Debates of 14 Jun 2019

MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:47 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:47 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:47 a.m.
Hon Members, correction of Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 13th June,
2019.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:47 a.m.
Yes, Hon Chairman of the Business Committee, item numbered 3?
Hon Member, you will present the Business Statement, but something has come to my attention. Questions listed for Friday, 21st June, 2019, may have to be deferred because of some
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE 10:47 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Committee accordingly submits its Report as follows 10:47 a.m.
Arrangement of Business
Question(s)
Hon Speaker, the Business Committee has scheduled the following Ministers to respond to Questions asked of them during the week:
No. of Question(s)
i. Minister for the Interior -- 1
ii. Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts -- 1
iii. Minister for Lands and Natural Resources -- 1
iv. Minister for Trade and Industry -- 1
V. Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources -- 1
vi. Minister for Communications -- 1
vii. Minister for Works and Housing -- 1
viii. Minister for Roads and Highways -- 5
Total Number of Questions -- 12
Mr Speaker, eight (8) Ministers are expected to attend upon the House to respond to twelve (12) Questions during the week.
Statements
Mr Speaker, pursuant to Order 70(2), Ministers of State may be permitted to make Statements of Government policy. Statements duly admitted by Mr Speaker may be made in the House by Hon Members, in accordance with Order 72.
Bills, Papers and Reports
Mr Speaker, Bills may be presented to the House for First Reading in accordance with Order 120. However, those of urgent nature may be taken through the various stages in one day in accordance with Order 119.
Pursuant to Order 75, Papers for presentation to the House may be placed on the Order Paper for laying. Committee reports may also be presented to the House for consideration.
Mr Speaker, the Committee accordingly submits its Report as follows 10:47 a.m.
Motions and Resolutions
Mr Speaker, Motions may be debated and their consequential Resolutions, if any, taken during the week.
Conclusion
Mr Speaker, in accordance with Standing Order 160(2) and subject to Standing Order 53, the Committee submits to this Honourable House the order in which the Business of the House shall be taken during the week under consideration.

Questions --

*575. Mr Albert Akuka Alalzuuga (Garu): To ask the Minister for the Interior what measures the Ministry is putting in place to reduce armed robbery in the country.

Statements --

Presentation of Papers --

(a)Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on the Management of Human Effluent by Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

(b)Annual Report of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission for 2016- 2017.

Motions --

(a) Adoption of the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor- General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Polytechnics) for the Period ended 31st December, 2015.

(b) Adoption of the Report of the Finance Committee on the Credit Facility Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (represented by the Ministry of Finance) and Deutsche Bank AG (as Agent and Original Lender) and Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch (as Arranger and Structuring Bank) for an amount of fifty- five million euros (€55, 000,000.00) relating to the rehabilidtation of Kumasi Inner Ring Road and adjacent streets (100km) -- phase 1.

Consideration Stage of Bills --

Vigilantism and Related Offences Bill, 2019.

Committee sittings.

Questions --

*576. Dr Zanetor Agyeman- Rawlings (Klottey-Korle): To ask the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture what plans the Ministry has in place for the communities in Osu, particularly South Anorhor.

*579. Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah (Ho West): To ask the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources whether the Ministry has given concession to any organisation or individuals to harvest rosewood in the Kalakpa Game Reserve in the Ho West and Adaklu Constituencies.

*580. Mr Thomas Nyarko Ampem (Asuogyaman): To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Ministry has any plans for saving the Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) from total collapse.

Statements --

Motions --

(a) Adoption of the Report of the Public Accounts Committee

on the Report of the Auditor- General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Pre- University Educational Institutions) for the Financial Year Ended 31st December,

2015.

(b) Adoption of the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor- General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Pre- University Educational Institutions) for the Financial Year Ended 31st December,

2016.

Consideration Stage of Bills --

Vigilantism and Related Offences Bill, 2019. (Continuation)

Committee sittings

Questions --

*581. Mr Mohammed Abdul- Aziz (Mion): To ask the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources what plans the Ministry has to tackle the perennial water crisis in Sang, in the Mion Constituency.
Mr Ras Mubarak 10:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, in view of yesterday's security breach, I was hoping that the Hon Deputy Whip would use the opportunity to apprise the House of what had happened and give Hon Members assurance of any measures that might have been put in place to mitigate any future breaches of security --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:57 a.m.
Was there a security breach in the House yesterday?
Mr Ras Mubarak 10:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, there was a reported attempted suicide in Parliament yesterday and the Public Affairs Department has issued a statement to that effect.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:57 a.m.
I do not know, but if there is a security breach, our marshals would give us a report. As of now, we do not have any such report. There was somebody talking after Parliament had adjourned and I do not know of a security breach.
Mr Ras Mubarak 10:57 a.m.
Very well, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, having said this, the Agenda for this Meeting is quite heavy and there are quite a number of issues that we should be looking at.
Mr Speaker, referrals to Committees alone are 110. With Mr Speaker's directives, we have about 19 of them for the House to consider in this Meeting and it does not appear to me that we are moving with a lot of speed, looking at the items that are on the Agenda and once that has come previously.
So I am hoping that the Business Committee would take into consideration the Agenda set out for this Meeting and probably, those that
are of urgent nature would be brought forward for us to consider appropriately.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Dr Clement A. Apaak 10:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to also add my voice to the call made by the Hon Member for Kumbungu. Yesterday's development is a wakeup call for all of us. It clearly indicates that the security architecture of Parliament is in question.
Mr Speaker, on this Floor, time and again, we have had reasons to complain and to draw attention to the fact that sometimes even when an Hon Member is in his office, all of a sudden, people walk into the office trying to sell doughnuts to him or her.
Yesterday, after the House adjourned, I was in my office working on some letters and two gentlemen entered my office. When I asked them how they got access to my office, they could not explain.
Mr Speaker, these are very challenging times and we need to be much more resolute in asking that our safety be prioritised, and I want to call on Leadership to take our security concerns very seriously. It is not
sufficient to swipe a card to enter the Job 600 Building. We want all the precincts of Parliament to be equally secured.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:57 a.m.
Hon Members, how secured can we have it? Anybody who enters is aided by one Hon Member or another. If we breach the rules, if we quarrel with security men who prevent visitors we have not approved, how would the security men be able to assist us?
I endured that often but you trace and realise that the person entered in the name of some other Hon Member, goes to see him and then follows up to my place. With all of them who come here, the security checks with us. If we do not give clearance, they would not come in. So the first security is we ourselves.
Every place that has been designated for Hon Members of Parliament only, we assist non-Hon Members to use it too. We use our cards for our assistants to enter the tunnel that is reserved for Hon Members only.
Then lifts that are reserved for Hon Members only, we enter with our visitors first and then others look at
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:57 a.m.


them. So while we are asking Leadership to do that, we must assist them by first abiding by the rules we have made for ourselves.
Mr Sampson Ahi 10:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to find out from the Hon Deputy Majority Whip when Leader- ship would brief this House -- ?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 10:57 a.m.
Hon Member for Adentan - [Interruption.] He cannot even hear me because he is too busy doing his private -- The communication is to be done outside of this Chamber, not in here. [Laughter] -- You are disturbing proceedings, please.
Mr Ahi 10:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was saying that I would want to find out from the Hon Deputy Majority Whip when Leadership would brief Hon Members on the rationale behind preventing Hon Members from driving into the Job 600 Building but getting down and letting our drivers to park at the parking lot?
Mr Speaker, last week it was raining, I got to the gate and the security there said that according to Leadership, Hon Members are not allowed to enter. So I had to get down, and walk in the rain to go to my office.
Mr Samuel O. Ablakwa 11:07 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to begin by expressing full support and solidarity with Hon Sampson Ahi that in this rainy season, it has been very tough for Hon Members of Parliament, where we have to park very far away from the Job 600 Building and walk in the rain to our offices.
Leadership would have to really convince us why they should continue with this seemingly apartheid regime that has been introduced in the Parliament of Ghana.
Mr Speaker, the next issue has to do with the Joint Caucus meeting which has been pending for a while now. I want to believe that next week, our Hon Leaders would be back. The challenge has been that anytime we have plans to hold it, either the Hon Minority Leader or the Hon Majority Leader has not been available.
So if the Hon Deputy Majority Whip has an indication that both Hon Leaders would be available next week, then I would plead with you,
Mr Speaker, that it should be programmed because there are many outstanding issues.
Even what we have raised earlier could have been handled quietly at the Joint Caucus meeting. There are other outstanding matters that we want to raise and I pray that the opportunity would be created at the Joint Caucus level for us to discuss them.
Mr Speaker, with your permission the next issue has to do with a ruling Mr Speaker gave to an application I made last week Friday, for the Hon Minister for the Interior to appear before this House to brief us on current security challenges.
The Rt Hon Speaker ruled that he would discuss it with Leadership and a date would be provided for the Hon Minister to be programmed to brief the House.

I have observed that the Hon Minister for the Interior has a Question to answer on Tuesday, 18th June, 2019, so if it pleases the leadership of the Business Committee, could it be possible for the Hon Minister, following the Rt Hon Speaker's ruling, to make that
Mr Nyindam 11:07 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would tie the issue which has been raised by Hon Ablakwa into the Joint Caucus meeting we would have next week. The Hon Majority and Minority Leaders would be available next week and together when we have the Joint Caucus meeting, we would consider some of these issues.
With regard to the issues raised by Hon Sampson Ahi in relation to the car park in Job 600, Hon Members should all admit that some of these decisions emanate from how we all behave and conduct ourselves.
I remember very well that in several Joint Caucus meetings, we appealed to Hon Members that there was no way that the car park in the Job 600 Building could contain the cars used by all the 275 Hon Members of Parliament (MPs) and for that matter, we have appealed to Hon Members that if they do not have a driver, driving into the Job 600 Building and saying that they would want to enter their offices and come back is not possible. Where would they park?
We have all realised that most Hon Members abandoned their cars and the place became so congested that controlling became a problem. So, we adopted a technology such that if an Hon Member does not have an access card, he or she would not have access to the place.
As Hon Samuel Ablakwa said, this is not an apartheid situation. We are all Hon MPs but, at least, you have given recognition to some of us that we should lead you, so we driving into the Job 600 Building car park does not make us more important than you. When we meet at the Joint Caucus meeting, we would look at some other ways but for now, the issue is that Leadership who have been allotted car parks should have access to the place.
Mr Speaker, we are not better than our Hon Colleagues but for now, the decision is that if an Hon Member does not have an access card, he or she cannot have access to the Job 600 Building car park.
That does not mean that an Hon Member cannot have access to enter. If one gets closer to the gate of the Job 600 Building, there is a turn which is not too far from the gate, so Hon Members could alight at the entrance and walk to their offices and that should not be a big deal.
But for now, if an Hon Member does not have an access card, the decision is that he or she cannot drive in but this is subject to other considerations. When we have the Joint Caucus meeting, we would look into that.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member for Builsa South talked about security in general. I remember very well that we all agreed that no visitors should be allowed to sit at the public gallery -- all visitors are supposed to go to the Job 600 Building and register and wait for their MPs. We also agree that the coffee shop is for just Hon Members of Parliament so no visitors should be allowed there.
But we see Hon Members with their visitors eating at the coffee shop. Who then is supposed to sack who? Sometimes, it is not about Leadership not being concerned about the security of MPs but sometimes Leadership is disabled by our conducts.
As Hon Members, we must learn to respect certain basic rules that have been put in place. If we say that no Hon Member should take his or her visitor to the coffee shop, that must be adhered to. An Hon Member would not be happy if his or her visitor is sacked from the coffee shop.
Mr Speaker, the last issue has to do with expediting action on the Agenda. In the next Business Committee meeting, I would convey the sentiment to the Hon Majority Leader.
Mr Rockson-Nelson E.K. Dafea- mekpor 11:07 a.m.
Mr Speaker, last week, two of my Questions were publicised to be answered this week by the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice but I have no indication and they are also not listed for next week.
Mr Speaker, these two Questions have been pending for almost a year. My interaction with the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice is that she has written several letters through the Chief Director of the Ministry of Justice to the Judicial Secretary for those simple responses to enable her to come to answer the Questions but the responses from the Judicial Secretary are not forthcoming and that has really disabled her from coming to respond to the Questions.
I am worried because these Questions give us opportunities to get responses for matters that happen in our various constituencies. We have two High Courts in the Volta Region that for over three years do not have judges. So, for instance, if cases are filed at the Hohoe High Court, the cases are transferred to Ho.
Mr Rockson-Nelson E.K. Dafea- mekpor 11:17 a.m.


The parties that have gone to the Hohoe High Court are compelled to travel to Ho to access justice. This comes at an economic disadvantage to them.

So, Mr Speaker, it is worrying that we cannot have responses to these matters. The other Question relates to a very critical matter. Some lawyers who used to serve at the lower bench were affected by the Anas exposé. Through a disciplinary action, they have been removed.

They have since been trying to obtain their licences to practise and no reasons are being given for the non- renewal of their licences. Now, they are no longer judges at the lower bench and they can also not practise their trade as professionals; meanwhile, they have families.

This is a very serious matter that is affecting those category of people, so we need some responses. If they have a remediable cause, they can pursue it.

Mr Speaker, I would want to urge Leadership to do something about this matter as this Question continues to be published and yet we do not get an Answer from the Judicial Secretary. That is my humble position.
Mr Nyindam 11:17 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I just spoke with the Table Office. We would get the Hon Member involved and whatever decision we would take would be communicated to him.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:17 a.m.
Hon Members, in fact, the issue raised is one which we are finding difficulty managing because the Attorney- General and Minister for Justice has said time and again that she does not answer for the Judiciary and she is right.
The Judiciary is an Arm of Government. It is not part of the Executive but there appears to be nobody responsible for matters within the Judiciary of which Hon Members want Answers.
So, we would review the situation and probably find a way of getting the Judicial Secretary to meet us as Committee of the Whole so that matters relating to the Judiciary which Hon Members are concerned about could be dealt with here.
If it is with the justice system, then, the Hon Attorney-General and Minister for Justice could come in but when it is the Judiciary, then, there is a difficulty as to why she should answer for that.
So, Hon Member, your point is well noted and it would be taken care of.
Hon Members, that appears to be the end of Business Statement.
The Business Statement for the Week ending 21st June, 2019, is hereby adopted.

Very well, the Hon Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations will take the seat first. I have granted him leave to answer on behalf of the Hon Minister even before an application is made.

Yes, Hon Member, you may ask your Question.
URGENT QUESTIONS 11:17 a.m.
MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT 11:17 a.m.
AND LABOUR RELATIONS 11:17 a.m.
Mr Tampi 11:17 a.m.
Mr Speaker, from the Hon Deputy Minister's Answer, he said that a total of 74 of those beneficiaries paid by the Service Provider, Zoomlion Ghana Ltd, have been paid and that only very few are left to be paid for three months.
I have here a total of 18 months arrears owed beneficiaries of Zoomlion Ghana Ltd as of last month. So, if the Hon Deputy Minister tells us that they have been paid and are only left with three months, I have the records that show that they have not been paid for 18 months instead of the three months that he is saying. Could he justify that?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:17 a.m.
Hon Member, which records do you have here? Kindly bring it to the Table Of f i cers. [Interruption] Hon Member, speak to your microphone.
Mr Tampi 11:17 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have it on my mobile phone. I took it from the office of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). It was sent to me because I knew I would be asking
that Question. So, this is the update. Could he therefore justify that?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:17 a.m.
Hon Deputy Minister, he says his record is different from yours. Is there any reason?
Mr Wireko-Brobby 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that cannot be correct. The official records we have for those on the sanitation model, which YEA is in charge, is 74.
They were owed until November 2018. As of February 2019, four months arrears was cleared. We now owe them three months in arrears. This is the official position of the arrears today.
Mr Tampi 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think I was right. Rather, what he explained was still seven months in arrears as of the time I asked the Question. [Interruption.] I did not say as of today. It is as of the time I asked the Question.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Hon Member, as of the time you asked the Question, if that was the case, he has given you the report as of today; yet, you dispute the report as of today.
Mr Tampi 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is as of May 2019. There were even some beneficiaries who existed, and they were supposed to pay an exit fund.
For every month, an amount of GH¢50.00 is deducted from their allowances. That exit fund too has not been paid to those who have exited.
Could the Hon Minister explain to the House why the exit fund has not been paid to the beneficiaries who have exited the Scheme?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Hon Member, you have to file that as another Question.
Mr Tampi 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is related to the Question.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
If I ask you to tell me how much I owe you, then you add an issue on exit when I do not know that somebody has exited?
The Hon Minister is not the Agency. He went to the Agency to ask for the information you asked. This is additional and a new matter, so you could file that as a separate Question.
Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr James K. Avedzi 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Question is specific for Tatale/Sanguli, but this is an issue that affects all constituencies in Ghana.
My question is, would the Hon Minister consider looking into the issue of Tatale/Sanguli to do a reconciliation?
Mr Speaker, his Answer is at variance with what the Hon Member said. Would he conduct a reconciliation to find out whether what the Hon Member said has some element of truth?
Mr Wireko-Brobby 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we would reconcile and get to him.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Hon Member for Ho Central?
Mr Benjamin K. Kpodo 11:27 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I would want to corroborate the evidence given by the --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Hon Member, do you have a question or not?
Mr Kpodo 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am just laying the background that it is true that many people are owed for more than seven months. The Hon Deputy Minister, in his response, has admitted
to the fact that the DACF is owed for several months.
So, would he consider an inter- ministerial committee that would ensure that the Ministry of Finance transfers the money for YEA to the DACF on a more regular basis to enable payments to be made to those enrolled in the YEA?
Mr Wireko-Brobby 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe it is a laudable suggestion. So, I would take it to my Hon Minister for consideration.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member for Bodi?
Mr Sampson Ahi 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister, in his Answer, said they have paid beneficiaries, but they owe them three months of arrears. Could he tell us when those three months arrears would be paid to the beneficiaries?
Mr Wireko-Brobby 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we are in touch with the service provider. His submission was that these payments are also contingent on the flows from the DACF, and that of the third quarter would start very soon.
So, we have implored him, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that these payments are paid. We are in touch with him to ensure that it is paid as soon as he receives it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member?
Mr Christian C. Otuteye 11:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, may I know whether this payment is referred to only Tatale/ Sanguli or it is nationwide? This is because my constituents also have similar problems.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:27 p.m.
Hon Member, I am allowing Hon Members other than the Hon Member for Tatale/Sanguili because, somehow, it relates to them.
However, if you have a specific question relating to your constituency or anybody else, I would allow you to ask, but the general question as to whether it affects all has been answered.
Thank you, Hon Deputy Minister, for attending upon the House to answer the Question. You are discharged.
The next set of Questions are for the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways to answer.
Question numbered 600 is standing in the name of the Hon Member for Pru West, Alhaji Masawud Mohammed.
ORAL ANSWERS TO 11:27 p.m.
QUESTIONS 11:27 p.m.
MINISTRY OF ROADS AND 11:27 p.m.
HIGHWAYS 11:27 p.m.
Minister for Roads and Highways (Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta) 11:27 p.m.
Background
The Abease Junction-Krobo, Kamampa, Cherembo linking Zambarma are parts of the feeder roads network in the Pru West District of the Bono East Region. These roads are engineered and currently in fair and poor conditions.
(i) Abease Jn.-Krobo-Cheremo (18.45km)
The Abease Junction-Krobo- Cheremo feeder road is a gravel road of length 18.45km. It is an engineered road in fair surfaced condition.
Alhaji Mohammed 11:37 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, from the Hon Minister's Answer, it appears he said that the contract was awarded in June 2018, but as of now, only five per cent of the work has been done.
Mr Speaker, from the Answer, this contract commenced on 20th August, 2018. If the project is expected to be completed by February 2020 and only five per cent of work has been done as of today, how sure are we that by the end of February 2020, the work would be completed?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Hon Minister, I thought that you would answer the Hon Member.
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was just waiting for a further direction from you.
Mr Speaker, I have observed the concern of my Hon Colleague. My
Answer is quite clear on his follow- up question.
Mr Speaker, in my Answer, it is said that the contract was awarded on 1st June, 2018 and works commenced on 20th August, 2018 for completion on 20th February,
2020.
It takes some time for work to commence, between the award date and the start of the project because there are some formalities to go through. The contractor must move to site and, depending upon the condition of the ground, he must set up his camp and all that.
Mr Speaker, at times, the contractor must even do some clearing. So, few issues had gone for the five per cent work to be done. With this five per cent work done, initial critical jobs are covered first. At times, the contractors do not tackle the earth works immediately.
For all we know, there may be some covers to be completed. One may see it as being just five per cent work done, but it could be a lot of work.
Mr Speaker, at any rate, the completion period is February 2020, so we would keep our eyes on it. I
believe that the most important thing is that the contractor is on site and there is strict supervision. I do not have any doubt in my mind that by February 2020, the project would be delivered.
Alhaji M. Mohammed 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, from the Hon Minister's Answer, he said that some portions of the road are in fair condition, but I beg to differ because the road is completely not usable.
Mr Speaker, could the Hon Minister tell us the portion of the road that is fairly good?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Hon Minister, could you tell the specific places that are in fair condition, if any?
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker, when Answers are given on roads, I would want my Hon Colleague to understand that they should not always be taken on their literal meaning.
Mr Speaker, I have stated that the road is between fair and poor condition, but this Answer comes from the technical point of view. Generally, the condition of the road might be poor; but if we talk about the condition of a road, we talk about three things.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:37 a.m.
Very well.
Hon Members, we would move on to Question numbered 601.
Completion of the Prang-Abease Kintampo Road
Q.601. Alhaji Masawud Mo- hammed asked the Minister for Roads and Highways when construction works on Prang -- Abease -- Kintampo road would be completed.
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:37 a.m.
Mr Speaker,
Prang - Abease - Kintampo Road
Background
The Prang - Abease - Kintampo road forms an integral part of Inter- Regional Road (IR9) and lies between Kintampo Municipality and Pru West District of the Bono East Region. The total length of the road is 94km.
Sections of the road are either gravel or bituminous surfaced as a result of constructional works going on under different contracts. The following are sections of the road and construction works ongoing:
i. Section (km 0 - 21)
This section is bituminous surface and in good condition. The bituminous surface project on this section has been completed.
ii. Section (km 21 -- 36)
This section has been awarded for upgrading to bituminous surface in two separate contracts:
a. Section (km 21 -- 31): The project commenced on 5th June, 2014 for completion on 21st November, 2015. The completion date was
extended to 20th October, 2016, which has since elapsed. The physical progress of works is projected at 62 per cent.
b. Section (km 31 - 36): The project commenced on 18th August, 2016 for completion on 17th August, 2017. The completion date has since elapsed. The physical progress of works is projected at 54 per cent.
The contractor suspended works on several occasions as a result of undue delay in paying for work done. This has affected the timely completion of the projects.
The contractor has now resumed work, and the completion of project will depend on the rate at which the Employer will pay for work done.
Section (km 36 - 66)
This section is also awarded for upgrading to bituminous surface. The project commenced on 2nd August, 2016 for completion on 1st August, 2018, which has since elapsed. The physical progress of works is projected at 13 per cent completion.
The contractor was compelled to suspend the works on several occasions as a result of undue delay in paying for work done. This has affected the timely completion of the project. The contractor is back to the site, and completion of the project will depend on the rate at which the Employer will pay for work done.
Section (km 66 -- 94)
The stretches between km 66 and km 83 and from km 86 to km 89 have been regravelled, whilst that of km 83 to km 86 (Zabrama town) and km 89 to km 94 (the 5 km stretch to Kintampo) have been bituminous surface dressed. The entire section from km 66 to km 94 is, therefore, in good condition.
Current programme
In view of several suspensions of work resulting from delay in paying for work done and consequent poor road surface conditions, the road beyond km 21.0 has been programmed for routine maintenance works, especially grading works to make the road motorable and comfortable all year round.
Future programme
The medium to long term programme is to upgrade the entire road to bituminous surface. In view
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:47 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member?
Alhaji Mohammed 11:47 a.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
I would like to believe that somebody might have not told the Hon Minister the right thing. The stretch from Zabarma to Kintampo, in fact, is not in a good condition; but I would have loved that the Hon Minister would schedule a trip so that together, we travel on that road.
Mr Speaker, from the Hon Minister's Answer, it appears everything would depend on the employer paying the contractor. May I know if there is any plan to pay the contractor, so that we would be able to quicken work on the road?
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:47 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is a very long stretch of road; from Prang through Abease to Kintampo
covers a distance of close to 100 kilometres. The award of contract, as stated, dates back to 2014.
I must admit that this road has suffered a checkered history, particularly, in terms of payment from the previous regime up to now. I would like to put on record that it is one of the prioritised roads because the Prang-Abease-Kintampo road is a very important road in our country.
It is being worked on, and we keep an eye on it. The fact that the contractors have returned to site shows how seriously we take this road. So, in line with our road programme, and within the limited space and the fiscal difficulties that we have, this road would be tackled alongside others.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:47 a.m.
Hon Member, are you done?
Very well.
Q. 603 standing in the name of the Hon Member for Zabzugu, Hon Alhassan Umar.
Commencement of Construction Works on the Tamale to
Zabzugu Road.
Q 603. Mr Alhassan Umar asked the Minister for Roads and Highways when construction works
on the Tamale to Zabzugu road would commence.
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:47 a.m.
Mr Speaker,
Background
The Tamale - Zabzugu Road forms an integral part of Tatale - Zabzugu - Yendi - Tamale Road, which is a Regional Road, (R201) and covers a total length of 165.8km.
Sections of this road are gravel and others are bituminous surfaced in fair condition.
Current programme
The road has been programmed for routine maintenance works, patching of pot holes on the paved sections and grading on the gravel sections. The works are expected to commence by the end of the third quarter to make it motorable.
Future programme
The entire 165.8km of Tatale- Zabzugu-Yendi-Tamale Road has been packaged as part of the World Bank funded Transport Sector Improvement Project (TSIP) for rehabilitation and maintenance of the road.
The implementing agency, GHA, is currently preparing the concept design and bidding documents for launching in August, 2019 to select the contracting entity to execute the project.
The project is expected to commence in March 2020 for a period of 7 years. The contracting entity is expected to provide detailed engineering design, and construct the road in two years, and after completion, carry out maintenance works for a period of five years.
Alhaji M. Mohammed 11:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, would the Hon Minister be kind enough to let us know why this project has delayed? The facility the Hon Minister talked about was granted in 2017, so why has it taken the Ministry two to three years to commence?
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my Answer contains the source of funding. This is a World Bank project. Projects funded by either bilaterals or multinationals, such as the World Bank, have their own procedures to be followed critically, and it takes time. It is just like putting a project under Public Private Partnership (PPP) which takes quite a bit of time.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:57 a.m.
Are you done?
Very well.
Hon Masawud Mohammed, you have three Questions; have you asked them all? You still have one outstanding, Question 602. Is that right? You may ask Question 602 now.
Reduction of Unauthorised Speed Ramps
Q.602. Alhaji Masawud Mo- hammed asked the Minister for Roads and Highways what measures the
Ministry was putting in place to reduce the number of unauthorised speed ramps on our roads.
Minister for Roads and Highways (Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah) 11:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker,
Background
The Ministry of Roads and Highways is very mindful of the safety of all road users (motorists and pedestrians) along the road corridors to protect life and property. The placement of unauthorised speed ramps is of great concern to the Ministry. The placement of unapproved structures, including the unauthorised speed ramps endangers the safety of road users.
Current Programme
Depending on the status of roads in the network hierarchy and their national importance, road safety issues are taken seriously through a rigorous process. The implementing agencies under the Ministry of Roads and Highways have been and will continue with their studies and monitoring of roads to identify the hazardous spots, including placement of unauthorised speed ramps by individuals and communities along the road corridors for the appropriate road safety interventions. This will
include removal of unauthorised speed tables, speed humps (ramps), rumble strips that have not been engineered to meet road safety standards.
The Agencies under the Ministry will intensify their collaborations with other stakeholders including the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), to minimise the placement of unauthorised speed ramps on the roads through education and enforcement of safety regulations.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 11:57 a.m.
Hon Member, are you done and satisfied? [Pause.]
Hon Minister, I think that the speed ramps are too many. Between Anwia- Nkwanta and Santase, you can count more than 10 of them. It is almost impracticable to drive on the road, so I think that we should regulate how and where the speed ramps are placed.
Mr Amoako-Attah 11:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I could not agree with you more on your observation. I also know the import of even asking this important Question. It is a worrying situation in our country because we all have had
the opportunity to travel outside our country, and we do not see this number of ramps anywhere in the world.
If one travels from Accra to Kumasi, especially, there are so many speed ramps of all kinds, and a number of them are unauthorised. We know the effect of these unauthorised ramps not only on vehicles but even on human beings. This is a worrying situation, and it is a very important Question that has been asked.
It all boils down to one issue that is very problematic, and it is the undisciplined nature of drivers. For most villages, even though I would not approve of their actions and it cannot be justified, the way drivers drive sometimes compel them to construct unauthorised ramps.
So, inasmuch as we want to criticise people for constructing these unauthorised ramps, I humbly and respectfully call on drivers and the motoring public to be disciplined on the road. If, in any village, constantly and persistently, cars knock down people, it may not be right; but out of anger, they would construct unauthorised speed ramps.
Mr Speaker, it may interest this Honourable House to know that the matter has been raised, and a
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:07 p.m.
Are you going to ask him a question?
Yes, Hon Leader?
Mr Avedzi 12:07 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
The Hon Minister mentioned the Police. The construction of road is done by his Ministry and he said he would go round with the Police to look at those unauthorised speed ramps.
Mr Speaker, the Police is supposed to enforce the law. Roads pass through communities, villages and towns. It is because of the way drivers drive that communities ask for speed ramps. The Police are to enforce the law to ensure that when drivers reach these communities and towns, they slow down.
But the Police would rather choose to go and sit at a corner somewhere and when drivers are approaching, they will pull the speed gun on them instead of being in the communities to ensure that drivers do not speed.
Now, the Hon Minister wants to go along with the Police. Is he sure that he would get the result that he wants? The Police do not enforce the law where they are supposed to do so --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:07 p.m.
Hon Leader, when the Hon Minister for the Interior comes, you could have the conversation with him on that. This is on Ministry of Roads and Highways.
Mr Avedzi 12:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he said he would go along with the Police and that is why I asked that question.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:07 p.m.
The Police should do their part; he only needs protection.
Hon Minister, thank you for attending upon the House to answer the Questions. You are discharged.
Hon Members, I admitted one Statement in the name of Hon Francisca Oteng Mensah, Hon Member for Kwabre East.
Mr Avedzi 12:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to apply -- I have discussed with the Hon Majority Leader for the Motions numbered 8 and 9 to be taken. It is because most of the Hon Members who would want to contribute will go to the mosque; today is Friday.
If you would agree with me, I would apply that you would vary the order of Business, so that we would take Motions numbered 8 and 9 before the Statement.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:07 p.m.
Who is the Leader of Government Business? He has not applied to vary the order of Business, so I do not know whether it is appropriate to take it from the Minority Side.
If the Leader of Government Business applies, I may consider it. But for now, I called for a Statement. It is a very short one; one-paged Statement.
STATEMENTS 12:07 p.m.
Ms Francisca O. Mensah (NPP -- Kwabre East) 12:07 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker, recently, some two Canadian ladies, Bailey Chitty and Lauren Tilley, who were in the country for a youth development programme, were kidnapped. The timely efforts of our security agencies led to their rescue in Kenyase. Subsequently, some of the alleged kidnappers were arrested by the police in Kenyase and Antoa which are part of the Kwabre East Constituency which I represent in this august House.
rose
- 12:07 p.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:07 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member?
Ms Laadi A. Ayamba (NDC -- Pusiga) 12:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement ably made by my Hon Colleague from the other Side.
Mr Speaker, the Statement could not have come at a better time than
this time. It is really unfortunate that we all woke up to the news of these Canadian ladies who had come on a youth programme.
One of them, I read, is about 19 years and the other is 20 years. Within the same week that they were kidnapped, I believe a statement was made by the Canadian officials and some of their experts had to come down. Fortunately, in the same week, these ladies have been found.
I appreciate the Statement very much, because the Hon Member has made it clear that they were found in a community that is so peaceful; a community that no one expects any such people to have been a community that is working hard; they even produce the Kente that we all admire, not only for us the ordinary people but also for our revered chiefs.
It goes to tell us the kind of people we live with, and that we cannot just trust people or just accept people and believe that they are the best.
Mr Speaker, pictures show that they were living in an uncompleted building. The question I asked myself was, how come they got into that building? Does the building belong to them? What about those who live around them? Is it that they never saw
them going out and coming in because there were no windows and no doors per se to hide them? I just wondered and I let go.

Mr Speaker, the issue of the kidnapping of these two Canadian girls and their rescue makes me remember our three kidnapped girls of Takoradi.

Mr Speaker, I believe it is still in the minds of each and every Ghanaian and it is very disheartening, especially, to parents and for that matter women, that these three girls have not yet been found. We cannot just believe that for not less than six months these girls have gone missing.

We heard of them getting somebody who was involved. We have got news from other responsible officers who have said that the girls are alive and would be brought and long after this, we have not heard anything about our own girls. These are Ghanaians. Their parents are alive. They live here in Ghana.

There are three of them. Is it not pathetic that after all this while, we cannot say anything to Ghanaians that we are actually going to get these girls; notwithstanding the fact that we may be talking of whether they are dead or alive.
-- 12:17 p.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:17 p.m.
Hon Member, wind up. You are asking the same question over and over again.
Ms Ayamba 12:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, for us to be able to say that we have done well by being able to rescue two girls and to exonerate ourselves from the international front about our security
issues, we need to put in more strategies to ensure that we rescue our own girls.
Mr Speaker, this notwithstanding, can we continuously give that education? The painful aspect of it is that ever since these kidnappings started, I believe I have heard about only two males kidnapped; all others are females -- either women or girls.
Mr Speaker, we know the meaning of all these things and how it goes to affect us. I sometimes ask myself whether we simply think that because they are women or girls, we can let go. The vulnerability of the girl-child is so high.
So can we continuously create the awareness, not only in our communities but even in our schools? It is becoming so much that sometimes we find it difficult to come out to talk about it because many a time, if it is talked about, it looks like a particular individual is being spoken against, which is not a fact.
Mr Speaker, as a mother, I am just imagining if I had lost a daughter, what I would have felt.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:17 p.m.
Hon Member, you have said enough.
Ms Ayamba 12:17 p.m.
So, Mr Speaker, I want to congratulate my Hon Colleague and to say that more effort should be put in so that we can get the three kidnapped girls of Takoradi.
Thank you for the opportunity, Mr Speaker.
Dr Nana Ayew Afriye (NPP -- Effiduase/Asokore) 12:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, asportation and confinement in any form is illegal and un-Ghanaian. It is worrying in recent times the spate at which we find ourselves observing high levels of confinements and asportation.
Mr Speaker, may I take this opportunity to congratulate the National Security and the Police Service for a good collaboration and work done. Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Capital for that matter, remains calm, friendly and hospitable, and we pray this is not one of a kind that would undermine our friendly culture and welcoming nature.
Mr Speaker, one thing that is of particular interest to me is overt politicisation of issues. Inasmuch as we celebrate the good works done by the security agencies, it is interesting to see lately as it trends on social media and elsewhere that persons or suspects arrested in the operations of the National Security
are being politicised, which to me is absolutely needless.
Mr Speaker, wherever those persons belong, whether they vote for NPP or NDC, it does not matter. The most important thing is that they are criminals and what they have done is against the law and for that matter, the law must deal with them.
We would have responsible persons in society, some leading political parties, who bring political twists to criminality. That does not make sense and for that matter it jeopardises the very security of the indigene.
Mr Speaker, nobody is exempted from any act of confinement or asportation by persons as these. We are all high- risk individuals who can all be targeted at any time and therefore, it is so inimical for anyone to politicise such an occurrence.
We hope that Hon Members here, as we all belong to political parties, would condemn our Colleagues who want to bring political dimensions and twist it and for that matter, we are paralysed and then people would go on a sprain.
Mr Speaker, whether the person is NDC or not does not matter to anybody and whether he is NPP or
Dr Augustine Tawiah (NDC -- Bia West) 12:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement.
Mr Speaker, it is important to note that the issues we have raised today are in order. Ghana is portrayed as a very homely place and it is said in international tour guide materials that, indeed, if one asks for a direction in Ghana, the people of Ghana would take the person to the place he or she has asked to go. So, when people want to come to Africa, Ghana is the gateway and indeed, we are a peaceful and safe country.
Interestingly, what happened has been a very big dent on our international prestige as a home of hospitality and therefore, none of us should take this lightly at all. These students and young people who come from developed countries to our country go through a lot of hustle to make the trip.
We have seen them wash cars, sell cookies and do so many things to raise moneys. It is not because they are rich, but the net effect of what they come here to do is amazing for our people. They help to build libraries, community clinics and sometimes, schools; they help to sponsor children in our country so that these children can go to school.
They give them school bags and we have seen so many things that they do. So, if anything at all, the reward should not be what happened. On a bigger scale, it is a great dent on our integrity as a country and therefore, the rescue as portrayed in the international media add to the fact that, at least, the Ghana security service did a good job of getting these girls out of the place.
Mr Speaker, going forward, we know that this is not the best case scenario to be connected with Ghana. As we develop the tourism, culture and other areas of the national life so that we can attract more people -- the year of return, the hundreds of African Americans who came here in the last three months --
It is sad that this should happen in our country. It is terrible that this experience happened in Ghana, the
gateway to Africa and one of the most hospitable places people can find themselves.
Indeed, in the constituency and region where it happened and in our own country, this should not be condoned.
Mr Speaker, I would want to add my voice that, indeed, this sad event is not realistic and it is illegitimate, and nobody should in any way condone it. But related to this is a common occurrence that is emerging in our country about kidnapping.
How could our own girls in our country be kidnapped in our own backyard? It is amazing that this would happen in Ghana; that Ghanaians catch their own children, keep them for ransom and for other things.
While these Canadians have been released and we rejoice that Ghana's international reputation which was dented is somewhat restored, and with time people would forget it, what about these three girls who are still in bondage? This is unfortunate.
Mr Speaker, I would want to call on the security -- this is a conclusion, but the kidnapping case is an inclusive conclusion because unless the three girls are also released, the freedom and justice that we have is not
Mr George N.K. Kojo Andah (NPP -- Awutu-Senya West) 12:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on this Statement ably made by my Hon Colleague.
Mr Speaker, I would want to congratulate the National Security and their associated agencies for all the work that they did in terms of rescuing the two Canadian ladies.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Information stated categorically that this effort was an entirely National Security of Ghana operation and did not include any foreign asset so we should not create the impression that there were certain foreign experts who were brought into the country to come and unravel the situation of the kidnapped girls from Canada.
Mr Speaker, the report also seems to suggest that there were a lot of men from Ghana who were deployed on the ground to unravel. If my memory serves me right, the report indicated
that it was about 80 per cent personnel deployment backed with 20 per cent of technology.
Mr Speaker, inasmuch as we are all worried about the situation of the Takoradi girls not being resolved, I do not believe it is proper for anybody to suggest that the girls who were kidnapped being Canadians were given priority over our own Ghanaians. Mr Speaker, the two situations must be put into the right context.
We all know that whenever there is a crime, the timeliness of reporting is extremely important. In the case of the two kidnapped Canadian ladies, the Police or the National Security team were made aware of the situation within 24 hours, whereas in the case of the Takoradi girls, the Police were informed after about seven days and by which time a lot of intelligence had been covered up.
However, the National Security team have said that they have dedicated an entire unit to help resolve the case of the Takoradi girls. Indeed, the Hon Minister said there were similar operations that were on- going in his Statement.
Mr Speaker, let us remind ourselves that as the President said, Ghana remains the safest country
within the sub-region. We are about hosting the Year of Return and there are going to be a lot of visitors who would come to Ghana and a lot of Ghanaians would also participate in this country. So, we should not create a situation that seems to suggest that there is a lack of security in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I wish the team that is working to resolve the situation of the Takoradi girls and all other security investigation that are open the best of luck, and we pray with their parents that the girls would be safely returned to their families.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:37 p.m.
Leadership? [Interruption.] Is the Hon Deputy Minority Leader deferring to somebody?
Mr Ras Mubarak 12:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we would yield to --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:37 p.m.
Hon Member, wait, what is your position? [Laughter] -- I think the available Leader role is going into the head of some people -- [Laughter.] There is a leader.
Hon Deputy Minority Leader, if you wish to comment, I would hear you.
Mr James K. Avedzi (NDC-- Ketu North) 12:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity to comment on the Statement made by my Hon Colleague in whose constituency the two Canadian ladies were found.
Mr Speaker, I think that this issue has been debated over and over both in and outside the House. The only thing I would want to say is that, if within a week or two the security agencies were able to get these ladies who were kidnapped, the same efforts should be made to get those other girls who were kidnapped by the same group of people.
Mr Speaker, mention has been made of the three girls from Takoradi who have been kidnapped for some time. Is there something that we are not doing in order to locate them?
For almost six months, there is this fear that either the girls are still alive or not. If we make effort to locate the two Canadian ladies, we have to also make the same effort to get our own girls.
Mr Speaker, sometimes, the informants who provide information to the security agencies are not well
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Defence would want to make a contribution, so I would defer to him.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:37 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister for Defence?
Mr Dominic B. A. Nitiwul (NPP -- Bimbilla) 12:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
First of all, let me thank my Hon Colleague for drawing the attention of the country to what has happened by the Statement that she has made. She was very clear that the two girls were found in a house in her Constituency and that her constituents are very peaceful and peace-loving people who have contributed a lot to the development of this nation. So, anybody who intends to visit her constituency should feel safe to come there. It is a very important Statement and her constituents must thank her for bringing it up.
Mr Speaker, the activity that led to the rescue of these two young ladies was a collective effort. It was a collective effort by the intelligence agencies, of course, including our Police and those at the National Security, and the Defence Intelligence. We must encourage our security agencies.

Mr Speaker, intelligence gathering and choice of location of the house itself had to do with a lot of background work. We needed to speak to people, intelligence, leads; and we needed to physically locate the process and after that get a team to break in and rescue these ladies.

Let me state that all these were professionally done because if it were not, the lives of these young ladies could have been put in danger.

Mr Speaker, the actual team which led to the rescue on that day itself, to enter the physical location and take them out was the Special Weapon and Technology Team (SWAT) of the National Security.

Of course, that team is made up of the Police and other trained people who have been trained specially for that. That is the reason they were used to physically enter the building and get these young ladies out. There was a lot of collaborative efforts to be able to do that.

Mr Speaker, one of the things that helped the security agencies to quickly rescue these girls was the fact that the disappearance of these girls was reported immediately. If we check the

difference between that incident and that of the Takoradi girls, there was a time lag.

So, I would encourage Ghanaians to be vigilant and report issues to the Police immediately. That is why I would commend the people of the Upper West and Upper East Regions for their responsive nature to issues when they suspect illegality within their area.

Mr Speaker, those that were in that church and responded quickly to the unknown person in the church caused his arrest. If one believes that a crime has been committed, one should not wait. I would urge the people of Ghana to immediately report to the Police. We have the expertise; the issues could be resolved.

Mr Speaker, I can also state for a fact that the security agencies are working very hard to resolve the issue of the Takoradi girls who got missing. I know for a fact that, from day one, they always had somebody they believed was part of the kidnappers.

I also know for a fact that, in recent times, they have managed to arrest a second person whom they believe was part of the kidnappers. So, they are
Mr Dominic B. A. Nitiwul (NPP -- Bimbilla) 12:47 p.m.
working, but as I said before, they need help because intelligence is a collaborative effort.
Mr Speaker, I would urge the people of Ghana to avoid one or two things; first, we should never politicise crime. That is the first thing we should do. The moment we begin to politicise crime as a country, we would be giving criminals the power to misbehave. Second, we should help the security agencies with information.

There is always a saying that when you go to any European nation and you are seen by an old woman to be loitering about, she could take up her phone and call the Police and they will in turn come and arrest you. It is not for nothing that they do that.

Mr Speaker, so it is important that we volunteer information. Even if we give wrong information, it does no harm. What is important, as a citizen with a civic responsibility, is to give out information to the Police.

The Police are everywhere; we should reach them and give out information as it does no harm. They will investigate it and if the information turns out to be true, they will act on it and if it is false, they will not act on it.
Mr Dominic B. A. Nitiwul (NPP -- Bimbilla) 12:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, let me assure every citizen that Ghana is a very safe country. It is normal routine that when an incidence happens, countries such as the United States of America (USA), Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) will issue travel warnings.
If we wanted to issue travel warnings -- In fact, every day, we could issue travel warnings to our citizens who go to the USA because if we check the crime rate in any of these countries, Ghana pales in terms of numbers and so, we could have also been issuing travel warnings to our citizens visiting any of these countries; but that is a practice with them.
So, I will urge that Ghanaians understand that the country is safe but it does not mean that we have no challenges; of course, there are security challenges like there have
always been since the year 1957 when we took the destiny of our country into our hands.
These challenges have been compounded by the fact that we have a lot of problems in Burkina Faso and any of you seated here, who is well- informed, will understand that over the last three years, Burkina Faso has been in a very big problem. That is a fact.
The reason we have deployed -- those of us from the Upper East and West Regions will realise that we have deployed a lot of our security forces to that area to ensure that our people feel safe. So, the security agencies are working and Ghana as well.

Mr Speaker, it could have been worse but I can tell you that immediately the President came, and foreseeing that there could be problems going forward, he decided to resource the security agencies, particularly, the Police because of this particular incidence that we have.

So, I would say that all of us have the civic duty to assist the security agencies which are apolitical -- [Interruption.] They are not but they are working for our interest -- [Interruption.] They are our children who live with us --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:47 p.m.
Hon Minister, wind up.
Mr Nitiwul 12:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, just to assure the nation that we are in safe hands, the country is peaceful and we are working very hard to ensure that everybody will have peace.
That is not to say that there are no challenges. We will continue to work hard and support our security agencies with whatever they will need; intelligence, defence, security matters or law and order, we will continue to support them to do their work.
Mr Speaker, for now, I will say that they are doing a great job and we should commend them by asking them to continue. Wherever crime is committed, they should get to the bottom of it and resolve those matters.
For now, it is something that, as a State, we should continue and I will appeal to our development partners that when such incidence happens, just as in other countries, we need
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:47 p.m.
Hon Members, at the commencement of Public Business -- Hon Majority Leader, are you ready to do the presentation of Papers yet?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Health is not here with us and as you know, I have just come straightaway from the airport to this place. So, I am not sure of the situation of the Mental Health Regulations, 2019.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:47 p.m.
He was here in the morning to do that and I do not know where he is gone to.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:47 p.m.
So, we will stand down the item numbered 7 and we will deal with one of the Motions of the Public Accounts Committee. However, before we get there, if I may invite us to apply ourselves to the item numbered 15.
[Pause] --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:47 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, I am waiting for you. Did you say that we are going to deal with the item numbered 15?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, item numbered 15.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:47 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, item numbered 15 relates to the Third Reading of the National Road Safety Authority Bill, 2019 n but before we get there, I want to move that this same Bill be taken through a Second Consideration Stage in respect of clause 7. I make the Motion on account of Standing Order 130(1).
Mr Dafeamekpor 12:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion as moved by the Hon Majority Leader.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly
BILLS -- SECOND 12:57 p.m.
CONSIDERATION STAGE 12:57 p.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:57 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, which particular clause would you want us to reconsider?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in line with Standing Order 130 (3), it is not intended to pass the entire Bill through a Second Consideration Stage but we would want to do that for only clause 7 of the Bill.
Mr Speaker, on the 31st of May, 2019, we considered clause 7 and a Motion was moved by the Hon Chairman of the Committee.
Mr Speaker, the preamble of clause 7(2) provides, and with your permission, I quote; it says:
“Where in the course of deliberations of the Board a member of the Board or another member realises that a member has an interest in a matter that is to be or is being considered that member shall:
a. disclose to the Board orally the nature of interest
b. request from the delibe- ations of the Board in respect of that matter and;
c. not participate in the deliberations of the Board in respect of that matter.”
Mr Speaker, what we have in the second preamble is unclear and we intend to further amend the amend-
ment that was moved by the Hon Chairman of the Committee.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move that the preamble now reads 12:57 p.m.
“Where in the course of deliberations of the Board a member of the Board or another member realises that the member or a member has an interest in a matter that is to be, or is being considered that member who has the interest shall…”
Mr Speaker, the other provisions would then follow. So, what is intended to be done is to sanitise the preamble of subclause (2) of clause
7.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:57 p.m.
So, have you moved the Motion now?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have therefore moved that we further amend subclause (2) of clause 7, which provides the preamble construction and the other following subclauses.
Mr Rockson-Nelson E. K. Dafeamekpor 12:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I support the amendment as proposed by the Hon Leader of the House.
Mr Speaker, indeed, after we carried the amendments, we realised
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:57 p.m.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of the Second Consideration Stage of the National Road Safety Authority Bill,
2019.
[Pause] --
Hon Majority Leader, which Motion would we now take?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we would take the Motion listed as item numbered 8.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:57 p.m.
Hon Members, we would take item numbered 8 -- Motion, by the Hon Chairman of the Committee.
MOTIONS 12:57 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House adopts the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor-General on the Accounts of District Assemblies for the Financial Year ended 31st December, 2015.
Mr Speaker, in so doing, I present your Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
The reports of the Auditor-General on the Accounts of District Assemblies for the year ended 31st December 2015 was presented to Parliament on Wednesday, 31st May 2017 in accordance with article 187 (2) and (5) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
Pursuant to Order 165 (2) of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana, the Report was referred to the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for examination and report.
2.0 Purpose of the Audit
The purpose of the audit was for the Auditor-General to ascertain whether in his opinion:
i. The accounts had been properly kept;
ii. All public funds collected had been fully accounted for and their rules, regulations and procedures were sufficient to provide effective check on the assessment, collection and proper allocation of revenue;
iii. Moneys had been expended for the purposes for which they were appropriated and expenditures made as authorised;
iv. Essential records were maintained and rules and procedures applied were sufficient to safeguard the Assemblies' assets;
v. Programmes and activities of the Assemblies had been undertaken with due regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness in relation to the
resources utilised and results achieved; and
vi. Whether the financial state-ments of the institutions gave a true and fair view of the financial position as at the end of the year 2015.
The Audit was also to ascertain the extent of compliance with the Financial Administration Act, 2003 (654), Financial Administration Regulation, 2004 (L. I. 1802), the Financial memoranda for District Assemblies, 2004 the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), among others.
3.0 Methodology
3.1 To consider the Reports, the Committee categorised the Regions of the country into five (5) zones as stated below:
Zone 1 -- Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions;
Zone 2 -- Ashanti and Brong - Ahafo Regions;
Zone 3 -- Western and Central Regions;
Zone 4 -- Volta and Eastern Regions; and
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
Committee was informed that the Upper East Region comprises three Municipal Assemblies and 10 District Assemblies.
The Committee observed that eight (8) Assemblies had a number of unresolved breaches of cash irregularities occurring specifically under the following: Uncollected revenue, Staff indebtedness, Unaccounted Payments, and over- Payments to caterers, all amounting to GH¢208,027.49.
The list of Assemblies in breaches of various cash irregularities are attached as Appendix G7 page 145 of the 2015 Auditor -General's report.
8.2.2 Unrecovered Payments from Caterers- GH¢43,116.53 -- Para
241
Builsa North was cited for not recovering overpayments made to caterers amounting to GH¢ 43,116.53. So far GH¢21,847.20 has been recovered with a remaining balance of GH¢21,269.24 outstanding in their books.
8.2.3 Uncollected Revenue- GH¢ 45,960.00 -- Para 244
In considering the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, the Committee observed that revenue officers failed to collect revenue amounting to GH¢ 45,960.00. So far, an amount of GH¢6,890.00 was accounted for and verified by audit staff at the meeting. A balance of GH¢8,110.00 is yet to be accounted for by Bolgatanga.
Management however indicated that they could not account for an amount of GH¢30,960.00 of the market sheds since those sheds were not occupied at the time of audit.
8.2.4 Unaccounted Payments- GH¢15,050.96 -- Para 248
Auditor General reported that six District Assemblies, namely Binduri, Bongo, Builsa South Garu, Pusiga and Talensi made payments to the tune of GH¢115,050.96 without the necessary supporting payment documents. So far, payment vouchers amounting to GH¢23,636.35 have been accounted for by Bongo and Talensi and have been verified and cleared by auditors from the region.
A remaining balance of GH¢91.414.61 is yet to be accounted for by the remaining four Districts Binduri, Builsa South, Pusiga and Garu.
8.2.5 Staff indebtedness -- GH¢ 3,900.00-Para 251
The Committee observed that the finance officer at Pusiga did not ensure repayment of advance made to fourteen staffs totalling GH¢3,900.00 in contravention of Financial Regulation 110 which requires Finance officers to pursue full recovery of advances paid to staff.
8.2.6 Unpresented Value Books- Para 253
Auditors reported that during their visit to Builsa North they detected 14

Table 3 Detail Recoveries

counterfoil receipts that were issued to revenue collectors were not accounted for during the audit period. According to them, there was no effort by the Assembly to report the matter to the Police.

However, upon receipts of invitation letter from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Assembly recovered the 14 GCRs. These were verified and cleared by auditors.

Recommendation

The Committee therefore recom- mends that the officers concerned should be sanctioned for poor supervision, in accordance with Regulation 8 (4) of the financial Administration Regulations for allowing these infractions to occur and

ensure that all outstanding revenue be recovered from the Finance and revenue collectors and reprimand them in accordance with Regulation 8(4) which states, “Sanctions for breach of Financial discipline shall include ‘reprimand, suspension, demotion, interdiction and termination.”

Furthermore, the officials of Assemblies be surcharged for losses in cases where expenditures are not accounted for by revenue and Finance officers.

8.3 Details of Management Issues- Upper West Region

Committee Observation:

In considering the accounts of the Upper West Region, the Committee observed that seven Assemblies were in violation of various cash and tax regulations amounting to GH¢ 3,512,888.46. The list of Assemblies involved is captured as Appendix G8 page 146 and page 76 —79 of the Report.

8.3.1 Revenue not Accounted for -- GH¢4,230.00 - Para 268

The Committee noted that Finance officers failed to supervise revenue

collectors to collect revenue and pay to the Assembly at the stipulated time, resulting in unpaid revenue of GH¢ 4,230.00 in respect of Lawra GH¢ 2,761.00 and Wa East GH¢1469.00, respectively.

Upon invitation to attend to the Committee, these Assemblies immediately accounted for the said amount and presented the necessary documents which were verified and cleared by Auditor General's officials.

8.3.2 Payment to Caterers not Monitored GH¢3,360, 015.84 -- Para 271

In the case of Wa Municipal Assembly, the Committee observed that contrary to Section 2.6 and 2.7 of the Operations manual for School feeding programme which requires all districts to establish a District and School Implementation Committee to monitor the operations of caterers, the Wa Municipal Assembly did not have a District School Feeding Imple- mentation Committee to monitor the operations of school feeding caterers, resulting in the loss of GH¢3,360,

015.84

Management informed the Committee that they had earlier recommended to the office not to pay the caterers because numbers of caterers given by some schools were not consistent with the GES data and

they also noticed poor service rendered by some caterers. They contended that the officer who was in charge of the disbursement is deceased while his assistant was also on transfer. This resulted in the difficulty in recovery of the amount in question.

Recommendation

The Committee recommends that all schools must adhere to the implementations of the operations manuals of the School feeding programme and thereby ensure the establishment of a District and School Implementation Committee to monitor the operations of caterers. Furthermore, all schools should introduce the completion of funds retirement forms to ensure that Government receives value for payments made to caterers.

The Committee also demands that Management of Wa Municipal Assembly should ensure a refund of all wrongful payments to beneficiaries or identifiable officers be surcharged to serve as deterrent to others.

8.3.3 Unaccounted Payment- GH¢ l02,418.22 -- Para 275

Dafiama-Busie-lsah, Tumu, Lambusi Kani and WA East District

Assemblies made payments without the necessary accounting documents to the tune of GH¢102,418.22. All these Assemblies had their issues addressed and cleared by Audit Officials.

The Committee therefore cautioned the Assemblies involved to desist from the practice as they will in future be surcharged without an opportunity to present the documents later.

8.3.4 Unwithheld and Unremitted tax -- GH¢27,478.40 - Para 281

The Auditor-General reported that the Wa East Municipal Assembly retained an amount of GH¢24,362.85 and GH¢1,608.30 as taxes withheld from payments made to suppliers for goods and services to be paid to the Ghana Revenue Authority, but the amount was not remitted.

Managers of the Assembly explained that, the tax component was a counterpart funding agreement on a contract in line with the sustainable rural water and sanitation project. The project was to expand access to, and ensure sustainable water supply and sanitation services in rural and small town communities in six regions of Ghana of which the Upper West Region was a beneficiary.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
Table 4 Summary of recoveries made during the meeting
8.5.2 Uncollected Revenue- GH¢227,816.00- Para 91
The Committee observed that six Assemblies in the Brong Ahafo region defaulted in the collection of revenue amounting to GH¢227,816.00.
The Auditor General attributed this to negligence on the part of management
to abide by Part 1 Section 1 (IV) of the Financial Memoranda which mandates Finance and Administrative Sub-committee to inspect the statements of revenue and expenditure to ensure that revenue is collected in accordance with the approved rates and estimates. Table 5 is the summary of recoveries by defaulting Assemblies.

Table 5- Recoveries of Uncollected Revenues- GH¢227,816.00

Management of Tano North informed the Committee that their issue was verified and cleared.

Staff Indebtedness -- GH¢ 252,846.99 -- Para 94

The Committee observed that staff of seven (7) Assemblies owed various sums of moneys belonging to the

Assemblies in lieu of rent arrears and unretired imprest

So far, the following Assemblies were able to recover various sums as indicated in Table 6.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.


Table 6. Summary of recoveries- Staff Indebtedness- GH¢252,846.99

8.5.4 Unaccounted Payments -- GH¢13, 340.00 -- Para 97

Techiman Assembly paid an amount of GH¢13, 340.00 on four occasions to a task force without any record of work done. According to the Auditor-General, there were no terms of reference, records of their movement or otherwise to confirm work done.

Management informed the Committee that the amount could not

be recovered due to wrong filing of the documents with regard to the payments made. The Assembly contends that a report of a committee on the matter has since been delivered to the Attorney- General's Depart- ment for prosecution.

The Committee recommends that Audit officials should do a verification visit to Techiman to authenticate their submission and report back to the Committee.

8.5.5 Unearned Salaries -- GH¢81,586.39 -- Para 99

Regulation 297 (11) of the Financial Administration Regulations, 2004 (L.l 1802) requires spending officers of government institutions to stop the payment of salaries to an officer when that officer has been absent from duty without leave or reasonable cause or has resigned, retired, been convicted or is deceased.

The Committee however observed that five District Assemblies failed to review the payroll regularly, and ensure that the names of affected staff were deleted from their payrolls. The Assembly also failed to notify the bankers of the affected staff to stop the payment of salaries of the staff resulting in payment of unearned salaries of GH¢62,940.100 to seven separated staff, while Mr Richard Oppong who was found to have indulged in payroll fraud was maintained at post and earned salary totalling GH¢19, 346.29.

The Committee was informed by Management that Mr Richard Oppong has been interdicted while the police was assisting the Assembly to recover the said amount.

Committee Recommendations

The Committee is of the view that the numerous occurrence of unearned salaries implies that spending officers are not performing their functions effectively and efficiently as spelt out in regulation 298 of the Financial Administration Regulations, 2004, which requires that all spending officers of government institutions must scrutinise monthly payrolls and approve them before they are given out for payment. This is to ensure that the payroll as approved is accurate and reflects the total staff at work.

The Committee recommends that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Coordinating Directors should sanction the spending officers involved in accordance with the Financial Administration Regulations. Further- more, all outstanding amounts should be recovered by the Assemblies. A report on the compliance of this directive should be submitted to the Committee.

With regard to the stores unaccounted for, the Committee recommends that both store keepers and finance officers involved should be sanctioned and further made to account for the stores. A report on the compliance of this directive should be submitted to the Committee.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
Table 7 Details of Unearned Salaries -- GH¢81,586.39 Para 100

interest and officers may be surcharged if it occurs in future.

8.5.8 Abandoned Generator. GH¢

146,870.4 --

Management of the Assembly informed the Committee that the said generator was procured for use by the proposed District hospital and has been handed over to the Kenyaasi Health Centre and is currently being used during power outages as at the time of public hearing.

8.6 Details of other Management Issues-Ashanti Region

Committee Observation

The Auditor-General in his report informed the Committee that thirty (30) Assemblies, comprising one Metropolitan Assembly, seven Municipals and twenty-two (22) Districts Assemblies, were audited for the 2015 financial year.

The Auditor-General reported that eleven (11) Assemblies had a number of unresolved management issues including uncollected revenue, staff indebtedness of unpaid rent, unpaid advances, salary overpayment and tax irregularities, amongst others, the Committee observed the following:

It was explained that three of the defaulters had travelled outside the country and as such, no recovery was made in respect of the three persons. Regarding the unearned salary, Management informed the Committee that they had written to defaulters and recoveries had begun.

The Committee recommends to Management to pursue the matter by contacting the three officials through international police (Interpol) namely, Lydia Hanson, Okyere Adjaotor and Anthony Amoa.

8.5.6 Stores not accounted for -- GH¢104, 199.79 -- Para 103

The Committee noted however that three District Assemblies, Sunyani West, Tain and Tano North procured 83 bags of 50kg sugar at GH¢ 15,789.42 and paid for fuel at GH¢ 88,410.37 without making relevant entries in the stores records.

According to the Auditor General, the irregularity occurred due to poor supervision on the part of the

Coordinating Directors and Finance officers to whom the store keepers report to. At the public hearing, all these Assemblies failed to recover, account for or regularise to substantiate the store items.

8.5.7 Unremitted Tax of GH¢ 15,491.14 -- Para 106

The Committee was informed that Tano South, Wenchi Municipal and Tain did not remit tax totalling GH¢ 15,491.14 to the GRA in violation of Section 87(2) of the Internal Revenue Act 592(Act 2000).

Management of these three Assemblies informed the Committee that these unremitted taxes were a counterpart funding of a world bank contract agreement of projects on Sustainable Rural Water Projects which was 95 per cent funded by the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World bank and 5 per cent, counterpart funding by the Assemblies to take care of the Tax / component.

All the three Assemblies had rectified the issue by paying the tax amounts to GRA and copy of tax receipts were submitted to auditors and were verified and cleared.

The Committee cautioned the Assemblies and indicated the Assemblies will be made to pay
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.


Table 9 - Recovery of Revenue by five Assemblies
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
other building materials worth an amount of GH¢12,196.00 were issued out without records in the stores ledger.
Auditors informed the Committee that there was no evidence of issue or recipients of items by the engineer on site.
Even though management tried to explain that the store officer issued receipts for the items, this could not be substantiated by auditors; they claimed that relevant documents had been submitted to EOCO for investigation and authentication.
The Committee recommends that the following officers who were at post during the audit should account for the amount of GH¢12,196.00 to the Assembly or be reported to the police for criminal investigation, if no evidence of utilisation is provided by the next audit. They include:
1. Emilia Ankom- Former Municipal Chief Executive
(MCE)
2. Thaddeus Sarzan -former District Cordinating Director
3. Ernest Cudjoe- Store keeper
8.8.7Unremitted SSF Contribution -- GH¢4,268.58-Para 135
The Committee observed that Agona East Assembly flouted existing laws on social security contributions resulting in liability of GH¢4,268.5 in breach of section 63(1) of the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 765), which requires the Assembly to pay 13.5 per cent of staff salary deductions to SSNIT within fourteen days after the end of every month.
The Committee noted that upon receipt of its letter of invitation to appear before it, the Assembly quickly remitted the said amount to SSNIT. The Assembly submitted supporting documents for verification and were cleared by Audit officials.
8.8.8 Expenditure on the Funeral of the late DCE- GH¢21,709.00
The Auditor-General in his report stated that an amount of GH¢ 21,709.00 was spent on the funeral activities of the late DCE although the initial budget for this expenditure was GH¢9,702.00. The overrun of expenditure was funded from the IGF source of the Assembly.
Management informed the Com- mittee that the Assembly was moderate in its planned expenditure in respect of food, drinks and t ranspor ta t ion .Management explained that the overrun occurred due to the attendance of an un- expected high powered delegation led by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana at the time to the
funeral thereby necessitating the increase in expenditure as more people attended and more security agencies were present due to the presence of H.E. the President.
8.9.0 Details of Management Issues Raised in the Report- Volta Region
The Auditor General conducted audits in twenty-five (25) Assemblies
in the Volta Region and uncovered various infractions as follows:
8.9.1 Unaccounted Revenue -
GH¢110,557.69
The Committee observed that six Assemblies in the Volta Region had revenue losses resulting from revenue collected but not accounted for by revenue collectors. The Auditor- General reported that these officers were not sanctioned.

Table 10 Summary of recoveries of Unaccounted Revenue
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.


8.9.2 Unaccounted Payments-

GH¢170,894.

Thirteen Assemblies in the Region could not provide evidence of
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
8.9.3 Staff Indebtedness -- GH¢
81,981.00
The Committee observed that Eight (8) Assemblies failed to recover unpaid advances and unaccounted
imprest paid to staff of their Assemblies.
The Auditor-General attributed this to inaction on the part of management in pursuing payments of these advances.

8.9.4 Unearned Salaries --

GH¢5,633.55 -

Akasti South and Hohoe Assemblies Finance officers failed to stop salaries of separated staff which resulted in payment of unearned salaries amounting to GH¢5,633.55 by the two Assemblies. During the hearing, the Committee observed that both Hohoe Municipal and Akatsi South had recovered GH¢3,380.83

Table 12- Summary of Recoveries of Staff Indebtedness - GH¢81,981.00

and GH¢2,252.72 respectively and lodged the amount into accounts of the Assemblies. These were verified and cleared by Audit staff.

8.9.5 Unaccounted Value Book (159 Market Tickets and 84 GCRs)

The Committee noted that Finance officers of six Assemblies did not accounts for 84 GCRs and 159 market tickets.

Table 13. Summary of retrieved valued books
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
Recommendation
All outstanding issues to be followed up by the Auditors and report back to the Committee in their subsequent audits.
8.10.0 Details of Management Issues Raised In Report- Eastern Region
Twenty- six (26) Assemblies in the Eastern Region were audited and reported on by the Auditor-General.
8.10.1 Uncollected Revenue
- GH¢867,698.21
The Committee noted that four Assemblies in the Eastern Region were negligent in the supervision and reviews of their revenue collections and this resulted in uncollected revenue of GH¢867,698.21.
The Committee was informed by auditors during the public hearing that the following recoveries were made upon receipts of letters of invitation to appear before the Committee.

With respect to Lower Manya Krobo, management of the Assembly informed the Committee that the matter had to do with Akuse. The status of Akuse was disputed in court as to which District it belongs to. Consequently, the VRA stopped paying revenue due to the Assemblies as it was not clear as to which of the Assemblies revenue is to be paid to.

However, after the decision of the Court, VRA has been written to, but the VRA is yet to respond. The Assembly stated that demand notices are being prepared to serve VRA and other residents of the area to resume

Table 14 Summary of Recoveries -- Uncollected Revenue --

GH¢867,698.21

payment of property rates to the Assembly.

8.10.2 Unaccounted Revenue -

GH¢79,637.35

The Committee observed that Finance Officers of seven Assemblies failed in their supervisory role to ensure that revenue is collected and accounted for thereby allowing 79 revenue collectors a field day of not accounting for revenue up to the tune of GH¢79,637.35, 62 GCRs . In the view of the Committee. This is a violation of Part VIII Section 1 of the FAR which requires Finance officers to supervise revenue collectors.

Table 15: Summary of recoveries and accounting for Value books
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.


8.10.2 Staff Indebtedness --

GH¢49,159.00.162

The Committee noted that six Assemblies in the Eastern Region failed to adhere to the Financial

Regulation 104(c) to ensure the recovery of advances granted to staff of these Assemblies who occupied Assembly accommodation without paying rent.

8.10.4 Unaccounted Fuel and Asset -- GH¢65,465.52- Para 165

The Committee noted that eight (8) Assemblies in the Eastern Region did

Table 16 Summary of affected Assemblies and recoveries so far.

not log in fuel purchased nor indicate utilisation of same to authenticate expenditure, even though there was a disbursement of an amount of GH¢

65,465.52.

Table 17-Summary of unaccounted fuel recovery.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.


8.10.5 Unearned Salaries --

GH¢ 31,591.53

The Committee noted that three Assemblies, namely Akuapem South, Fanteakwa and Suhum do not regularly check and delete names of staff who were not at post from payroll resulting in accumulation of unearned salaries of GH¢31,591.53 in violation of Regulations 297 and 298 of the

FAR.

Fanteakwa Assembly made full recovery from one person with a

balance of GH¢ 3,010.00 to be cleared by the Auditors.

Management of Suhum Assembly informed the Committee that the affected person is currently on pension and his bankers have been duly informed to stop crediting his account. The Amount is still outstanding in their books as uncleared.

Akuapim South Assembly reacted in time and got the bank to transfer the amount from his bank account back to Government chest.

8.10.6 Undeducted / Unremitted Tax GH¢26,943.07

The Committee observed that eight Assemblies violated Sections 84(2)

and 87(1) of the internal revenue Act, 2000, (Act 592) by failing to deduct tax and remit same to the GRA. Asuogyaman Assembly and four other Assemblies did not withhold taxes for GRA.

Table 18- Summary of tax remitted to GRA as at sitting
Chairman of the Committee (Mr James K. Avedzi) 12:57 p.m.
Recommendations
The Committee expressed its disapproval of violation of Section 84(2) and 87(1) of the Internal Revenue Act, 2000, (Act 592) by the Assemblies as it appeared to be a common phenomenon among the Assemblies.
The Committee cautioned that this practice must stop or the Auditor- General should consider surcharging Assemblies with the amounts involved together with interest. And officers involved be sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of the FAR.
With respect to the unearned salaries, the Committee recommends that all outstanding balances be recovered by the management of the Assemblies involved or the matter be reported to appropriate security agencies where the persons involved are not responsive or cannot be traced.
With regard to unaccounted fuel expenses, the Committee is of the view that the reliability of fuel accounted for after audit has been conducted is doubtful.
The Committee, therefore, recommends to the Auditor-General to ensure that Finance officers of Assemblies properly account for fuel and recover assets belonging to Assemblies within time permitted by law or be surcharged with the stated amounts as any case may merit.
8.11.0 Details of other Manage- ment Issues -Greater Accra
In thew Greater Accra Region, sixteen (16) Assemblies comprising two Metropolitan Assemblies, ten Municipals and four District Assemblies were audited. Six Assemblies were found to have various unresolved management issues as stated below:
8.11.1 Unaccounted Revenue -
GH¢44,361.90-
The Committee has observed that 142 revenue collectors within the Greater Accra Region were unable to account for GH¢44,361.90.
During the public hearing, the following recoveries were reported as indicated in Table 19 below.

Overpayments and Advances to Assembly Members -- GH¢

21,000.00

Management explained that they had recovered part of the moneys from the Assembly Members but were unable to report the amount so far recovered with substantive evidence to the Auditors or the PAC.

The Committee recommends to the Assembly to recover the full amount and report to the Committee.

Table 19 Summary of Recoveries at Public Sitting- Unaccounted Revenue - GH¢44,361.90

8.11.2 Staff Indebtedness -- GH¢18,990.00- Para 197

The Committee noted that Ga South and Ningo-Prampram Assemblies failed to recover advances to staff resulting in staff indebtedness to the tune of

GH¢18,990.00.

Ningo Prampram recovered the outstanding balance of GH¢ 2,200.00 which was verified and acquitted at the hearing.
Dr A. A. Osei 12:57 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I think that I heard the Hon Chairman say that he would read only a few part and the Hansard Department should capture the entire
Report as having been read. We have the Report but he is reading the entire Report. I think that he should spare us the drudgery of that.
Mr Speaker, and just so he remembers, the Financial Adminis- trations Regulations has expired, so I do not know why he is making reference to it. The Committee should know that the Public Financial Management Regulations is in force and make reference to that. I am surprised.
Mr Avedzi 1:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister should have waited for me to finish moving the Motion, then he could debate me. But I made reference to pages 39, 40 and 41, that I was going to read those pages. I said it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:07 p.m.
Very well, Hon Member; just come to the final conclusion, we have the Report.
Mr Avedzi 1:07 p.m.
And this is the 2015 Report. The law applicable at that time is -- [Interruptions.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:07 p.m.
Hon Chairman, please, address me.
Mr Avedzi 1:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would read the Auditor-General's comments and then, the recommendations.
General Transfers of Finance officers
The Committee generally observed that some Assemblies had problems responding to audit queries due to frequent transfers of Finance officers by the Controller and Accountant- General. Some of these transfers are done without adequate time for outgoing officers to leave adequate notes for the incoming to continue smoothly.
The Committee recommends to the CAGD to request for a clearance certificate from the Audit Committees of the Assemblies before transfers to ensure that all audit issues under the officers are adequately addressed or responded prior to the transfer.
Internal Audit Units
The Committee recommends to the Ministry of Finance that capacity of all Internal Auditors in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies should be strengthened to ensure that various infractions identified by the Auditor- General are prevented or minimised.
Mr Kofi Okyere-Agyekum (NPP -- Fanteakwa South) 1:17 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion and in doing so, make a few comments.
Apart from the many issues raised by the Hon Chairman of the Committee, like unaccounted payments, unearned salaries, unaccounted fuel usage, unpaid rent and many others, we also noted that there was a high incidence of unaccounted imprest by officers.
There was also a high incidence of uncollected loans, where officers were given loans which they did not account for, and management was unable to do anything about it. There was also a high incidence of withheld taxes that were not remitted to the central Vault.
Mr Speaker, recommendations that were made included the training of staff of the District Assemblies to appreciate the need to apply the financial regulations. It was also recommended strongly, that all infractions should warrant some punishment, especially surcharges for those who were involved in several infractions.
We also made strong recom- mendations for officers to be sanctioned as per Regulation 84 of the Financial Administration Regulations
2004, (LI 1802).
We observed that internal audit unit is very weak in most of the Assemblies, mainly because they seem to be under the control and direction of the District Assemblies and their officers, instead of being
under an independent body. So we recommend that efforts should be made to strengthen the internal audit units within the Assemblies. If that is done, most of these infractions would be cured.
Mr Speaker, the final one is that we should also ensure that the Audit Committees that by law are expected to be in the Assemblies function. Most of them exist in name but are not functioning.
With these few words, I add my voice to the Motion.
Mr Samuel Atta-Mills (NDC --Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/ Abrem) 1:17 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to make a few general observations and the first one is on staff accommodation. It looks like most of these Assemblies have accom- modation for their staff but they do not have any funds to repair or renovate these places for them. So, some of the staff use their own funds and it gets to a point where they refuse to pay rent because they fixed up these places.
Our recommendation was for the Ministry of Local Government to look into some person or a unit that would repair these buildings, rent it to their employees and make sure that they pay the proper rent.
Second, is the misappropriation of stool lands revenue. It is strange that people can open their personal accounts and deposit the moneys into it. How that one happened -- I think is pretty serious. We need to have some more stringent rules and there should be some sanctions which would deter others from doing same.
Mr Speaker, another observation was the lack of invoices and relevant documents at the time of the audit. When they perform the audit, they go through an exit conference with management and are given 30 days to provide all invoices and documents.
It looks like it is when they are about to face the PAC that all of a sudden, these invoices appear from so many other places. You would not believe some of the stories that some of these people tell us.
The handicap of the Auditor- General is sometimes the releases made to them. Some of these releases do not come on time and the law requires them to have these reports done six months after the end of the fiscal year. It is very difficult when they do not have the releases to get these reports done.
We are now in 2019 but just finished with the 2016 Report. We would now work on 2017. If
Mr Kennedy Kwasi Kankam (NPP -- Nhyiaeso) 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my emphasis would be on page 41, paragraph 9.5. It talks about our recommendations to the Ministry of Finance to strengthen the internal audit units of the various MMDAs and MMDCs. It is high time that we as a country, took a critical look at the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003 (Act
658).
During both public and in camera Committee sittings, we realised that almost all the infractions in the Auditor-General's Report, specifi- cally that of 2015, we saw minor infractions which could have been arrested by the internal audit unit if the internal audit internal of the various MMDAs were to be effective.
Mr Speaker, if we look at the infractions in some of the Auditor- General's reports, the MDAs for 2016 alone, the total amount of money that this country lost was about 2.66 per cent of the total Appropriation Bill that we passed in 2019. When we look at the internal audit units of the various MDAs, it is very porous and not effective as we all know.
How could we expect an auditor to do effective work when the same auditor is being paid by the institution that he or she is supposed to audit?
In the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003, (Act 658) all the internal auditors that are employed by the various institutions are paid by the institutions that the internal auditor is supposed to audit.
I would want to plead that we look at this Act again and if possible, migrate them from the institution and send them to the Controller and
Accountant General's Department or the Internal Audit Agency should be allowed to pay its own staff so that at the end of the day, they could do an effective job and express an independent opinion.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity.
Dr Clement A. Apaak (NDC -- Builsa South) 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak in support of the Motion.
Mr Speaker, I want to make two brief observations. One, is the expectation that members of the public have in as far as the work of the PAC is concerned.
The perception in the public domain is that if and when we bring auditees before the Committee and they are cited for infractions which involve misappropriation or lack of accountability of funds, there and then, the public wants to see a police officer or other security person arrest them and process the auditees for prosecution.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, the PAC does not have such powers. When you give us the Reports to look over and to present it to you, we do just that. What follows is beyond our capacity.
It is therefore important that as we engage in this exercise, we also let the public know that the PAC does not have the power or mandate to take consequential actions which result from the audit report or for that matter its findings.
Mr Speaker, another observation that I would want to add has to do with staff indebtedness which seems to be a recurring infraction. There are many reasons. There are instances where moneys are advanced to staff members under distress to relieve them of financial pressures they are under and because proper procedures and processes are not put in place, they are unable to pay those moneys back.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Hon Member, please, hold on.
Yes, Hon Member for Ellembele?
Mr Buah 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member made a statement that when the PAC is recommended to look into the Report, that is all. They look into the report and bring recommendations and so the public should be educated. Mr Speaker, the Hon Member could go beyond that.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Hon Member, the Hon Member on the Floor is not out of order.
Dr Apaak 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he is a lawyer of good standing and understands the rules of engagement. But I only sought to draw the attention of members of the public that the PAC has limitations in as far as its mandate is concerned.
Mr Speaker, I was just elaborating on the challenge of staff indebtedness. Sometimes the factors that precipitate these infractions are as a result of the lack of proper processes and procedures to ensure that those who benefit from such advances by their employers do what is right.
Mr Speaker, another factor that seems to be very pervasive in as far as staff indebtedness is concerned has to do with the recruitment of new staff. We were made to understand during
the hearings that on many occasions, staff are recruited and posted to various districts and yet their salaries lag behind by about six months and sometimes, a year and within that context the Assembly feels compelled to try and provide some source of resources for the new staff for their sustenance. The question is, after that is done, retrieving those moneys becomes a problem.
Mr Speaker, what we could also do is to fast-track the process that newly-recruited staff have to go through before they start receiving their salaries. If these were to happen, then there would not be the need for the Assembly to advance any moneys to them for their upkeep until they receive their salaries.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for granting me the opportunity and to again say that we have the collective responsibility to do what is right and proper in the national interest.
Mr Speaker 1:27 p.m.
Would Leadership want to comment on the Report?
Mr Avedzi 1:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, Hon Kpodo would contribute on behalf of the Minority Leadership.
Mr Benjamin Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is a
big Report, likewise the one that the Auditor-General submitted. An Hon Member said that this Report covered 2015 and so it has come late. It is true but it is still very useful. The same things are happing today.
I am privileged to say so because as an Hon Member of the Local Government Committee, we have gone round the country and the same things happen, so we cannot say that these things are too late -- we would still continue to work on them.
Mr Speaker, we have reports about the activities of the staff of the District Assemblies.

We have weak systems and those systems and those established are inoperative and there is poor oversight by the management of their service and these affect the quality of accounting and financial management work that is done in the Assemblies.

Mr Speaker, I would want to state emphatically that, some of these things happen because of the overbearing attitude and control of the professional staff by the political heads; the MMDCEs and the Coordinating Directors are very overbearing on the finance officers and internal auditors.

Some Hon Members complained about the internal audit. When the MMDCE targets you as the Internal Auditor to do something, he or she is compelled to do it, otherwise, he or she risks his or her job.

So, the politicians who are made managers of the Assemblies should also be cautioned to allow the professionals to do their work once they have taken the decisions. These are some of the reasons things are like this.

Mr Speaker, the visits around have revealed so many things. There is one Assembly which name I do not want to mention that we went to. We asked for their cash book regarding the disbursement of funds for People with Disabilities (PWDs) because I had been checking very closely to ensure that the moneys are distributed as and when DACF releases the funds to them.

They went to bring the cashbook. We sat them down towards the end of the session. They went and brought a cashbook which covered a period of four years on one page. This showed that they were taking no records. They were just not making any entries over the year.

That revealed the lackadaisical attitude of the people who work in that Assembly. They do not go
Mr Benjamin Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 1:37 p.m.


according to the rules of the game. That is why these things are like this.

Mr Speaker, I would also want to add that the quality of work done by the auditors is very important. There is the exit conference when one finishes auditing an auditee — some of them do not do this and are so eager to go and write negative reports about the Assemblies.

Mr Speaker, I can give you several examples. So, I think when the staff of the Auditor-General goes out there, they should exhibit professionalism in carrying out their duties. That would minimise the size of their reports and that of the Public Accounts Committee.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Hon Member, the person who gave you the opportunity has an objection. [Interruption.]
Mr Avedzi 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not want this to remain in the records of the Hansard. The auditors are not in
a hurry to leave after the audit. By the Audit Service Act, it is compulsory that when they issue their management letters and management responds to same, it is discussed at the exit conference.
Mr Speaker, the law states that, management has 30 days to respond to the outstanding issues that are not resolved at the exit conference after which the Auditor-General writes his report.
What we have observed is that, after the exit conference, management does not honour or respond to those outstanding issues that the auditors are not satisfied with within the 30-day period. That is why the names of those institutions come into the final report.
So, it is not true that they are always in a hurry to go and write their report. They wait and ensure that the 30-day period elapses and if they do not receive any responses from the management of the Assemblies, before they go ahead and write the report.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Hon Member, take that into consideration.
Mr Kpodo 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, my Leader has made the point as it is on the paper but this is not always done in practice. In fact, I would have ended my contribution but at one time, I had to go and arrest the audit report even after the exit conference. I have had to go and do that.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Hon Member, how did you arrest the person?
Mr Kpodo 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, they were going to submit the report and I was given information that a certain process which I had initiated was going to be held as an infringement of the procurement law.
The Finance officer could not respond during the exit conference, so, I went in and brought the documents from the procurement officer and engineering department. They had to amend that portion of the report which they were already prepared to go and submit. That is why I am saying that they have to do thorough work.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Hon Member, but you did not tell us how you arrested him. That is where our interest is. [Laughter.]
Mr Kpodo 1:37 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I did not go with the Police. [Laughter] Just
as we arrest the passage of Bills here, that is what I am referring to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:37 p.m.
Oh, so, you arrested the report and not the person.
Mr Kpodo 1:37 p.m.
Yes, so that we could do further work. Mr Speaker, I think the auditors also have to do more diligent work so that the Assemblies - [Interruption.]
Mr Speaker, audit is not simply going to examine what has happened. It is also to help improve upon the system and upon the functioning of the Assembly and any other organisation where an auditor is appointed.
That is why in corporate auditing, the auditor is expected to visit the auditee on a quarterly basis. I think that our auditors should also up their game.
Mr Speaker, it is very worrying that, finance officers would go and present themselves to the PAC without their own audited financial statements.
What kind of people are we appointing to handle the Assemblies? We have to make sure that they are qualified and well experienced to manage the Assemblies because the Assemblies spend a lot of money.
Majority Leader (Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu) 1:47 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to also make a few remarks about the report from the PAC on the Report of the Auditor- General on the accounts of District Assemblies for the Financial Year ended 31st December, 2015.
Mr Speaker, just as Hon Members have already spoken to the issue, the purpose of the auditing of the accounts of District Assemblies by the Auditor-General is to help the country and, indeed, Parliament in particular, to identify improprieties and mischief which exist at the level of District Assemblies and to help us provide cure for the mischiefs so identified.
Mr Speaker, beyond that, it is also to help us improve on our system of governance. So, it cannot be right that it is in 2019 that we are dealing with the report of the Auditor-General on 2015 financial year.

It cannot be right and we ourselves, should be upping our game and the Auditor-General should also be much more up and doing.

Mr Speaker, I agree with observations of some earlier speakers who say to us that we should limit, as much as possible, political interference at the level of District Assemblies because it is one veritable course of the improprieties that we are talking about, if we should own up to it.

Again, the capacity of the Co- ordinating Directors. These are people who are required to co- ordinate inter sectoral development plans of the Assemblies and yet, too often, the people who we employ as Co-ordinating Directors in the first place, leave much to be desired.

Mr Speaker, I do know for a fact that Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) introduced the multi-sectoral planning, not physical planning to offer cure to this.

It was in those days of dire want when this came to be introduced. Kenya and Uganda sent students here and today, if you go to these countries, most of the Co-ordinating Directors at the level of the local governance are products from the KNUST. We decide to employ philosophers and sociologists at that level and that is not to doubt the individual competence of them but relevant to the duty, we should be careful.

So, they lend themselves to easy manipulation by politicians who wear their authority and clout on their sleeves. They kowtow to them because they themselves do not really feel competent going solo to deal with the District Chief Executives (DCEs).

Mr Speaker, we are also going to elect Assembly members and I believe that it is one area that we should look at. The level of qualification and competence of the Assembly members to understand that governance and development, apart from what obtains at the various ministries, the next level is that of the District Assemblies.

Yet, so much is squandered. When we talk of Internally Generated Funds (IGF) and consistently, -- We do know that many of the Assemblies are using them; to borrow the words of the Hon Chairman of the Public

Accounts Committee, as their ‘chop money'. Over a three-year period, the IGF per capita of the Zuarungu District Assembly was 300 per cent better than that of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.

How can you justify that? This should tell us what is happening in many of these Assemblies. People do not give account and I agree with Hon Kpodo when he says that we are not re-inventing anything, the reports from the PAC and indeed, the issues raised by the Auditor-General himself, that is the unaccounted fuel, general transfers of finance officers and resort to established accounting principles.

These are matters that come to us year-in-and year-out and what do we do? We come and pour our hearts out and engage in lamentations akin to that of Prophet Ezekiel and then leave.

The Constitution imposes an obligation on Parliament and I would want to quote article 187(6):

“Parliament shall debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint where necessary, in the public interest, a committee to deal with any matters arising from it”
Majority Leader (Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu) 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, 27 years into the Fourth Republic, we have not done this and who are we to blame? The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves including Parliament.
I remember that it was at the time that the Chairmanship of the Hon Kan-Dapaah of the PAC when he initiated steps to have this done. Unfortunately, along the road, we abandoned it and we are still back to square one.
I would want to entreat you that as part of the validation of the Report from the PAC, you urge this House to establish this Committee because there are too many infractions that we paper over; gloss over, engage in lamentations and that is all. This is a serious self-indictment on Parliament. Let us do what is right by improving our governance.
Mr Speaker, the Auditor-General audits the accounts of various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and so on in this country. In a form prescribed by the Auditor- General, there are instances where many institutions do not follow the prescribed order from the Auditor- General and we allow them to go.
Elsewhere, when there are such patented infractions, Parliament in
exercising our financial control would say to that institution that they must comply with this Report and if they do not, we are withholding their allocation for this year. This is one power that we have that we have never exercised.
So, I think that there is a lot to do that we are not doing and as Parliament, we are whittling away our own powers and we will blame the Executive of trying to take away the authority that we have.
Mr Speaker, in several jurisdictions, this is the normal resort of Parliament; they are required to do this by producing results to us. This used to be the Audit Report Implementation Committee and today, they are the Audit Committee. They do not come back and we leave them.
However, having said this, I also think that we should also be cautious. The Auditor-General everywhere, is a tool for Parliament in the exercise of our oversight responsibilities over the Executive and other institutions. It is the reason the Constitution mandates the Auditor-General to submit his Report to Parliament when he finishes the audit.
So, when Parliament receives the audit reports and debates them it should follow-up and recommend to
the Committee; which I insist we should set up, so that we know where we are as a nation. If not, the process of auditing is not complete.
It is only complete when it comes before Parliament and Parliament through its established PAC, goes into this and reports to us in Plenary. We debate it and arising out of the debate, we should make referrals to that Committee that we have, up to now, not established.

That brings finality to the process including when maybe, the institutions, organs or bodies refuse to implement our recommendations and withhold allocations of finance to that.

Mr Speaker, I have a bit of jitters. The Constitution provides that the Auditor-General surcharges people who defaults in some acts, and that surcharge should come to Parliament for us to analyse.

Mr Speaker, I noticed from the Report of the Committee that when some Assemblies were asked to do some refunds, the refunds had apparently been done already but perhaps because of some miscommunication, it was reported that they had not done so.

Mr Speaker, in the situation that the Auditor-General then goes to the bar of public opinion as is beginning to happen these days, the Assembly which is involved is disgraced only for the matter to come to Parliament for Parliament to realise that maybe there was some misunderstanding or miscommunication which led to this.

Mr Speaker, what then happens? Do we allow the Auditor-General to go to town with his own recommendations?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:57 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, please give me a moment.
Hon Members, having regard to the state of Business of the House, I direct that the House Sits outside the regular Sitting hours.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I say this because if care is not taken, what we do here would not have any relevance. Whatever may be the findings of the Auditor-General, he goes to town, organises press conferences and indicts people, but the case comes to Parliament and Parliament realises that no, there was some miscommunication and so the case is inappropriate. By then, someone's image might have been tarnished.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:57 a.m.
Hon Chairman of the Committee, what information do you want to share?
Mr Avedzi 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree completely with the Hon Majority Leader; but the information I would want to give is that while the Constitution says that the Auditor- General should submit his information to Parliament, the Audit Service Act also mandates the Auditor-General to publish the report after it has been submitted to Parliament.
Mr Speaker, the format of publication has not been defined by that law. So, the current Auditor- General bases his argument on the provision of the Audit Service Act that after he has submitted the report to Parliament, he has to go and publish it, and so he decides to have a press conference as his form of publication.
Mr Speaker, this information is now being made available so that we would look at it critically and see what we could do in order to prevent this current situation, where the Auditor-
General, after his submission of the report to Parliament, goes to publish them through press conferences.
As the Hon Majority Leader said, people's images are tarnished because of that, but at the end, when the Committee meets, they realise that those issues are actually not what they should be. I, therefore, believe that we should further look at it.
Mr Speaker, I thank you.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:57 a.m.
Yes, Hon Majority Leader, what next?
[Pause] --
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we may deal with the item listed as 12.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:57 a.m.
Hon Members, item numbered 12 - Motion, by the Hon Chairman of the Committee.
Suspension of Standing Order 80 (1)
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that
notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 80(1) which require that no Motion shall be debated until at least forty-eight hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the Motion is given and the date on which the Motion is moved, the Motion for the adoption of the Report of the Finance Committee on the Credit Facility Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (represented by the Ministry of Finance) and Deutsche Bank AG (as Agent and Original Lender) and Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch (as Arranger and Structuring Bank) for an amount of fifty-five million euros (€55,000,000.00) relating to the rehabilitation and auxiliary infrastructure of Kumasi Inner Ring Road and adjacent streets (100km) - Phase 1 may be moved today.
Mr Alex Adomako-Mensah (NDC -- Sekyere Afram Plains) 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Resolved acordingly.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:57 a.m.
Hon Members, we would move on to item numbered 13.
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 1:57 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this Honourable House adopts the Report of the Finance Committee on the Credit Facility Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana (represented by the Ministry of Finance) and Deutsche Bank AG (as Agent and Original Lender) and Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch (as Arranger and Structuring Bank) for an amount of fifty-five million euros (€55,000,000.00) relating to the rehabilitation and auxiliary infrastructure of Kumasi Inner Ring Road and adjacent streets (100km) - Phase 1.
Mr Speaker, in so doing, I beg to present your Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
1.1The Design and Build Commercial Contract Agreement between the Republic of Ghana
(represented by the Ministry of Roads and Highways) and Contracta Conduction UK Limited for the Rehabilitation and Auxiliary Infrastructure of Kumasi inner Ring Road and Adjacent Streets Project (100Km) - Phase 1 was laid in the House on Tuesday, 28th May, 2019 by the Hon Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr Anthony N-Yoh Puowele Karbo.
1.2 Mr Speaker referred the Agreement to the Committee on Roads and Transport for consideration and report in accordance with article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 189 of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana.
1.3 The Committee met with the Hon Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon Kwabena Owusu- Aduomi, officials from the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Department of Urban Roads and considered the Agreement. The Committee presents its reports to the House in accordance with Order 161 of the Standing Orders of the House.
2.0 Background
2.1Kumasi is the capital city of Ashanti Region and Kumasi City- Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), with a population of
approximately 2.0 million has been a commercial centre of the regional economy. Kumasi also has been playing the role of the transport and logistics centre for international distribution networks covering the surrounding landlocked countries, such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
2.2 In recent years, the city environment has deteriorated resulting in extensive urban sprawls, lack of public services and extreme congestion in the city centre. These problems have arisen due to rapid population increase in Kumasi City and its Suburban areas. Therefore, an improvement of urban infrastructure, such as road networks, water supply and sewage systems and solid waste management, has become a pressing issue, which requires concerted actions for not only Kumasi but also its surrounding districts.
2.3 For sustainable development of a key centre of the economy, a transport hub and logistics corridor for the Ashanti Region and beyond, mid-term and long-term comprehensive development plans are required for Greater Kumasi Sub- Region.
2.4Kumasi City, however, suffers from traffic congestion in its central
area, similar to what pertains in most large urban areas. Heavy traffic congestion has also been observed in the Inner Ring Road, which was constructed as a bypass.
2.5 To sustain its role as a gateway and a transport/logistics corridor, it is necessary for the Greater Kumasi Sub-Region to enhance and requalify these roads. Furthermore, it is again important to utilise and strengthen the bypass transport function, to promote the development of urban centres and residential areas.
2.6 The City's minor arterials and collector roads within some communities in the Greater Kumasi City have deteriorated due to lack of maintenance. The surface condition of the roads is in a fair to poor condition. Some of the roads have lots of potholes and others have not had any periodic maintenance activity on them over long periods of time. Pothole patching has not been able to address the maintenance challenges that are encountered on the roads. Rapid development of potholes and sectional deterioration of minor arterials and collector roads are evident after every rainy season.
2.7The rehabilitation of strategically selected urban roads in relation to the provision of alternative routes will have a tremendous impact in
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 1:57 a.m.


Grace Period -- 1.5 year

Repayment Period -- 5 years

Tenor -- 6.5 years

7.0 Project Cost

The project cost is estimated at fifty-five million euros, (€55,000, 000.00) for the execution of the project.

8.0 Project Duration

The Phase 1 of the project is expected to be completed within a period of eighteen (18) months from the commencement date.

9.0 Observations and Recom- mendation

1. Selection of Beneficial Communities

The Committee questioned the selection of beneficial com- munities and not others which are in equally bad state. The Committee was however, informed that there would be a Phase 2 of the project and the communities not benefiting in the Phase 1, would be considered in the second phase.

The Ministry continued that, the Phase 2 of the project is

independent of the Phase 1; as such, it would not depend on the completion of the first phase. According to them, the phased projects have different sources of funding and that, the Phase 2 will only depend on how fast they get the required approval.

2.Contractor for the Project

The Committee observed the selection of Contracta Construction UK Ltd as the contractor for the project. They stated that the contractor is already mobilised in the Region as they are involved in the construction of the Kejetia Market and the Kumasi Airport. This they reiterated will enable the contractor to mobilise quickly to the site.

3. Smooth Stakeholder Consultations

The Committee noted that to ensure smooth execution of the project, it was key for stakeholder consultations among key govern- mental and non-governmental stakeholders like the MMDA's, Regional Coordinating Council,

Opinion Leaders, Transport Unions and Property- Affected Persons along with selected road sections to address project related concerns and ensure citizen ownership of the project for smooth implementation.

4. Adequate Supervision by the
DUR 1:57 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:57 a.m.
Yes, Hon Ranking Member?
Mr Alex Adomako-Mensah (NDC -- Sekyere Afram Plains) 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Mr Speaker, in doing so, I would like to make a few comments.
Mr Speaker, Kumasi is the second largest city in our dear country. It is a region of business enterprises in our country.
Mr Speaker, the development of road infrastructure holds the key to the future development of the Kumasi City. The road network of the Kumasi City has deteriorated and has increase its traffic volume which exceeds the capacity of its roads and its major interceptions.
Mr Speaker, again, these bad roads are as a result of the rapid population increase in the Kumasi City and its sub-urban areas.

Mr Speaker, the rehabilitation of some selected roads would have a tremendous and important impact on the surrounding districts and would give the road users a better condition of use.

Mr Speaker, terms and conditions of the loan -- the project cost is estimated as €55 million, the interest rate is a bit expensive. Commitment fee is high, in the sense that as soon as the project is signed, the drawing down would take effect that the value-for-money audit has not been done or completed. The implemen- tation of the project is that audit is a condition under the Agreement.

Mr Speaker, the project is expected to be completed within 18 months, but my problem is we need

to emphasise that the re-location of utilities needs to be considered so that it would not delay the project that we want to undertake.

Mr Speaker, under Observations, the question is that when would the second phase start since most of the roads which were not selected are in bad conditions too? Also, the selection of beneficiary communities needs to be explained. How was the community selected and what criteria was used to select the bad road from the worst roads?

Mr Speaker, [Pause]--
Dr A. A Osei 2:07 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, my good Friend is the Deputy Ranking Member of the Committee. If he would advert his mind to paragraph 6.5, I thought he had read it. Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would like to read it:
“The areas with the most acute challenges have been selected.”
And he is the Deputy Ranking Member, co-author of this Report. Mr Speaker, this is not very good, so he should withdraw that statement saying he does not know how they were selected. It is right in your Report.
Mr Speaker, if I had the choice, I would move that he be de-selected as the Deputy Ranking Member.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Member, your point of order is upheld in respect of the Report containing the information, but you are out of order in moving that he be de- selected.
Yes, Hon Deputy Ranking Member, where do you live when you go to Kumasi? Probably, it is because your suburb is not selected, that is why.
Mr Adomako-Mensah 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think Hon Dr Akoto Osei is part of the beneficiaries of one of the places and the Hon Majority Leader too.
Mr Speaker, I would continue. It is my hope that the completion of the project would reduce and improve the time wasted in traffic in the Kumasi City.
Mr Speaker, as much as we would like to beautify Kumasi, I would rather appeal to the Ministry or the Government to look for an extra loan to support the rural areas where there are no roads at all. We are looking for just a State construction that would help most of the rural areas, especially, Sekyere Afram Plains where we do not have any roads.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Members, there are no controversies. Unless the Leaders would like to comment, I would like to put the Question.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Kpodo, yes; you spoke to this part of the Motion but now you are the available Leader, and that is why I am considering you.
Mr Benjamin Komla Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 2:07 p.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
I would want to thank you first for drawing the attention of the Hon Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation that he should not be intimidating our Hon Deputy Ranking Member [Interruption] by ruling him out of order. It is like telling him not to intimidate that is my interpretation of it.
Mr Speaker, I guess that many people already know what I would say about this. Yesterday, when we were discussing the Contract, I expressed my appreciation to the Hon Minister for organising this. So, to start with, I would like to say that I support the credit facility to be given out to
the Ministry of Roads and Highways under the Department of Urban Roads to execute this Project.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman keeps on quoting the foreign currency, but I would like the people of Ghana to know that this particular loan as at today is an amount of three hundred and twenty-four million, four hundred and eighty-nine thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢324,489,000.00) when we convert the €55 million into Ghana cedis. That is very important and that is to abide by Bank of Ghana—
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member, hold on.
Mr Akyea 2:07 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I am very much surprised that the adopted Leader is saying Ghanaians cannot calculate the cedi equivalence of what we have stated.
They can calculate it for themselves; they know the exchange rate and the rest of it so, what is the propaganda value of trying to say that he wants Ghanaians to know, as if Ghanaians are bereft of a good sense of Mathematics?
Mr Speaker, he should withdraw the statement that he wants Ghanaians to know the obvious because they could even use the —
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Minister, the Hon Member on his feet is not out of order.
Hon Member, please continue.
Mr Kpodo 2:07 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
I just want to add that when we were doing the budget, we made provision for —
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Hon Member, please continue with your contribution.
Mr Kpodo 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, what I would like to urge is that we should try to be arranging for cheaper loans. For this particular loan, the ‘all in cost' is 6.25 per cent. That is when we take everything into consideration, that is the cost of the loan to us, and significantly, we have six months' LIBOR plus 5.7 per cent.
Mr Speaker, today, LIBOR is negative -0.33086 per cent. That is what may—London Interbank - [Interruption]- that would appear as if the loan interest payable is low and that would be taken out of the 5.7 per cent.
Mr Speaker, we should be negotiating a lower fixed rate because the LIBOR is a very flexible rate; it fluctuates from negative to positive. So, if— we have six months—
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member, you would hold on.
Hon Chairman of the Committee?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 2:07 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I refer the House to page 4, on the ‘Terms and conditions' - the interest rate is given as six months LIBOR. Mr Speaker, this is an error, it should be
EURIBOR.
When he drew attention to it -- I think it should be corrected. It is the EURIBOR that is negative as of now, not the LIBOR.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Yes, let us effect the correction first.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 2:07 p.m.
Delete LIBOR and insert EURIBOR.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:07 p.m.
Correction effected.
Mr Kpodo 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, what I am saying is that in negotiating these rates, our negotiators should look for lower fixed rates. The 5.7 per cent in our opinion, is on the high side because we have taken similar loans at three per cent, four per cent and five per cent in this House.
With a commitment fee of one per cent and arrangement fee of 1.25 per cent, the Chairman of the Finance Committee knows that we have had lower rates than these before. The Chairman and I have been doing this together for six years, so we know that we can have lower rates.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:17 p.m.
Hon Kpodo, you would move on.
Mr Kpodo 2:17 p.m.
We think that when we are able to negotiate lower rates, it reduces the burden on our national budget. We have conditions precedent, as the Hon Ranking Member said, that we should complete the value-for-money audit before drawdown of the loan facility
would start. So, the earlier we do it, the less cost we incur on the commitment fee.
If we do not drawdown the facility, we would keep on paying the commitment fee even when we have not taken the money. That is why I would urge that the executors of the project should proceed very fast and meet the CPs, so that we can get a lower cost of the loan.
Mr Speaker, the period of this loan is six and a half years, including one and a half years. It is necessary for us to adhere to these payment terms. If we do not do so, we would extend the interest cost.
Dr A. A. Osei 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my Hon good Friend is inadvertently misleading the House. It is not the executors of the project who are responsible for the value for money audit, but the Government of Ghana. So, if somebody should hurry up, it is the Government of Ghana and not the executors of the project. Maybe he has forgotten about that.
Mr Kpodo 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, is the Hon Member saying that the people who would do the work are not agents of the Government of Ghana? He should not bring that one.
Mr Speaker, when working on the Report, there was nothing accompanying it to show us that we are not going to grant tax waivers for the importation of materials for the Project. I think that we need to present all of that, so that we can totally assess the cost of the Project.

Mr Speaker, while I urge that in implementing the Project, we should be circumspect in what is necessary to be done, this type of facility should be obtained for the Ho roads in the Volta Region.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:17 p.m.
Thank you Hon Member.
Hon Majority Leadership?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in view of the myriad of issues raised by the available leader of the Minority at the time, I would yield to the Chairman of the Committee to respond appropriately.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there are two types of loans that come to this House. We have non- concessional loans and concessional loan. Non-concessional loans would otherwise be called commercial loans.
For instance, in 2018, we had a concessional loan that came to this House for the Ministry of Agriculture at an interest rate of one per cent. There was also a service charge and commitment fees among others.
To have a baseline, we aggregate all of this and come up with an “all-in cost” which you would not see in the terms and conditions but we demand this for the Ministry of Finance. So, for this loan, the “all-in cost” is 6.25 per cent.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member argued that this is on the high side. When Ghana goes to the international capital market, based on our sovereign rating, we borrow at 7.2 per cent.
So, if a loan comes to this House and the “all-in cost” is higher than what we can get on the international capital market, I would argue that it is on the high side. So, to the extent that we borrow lower than what we get on the international capital market which is very competitive, then we cannot argue that we are borrowing at a high cost.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we could take item numbered 14, Resolution. If I may plead with you to allow the Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation to handle that on behalf of the Minister for Finance.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:17 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation?
RESOLUTIONS 2:17 p.m.
THIS HONOURABLE 2:17 p.m.
HOUSE HEREBY 2:17 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 2:17 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:27 p.m.
I would bring proceedings to a close.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want to appeal to you that we take item numbered 7.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:27 p.m.
Item numbered 7, Presentation of Papers - by the Hon Minister for Health.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister for Health could do so, on behalf of the Hon Minister for Health.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:27 p.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy Minister for Health?
PAPERS 2:27 p.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:27 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, can I now bring proceedings to a close?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2:27 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes. I would just like to appeal to the Members of the Standing winnowing Committee that we would have to meet at the usual place on Monday evening to deal with the winnowing of the Vigilantism Bill. Those who can avail themselves; we believe the processes are three today.
ADJOURNMENT 2:27 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 2:30 p.m till Tuesday, 18th June, 2019 at 10.00 a.m..