while massive things happen somewhere, at least, something little should also happen in my Constituency.

Mr Speaker, on a more serious note, I believe that this is a very important Agreement and projects that we want to embark on. The Hon Minister and our Hon Colleagues opposite should agree with us that our approval should be conditioned on the value- for- money audit on each of the projects being submitted to this House for us to be sure that those things are done.

Mr Speaker, I would want to thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
Minister for Roads and Highways (Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah) 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you most sincerely for this opportunity to wrap up, to bring to a successful end, the Motion which has been spoken to by both Sides of the House so keenly.
Mr Speaker, I have been so encouraged even to be part of this august House. I say so from the point of view of the interest that has been generated by this Motion. It shows that both Sides of the House appreciate the importance of road construction in our country and how it contributes to the economic development of our nation.
Both Sides have raised issues and have been frank and expressed individual opinions in this regard. It shows that even though we may sit at the other Side, when it comes to our work and our functions, we are together as a House. Also,
individually, we may have our own opinions but at the end of the day, in our collectivity, we want the best for our nation.
2. 37 p. m.
I would, therefore, like to take this opportunity to thank all my Hon Colleagues in this House for coming out with diverse opinions for raising issues, which would constitute food for thought for me and my Ministry and for that matter, Government in trying to implement all roads and works under this unique facility.
Mr Speaker, I would want to put in correct perspective two things 2:27 p.m.
the critical nature of our roads as at now and the importance of approving this facility to enable us work, come 1st January, 2019 when we start disbursing this first phase of the facility amounting to a little over US$646million as part of the entire facility amount of US$2billion, which would trickle in tranches. This would be the first tranche.
Mr Speaker, as we speak now and as a nation, our total road network size is estimated to be around seventy-eight thousand kilometres (78,000km) nationwide.
Out of this total kilometres, only 23 per cent has ever been paved since independence in 1957. We still have 77 per cent of our road network unpaved. They continue to remain at either gravel or earth stage.
Mr Speaker, if we want to talk about the condition and needs of the roads in our nation, it is sad to note that only 39 per cent is considered to be good 32 per cent is considered to be fair and 29 per cent is considered to be poor. To put it in a simple language, 39 per cent of our roads are considered to be good and motorable
and 61 per cent are in a terrible situation. This is because there is no difference between fair and good. This is the critical nature of our roads as of now; a country which is a little over 61 years of independence.
Mr Speaker, this therefore calls for a systematic and different approach of dealing with our road sector. That is why it is refreshing that for once, we are thinking outside the box to bring in this facility to help address this issue.
Mr Speaker, I have taken note of all the pieces of advice and concerns raised by my Hon Colleagues. The question of value for money, is important. Our people should not be allowed to be short-changed; and must have value for money, whether we are constructing roads undertaken by our local contractors or foreigners.
We should even be more vigilant if roads are constructed and jobs are undertaken with hard earned moneys that would be paid by us, our children and our grandchildren.
Mr Speaker, a lot of things have therefore, been taken into consideration. If we talk about project vehicles, in the past, all kinds of vehicles such as luxurious vehicles had been bought under the name of project vehicles to do monitoring and supervision.
Under this Facility, it is stated clearly, that project vehicles would be limited to pick-ups. We would buy pick-ups and buy as many as possible to ensure effective supervision to make sure that the people in our country at all times, are given value for money.
Mr Speaker, this is a good project and the Facility is unprecedented. It would
solve problems on our road network beginning January, next year. As Hon Members of Parliament, one of our greatest concerns is our roads in our Constituencies.
We would address, in the first phase, all the ten major road projects made up of roads, bridges and interchanges across the nation. And every region is affected. All the ten regions are affected including the major road networks in our country under this facility.
Do not let us lose sight of the importance of the Eastern Corridor Roads. Under this Facility, it would be tackled because of its importance and shortness of 100 kilometres of linking the south to the north.
So many interchanges would be undertaken under this Facility to ease congestion and improve upon our road network, improve trade, transportation and so on.
Mr Speaker, I could go on and on. I would like to assure my Hon Colleagues in this House, and the people of this country that the Government under His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo—
rose
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:27 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister, I see the Hon Member for Wa Central on his feet.
Yes, Hon Member?
Dr Pelpuo 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you so much. The Hon Minister who is a very good Friend, just made a statement that his projects would reach everywhere in the country.
Dr Pelpuo 2:27 p.m.


Unfortunately, when we looked through the Master Plan, we did not see Upper West Region and Upper and East Region. I do not know how he would extend that support there.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:27 p.m.
Well, if you talk about phase I, the one that we are considering -
Mr Amoako-Atta 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to be put on record and I believe it would be captured by the Hansard that, every region, I repeat, all the existing ten regions would be covered under this Facility. We would have four phases. This is the first tranche and in the first and second phases, every region is captured under it.
Mr Speaker, I would like to end by calling on my Hon Colleagues to add their weight to this Facility and to ask all of them to approve the Facility for imple- mentation.
I thank you Mr Speaker.

Question put and Motion agreed to.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Members, I have been informed that there are some Papers to be laid.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
Ms Safo 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, item numbered 17 is the Resolution to the Motion that was taken.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
So, you would want us to take it?
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, are you sure?
Ms Safo 2:47 p.m.
Rightly so, Mr Speaker.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Members, the Hon Deputy Majority Leader wants us to take the Resolution on page 12 of the Order Paper.
Hon Minister for Roads and Highways?
RESOLUTION 2:47 p.m.
Minister for Roads and Highways (Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah) 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, That
WHEREAS by the provisions of Article 181(5) of the Constitution the terms and conditions of any international business or economic transaction to which the Government of Ghana is a party shall not come into operation unless the said terms and conditions have been laid before Parliament and approved by Parliament by a Resolution supported by the votes of a majority of all Members of Parliament;
PURSUANT to the provisions of the said Article 181(5) of the Constitution, and at the request of the Government of Ghana acting through the Minister responsible for Roads and
Highways, there has been laid before Parliament the terms and conditions of a Commercial Agreements including Financing Cost in the amount of up to US$646,637,879.74 between the Government of the Republic of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Roads and Highways AND Synohydro Corporation Limited for the following road Projects constituting Phase 1 Projects under the Master Project Support Agreements (MPSA): (i) Accra Inner-City Roads (ii) Kumasi Inner-City Roads (iii) Tamale Interchange Project (iv) PTC Roundabout Interchange Project, Takoradi (v) Adenta- Dodowa Dual Carriageway (vi) Sunyani Inner-City Roads (vii) Western Region and Cape Coast Inner-City Roads (viii) Upgrading of Selected Feeder Roads in Ashanti and Western Regions (ix) Rehabilitation of Akim Oda to Ofoase Road (x) Hohoe - Jasikan - Dodi-Pepesu road.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr Samuel Ayeh-Paye) 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
Ms Safo 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is one more Paper to be laid, and it is captured as item numbered 6 (j). It is the Report of the Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture and not the Committee on Gender and Children. It is a joint referral, with the Committee on Employment, Social and State Enterprises.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Members, item numbered 6 (j), by the Hon Chairman of the Committee.
PAPERS 2:47 p.m.
Ms Safo 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, item numbered 6 (k)(i) is also ready to be laid.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee?
By the Chairman of the Committee --
Report of the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises on the Annual Budget Estimates of the National Labour Commission for the year ending 31st December, 2019.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, is item numbered 6(k) (ii) ready?
Mr Ayeh-Paye 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that is not ready, but once I have an opportunity, for the records, if I may correct item numbered 6(j). It must read: ‘'Report of the Joint Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture and Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises''.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, that has been corrected already.
Mr Ayeh-Paye 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the tail end of it still states, ‘'Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection'', but it
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, so what would item numbered 6(k)(ii) contain?
Mr Ayeh-Paye 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that would not be laid because it is not yet ready.
-- [Pause.] --
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:47 p.m.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, any direction?
Ms Safo 2:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we could take item numbered 7 on the Order Paper.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:57 p.m.
Hon Members, item numbered 7 on page 8 of the Order Paper — Presentation and First Reading of Bills; University of Technology and Applied Sciences Bill, 2018.
Ms Safo 2:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with your kind permission, the Hon Minister for Works and Housing would do so on behalf of the Hon Minister for Education who is out of the jurisdiction at the moment.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:57 p.m.
Hon Second Deputy Minority Whip, any comment?
Mrs G. Cudjoe 2:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think he should do it for him.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:57 p.m.
Hon Minister for Works and Housing, they have no objection and so you can lay the Bill for and on behalf of the Hon Minister for Education.
BILLS — FIRST READING
University of Technology and Applied Sciences Bill, 2018
An Act to establish the University of Technology and Applied Sciences and to provide for related matters.
Presented by the Minister for Works and Housing (Mr Samuel Atta Akyea) on behalf of the Minister for Education. Read the First time; referred to the Committee on Education.
Mr Second Deputy Speaker 2:57 p.m.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, any indication?
Ms Safo 2:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the business for today seems exhausted and from the sense of the House, I can see that we are all ready for Committee meetings and to discuss the Estimates of the Budget that have been presented to the House.
So I believe that it is in order that at this juncture, we close the curtain for today.
Mr Speaker, it is after 2 o'clock and we are in your hands.
ADJOURNMENT 2:57 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 3.00 p.m. till Tuesday, 11th December, 2018 at 10.00 a.m.