Debates of 19 Jun 2019

MR SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10:30 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Order! Hon Mem- bers, correction of Votes and Proceedings of 18th June, 2019.
Pages 1…6 --
Mr Ackah 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was present in the House yesterday. Page 6, the item numbered 5, I have been marked absent.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Thank you.
Page 6, 7, 8 --
Mr Ras Mubarak 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was in the Chamber yesterday, but have been marked absent on page 8, the item numbered 55.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Thank you.
Mr Ablakwa 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am most grateful. On page 9, the first item numbered (iii), we made two corrections yesterday. Apart from the correction of Youth Employment Agency (YEA), we also said that ‘constituency' should be inserted, but that has been left out. So, the Table Office should kindly take note.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Pages 10…14 --
Mr Iddrisu 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. I am sorry to draw you back to page 9, paragraph 7. In the Statement of Hon Frank Annoh- Dompreh, I see the words “…called for increased exploitation and utilisation…” if we should go to the text of his Statement, do we ‘exploit' renewable energy resources? I am not sure that was what he intended to convey, but the record should have it.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Thank you very much. The records should confirm.
Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 18th June, 2019 as corrected, is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, correction of Official Report of Friday, 12th April,
2019.
Mr Ablakwa 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am most grateful.
The second paragraph of column 5876, the Hon Minister for Upper East Region, her name should be “Paulina Patience Abayage”; that is the official record we have in this House. It is not “Abayagy” and her first name is Paulina.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Not Patience?
Mr Ablakwa 10:30 a.m.
No, it is not Patience. The records at the Appointments Committee, which is the official records of this House indicates .
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon Member, Paulina Patience Abayage.
Mr Ablakwa 10:30 a.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker. [Interruption] -- I have no special interest. I do not know why Hon Colleagues -- [Laughter]
Mr Buah 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member just stood and he pretended he is an authority on --
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Hon Member, you should address me, please.
Do you have a difficulty?
Mr Buah 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, first of all, I would want Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa --
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Do not look in his direction -- [Laughter.]
Mr Buah 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member tried to speak as if he understands Wala, and he has authority on a language from the Upper East. I know he cannot speak a sentence in Wala -- [Laughter]
Mr Chireh 10:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, his correction is badly put, because he talked about Wala, but the name he called is from the Upper East; Wala people are from the Upper West. The Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa is married to someone from the Upper West not Upper East -- [Laughter] -- We have to commend him because we are correcting the Official Report, and he noticed the spelling mistake in the name. [Interruption.]
Mr Speaker, Hon Buah is completely out of order.
Mr Speaker 10:30 a.m.
What is more, Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa referred to the official records as his source of information and that of course is credit worthy.
Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.


He did not talk about any personal knowledge. He has searched the records, and acted accordingly. We commend him.

Thank you very much.

Any other corrections?
Mr Andrew D. Chiwitey 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, column 5919, first paragraph, I remember I made a comment which should read:
“Mr Speaker, your good self has always maintained that when an Hon Member…” not “… when a Hon Member…”
Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Thank you very much.
I pray that those who want to do research would also come and see the assiduousness with which people meticulously check on every record before the House.
Hon Members, any other corrections on the Official Report before us?
Hon Members, in the absence of any further corrections, the Official Report of Friday, 12th April, 2019 as corrected is hereby admitted as true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, we move to the item numbered 3, Questions. The Hon Minister for Trade and Industry is here.
Hon Minister, you may please take the seat.
Question numbered 579 in the name of the Hon Member for Ho West.
rose
Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources is out to respond to a matter that has suddenly cropped up in the Western Region. For that reason, I would plead with my Hon Colleague so that we stand that Question down and deal with Question numbered 580.
Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa?
Mr Ablakwa 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to seek your permission to ask the Question on behalf of my Hon Colleague who is unavoidably absent.
Mr Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Please, proceed.
ORAL ANSWERS TO 10:40 a.m.
QUESTIONS 10:40 a.m.
MINISTRY OF TRADE AND 10:40 a.m.
INDUSTRY 10:40 a.m.
Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr Alan K. Kyerematen) 10:40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) was established in 1967 as part of the Cha Textiles Group of Companies. From an initial workforce of around 500, ATL employed 1,650 people at the peak of the company's operations in the 1980s. It currently employs 780 people. The company has spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing and finishing capacity, all on one site. It is the single largest vertically integrated textile factory in Ghana that uses cotton from the northern part of Ghana to produce the yarn, grey baft fabric and mercerised calico which is processed, dyed, printed and finished into prints for the local and export markets. ATL currently produces four main brands of fabric, namely ATL, ABC, Treasure and Inspiration.
Mr Speaker, in August 2017 the Management of ATL, confronted with serious operational challenges arising from several years of harsh economic and industry conditions, made an offer to the Government of Ghana to take over the assets of ATL to avert the total shut down of the company's operations.
At the request of the Ministry, Cabinet in June 2018 granted approval for the Ministry to take over and resuscitate the operations of the company under a transitional arrangement, whiles searching for a strategic investor to revamp and turnaround the fortunes of the company.
Mr Speaker, in July 2018, as part of this transitional arrangement, the Ministry implemented a compre- hensive Stimulus Package for ATL that included the initial injection of GH¢17 million into the company's operations at a subsidised interest rate by the Prudential Bank Limited.
As a result of this timely inter- vention, the company upgraded its machinery, identified new export markets and improved its overall operational efficiency. Critical machinery for textiles production particularly Digital Screen Engravers, Image Plotters, which were nearly 20 years old and obsolete were
Mr Ablakwa 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I commend the Hon Minister for all the efforts. The first paragraph of the Hon Minister's response speaks to the employment numbers at peak production time of ATL. This was 1,650 but has now dropped to 780.
With all of these interventions, is the Hon Minister able to tell this House if it has led to any substantial job creation? [Interruption] -- I am interested in the employment numbers because the youth of our country would want to hear that the stimulus package is leading to more jobs.
Does the Hon Minister have figures on the number of jobs that these interventions may have created?
Mr Kyerematen 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, from the Answer provided, it is obvious that the government had to step in to save the company from total collapse. That means that we would have lost all the jobs that were created by the company at that time. So, first, we saved jobs by introducing
Mr Kyerematen 10:50 a.m.


those policy measures, and that is tantamount to creating jobs.

Secondly, there is a lead time for the effect and impact of measures on the operations of the company. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that, with the new measures that are being introduced, the number of jobs that the company would create would significantly improve.
Mr Ablakwa 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my next question is from the first paragraph of page 6 of the Hon Minister's Answer. He talks about the serious operational challenges arising from several years of harsh economic and industry conditions.
Is the Hon Minister able to confirm to this House if any portion of the GH¢17 million stimulus package went into liabilities? Does the company owe anybody for which probably a portion of the GH¢17 million bailout was used to settle those debts or liabilities?
Mr Kyerematen 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, part of the proceeds of the stimulus package was used to settle some of the liabilities particularly owed to the Electricity Company of Ghana
(ECG), but significantly, most of the proceeds was used to acquire and upgrade the machinery of the company.
Mr Ablakwa 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my final follow-up question is to find out whether similar interventions are being considered for other textile companies because we know that quite a number of them are struggling.
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Member, this Question is specific; so, ask specific questions.
Mr Ablakwa 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, because on page 7 the Hon Minister provided -- [Interruption] -- All right.
Mr Speaker, has there been any assessment of the interventions that the Hon Minister speaks to on page 7 of his Answer so far and what is the import of the intervention on the local textile industry?
Mr Kyerematen 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, as I indicated in my earlier submission, there is a lead time for the full impact of these policy measures to generate the desired effect and impact on these companies. Be that as it may, I think the Hon Member would agree with me that there is relative calm and peace in the sector now than was otherwise prevailing. So, at least, we can say with confidence that these
measures would actually improve the fortunes of the textile companies.
Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank the Hon Minister for the Answer, but according to Mr Victor Kumah, the Local Union Secretary, he continues to -- and this was as late as -- [Interruption] -- The Local Labour Union Secretary, Victor Kumah
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Member, which Labour Union?
Mr Buah 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have a source that this is a Statement that the Labour Union issued and he read it on their behalf. We are calling on government to do more and I would enumerate some of the challenges that continue to persist in ATL despite the infusion of GH¢17 million.
Having given us this rosy picture, does it match with what the Union is saying? That is my intent; if I could go ahead.
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
When and where was the statement of the Union published?
Mr Buah 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, according to Mr Kumah, the Local Workers Union Secretary --
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Who knows Mr Kumah?
Mr Buah 10:50 a.m.
All right, Mr Speaker, let me then quote what -- He continues to list unpaid and delayed salaries of workers.
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Member, you must speak authoritatively in this Honourable House. If you want to add some authority and weight to what you are saying, do so but what you have said is not enough.
Mr Buah 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would just go ahead and say that I have reports from workers of ATL -- [Interruption] -- and the Hon Minister cannot deny it. Let me just ask the question.
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Member, you are on the right path. You said you have reports. Go on.
Mr Buah 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we continue to experience lack of textile materials and unpaid salaries of workers. The Union says that the Spinning and Weaving Department has been shifted, and as a result we continue to have a lot of these challenges -- imitation of the textile materials, a major challenge for ATL, continue to persist.
rose
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Order! The Hon Majority Leader is on his feet.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if a Member rises to ask a supplementary question, such a question is supposed to conform to our Orders in this House. Order 67(1)(a) makes that provision.
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Member, hold on. The Hon Majority Leader is on his feet.
Has the Hon Majority Leader finished?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, one does not make any attribution when one is not in a position to authenticate same.
I am asking the Hon Member whether he is in the position to authenticate what he is saying. [Interruption] -- He should produce the evidence then.
Mr Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Hon Members, the Question 580 essentially states, admits and presents that there is a problem -- a long standing difficulty -- It is asking the Hon Minister essentially what the Ministry is doing towards arresting the situation. Therefore, to repeat any difficulty that already exists is a futile exercise. That is not the essence of the question.
Yes, any other question?
Alhaji Inusah A. B. Fuseini 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister on page 6, paragraph 1 says that the company was facing “serious operational challenges arising from the work of several years of harsh economic and industry conditions”. The Hon Minister proceeded to tell this House the interventions that were made to deal with the failing status of the ATL.
Mr Speaker, will the Hon Minister tell us exactly what these harsh economic and industry challenges are, to enable us evaluate the interventions that have been made?
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Minister, specific references to what you described as “harsh economic and industry conditions” which existed before so that in future, they could be used as a yardstick in determining the success of whatever has been done.
Hon Member, I hope I got your question right? Hon Minister, your question?
Mr Kyerematen 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the first condition that the textile companies had to contend with was competition against imported textile fabrics, particularly, from Asia that were coming into this country, for which duties were not paid and which were of inferior quality, pirated and violating intellectual property rights of existing local companies. This resulted in the state of uncompetitiveness for our local companies which obviously created that situation of distress. When we talk about the decline in the numbers of employees arising from these harsh conditions, I think this is an obvious one.
Secondly, the high cost of credit and capital naturally made it difficult for our companies to be able to cover their operational, variable and fixed costs to also make them competitive in the market.
Last but not least was their inability to mobilise working capital to improve on the efficiency of their existing machinery. This is because many of these equipment and machines were actually installed in the 1960s and upgraded later on in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr Speaker, so, it is obvious that these harsh conditions were the conditions that propelled the owners of the company to make an offer to Government to take over the assets of the company.
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Thank you very much. Yes, Hon Minority Leader?
Mr Iddrisu 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. May I refer the Hon Minister to page 7, third paragraph;
“… the following policy measures approved by Cabinet are also being introduced specifically to support the local textile companies:”
Mr Speaker, I know the Hon Minister's standing when it comes to these matters. However, he does not even report that prior to the years 2017 and 2018, there were efforts to support ATL including its restruc- turing which he probably inherited.
However, he highlights four items; Introduction of Tax Stamps, Designation of Tema Port as the
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Hon Member, please proceed.
Mr Iddrisu 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, working capital, as the Hon Minister himself just said, and injection of capital is the economic headwind of the textile industry. Did he apprise Cabinet to support this struggling textile industry with working capital through capital injection and how much?
Mr Kyerematen 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the reference to the stimulus package of GH¢17 million was partly to support the company in terms of its working capital requirements.
Mr Iddrisu 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, to what extent is he enforcing the Single-Entry Corridor for imported textiles at Tema and then surveillance -- since the pirating remains a challenge? To what extent is he implementing items 2 and 4, as directed by Cabinet, to support the ailing textile industries?
Mr Kyerematen 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the implementation of the measure to create a Single-Entry Corridor is the joint responsibility of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). So, as I speak, administrative instructions have been prepared for the Customs Division to introduce and implement this particular measure.
In respect of the taskforce, our view as a Government has been that until and unless we introduce other measures that will effectively deal with the challenges of the companies, we ought not to send the taskforce into the market to create problems for these companies. So, what we have done is to front-load these measures and hopefully create an environment which may not even require the taskforce to operate in the markets. Be that as it may, as a last resort, this is going to be applied as and when necessary.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Hon Majority Leader, please?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister in his
Answer in the second paragraph indicated to us that:
“in August 2017, the Manage- ment of ATL confronted with serious operational challenges arising from several years of harsh economic and industry conditions, made an offer to Government of Ghana to take over the assets of ATL to avert the total shutdown of the company's operations”.
Mr Speaker 11 a.m.
Order. Yes, Hon Member?
Mr Kyerematen 11 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the unstable supply of electricity created a very significant challenge in terms of the operations of the textile companies and so, clearly, this was a contributory factor to the situation that this company found itself in.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Minister, thank you very much for attending to the House and answering our Questions. You are respectfully discharged.
Hon Majority Leader, should we move to the earlier Question?
Question numbered 579; are we in a position to take that Question?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, no, because the Hon Minister is not in the Chamber and the signal I have received is that the Hon Minister would want to be in charge of the Answer, so he has proposed to do so on Friday.
Mr Speaker, in that regard, we could deal with the item numbered
5.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Very well.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of Question time.
Hon Members, we would take the item numbered 4 -- Statements.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we could deal with the item numbered 5.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Does that mean that there would be no Statements?
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Minority Leader?
Mr Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, Hon Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings has been trying to catch your eye. She was on her feet before the Hon Leader was acknowledged to --
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Minority Leader, there must be a reason for trying to catch my eye and you would do well to apprise me of “eye- catching” issues of importance. Otherwise, I am going by an agenda
- 11:10 a.m.
Mr Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would not know. It is in her bosom.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Minority Leader, you know the dynamics and etiquette of this business; if you give me an indication then it would be useful.
Mr Iddrisu 11:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, she is the Hon Member for Klottey Korley and she is on her feet.
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Is the Hon Member for Assin North Constituency, Hon Abena D. Mensah, in the House?
The Hon Member has a Statement on the Annual National Science and
Maths Quiz Competition for Senior High Schools in the Country.
Hon Member, please make your Statement.

Hon Minister for Trade and Industry, you are respectfully discharged.
STATEMENTS 11:10 a.m.
Ms Abena D. Mensah (NPP - - Assin North) 11:10 a.m.
Thank you, Rt Hon Speaker, for the honour accorded me to make this Statement on the Annual National Science and Maths Quiz Competition for Senior High Schools in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, in recent times the euphoria surrounding the National Science and Maths Quiz competition (an annual Science and Mathematics based quiz competition for Senior High Schools in the country) is unmatched to any academic event on the Senior High Schools academic calendar.
Mr Speaker, kindly indulge me to pay tribute to Mr Kwaku Mensah Bonsu, then Managing Director of Primetime, ably supported by the Late Professors Marian Ewurama Addy and Ebenezer Kweku Awotwe who in their wisdom gave birth to this wonderful academic event in 1993.
Mr Speaker, it will interest you to know what specifically led to the existence of this competition. In 1993, it was Mr Mensah Bonsu who as a matter of curiosity asked why birds could stand on a live wire without getting electrocuted, but human beings could not do same. It was from Professor Awotwe's explanation that Mr Mensah Bonsu got the idea of putting together a quiz programme on Science and Mathematics.
Mr Speaker, the competition which started with 32 Senior High Schools across the country saw an increase to 40 Schools in 2000. In 2013, the number of participating Schools went up to 81.
Mr Speaker, the competition which had the aim to promote the study of the Sciences and Mathe- matics helps students to develop quick thinking, probe scientific minds about the things around them and also foster academic rivalry among Senior High Schools.It has now seen the
number of participating Schools rising from 81 in 2013 to 135 Schools currently across the country.
Mr Speaker, the increase in the number of participating Schools has now reawakened the desire and awareness for Science and Mathe- matics study in the Senior High Schools for both current and past students within the country. Also, students in the various Senior High Schools are beginning to understand and appreciate the study of Science and Mathematics whether in the urban or rural areas.
Mr Speaker, in line with this, kindly permit me to seize this opportunity to extend my congratulatory message to the Assin State College, one of the participating Schools in my consti- tuency, Assin North which will be making its maiden appearance in this year's competition after defying all odds to upset the apple carts in the Central Region.
Mr Speaker, over the years governments' commitments towards Science and Mathematics education is beginning to yield fruits since the numerous efforts and determination by Government in the provision of laboratory equipment alongside the training of Science and Mathematics teachers and laboratory technicians have resulted in contributing to
Mr Speaker 11:10 a.m.
Hon Member, thank you very much for this well- researched Statement.
Any contributions?
Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe (NDC -- Akatsi North) 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
I want to associate myself with the Statement ably made by the Hon Member for Assin North Consti- tuency. Mr Speaker, we all know very well that science education is very important for the economic and social development of this country.
We are also aware that several years ago, before independence, our education was largely grammar based, where we were engaged in training people for the Civil Service and the Public Service. Many of our secondary schools at that time did what was necessary to get people for the Civil and Public Services. People who wanted to do medicine and other
Ms Naana Eyiah (NPP-- Gomoa Central) 11:20 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to comment on the Statement made by the Hon Member for Assin North.
Mr Speaker, the National Science and Maths Quiz is indeed highly
Ms Laadi Ayii Ayamba (NDC - - Pusiga) 11:20 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to this Statement, that has been ably made by my Hon Colleague on the other Side, on the National Science and Mathematics Quiz.
Mr Speaker, I would also join in congratulating the schools that have been selected to participate in the Competition. I wish them well, and I hope that others who might not be part of this Competition would also learn very well, so that they would be part of the Competition next time.
It is observed that we did not start the Competition with such a large number, but today the number has increased; and we believe that the number would continue to increase. And so those who are not part of it should also learn well so that next
time, they would be part of the Competition.
Mr Speaker, this Competition serves as a morale booster to most of the schools, and schools that would win the trophy would surely work harder to ensure that they keep it up in these subjects.
Mr Speaker, this notwithstanding, all other schools should also take it seriously. The organisers of this Competition should not only continue to do it at the national level. They should also go down to even the primary schools.
One of the greatest reasons why we lag behind in Mathematics and Science is the issue of poor starting standards, where we realise that Mathematics and Science are mostly taught when the children get to either the senior high school or some part of the junior high school. It does not help our pupils or any of us, because they start very late.
Mathematics and Science are subjects that we must all be interested in. Unfortunately, if you take a look at the way Mathematics and Science are being taught, you would realise that right from the start, there is some kind of fear that is put in the children that the subject is something that they cannot learn or pass. Some kind of
fear is put in the children before the subject is even taught.
It is very important that the Ministry of Education and all educational stakeholders ensure that the teaching of Mathematics and Science right from the basic school is taught with some kind of interest. Those who are teaching these subjects should be people who know how to teach it, so that they do not put fear in the pupils before they even start.
Science and Mathematics cannot be taught in abstract. Unfortunately, when you go to the classrooms, you would realise that Mathematics and Science are being taught in the abstract. Many a time, the teaching and learning materials (TLMs) are unavailable. With Science, we need the laboratories, and if there are none, I wonder how the children would be able to work hands-on and do the practical work, so that at the end of the day, they would put up their best.
Mr Speaker, it is also very important for us to encourage the girl- child when it comes to Mathematics, English and Science. I have realised that with Science, there is some kind of stereotyping as if the girls are not good or they are not working hard. They should be encouraged right from the start.
Mr Speaker, I wish that we as Members of Parliament and representatives of our people would add this to our agenda and talk to the headmasters, the district education oversight committees, school management committees and the teachers at the grassroots to encourage the children from the early stages to take Mathematics and Science seriously.
I know very well that if the Hon Minister for Education takes up the issue of Mathematics and Science, as he has already started presenting to the Committee, it would go a long way to ensure that the problems of Mathematics, English and Science in our country are solved.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I congratulate the Hon Member who made the Statement once more. Thank you for the opportunity.
Dr Kwaku Afriyie (NPP -- Sefwi-Wiawso) 11:30 a.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to associate myself with this issue on the Floor of Parliament.
Mr Speaker, mathematics is a language which underlines all the sciences. In fact, in our present
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Dr Afriyie.
Mr Derek Darko Ohene Assifo Bekoe (NDC -- Upper West Akim) 11:30 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting me the opportunity to contribute to this Statement made by the Hon Member for Assin North.
Mr Speaker, it is very com- mendable to see the way the country takes a keen interest in the study of Science and Mathematics in our educational system. Truly, as a country, we would also have to commend successive Governments for their various efforts by way of policy introduction in ensuring that the study of Science in our schools actually attracts the interest of our students in our various schools.
Mr Speaker, however, as a nation, we would also have to look at the various efforts that we put in, especially when it comes to the assessment of our educational system. From the basic right up to the senior high schools, the only assessments we have is the Government's dependence on the West African Examination
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Yes, Hon Dr Okoe Boye?
Dr Bernard Okoe Boye (NPP -- Ledzokuku) 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Statement made by my Hon Colleague.
Mr Speaker, the study of science is very important because at the heart of it lies the solution to most of our problems. When it comes to sanitation, we look up to science to give us a recycling plant. When it comes to transport, it was science that
gave us the aeroplane. Even in our offices, it is science that gives us the air-condition, so, Science is a very important subject.
Mr Speaker, I would also say that it is interesting that, as a nation, we are all now taking a lot of interest in the study of science.
11. 40 a.m.
Mr Speaker, a lot of studenets are very jittery when they are introduced to a science or mathematics topic because it is not like the arts when one reads and understanding comes easily. There is some level of abstract thinking involved and that is why it is important that we expose our children early enough to these subjects.
In fact, when an individual is constantly exposed to mathematics, with time, the study becomes interesting. One of my lecturers puts it aptly that, when science and mathematics is studied for a long time, it becocmes more of an art because one could just look at it and provide the answers.
Mr Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Ministry of Education. There are a lot of programmes on Science, Technology, Engineering and
Dr Bernard Okoe Boye (NPP -- Ledzokuku) 11:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have noticed a few challenges when it comes to the study of Science and Mathematics especially with the National Maths and Science Quiz. The first challenge is that, increasingly, we are getting schools that produce a performance that is not reflective of the average performance in their schools. And let me put it this way; when we look at the performance from some of the schools and compare it to the results of the institution, one would realise that it is not actually corresponding.

Mr Speaker, the other observation I have made is that since the competition started, most of the Quiz Coordinators have been females. The subjects that have been assumed to be very difficult, now, when it comes to its competition, it is the women who are taking charge of the competition. I think that is a very significant observation, that we have the likes of late Prof. Mariam Ewura Ama Addy who handed over to another female. It is a strong lesson that the women could even be the masters of the competition. So, when it comes to the study, they are more than qualified to handle that.

Mr Speaker, it would be very difficult to make comments about the National Science and Maths Quiz without making reference to the school that has won the highest number of trophies when it comes to this competition.

Mr Speaker, my modest self — I competed in the National Science and Maths Quiz some two decades ago, and in fact, in the light of that school, I have seen a lot of lights. Mr Speaker, I am talking about the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School which has won most of the trophies. I would like to take the opportunity to encourage other schools to take interest in assiduousness and consistence when

it comes to performance and study which has made it possible for this school to always lead the count when it comes to the Competition.
Mr Speaker, I conclude with this important statement 11:30 a.m.
“Any science becomes an art when you master it. So most doctors could look at the face of an individual just by the face and the head texture and say that this is an alcoholic.”
Mr Speaker, there are a lot of sciendtific explanation that after many years of practice, by just looking at a symptom, one is able to tell the process. It is the same with a heart condition. The lesson here is that, we introduce our children constantly to Science and Mathematics. And when we do that a lot, they would start to see science and mathematics as very interesting and very exciting just like the arts.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member.
Yes, Minority Leadership?
Mr Speaker 11:30 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Minority Leader.
Majority Leadership.
Mr Joseph Cudjoe (NPP -- Effia) 11:50 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement on the Floor.
Mr Speaker, when we come to discussing the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, I think as a country we cannot in anyway underscore its importance.
Mr Speaker, a lot has been said already, so I would like to summarise the thinking that should guide us as a country as we look at this discipline of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to deliver it from the education system effectively.
Mr Speaker, some of the incentives we could offer to encourage the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics lie in our scholarship award systems. In the past, scholar- ships had been given to any discipline of study and I believe that for what Ghana National Petroleum Commi- ssion (GNPC) Foundation and GNPC itself are trying to do today is to align scholarships to STEM, we should emulate that and extend it in broader terms.
The National Scholarships Secre- tariat itself could narrow the scholarship awards to emphasise awards to science-based courses to encourage the students and parents response to the study of science and related subjects.

Mr Speaker, I believe it is time for the public to also learn that they could also incentivise the system when it comes to corporate employment. Imagine that companies advertised

that a background in Science is important. Immediately, it would engender responses in the system for students to be interested in studying science, rather than how we have approached it.

When it comes to teaching itself, it is time we also tried to make the teaching of science relevant to our daily lives, because the way it is taught makes it so abstract, that we do not even see its benefits in our daily lives. This is because we teach science with the textbook approach, rather than through everyday activities where Science gives us a reason for us to do the things we do.

Mr Speaker, from the viewpoint of the student, learning science could also be made exciting when the teachers encourage its learning in a more effective way than it has been to date in our education delivery.

On the part of Government, I think that we should begin to recognise the fact that science education goes with equipment, laboratories and most importantly, what we forget and which is the hard part, the consumables that come with its teaching. Some of these are chemicals and so on.

It is known that no Government sees any incentive in providing these consumables because we do not see the immediate benefits as it comes with a high budget. It is high time we focused on that at the level of laboratory development and the provision of equipment and con- sumables that go with delivering Science education.

Mr Speaker, having pointed out these broad highlights, I believe that we are guided that we can only catch up with development in the future if we take science, technology and mathematics education seriously. Thank you.
Mr Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Members. The Statement is further referred to the Committee on Education for consideration and report.
Hon Members, at the commence- ment of Public Business. Hon Majority Leader?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe we can lay the Papers numbered as item 5.
Mr Speaker 11:50 a.m.
The item numbered 5 (a)?
PAPERS 11:50 a.m.
-- 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:50 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, which one is ready?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we can now deal with the item numbered 8.
Mr Speaker 11:50 a.m.
The item numbered 8 -- Motion.
Chairman of the Committee on Finance.
MOTIONS 11:50 a.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:50 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this
Honourable House adopts the Report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Public Debt Management Report for the 2018 Financial Year.
In so doing, I would present your Committee's Report.
1.0 Introduction
The Annual Public Debt Report for the 2018 Financial Year was presented to the House on Wednesday 3rd April, 2019 by the Honourable Minister responsible for Aviation, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda on behalf of the Minister responsible for Finance.
Pursuant to article 103 of the 1992 Constitution and Order 169 of the Standing Orders of the House, the Report was referred to the Com- mittee on Finance for Consideration and Report.
The Committee subsequently met and discussed the Report with a Deputy Minister for Finance, Hon Charles Adu Boahen as well as a team of officials from the Ministry of Finance and hereby submits this report to the House.
The Committee is grateful to the Honourable Deputy Minister for Finance and the team of officials for attending upon the Committee.
2.0 Reference
The Committee referred to and/or was guided by the following documents inter alia during its deliberations on the Agreement:
The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
The Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana;
The Public Financial Manage- ment Act, 2016 (Act 921); and
The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Govern- ment of Ghana for the 2019 Financial Year.
3.0 Background
It is provided in Section 72(1) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) that “The Public Debt Management Office shall, in respect of each preceding year, prepare an annual report on
(a) Borrowings and other govern- ment debt management ope- rations;
(b) Guarantee and lending activi- ties of Government, and
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:50 a.m.


(c) Other finance arrangements entered into by Government”.

Pursuant to the above, the Ministry of Finance prepared and presented the 2018 Annual Public Debt Report to Parliament.

The 2018 Annual Public Debt Report covers broad debt manage- ment operations in 2018, and is intended to enhance transparency in Ghana's public debt management. It is also intended to update stake- holders and the general public on key developments in the national debt management front.

In 2018, Government took several measures to ensure efficient and effective management of public debt in compliance with the debt management strategy approved by Cabinet and in line with the financing requirement, as stipulated in the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government.

The key objectives of such measures were to lengthen the maturity profile by issuing long-term bench- mark government securities, reduce the refinancing risk embedded in the debt portfolio, diversify the investor base, and contribute to the improve- ment of the country's sovereign rating.

Per the law, the Public Debt Office of the Ministry of Finance has the responsibility for the preparation of this Annual Public Debt Report. This report, the third in the series, provides a comprehensive summary of public debt management activities for 2018 and includes the following:

Government borrowings and other debt management opera- tions;

Guarantee and on-lending activities of Government and other financing arrangements entered into by Government;

Debt management strategy and the rationale for the strategy;

List of outstanding Government debt;

List of outstanding Government guarantees, the amount and beneficiaries of the guarantees, and an assessment of the fiscal risk embedded in the gua- rantees; and

List of on-lending operations, including outstanding amounts and beneficiaries of the loans, and an assessment of the inherent credit risk of the on-lent loans.

3.1 Debt Management Objective

The Committee was informed that the objectives of Government's debt management are to ensure that Government's financing needs are met on a timely basis at the lowest cost consistent with a prudent degree of risk, while promoting the development of the Ghanaian debt market.

Government's Medium Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) is to bring the public debt level to below 65 per cent of GDP over the medium term.

For the year under review, the Medium Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDMS) was to finance the budget deficit using domestic securities (preferably long-term bonds) and external financing, including the International Capital Market (ICM).

The implementation of the 2018 MTDS faced implementation challenges as a result of global market developments which led to investor sell-offs in emerging markets.

To address the external contagion effect of the investor pull-out from emerging countries which affected non-resident investors' participation in

the domestic markets and posed unanticipated pressure on the Ghana cedi, the approved strategy was redirected to focus on increased engagement with domestic investors and more active Government support for the functioning of the secondary market.

3.2 Purpose of the Report

The purpose of the Report is to outline and report on borrowings and other Government debt management operations, guarantees and lending activities of Government and other finance arrangements entered into by Government for the year 2018.

The report is also meant to disseminate information on Ghana's public debt portfolio and debt management activities carried out over the past year to stakeholders, including lenders and investors in Government securities, as well as the general public.

4.0 Observation

4.1 Macroeconomic Develop- ments in 2017

Another key development in 2018 was the successful issuance of Ghana's US$2.0 billion Eurobond in May 2018 which was the sixth time Ghana had participated in the
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:50 a.m.


International Capital Market (ICM). The 2018 Eurobond consisted of US$1.00 Billion 10-year bond and the landmark 30-year bond of same amount priced at 7.625 per cent and 8.625 per cent respectively.

These relatively lower interest rates were achieved notwithstanding the global capital market's turbulence being triggered by rising US interest rates, currency crisis in some emerging and developing economies and aggressive sell-off of bonds by investors at the time.

4.2 Financial Sector Reforms

The Government-supported financial sector reforms and clean-up by the Regulator, the Bank of Ghana impacted the public debt significantly in 2018.

It would be recalled that in 2017, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) increased the minimum capital requirement for all universal banks from GH¢l20.00 million to GH¢400.00 million by the end of 2018. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) through its regular financial monitoring in 2018 realised that not only will some local banks not be able to meet the minimum requirement, but also many were insolvent and needed capital injection if they were to survive. Two banks were declared insolvent, and five others were consolidated. In support of this clean- up effort, the Government supported the BoG to issue a total of GH¢9.80 billion of bonds to protect depositors of these banks, which added to the public debt stock significantly.

4.3 Gross Public Debt Levels

The table below shows develop- ments in the Gross Public Debt since

2014.

SPACE FOR TABLE 1 --PAGE 10, 11.50 AM

Table 2: Gross Public Debt Developments, 2014-2018 (US$ million)

SPACE FOR TABLE -- PAGE 10 & 11, 11.50 AM

4.4 Limit on Commercial Borrow- ing

In 2018, Government continued to limit the level of commercial borrowing to US$500.00 million, in line with programme targets under the IMF Programme. Further to Government's commitment to restoring fiscal integrity to public financial management, Government enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982) and inaugurated the Fiscal Responsibility Advisory and Fiscal Stability Advisory Councils. These developments are to ensure fiscal responsibility, macroeconomic stability as well as debt sustainability in public finances. They further demonstrate the commitment of the Government to preserving today's economic gains from future actions of government.

4.5 Slower Rate of Public Debt Accumulation

The Committee was informed that on the back of the macroeconomic stability, the rate of public debt accumulation continued to plummet to a low of 14.5 per cent (without the financial bailout) from a 2017 rate of 16.6 per cent.

In nominal terms, Ghana's public debt stock as at end 2018 stood at GH¢86,169.00 million (US$17, 868.50 million) and GH¢86,899.70 million (US$18,020.00 million) respectively. As a percentage of GDP, Debt-to-GDP with financial bailout which stood at 57.9 per cent and without the bailout it was at 54.7 per cent as at the end of 2018.

4.6 Currency Composition of External Debt

As at December, 2018 USD- denominated loans constituted 67.2
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:50 a.m.


per cent of the total debt stock. This was followed by the Euro which accounted for 18.6 per cent, the Chinese Yuan (CNY) for 4.2 per cent, the Japanese Yen (JPY) for 2.3 per cent and Great Britain Pound (GBP) for 2.0 per cent. Other currencies, including the Kuwait Dinar (KWD), Korean Won (KRW) and Saudi Riyal (SAR) among others, made up for the balance of 5.7 per cent.

The share of USD increased by 2.7 percentage points from the 2017 figure following the 2018 Eurobond issuance. The share of Euro, however, declined by 1.7 per cent for the same period.

4.7 External Creditor Category

At the end of the 2018 financial year, commercial debt accounted for the largest share of external debt, representing 50.6 per cent of the total external debt portfolio. The six outstanding Eurobonds accounted for 27.9 per cent of the stock of commercial debt, while Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) represented 6.9 per cent of the commercial debt stock. The remaining portion of the external debt comes from multilateral and bilateral sources.

Multilateral debt, which are mostly on concessional terms, accounted for 35.8 per cent of external debt, while bilateral debt constituted 13.7 per cent of the external debt.

4.8 External Loan Disbursements

A total external loan disbursement of US$2.65 billion was received in the year 2018, including the US$2.00 billion Eurobond proceeds from the ICM. This shows a significant increase of US$1.78 billion over the 2017 figure of US$869.2 million. The increase is largely as a result of the Eurobond proceeds.

4.9 Domestic Debt by Tenor

The proportion of the short-term debt (not exceeding 1 year tenor) in the portfolio of domestic marketable debt declined from 22.4 per cent in 2017 to 17.3 per cent in 2018. This was said to be in line with Government's debt strategy target of short-term debt of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent. On the other hand, the proportion of medium-term debt (between 2 and 10 years tenor) increased from 68.1 per cent to 75.2 per cent in 2018. The proportion of the long-term debt, like short-term debt, decreased from 9.1 per cent in 2017 to 7.5 per cent in 2018 as no new bonds with maturities longer than 15 years were issued during the period.
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:50 a.m.
SPACE FOR TABLE 3 -- PAGE 13 & 14, 11.50 AM
SPACE FOR TABLE 4 -- PAGE 14, 11.50 AM
4.10 Debt-to-GDP Ratio
A trend analysis of the total public debt as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), based on the old and new GDP series, is as shown in the table below.

From the tables above, it could be seen that the debt-to-GDP ratios inched up slightly from 2017 to 2018. Based on the old GDP series, the Gross Public Debt to GDP ratio rose from 69.3 per cent to 71.6 per cent whilst per the new GDP Series, the Gross Public Debt/GDP ratio rose from 55.6 per cent to 57.9 per cent.

4.11 Credit Rating

In the year under review, the Government continued with its strategy of committing to frequent engagement with the rating agencies and consistently updating them on Ghana's economic transformation successes. These engagements helped in improving the rating agencies' perceptions of Ghana and that consequently reflected in their assessment of Ghana.

Following from the above strategy, coupled with sound management of
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:50 a.m.


SPACE FOR APPENDIX -- PAGE 73, 11.50 AM

SPACE FOR APPENDIX -- PAGE 73, 11.50 AM
Mr Speaker noon
Who seconds the Motion?
The Hon First Deputy Speaker would take the Chair.
Mr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson (NDC -- Ajumako/Enyan/ Essiam) noon
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion and with your permission, refer to page 28 of the Public Debt Management Report. We were told at the Committee meeting that the public debt stood at GH¢173.068 billion as of December, 2018. We were further briefed that as of the first quarter, 31st March, 2019, the public debt rose to GH¢198.6 billion which is approxi-
mately GH¢200 billion. This means that within three months, there was an increase in the public debt by GH¢25 billion. My concern has nothing to do with the nominal numbers, but with the ability to pay. This is because the ability to service our debt is the most important thing we should all be mindful of.
Mr Speaker, the only way we could assess the ability to pay is through debt sustainability analysis. Fortunately for us, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank recently conducted a debt sustainability analysis for Ghana, as part of their seventh and eight review programmes.This is a public document that could be accessed on the IMF website.
Mr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson (NDC -- Ajumako/Enyan/ Essiam) noon


Mr Speaker, I would want to refer to pages 10, 11 and 12 of the debt sustainability analysis document. There are four main thresholds in debt sustainability analysis to enable one to assess whether or not a country could pay its debts. The first threshold is the present value of debt-to-GDP ratio; the second one relates to the present value of debt-to-export ratio; the third one is the debt-service-to-export ratio; and the final one is debt service- to-revenue ratio.

Mr Speaker, one does not pay his or her debt with one's GDP but rather, debt is paid with revenue. So, it is important for us to be mindful that inasmuch as we sing that debt-to- GDP has declined as a result of the rebasing, we have created physical space, so we could borrow, unfor- tunately, we cannot do that. Clearly, from this document, Ghana has breached all the four thresholds. Unfortunately, we do not have enough revenue to service our debts.

Recently, the Hon Minister for Finance was on record, to have said that we spend almost 70 per cent of our revenue to service our debt. Unfortunately, we are getting close to a time that we would not be able to service our debt. Our external debt is increasing, but unfortunately, we do not mobilise enough foreign exchange

to enable us to service this. It is on page 11 of the Debt Sustainability Analysis Report that we have breached debt service as a percentage to export ratio. This is because it is only through export that we can get the foreign currency to service our debt; unfortunately, the present value of debt-to-export ratio has been breached. Even the debt-to-GDP ratio, which we have heard people talk about -- and this is according to the document by the IMF and the World Bank.

Mr Speaker, with your permission, I beg to quote paragraphs 16 and 17, which are the concluding parts of the debt sustainably analysis report:

“The authorities agreed with the DSA results and are taking steps to improve debt dynamics and secure debt sustainability.”

The overall risk rating of debt distress is assessed to be high.''

Mr Speaker, simply put, Ghana's debt situation is high and there is a chance that Ghana would not be able to service its debt.
Mr Speaker, it went on to say that noon
“The external risk of debt distress is assessed to be high because of the breaches of two
indicators (external debt- service-to exports and external debt service-to-revenue) and the overall risk of debt distress is high because of those breaches as well as the value of debt of total public debt-to- GDP ratio breaching its benchmark''.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, we have breached all the four major benchmarks. All the time I hear people say that it does not matter whether we borrow, but what matters is the ability to service the debt. I beg to say that today, Ghana is not in the position to service its debts as I speak. This was as of 31st December, 2018 and the situation even gets worse by the day. In the first quarter alone, Ghana's public debt increased by GH¢25 billion -- from GH¢173 billion to GH¢198.6 billion, which is approximately GH¢200 billion.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, it could be realised that this Administration has increased Ghana's public debt from GH¢120 billion, which they inherited.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah noon
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, respectfully, the Hon Ranking Member would address his mind to the 2018 Public Debt Report. As per this report the
total debt stock as at the end of 2018 is GH¢173 billion. The numbers he has conjured are not before the House -- [Interruption] -- so let us stick to this Report.
Mr Speaker noon
Hon Members, Order!
Hon Forson, refer to the appro- priate pages and continue.
Mr Forson noon
Mr Speaker, for the records, at the Committee meeting, the Ministry of Finance briefed us on Ghana's debt situation as of 31st December, 2018.
Mr Speaker noon
Hon Member, please, speak within the parameters of the Report that is before all of us. [Interruption.]
Hon Members, Order!
Hon Forson, please, proceed.
Mr Forson 12:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this debt sustainability analysis is based on the numbers as provided on 31st December, 2018 by the IMF and the World Bank.
Mr Speaker, the situation is deteriorating further, because as we speak, per the first quarter fiscal
Mr Forson 12:10 p.m.


report on the website the Ministry of Finance, revenues are underper- forming. Apart from that we have also seen export underperform on the back of Ghana Cocoa Board and that is dangerous.

Mr Speaker, from what I see, we are moving from the risk of a high distress country to an epidemic risk of debt distress -- [Uproar] -- and that is dangerous for us as a country. So, we should be careful because where we are going to -- a time will come when Ghana would not be able to settle -- [Interruption.]
Mr Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Order, Order.
Mr Forson 12:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would move on to my second segment.
Mr Speaker 12:10 p.m.
Hon Member, you have not established the epidemic. Establish the epidemic [Laughter.]
Mr Forson 12:10 p.m.
Mr Speaker, our debt situation is becoming an epidemic simply because, in the last report, we have been rated to stand the risk of high debt distress. The situation deteriorates further by the day. All the four thresholds are being deteriorated by the day. Unfor- tunately, it is becoming an epidemic. If care is not taken, this country runs the risk of defaulting on our debts.
I would move on to my second segment. Mr Speaker, I would refer you to the Debt Management Report.
MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Please, continue.
Mr Forson 12:13 p.m.
Mr Speaker, under the Debt Management Report, I would make my point from pages 21 and 22.
Mr Speaker, you would notice that on page 22, there are graphs with the fiscal and primary balances from 2014 to 2018. From the top of the graph, there is the primary balance and the overall fiscal balance. The difference between the two graphs is seen with the gaps widening by the day and that is so because our interest payment is increasing. The difference between the primary balance and the overall fiscal balance is as a result of interest payment.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, the primary balance is the major driver for debt accumulation apart from exchange. Therefore if primary balance is to be recorded on the basis that certain expenditure is excluded, and create the impression that primary balance does not add to the public
debt Mr Speaker, they are misleading themselves. At the end of the day, the debt will increase, and the primary balance will show positive; but in the end, they will be exposed.
Mr Speaker, the Government has been exposed because of the primary balance. An example is that, we have the financial sector bailout cost, which is excluded from the primary balance. It has created the impression that it is in the positive; it is not.
Mr Speaker, number two, they recently gave treasury bills in the form of a discount to banks to say that they were given to contractors in a form of discount to Fidelity Bank. That is not captured in the primary balance, and the impression created is that the primary balance is in the positive. Unfortunately, the primary balance is, indeed, in the negative. Simply, the numbers we see need to be interro- gated.
Mr Speaker, again, on page 22, we were told by the Ministry of Finance that the overall fiscal deficit for 2014 was 7.4 per cent of GDP. We were told that in the year 2015, the fiscal deficit was 4.9 per cent; in 2016, 6.5 per cent; 2017 fiscal deficit was 4.8 per cent and we have 2018 provisional fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent.
Mr Speaker, not long ago, members of the Economic Manage- ment Team -- I am happy that I can see two big members of the Economic Management Team here -- held their town hall meeting and they gave out certain numbers. I have the document here, and I beg to quote:
“In the year 2012, the economy ended with the fiscal deficit of 12.2 per cent of GDP and 11.7 per cent in 2013, 11.9 per cent in 2014 before falling to 6.4 per cent in 2015. But rose again to 6.3 per cent in the year 2016.”
This was according to our Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, during his town hall meeting.
Mr Speaker, the document has exposed that fact and it has proved to us those numbers lack candour. Clearly, we all know that the document --
Mr Speaker, I have taken the pain to construct the fiscal numbers. What we have in the document is contrary to the claim by the Economic Management Team that fiscal deficit for the year 2014 was 11.9 per cent.
Mr Forson 12:13 p.m.


Even before rebase, they said it was 11.9 per cent; unfortunately, it is 10.2 per cent. That was why I said it lacks candour. If we are to compare that to the current rebase numbers, it is 7.4 per cent.

Again, they said that the fiscal deficit for the year 2015 was 6.7 per cent. That has been proven to be untrue. Per the document from the Ministry of Finance, the non-rebase GDP was 6.4 per cent of fiscal deficit.

For 2016, they said it was 9.3 per cent; but even before rebasing, it was 8.3 per cent. It is also important that for the purposes of argument, we stick to the official numbers from the Ministry of Finance. Mr Speaker, the document is an official one from the Ministry of Finance, unless the Ministry of Finance comes out to tell us that that is not the debt situation.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Hon Member, hold on.
Yes, Hon Chairman of the Committee?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:13 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want some clarity.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Hon Member, are you raising a point of order?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:13 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker, I am on a point of order.
Mr Speaker, a short while ago, he disputed the primary balance numbers in the document. Now, he tells us those are the official numbers. There are students here --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Hon Member, you can point out that when you get the opportunity.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:13 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if those are the official numbers, then he should not dispute the primary balance numbers in the document.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Yes, Hon Ato Forson, please conclude.
Mr Forson 12:13 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, it is important for all of us to stick with the official numbers from the Ministry of Finance. One should not just pick, choose and use economic numbers for the purposes of argument. They are numbers that all of us should be mindful of because they send both positive and negative signals for economic development.
Mr Speaker, therefore, for the head of the Economic Management
Team to deliberately mislead all of us on our fiscal numbers, that is not acceptable. Going forward, I can only urge that this Honourable House urges him to revise his numbers because they have proven to lack credibility.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minister for Information; Hon Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah?
Minister for Information (Mr Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah)(MP) 12:13 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Report that has just been presented by the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Finance.
First of all, I would like to commend the Hon Minister for Finance for providing us with the official report that deals with the state of our public debt for the year 2018. Like they say, “book no lie”; to wit, book does not lie. Today, we have an opportunity to settle the debate on debt matters in this country by speaking clearly to the official numbers as my Hon Colleague, Mr Ato Forson, refers to, and to do the analysis from them.
Mr Speaker, a few weeks ago when the Hon Minister for Finance
joined us to read a Statement on the state of our Eurobond issuances, our Hon Colleagues on the other Side busily disputed the IMF's, Standard and Poor's, and Moody's credentials of Ghana.
Today, while the Report is before us, instead of speaking to it specifically, he chooses to refer to what he calls his own reconstructed numbers.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:13 p.m.
Hon Minister, be reminded that you have 10 minutes.
Mr Oppong-Nkrumah 12:20 p.m.
I have heard you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, my submission would be focused on only four things. The first is the rate of change in our debt stock. Secondly, I would speak to the causes of that change. Thirdly, I would speak to the new profile of Ghana's debt. And finally, we would look at the accepted standard for debt sustainability analysis.
Mr Speaker, if we pay attention to table 5.1 in the Annual Public Debt Report— I would raise one for the purposes of the cameras that are here and our Hon Colleagues who may not have read the Report. Table 5.1 shows the rate at which our debt stock has changed.
rose
Some Hon Members 12:20 p.m.
Go to court.
Mr Ayariga 12:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I went to court yesterday. [Laughter.]
Mr Speaker, he talked about 15 per cent, 50 per cent, et cetera. Fifty per cent of what? Fifteen per cent of what?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon Member, you would have the opportunity to make your contri- bution. You are out of order.
Mr Oppong-Nkrumah 12:20 p.m.
Mr Speaker, so as I mentioned, the data is clear, that the rate of debt accumulation has reduced to 14.5 per cent in the year 2018, 14.5 per cent of the previous year's base. So, they cannot make an argument that our debt management situation has reached epidemic levels when,
indeed, the data shows that it has reduced to 14.5 per cent.
Mr Speaker, the second thing I would want to speak to is the question of what causes the change in the nominal debt stock. In recent weeks, we have heard and seen persons on radio and television claim that when one sees a 75 per cent change in the nominal debt stock, it means that the President has literally gone to borrow GH¢75 million and, therefore, must explain the projects that he has done with it.
Mr Speaker, anybody who reads the Report sees clearly what causes the change in the debt stock. I want to refer our Hon Colleagues and the general public to paragraph 38 of the Report and, with our permission, I would read. It says:
“External debt and domestic debt accounted for approxi- mately 49 per cent and 50.3 per cent of the total public debt stock, respectively, by the end of December, 2018. The external debt portion has dominated policy makers' attention over years, partly on account of Ghana's active presence in the international commercial market and
exchange rate depreciation, which increased the cedi equivalent amount outstanding.”
It is in Table 5.2.
Mr Speaker, the second reason is given there. The issuance of domestic debt to support the financial sector bailout. It says:
“.... however, significantly increased the share of domestic debt, thus making it dominant in the portfolio by the end of
2018.”
Mr Speaker, the third basis, and anybody who pays attention to table 5.2, is quite clear. Disbursement of old loans that were not necessarily contracted by this Administration, but are now taking place.
So, Mr Speaker, if anybody goes out there to hold press conferences that the debt stock has gone up and that we should show the projects done with it, and that person has bothered to read paragraph 38 and table 5.2 of this Report, the answers are there. It does not mean that the Administration has literally gone to borrow.
Mr Speaker, the third issue that I want to speak to is the profile of our debt. The question is very simple, and one does not need to be an economist
Mr Oppong-Nkrumah 12:20 p.m.


to ask or answer that question. Has the profile of our debt improved or it got worse? In other words, are we dealing with short term expensive debts or are we now dealing with longer term cheaper debt? That is the profile of our debt.

Mr Speaker, again, the answer is clear in this Report. In table 3.1, cost of our debt — and with your permission, I would read:

“in 2016, the weighted average cost of our debt was 11.3 %”.

In 2018, the year under review, it has come down to 10.7 per cent. Is this an epidemic?

Mr Speaker, the refinancing risk, average time to maturity, was 7.7 months. One would notice that now it has gone higher to 8.7 months.

Mr Speaker, debt maturing in one year as a percentage of our total - it used to be 28 per cent. That was our refinancing risk. It has come down to 17.6 per cent.

Mr Speaker, if we take our interest rate risk, the average time to refixing used to be 7.2 per cent. Now, we have managed to move it further to 3.5 per cent. That is the debt refixing

in one year, but the percentage of the total used to be 38 per cent. We have brought it down to 24.1 per cent.

When we said we were reprofiling our debt, we were lampooned, lambasted and laughed at. Today, the success story is told by the 2018 Debt Management Report.

Mr Speaker, finally, I would want to speak on the issue of debt sustainability. I heard my Hon Colleague on the other Side now attempt to bring in some new measures of debt sustainability, and suggest that the standard measure of debt sustainability, which we have used for decades, should now be put aside and some new measures, which he has chanced upon since he left office, should now be used.

Mr Speaker, “book no lie”; debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio for decades has been one of the major measures of debt sustainability. The medium term debt management strategy says that our target is 65 per cent of GDP. Today, we are happy that the numbers say that in the 2018 Report, debt to GDP ratio comes down to 54.7 per cent. If we include the financial sector bailout, it was 57.9 per cent. Of course, the financial sector bailout, as we all know, was a one-off extraneous matter.

Mr Speaker, what is significant here is that when a Government borrows, this is a measure to check itself with. If they borrow up to 70 per cent of the GDP known to them and claim it is smart borrowing or ingenious ways of managing the economy, they cannot turn around and charge a Government that has only brought it down to 54 per cent of the GDP known to it that it is rather causing an epidemic or pande- monium. In their day, when they borrowed, the debt to GDP ratio, went as far as 73 per cent, and they said it was smart borrowing. That was the GDP known to them.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:20 p.m.
Hon Member, you have one minute remaining.
Mr Oppong-Nkrumah 12:20 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
It was the GDP known to them at the time. A few years later, when somebody rebases, then they work backwards and say that if they work backwards, then it works for them. In their days, the GDP they knew was 73 per cent of it, and they still borrowed. In our day, we have brought it down to 54 per cent.
Mr Speaker, Ghana's debt position is healthier, and the Administration
would continue with a healthy debt management strategy.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Isaac Adongo (NDC -- Bolgatanga Central) 12:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on Ghana's public debt as at the end of December, 2018. I would also focus on the medium-term implications of our debt development.
Mr Speaker, we are in very interesting times.
Mr Speaker, I would want to state it here, that under no circumstances should anybody be telling the people of Ghana that we would not be paying the cost of the banking sector clean- up and that it was their decision to pursue the path of collapsing the banks and paying the moneys that the people of Ghana shall pay in future. So, they have no right to exclude them from any of our data because when we are paying the debt, we would not refuse to pay the interest on them. We pay them, so on the basis of that the numbers are quite clear, that as of the end of 2018, our debt accumulation ratio was 21.46 per cent from the very record my Hon Colleague referred to and not 14.5 per cent.
Mr Isaac Adongo (NDC -- Bolgatanga Central) 12:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if two doctors are to treat a patient and one wants to revive the patient to live a life and one decides to kill the patient, he pays moneys to exclude him from the costs he has incurred -- [Laughter] -- They cannot because it was their policy decision to collapse them.
The NDC government would never have collapsed any of the banks. We would have pursued a path of reviving and allowing them to become better players of the financial sector. This is a reckless doctor that has killed my patient and, today, he is here saying that the cost of killing the patient should be excluded from our public debt. We would continue to pay.
Mr Speaker, the records are quite clear. We do not want anybody to begin to circumvent the history. We have been told that one of the other reasons our public debt has increased is because they came to meet loans that were procured by the NDC government, which have suddenly ballooned their public debt. Granted; their own report here would expose them.
Mr Speaker, I refer to paragraph 33 of the Debt Management Report for 2018, which says total financing outturn provisionally amounted to
GH¢11.6 billion, of which Net Domestic Financing (NDF) from domestic market operations amounted to GH¢9.8 billion. Total Net Foreign Financing amounted to GH¢2,724.2 million and included inflows from the issuance of the 2018 Eurobond.

So, when we take it out, we are left with only US$650 million -- [Interruption] -- It is in this Report. Is the US$650 million the reason we are now dealing with a catastrophic public debt? Yet, the figure that they claim to have drawn down did not even pass through the annual budget.

Mr Speaker, I would want you to look at the numbers that they reported for our budget. They reported that our total expenditure from funds that were borrowed amounted to GH¢2.75 billion which included the Eurobond. Now, we have US$650 million they drew down and we still have another US$750 million from the Eurobond to be spent on the budget. When we add the two, we get US$1.2 billion. If we convert that by GH¢5 and we would get GH¢7 billion of external

financing that should have gone through our budget. How come they are reporting GH¢2.75 billion for total foreign draw downs that amounts to about US$1.2 billion?

Mr Speaker, so, they are cooking our public deficits and must be explaining how those moneys of almost GH¢5 additional billion did not get into the budget, yet, it is reported in our public debt.

Mr Speaker, these are very dangerous times for us because apart from increasing the public debt, they do not even have the confidence to speak the truth about the numbers and that is very disingenuous.

Mr Speaker, I have heard some arguments from other people who keep saying that we should net off some moneys that they borrowed to re-profile public debts, and when we remove those moneys that we have borrowed to finance public debts which have not yet been re-profiled, the debt would come down.

Do we report net public debt in Ghana? Our public debt is calculated on a gross basis. Net public debt accounting would have meant that when one picks total public debt, one reduces it by any underlying liquid asset that one has. So, the NDC

Mr Speaker, it is very interesting when people in government -- I would want to refer to paragraph 4.4 of the Report where there is a major misconception. It says and with your permission, I quote:

“In 2018, Government con- tinued to limit the level of commercial borrowing to US$500.00 million, in line with programme targets under the Insternational Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.”

Some people have gone to the market to say that this US$500 million means that the NPP government cannot borrow more than US$500 million. That is an illiterate understanding of this content. -- [Laughter] -- What this is saying is that we should not borrow more than GH¢2 billion in commercial loans. Even the US$500 million excludes the Eurobond. That is why they recently borrowed US$3 billion. If they had a limit of US$500 million, why did they
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Hon Member, hold on. Yes, Hon Deputy Minister?
Mr O. B. Amoah 12:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I just heard the Hon Member use an expression which cannot be found anywhere -- [Laughter] --
Mr Speaker, indeed, there are students in the public gallery listening to us. So, for a Member of Parliament to say the situation is getting “worser and worser” -- [Laughter] -- I do not think we should accept it in this House. He should use the correct expression and stop using expressions like “worser and worser”. What is “worser and worser”? [Uproar]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Hon Members, the point is sustained. There is no such English word as “worser”. Please, use the English we were taught in school.
Mr I. Adongo 12:30 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the debt situation is worsening but when we are dealing with a government such as that of president Akufo- Addo, we would find several colloquial expressions and I have found one for their Government.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, use your colloquial English outside of Parliament.[Laughter]-- In this House, please, we use the Queen's English.
Mr I. Adongo 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, next time, I will speak Twi and translate. I think that would be better. [Laughter]
Mr Speaker, the numbers are quite clear and I wonder how anybody who has read this would say that a debt to GDP ratio 56.8 per cent in 2016 is worse than 57.9 per cent.
Mr Speaker, when you want to move to January, February and March, they get up on a point of order to stop you because it is frightening. [Laughter] -- However, they have forgotten this also talks about the medium term, and they are not read for only three months. In three months, this 57 per cent was achieved for a whole year. They have a very good record of achieving it in only three months and so, for January, February and March, they were already at December, 2018 at 57.6 per cent according to the Report of the Bank of Ghana.
So I do not know how they are going to finance the rest of the year,
going forward. Please, when they draw down, they should remember to report it properly, and we will find that they are reckless and have deceived the people of Ghana and are incompetent at handling our public debt. This is because, even as we speak, they do not have anything to show for what they have borrowed but they are confident to come here and give invectives.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member for Effutu?
Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin (NPP -- Effutu) 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to add my voice to this debate.
In this debate, the issue is whether this Government, in its third year, as compared to our friends who spent eight years in office, is doing better. That is clearly the issue.
Mr Speaker, an impression has been created that the situation is worse [Interruption] -- Again, we have been told that it is ‘worser' but by way of introduction, it is important --
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, hold on. Yes, Hon (Alhaji) Fuseini?
Alhaji I.A.B. Fuseini 12:40 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, thank you for this opportunity. I have heard it being said in this House that ‘worser' -- w-o-r-s-e-r is grammatically --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order. Please, continue -- [Laughter] --
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, by way of introduction, it is important to point out that in the year 2015, the NDC went to the IMF for policy credibility and the essence of that move was to achieve the following: restore debt sustainability; restore macro-economic stability; return the country to a high growth; create jobs; and protect social spending.
When they went to the IMF, the then IMF boss made it clear to the NDC Government that it was as a result of their reckless spending of the oil revenues that had resulted in they running to test. They did not dispute that.
Mr Speaker, today, this is a Government in its third year and clearly, if you come to deficits, -- in the Report before us, our friends have chosen to disagree with certain
facts but when it suits them, they agree. However, I will be consistent on these points.
Firstly, in the year 2016, deficit was 6.5 per cent and in the year 2018 it decreased to 3.9 per cent. By the way, for the purposes of education, what at all is deficit? I know that there are students here and I would want to educate Hon Colleagues who may be mentioning deficit and perhaps because of propaganda, they may not understand what it is.
Mr Speaker, excess expenditure over revenue is what is called deficit. So, in comparative terms, this Government has been more reason- able, prudent and cautious in expenditure in spite of the imple- mentation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) education policy which is benefitting every Ghanaian and which they said that the Government could not implement because it was not sustainable due to lack of needed funds and resources. However, this Government has done so. In spite of all of these, it has managed to bring down the deficit to 3.9 per cent.
Going further, we ask if our debt stock is increasing. My Hon Colleague, Mr Forson whom I so much respect, was quick to protect himself by saying that in this debate,
he is not interested in nominal figures. Would he seriously say the same thing on radio? He comes to this House and says that he is not interested in nominal figures and so whom is he deceiving?
Some of his Hon Colleagues say that some people are deceiving the people of Ghana, but he is here and knows economics deals with real figures and so, if he comes to the House of debate where facts are relied upon, he is now ready to speak the truth. However, when he meets his party members and he is on radio, he wants to confuse people then says he is not interested in nominal figures? On a serious note, is that his point of debate?
Mr Speaker, I am quoting what Hon Forson said, that is mischief and not sincerity in debate. He should admit it because the facts speak.
It is clear that the debt stock under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is growing at a slower pace --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, hold on. Yes, Hon Forson?
Mr Forson 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my very good Friend, Hon Afenyo-Markin is misrepresenting me.
I started by making reference to the nominal numbers and I said that for the purposes of today's debate, I was not going to dwell on the nominal numbers. However, what I said was that -- I wanted to prove that Ghana is not in a position for us to pay our public debt even though our nominal numbers actually stand at 173. That was the argument I made in perspective; I never said that I was not interested in the nominal numbers.
I said that those were nominal numbers but I am more interested in whether we could re-pay our debts or not. I went further to the debt sustainability analyses and made a point. That was my argument.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Your point is well made.
Mr Forson 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that is for his education.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the point is that he is elected to get here to speak the truth and rely on facts by dealing with real numbers. However, he gets on radio -- I am only advising him as my respected Hon Colleague --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:40 p.m.
Hon Member, let us focus on the Report.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if he gets out there, he should deal
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, again, bullet number 2 which they cannot dispute and decided to avoid says with your permission;
“An upgrade in Ghana's rating from B- to B with a stable outlook in September, 2018 by Standard & Poor's Global Rating (S&P), the first up-grade in over a 10-year period rating downgrades and volatility;”

Mr Speaker, again, I am asking a simple question, unless some people on the other Side do not understand this. They would even want to file a Question for the Hon Minister for Finance to explain to them. Mr Speaker, when they have such positive ratings, they do not speak to them but they want to create confusion in the minds of people.

Mr Speaker, students are listening to us, but we do not want them to know that with the NDC's eight years in office — the NDC claimed that it was virtually impossible to restore Nursing and Teacher Trainee Allowances let alone the free SHS. Today, this has been done and we are being told that our ratings are better,

but would Hon Adongo talk about incompetence? Mr Speaker, it better suits his administration because this external examiner who marked them (B-), upon which we told them that they were incompetent, had marked us (B). Therefore, in comparative terms, between them and us, we are more competent.

Mr Speaker, it is important to conclude by talking about the issue of debt to GDP. When there are facts we should give space to those facts and not partisan political interests. We would not achieve any credibility if we do that -- Mr Speaker, they had eight years, and we are talking about debts, but they should pay attention to Table 2.1 on page 19. Mr Speaker, they should open the report and stop looking into my face. Mr Speaker, they do not even have the report and until they open the Report, I would not move on because they have to open the Report and pay attention; this is not propaganda. Mr Speaker, Hon Adongo should stop using his mobile phone and read.

Mr Speaker, the Report says that in 2016 the debt to GDP ratio was 56.8 per cent. Even at a rebasing now, it is 54.7 per cent and so, is Hon Adongo claiming that this fact is inaccurate? Is Hon Ato Forson whom

I respect so much, and who had the honour of being a former Hon Deputy Minister, saying that this is not correct? Mr Speaker, they have not read.

Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon John Jinapor.
Mr John A. Jinapor (NDC -- Yapei-Kusawgu) 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
First and foremost, I want to make it clear that the Hon Minister for Finance is under obligation, in accordance with section 72 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), to submit this report to Parliament. So, it is not as if the Hon Minister for Finance has done us any good or any favour.
This whole idea of the Hon Minister for Finance should be commended for trying to do this or that is neither here nor there. In fact, in the interest of accountability, transparency and probity, this Act was passed and promulgated under His Excellency John Dramani Mahama and that is why we are doing this.
Markin, went on to attack Hon Adongo and the Hon Ranking Member and he has stated that they should apprise themselves of the facts. Mr Speaker, rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Member?
Mr Afenyo-Markin 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with respect, because I am not an economist, I read the Report and I quoted from it. If he uses the expression that I ‘attacked' then I would take serious exception to that.
Mr Speaker, I want him to withdraw and apologise. He is my junior in Parliament and he wants to misquote me. He should withdraw and apologise.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Member, ‘attacked' is not appropriate. If there was an attack I would have --
Mr Jinapor 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, he made very unpalatable comments about them and he indicated that --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Member, I was here. If any of his
comments were unpalatable I would have ruled him out of order.
Mr Jinapor 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I withdraw.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader?
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
I have noted your guided ruling on the objection raised by the Hon Member. Mr Speaker, but while the Hon Member was making his submission on the importance of public debts which matters to the Ghanaian public because they all owe, somehow, he castigated the integrity of Hon Ato Forson and virtually described him as being dishonest. Mr Speaker, that was objectionable so let us play to the rule. Let us respect each other. [Interrup-tion] He virtually called him dishonest when he was talking about nominal figures.
Mr Speaker, so what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 12:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we are all in this House and what my Hon Colleague said and which may perhaps not be agreeable to the Hon Minority Leader was not that the Hon Member was dishonest. My Hon Colleague said that the path that he elected amounted to some mischief. Mr Speaker, the word he used was ‘mischief ' and not ‘dishonesty'. He never used that word and this is for the purpose of the records.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:50 p.m.
Very well.
Hon Members, Hon Ato Forson raised an objection, I heard him and I ruled that the Hon Member should move away from comparing what happens here and what has been said on radio. I actually directed him and so let us play by the rules.
Hon Jinapor, you would now start at 12.58 p.m.
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
As I said, Hon Afenyo-Markin quoted figures to support his argument, and he said that the debt to GDP ratio is reduced from 56.8
per cent to 54.7 per cent. Mr Speaker, but I would refer to page 10 of the Hon Chairman's Report and with your permission it says that;
“2016 debt to GDP 56.8, 2017 was 55.6 and in 2018 it increased to 57.9.”
Mr Speaker, these are the facts and Hon Afenyo-Markin has not apprised himself of the facts; he has not read it yet, he keeps churning out figures that are inaccurate. Mr Speaker, this is a House of records he might be here for eight years or six years, but a fact still remains a fact and when an Hon Member of Parliament who has been here for less than four years speaks the facts and an Hon Member who has been here for eight years speaks inaccuracies and peddles falsehood, that falsehood cannot stand just because the latter has been here for eight years.
Mr Speaker, we should learn to read documents before we get up and make comments that are unsub- stantiated. I would move on and say that despite all the claims and comments, our debt moved from GH¢120 billion to GH¢173 billion at the end of 2018. Mr Speaker, I think that we should settle this matter because this is a House of record and we cannot have the Hon Minister for Finance telling us that our debt was GH¢122 billion at the end of 2016 while the Auditor-General would also

say that it is GH¢120 billion. Mr Speaker, it was debated on this Floor and so we must settle this matter. Is the debt GH¢120 billion or GH¢122 billion because we cannot keep two figures in this Chamber? I think that it is important for us to settle this matter once and for all so that we could deal with the figures.

Mr Speaker, the other comments that have been made is that some commitments were inherited.

We inherited some commitments. Mr Speaker, in Public Finance, when we talk of Public Debt, we are referring to disbursed loans. If Parliament approves a loan, it does not automatically become part of the Public Debt, so if they stand here and say that the loans are rising because of loans that former President Mahama contracted, it is neither here nor there.

It is their duty to manage the debts and ensure that we do what is proper and right. What is the end result? Despite their so-called profiling and restructuring, the fact still remains that the Public Debt has risen to GH¢173 billion, and if you compare the 2016 figure, even as a percentage of GDP, to their figure, the 2016 figure is better
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I do not really want to interrupt Hon Members when they are on their feet, but the Hon Member has made a Statement. He says GDP growth rate is witnessing some negative growth -- [Interruption]
[Inaudible]
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1 p.m.
Yes, that is what he just said. If it is a slip, he should admit it, but that is what he just said.
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if our growth rate reduces, the rate of growth is negative. Let me make this clear. If we grow from 10 per cent to 15 per cent, it means that there is a 50 per cent increment. If from that 15 per cent, we go to just 17 per cent, we might be growing, but we are growing at a decreasing rate, and once
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hold on, I will save you time.
Dr A. A .Osei 1 p.m.
On a point of order. Mr Speaker, this is a House of record. It is important that when we speak, people do not think that we do not know what we are talking about.
He was on a very good path until he made that statement. I think the proper thing to do is there, and that is not what he meant to say. GDP growth rate is not negative unless we are in a recession. We are not in a recession, so I think that he inadvertently said that.
Mr Speaker, there are students here. We do not want them to go and say Ghana has a negative GDP growth. I suspect that is not what he meant to say, but I think he should just correct himself and not repeat that the GDP growth rate is negative.
Hon Ato Forson who was a Deputy Finance Minister knows better. He should teach him.
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is a House of record, and I would like to make it abundantly clear that I never said that the GDP growth rate is growing at a negative. What I said was that, when you take the various growth rates, they are decreasing. If this is what makes him happy, I would still make my point.
In line with section 23 of the Public Financial Management Act, the sinking fund -- [Interruptions] --
rose
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is deliberate.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, nothing is deliberate. The Hon Member must know that he is not entitled to his own set of truths; he is not. He should speak to the truth. If it is a slip, he should admit it and go on, but by his kind of “huhudious” analysis, is he telling Ghanaians that since 2011 when they grew the economy at 14 per cent, the subsequent GDP growth rates were
all negative? Is that his understanding of the economics of GDP growth rate?
That is not what he intended to say, and that is why I am saying that he should just correct it and move on. He is not entitled to his own set of facts.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon Member, I thought the positon was clarified.
Hon Members, my ruling was that we should restrict ourselves to the known reporting language; rate of growth may slow down and so on. Negative growth is not known to this House. That is why I said just stay within the known and accepted language, please.
I believe that should be sufficient.
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if today I get four and then next time I get three, if you strike the average, it is negative 11 per cent. You can check it, I stand by that --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon Member, I have ruled you out. Please proceed.
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, fine, if you say so, but that is a fact. It is decreasing.
Mr Speaker, it is obvious that this Government is one of the luckiest governments in the history of this country, and I would prove that.
In 2016, total oil revenues amounted to GH¢600 million. In 2017, this Government accrued oil revenues of GH¢1.5 billion. In 2018, it increased to GH¢4 billion. It means that comparatively, between 2016 and 2018, they are getting almost ten times what we got in 2016.
Mr Speaker, the question is, what have they used these moneys for? This is a Government that is almost three years old. Have they been able to build even one hospital? Have they been able to build even one clinic? Have they been able to construct even one school? Have they been able to construct even one road?
Mr Jinapor 1 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this Government will go down in history, the Akufo-Addo led Administration would go down in history -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1 p.m.
Hon Member, I heard you complaining when they intervened, that it was deliberate, but when you say things which are not correct, they would intervene.
When you ask whether they have been able to build one hospital and so on, those are factors which must be verifiable. I am sure every Hon Member would have one thing or the other in their constituency, so avoid this controversy and make your point.
Mr Jinapor 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I only asked a question. I did not say they have not built one hospital or school. I am asking Ghanaians, that despite the huge borrowing and the oil revenue that has accrued to them, have they seen a hospital in their constituency? Have they seen a school in their constituency? Have they seen any road construction in their costituency?
Some Hon Members 1:10 a.m.
No!
Mr Jinapor 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the people of Ghana are the best judges in this subject. They would tell whether this Government has done anything in terms of infrastructure.
Mr Speaker, the Budget Statement presented by the Hon Ken Ofori - Atta, and not myself, indicates that in 2018 this Administration spent less than 30 per cent of what our Administration spent on capital projects. The Hon Minister for Finance stated that, not me. So, there is clear evidence to point that they borrow and get money, but do not use
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy Minister for Finance?
Deputy Minister for Finance (Mr Charles Adu Boahen): Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to address some of the misconceptions around the banking sector and the way in which we should treat the debt that we have had to incur to resolve the issues in the banking sector.
Mr Speaker, I have noticed that there were some arguments by the other Side of the House that they thought should have been factored into our debt, and for that matter, they say that we provide misleading figures by not including them when we factor or determine our deficit.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Minister, please hold on.
Yes, Hon Adongo?
Mr Isaac Adongo 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is just a point of correction.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister is aware that we are debating the 2018 Annual Debt Report, and in 2018, the Ministry of Finance violated the Zero Financing Agreement by the Bank of Ghana, lending on the clean-up of the banking sector.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order.
Yes, Hon Minister, continue.
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, by the end of 2016, some of these banks had been issued with fake licences based on equity capital that was non- existent. So, we had a situation where the NDC Government under John Mahama had also issued loans under poor credit situations and so we had a situation where the banking sector was in a dire state.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Minister, please hold on.
Yes, Hon Ato Forson?
Mr Ato Forson 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is the House of Ghana's Parliament, and it is important that we do not use certain words.
Mr Speaker, I heard the Hon Deputy Minister say that the Bank of Ghana issued fake licences to certain banks. It is important that he provides the details, other than that, we cannot accept his use of the phrase “fake licences,” because it is a dangerous phrase.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Minister, licences issued by the Bank of Ghana cannot be fake so kindly withdraw that and replace it.
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, what I meant to say was that they were fake by the fact that they were revoked. [Interruption.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Members, please!
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, they were fake in essence of the fact that they were revoked by the Bank of Ghana. So, they should never have been issued in the first place because
-- 1:10 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Minister, they were not fake, but they were obtained by a means other than the legitimate means. However, they were not fake.
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, “they were revoked”. That is the accurate phrase. This was because the licences were obtained under false pretences by the provision of a capital that was not really an equity capital, which was found out later to be debt.
Mr Speaker, given all these conditions and situations, we inherited a situation that was dire and that had systemic implications. Therefore we had no choice but to step in and revoke the licences of these banks and also create a consolidated Bank of Ghana to provide and save deposi- tors. Through this exercise, we
managed to save a total number of 1,147 million Ghanaian depositors. These were Ghanaians that owned businesses, and these were our grandmothers in our villages, whose deposits were at risk.
Mr Speaker, we also cleared arrears to the contractors, which was part of the causes of the banks struggle because they had been provided with all these loans. We paid the energy sector cost through the issuance of Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) bonds and we have taken steps to clean up the sector. Through our intervention, we now have a financial sector that is healthy and on track.
Mr Speaker, yes, we have incurred an additional debt to do so, but we believe that this debt should not be calculated or added to our debt stock due to the fact that it was to address an emergency situation, which is considered to be an exceptional occurrence. I therefore believe that when we look at our debt situation today, we should do so without these additional debts that were purposely contracted to bail out the financial sector and to protect depositors.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Yes, Hon Agbodza?
Mr Agbodza 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, our Hon Colleague, the Hon Deputy Minister just said that the Government cleared the arrears of contractors. I would understand him if he said that they had paid part of the arrears. However, we know as a fact that contractors are owed huge sums as of today. So, he should correct himself that Government did not clear the arrears of contractors. Contractors are watching us. The State knows that it owes contractors a lot, so he should correct himself.
1. 20 p. m.
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I said that we have cleared arrears, but I did not say that we have cleared the total arrears or all the arrears.

Mr Speaker, through our inter- vention, we have saved depositors of over one million Ghanaians, who otherwise would have lost their life time savings. We believe that we have now fixed the financial sector and put it on a path where it could play the role it plays in society by providing credits for businesses and Ghanaians to be able to drive industry and create the jobs that are required going forward.
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.


Mr Speaker, we inherited a financial services sector that was on its knees and was not playing the part it was expected to play in society or should have played as the corner stone of the provider of credit. And by fixing it and going in and cleaning it up, we have revived the industry and put it on a path where it could support the development of industry and the creation of jobs for all Ghanaians.

Mr Speaker, I also would like to address the point that was made by my Hon Colleague about capital expenditure and the fact that we have not spent as much in terms of capital expenditure as they did. We believe that in nominal terms, the amounts might not be the same, however, the impact has been a lot more. And that could be seen in the GDP growth that has been witnessed within the last two years.

In 2017, we had a GDP growth of 8.1 per cent; in 2018, we had a GDP growth of 6.3 per cent. Never in the last four years before 2016 did we see that kind of GDP growth despite the capital expenditure that they claim to have made.

Mr Speaker, there is a direct correlation between the capital expenditure and the GDP growth. Otherwise, then, we are not spending
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Deputy Minister, you have one minute more.
Mr Adu Boahen 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on that note, I would like to conclude by commending my Hon Colleagues at the Ministry of Finance on the country's debt and the way we have managed to bring the debt to GDP down over the last two years. We have also managed to bring down the average interest rate cost which means that the portion of our revenue that we use to service our debts has declined freeing up more money for other uses.
Mr Speaker, I would like to say a big thank you for the opportunity.
Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Chairman, I was going to give you the opportunity to wind up, if you wish, before I come to the Leadership but it appears you were not keen.
Very well, I hear you.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have heard Hon Colleagues on the other Side say, first, Hon Isaac Adongo said the NPP had nothing to
show for the moneys borrowed. Again, the Hon John Jinapor -- [Interruption] --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Yes, Hon Minority Leader, do you have any objection?
Mr Iddrisu 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the merrier, the better. After him, I would compare the numbers, and on my Side, some other person would speak. This is because he submitted the Report and per our Standing Orders, he is going to speak twice on the same Motion. I am just looking at the Standing Orders and I may respectfully refer you to the appropriate Standing Orders.
But Mr Speaker, if it so pleases you that he contributes, I just hope that there would be parity. This is just to draw your attention. But I would like to sit down and quote the particular Standing Order that says that a Member cannot speak twice on the same Motion. It is respected by our rules.
Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, the Hon Minority Leader is raising objection to allowing the Hon Chairman to react. I would like to hear you before making a ruling.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if I get you right, you are saying that an objection has been raised against the Hon Chairman of the Committee speaking twice.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Yes.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, Standing Order 86 (4)(c) allows the Hon Member to speak. In this case, as the Hon Chairman, he presented a Report on behalf of the Committee. So, who says that as an Hon Member, he cannot speak to the issue? -- Hon Adongo, I don't want to react to you because you decided to use colloquial language. [Inter- ruption.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:10 a.m.
Hon Majority Leader, please address me. Otherwise, you would be out of order.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am saying that an Hon Member, in this particular case, an Hon Chairman -- and I thought you asked him if he has any observations on the issues raised? So Mr Speaker, as an ordinary Member of this House, he could speak as detached from Committee. He could do that, and Mr Speaker, I relate to Standing Order 86 (4), and indeed, even 86
(5).
Mr Iddrisu 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader has quoted Standing
Order 86 but if he could be more specific, Order 86 (4) and (5) -- [Interruptions] -- You quoted 86 and I would like to be more specific to aid Mr Speaker in ruling— So, 86(4)(c) says:
“No Member shall speak more than once to any Question except -- (c) in the case of the mover of a substantive motion wishing to reply . . .”
So he moved, what does —
And Standing Order 86(5):
“A Member who has spoken to a Question may again be heard for the purpose of explaining some material part of his speech which has been misunder- stood…”
Unless he has something that was misunderstood as mover of the Motion.
But Mr Speaker, we are all good as long as you accommodate him; we are counting how many people spoke. If you apply same and we speak, we are good. At least, I was going to yield but it means I would have the opportunity to conclude.
Thank you.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:10 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Chairs have been very liberal and charitable in application of the order of speaking in this House. But we do know that when it comes to representation, it is ‘us' according to the strength of the caucus. Dearest Hon Minority Leader, you do know that.
I would rest my case.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Members, I think the question is adequately answered by Standing Order 86(4)(c) and it is clear that if a mover of a substantive Motion wishes to reply --
That is why I asked him if he wanted to reply and I said because he was not paying attention, I was minded to withdraw that. At the time he moved the Motion, it is assumed that he was speaking on behalf of the entire Committee. So, if he wishes to reply, I would give him the oppor- tunity.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, as a matter of fact, that is why I drew your attention to comments made by Hon Isaac Adongo, that we have nothing to show for money borrowed. Hon Jinapor also asked about what we have used the money for. It is
not for nothing that the Hon Chairman attached an Appendix of the list of loans signed in 2018 to the Report.
We have heard this refrain over and over asking for what we borrowed. They should avert their minds to the Appendix which contains a list of the loans such as those for the rehabilita- tion of selected hospitals in the Eastern Region such as Mampong, Atibie, Aburi and Kibi; the rehabilitation of the Bekwai Hospital; the upgrading of polytechnics, technical and vocational training centres; Obetsebi Lamptey Drainage Network and Interchange; development of Tamale Airport terminal building and related
-- 1:30 a.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Member, the Report is available, we have seen it and it is just enough that you have --
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we hear this question every now and then asking about what we have borrowed for? Please indulge me so that Ghanaians would know what we have borrowed the money for. It is not everybody here who has the Report and I wanted to go through it all. This is just the list of loans signed in 2018, so that nobody goes on radio again to ask what there is to show. I want to show them what the borrowed money has been used for.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Ato Forson, where has he gone wrong?
Mr Forson 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is a House of record. The Annual Public Debt Report, threw out a debt figure number of about US$173 billion. This amount, as we have here, does not mean it is part of the Annual Debt Report. [Interruption].
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
So, what is the --
Mr Forson 1:30 a.m.
It is not.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order. You have drawn our attention and if anybody wants a copy, they can get one. Please proceed.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Upper East Water Supply Project is for the construction of water intake, treatment plant, pumping station and a water reservoir for the benefit of Bolgatanga, Zuarungu, Navrongo, Paga and Bongo. The Ghana
Transport Sector improvement is to reduce travel time on selected parts of the road network in northern Ghana. There is also the Ghana Commercial Agricultural Project.
Mr Speaker, these are just for 2018 and we intentionally attached this list to the Report. So, they should not go about on radio asking what the money has been used for. This is the list of projects that we are using the money for. Strange enough, none of it is coming to Koforidua thus far. It is either northern Ghana, that is Navrongo, Bolgatanga or Paga. That is where all the monies are going.
Mr Isaac Adongo 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman is misleading the House. As an appendix to this Report, Appendix 3 talks about a list of outstanding external loans as at the end of 2018. These are loans that would be drawn down in future and are not part of this debt. So, he cannot just extract them because when you go to Navrongo now, you would not see a water system. Does he want me to take him to Navrongo tomorrow, so he would show me the water system? There is nothing there.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Kwame Agbodza, can you confirm whether the money that has been taken for the Bekwai Hospital is in use and the project ongoing? It was
approved while I was sitting in the Chamber as a Member. You are the consultant.
Mr Agbodza 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this is an existing project, not a new project and its drawdown is in the process.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
So, have we borrowed for the Bekwai Hospital?
Mr Agbodza 1:30 a.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
That is all I want us to confirm, so he is not out of order. Hon Member, please continue and conclude.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
Hon Members should refer to page 72 of the Report which is a list of loans signed in 2018. [Interruption.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Member, address me and proceed.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, included in this list is the Bekwai Hospital. I do not want to draw you into the debate but is the Bekwai Hospital seeing some construction? It is. Hon O. B. Amoah is here and he could attest to that of the Aburi Hospital -- That is why I said that we cannot find Koforidua anywhere
on the list because I would attest to the fact that work was ongoing there.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Members, please, I am not listening to any more. The Report is done, the debate is concluded, he is responding and after that, I would hear the Hon Leaders. That is it, please.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Programme would streng- then local systems and focus on Municipal Assemblies by providing them with incentives to improve their performance as city managers. The Savannah Zone Agricultural Produc- tivity Improvement Project aims at transforming agricultural value chains for food and nutrition security in the northern savannah zone. [Interrup- tion.]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Order; Order.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 1:30 a.m.
I would list all of them. The Tourism Development Project would help improve the

performance of tourism in targeted destinations including the Mole Park, the Kintampo Water Falls and Boti Falls.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:30 a.m.
Hon Minority Leader?
Mr Iddrisu 1:30 a.m.
Mr Speaker, with your indulgence, I would yield to Hon Fifi Kwetey to conclude on behalf of this Side.
Mr Fifi Fiavi Franklin Kwetey (NDC-- Ketu South) 1:40 p.m.
Mr Speaker, let me start by saying that ordinarily, this very heated debate would have been unnecessary if our friends on the other Side were not guilty of typical inconsistency and double-standards. That is unfortunately the reason why there is so much heat and debate going on.
As a country, and not just Ghana but all over Africa and the developing world, there is an understanding that debt per se is not the problem. It is what the money is used for and how sustainable it is that is the issue. Unfortunately, our friends on the other Side have constantly demonised debts any time they found themselves on the other Side. They did the same thing when Dr Kwame Nkrumah was
borrowing, and he told them that what they call debt is nothing but invest- ment. So Dr Kwame Nkrumah pointed to them the Akosombo Dam, Tema Motorway, Tema Harbour and so many projects, but they would still not relent. They kept shouting ‘debt!'.
In the same way, when NDC came into office and they were in opposition, nothing was heard in this country except opipipiipiii, to wit, millions everywhere you pass in order to create the impression that debt stock per se, was a problem. If they do that, especially led by the head of their economic management team, Dr Bawumia who actually stated that Ex-President Mahama had reduced governance to borrowing — This means that, there is a problem with borrowing -- because governance could not be the same as borrowing.
Mr Speaker, in the eight years of the NDC, the debt stock moved from 9.5 billion to GH¢120 billion and they created the impression that this amounted to a crime that was committed in this country. Today, we are told we took the debt from GH¢9.5 to GH¢120 billion which means that on a yearly basis we accumulated about 14 billion. But in a space of two years and three months, they have taken that same debt stock from GH¢120 billion -- it means that about GH¢110 billion
in eight years -- which would give a difference of about GH¢10.4 billion.
Mr Speaker, today, within a space of about two years and three months, theirs have been taken from GH¢120 billion to almost GH¢200 billion. If you divide it by annual basis what it means is that we are looking at about GH¢27 billion a year whereas we talked about 14 billion.
Mr Speaker, these are the same people who demonised debt but when they are reminded, they want the country to understand how debt is supposed to be calculated.
Did they not know how it was supposed to be calculated when the Vice President said that NDC in seven years has taken Ghana's debt from GH¢9.5 billion to an equivalent of US$37 billion of borrowing? Why are they changing the narratives today?
The country knows that where we met the debt stock and where we finished with the debt stock is the total debt stock. But today, they want to tell us that it is because of the cedi depreciation that is why the debt stock has gone up. Why?
Not long ago, they had been boasting of how they had been competent managers of this economy and how they had been able to
stabilise the currency. Today, why are they today, trying to use that same currency as an excuse? If they weild such mastery as far as the management of the cedi is concerned, why would they use it as a justification for the debt stock today? That could only amount to double talk.
Mr Speaker, it is important for us to appreciate that it is not just the quantum of the debt that is the issue. Far more worrying is the fact that under the leadership of our friends, they have decided to do much more consumption than development expenditure which is more tragic. They said when they were in Opposition that the problem of this country was the fact that reckless borrowing created an issue such that infrastructure suffered because vital resources were devoted to the servicing of debt.
Now, they have reduced capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP from where they met it at 4.5 per cent and taken it all the way down to below two per cent. That actually is mortgaging the very future economic expansion of this country and do they expect the country to applaud? It is definitely no.
Mr Speaker, it is also important for us to appreciate that our Hon Members from the other Side of the
Mr Fifi Fiavi Franklin Kwetey (NDC-- Ketu South) 1:40 p.m.


aisle have sought to justify -- Hon Oppong-Nkrumah said that the debt accumulation has seen some reduction. For his information, this is not the first time we have seen the reduction of the debt accumulation.

In 2014, the debt accumulation reduced by 24 per cent; in 2015, it reduced further by four per cent. So, it is not the first time in the history of this country that we have seen deceleration as far as the debt accumulation is concerned. So, for him to create the impression that it is because of some mastery that they have managed the economy that is why we are seeing a reduction as far as debt accumulation is concerned is simply misleading the people of Ghana.

Mr Speaker, it is important also, to address this whole issue about disbursement of loans. The fact is that it is actually because of disbursement of loans that were borrowed earlier that is why the debt stock has gone up.

This would not be the first time this has happened. When the NDC took office in 2009, we used moneys that had been borrowed by the previous Kufuor led government to be able to finish the Bui Dam. Those were loans that had been borrowed before we came to power and it was
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (NPP -- Suame) 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity to make some brief remarks about the Report of the Finance Committee on the Annual Public Debt Management Report for the 2018 financial year.
Mr Speaker, I would want to just begin from where my Hon Friend, Hon Fifi Kwetey, left off. He elected to concentrate on the debt stock; what we met and where it has gone to -- GH¢122 billion to GH¢173 billion. He is particular. He says it is GH¢120 billion and not GH¢122 billion, yet in the face of the fact that the provisional figure for 2018 is GH¢173 billion, he elects to say that it is about GH¢200 billion. We should be careful here.
Mr Speaker, but if we elect to go on that trajectory, in 2001, the debt stock as met by former President Kufuor was GH¢9.5 billion. At the close of 2008, how much was it? It was GH¢9.6 billion. When we
inherited GH¢9.5 billion and we were leaving, within eight years, it had gone to GH¢122 billion. It means that on the average, every year, they increased the debt stock of this country by close to 120 per cent. [Interruption.] That is what it is.
Mr Speaker, I am just applying myself to the Report of the Committee. The Committee dealt with nominal figures and percentages. If we go on that path, every year, on the average, the debt stock accumulation is in the region of 120 per cent.
Mr Speaker, two years on, in the face of propaganda, from GH¢122 billion to GH¢173 billion, it has increased by about GH¢51 billion. It means that in percentage terms, the two-year period is 41 per cent; so on the average, it is 20.5 per cent. When they escalated the debt by 120 per cent every year, they now have cause to lament because it is growing by 20 per cent. My goodness! He is supposed to be an economist. [Interruption.] Let us deal with it.
Mr Speaker, he tells me that we should deal with the real figures. Yes, the real figures would indicate to us that for the two-year period, the borrowing is about US$3.5 billion. [Interruption.] for 2017 -- 2018;
out of that, US$830 million was used to reduce the 2022 Eurobond facility taken by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2016. The US$94.6 million was used to fully redeem the 2016 domestic bonds issued in dollar terms, and the total coming to US$4.4 billion. They could check page 46 of the Report that they are holding.
Mr Speaker, the rest have been used for the following, and he is asking us what we have done with it. How much has been spent on the Eastern University? US$78 million. Sanitation in Accra, Kumasi Airport, Kumasi Interchange --
Mr Speaker, all these are there, unless we elect not to confront the truth in the book that they are holding. So, when he turns around to ask what we have done with it, it is in the book that he is holding. So, let us be truthful to ourselves.
Mr Speaker, people are talking about the rebasing of the economy, which has translated into the figures that we are using. Who says this is the first time we rebased the economy? In 2009, they rebased the economy. So, what are they saying? What is the big deal in rebasing?
Mr Speaker, the former Hon Deputy Minister for Finance said that there is a chance that Ghana would
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, please, address me.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, people should be truthful to themselves.
Mr Speaker, interest rates have reduced from 35 per cent to the region of 24 to 25 per cent as we speak. [Interruption.] -- You reduced interest rate more; where? If you are debating people who decide to engage in “voodoo economics”, that is where we find ourselves.
Where did they decrease interest rates more? At the time, they were leaving -- [Interruption.] -- You were in charge; if you were in charge,
no wonder we found ourselves where we found ourselves.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, can you address me and stop the interventions you are engaged in?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:50 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with the exchange rate depreciation, they left us a depreciation of the currency by over 227 per cent within a span of eight years. So, when we speak, people who engage in hysteria should have the patience to listen.
Mr Speaker, debt stock, interest rates, ECOWAS convergence criteria -- They were the poorest managers of this country.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Members, order.
As much as possible, Hon Majority Leader, please, I refuse to accept any interventions when the adopted leader was on his feet. I
deliberately ignored any attempt to intercede. I am doing the same, but the Hon Majority Leader should cease engaging in banters with the front bench of the Minority.
Please, address me.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:50 p.m.
I thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The management of the economy should translate into GDP growth rate.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:50 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, one moment.
Hon Members, having regard to the state of the Business of the House, I direct that the House Sits outside the regular Sitting Hours.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I was saying, by way of winding up, that the management of the economy should translate into the GDP growth rate which is much more favourable than they left it in terms of interest rate; inflation; exchange rate depreciation and the gross interna- tional reserves. Every single criterion that we use to measure the economy, this administration has done colossally better.
All these will translate into investments which will generate into productivity and production and will certainly reflect in the living conditions of the people. The people will show appreciation for what you are able to do.
Mr Speaker, this is a new regime that is trying to leverage development so that all of us -- It is not a “create, loot and share situation”, but that all of us will benefit and we shall be in praise for the Akufo-Addo led administration for what he has done. Are they saying that we will be going away? [Laughter] -- God should help me to resist this temptation of responding to them because it is much ado about nothing.

Question put and Motion agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, what next?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the next thing to do is to appeal to my Hon Colleagues who
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 p.m.


have been assisting in the winnowing process for the Vigilantism and Related Offences Bill that we move from here to the known place to continue with the efforts.

Mr Speaker, the time reading about five minutes after 2.00 p.m., you may suo motu adjourn proceedings until tomorrow, 10 o'clock in the forenoon. Thank you very much.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Yes, available Minority Leader?
Alhaji I.A.B. Fuseini 2 p.m.
Mr Speaker, having listened to the debates on the public debts, one can only hope that we adjourn now so that we will go and mull over what has been said in this House, especially, since we are in very interesting times.
Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Yes Hon Leader? There are people behind you wanting to arrest the Motion for adjournment but I am ignoring them.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 2 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as I said, you are not obliged to entertain any Motion; but for people who are dressed in white, in a very triumphant mood to say that
they are mourning, do not believe them. [Laughter] --
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, I know for sure that Muslims mourn in white.
Hon Member, would you want to confirm that?
Alhaji I.A.B. Fuseini 2 p.m.
Mr Speaker, Muslims do not mourn in any particular colour as whatever we wear to mourn the dead is acceptable to God. However, I did not say, ‘mourn'; I said, ‘mull' meaning, to chew on the words.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 2 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader said, it being five minutes to two o'clock, or five minutes past two o'clock, At the time --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2 p.m.
Hon Members, the House is adjourned till tomorrow, Thursday, 10 o'clock in the forenoon.
ADJOURNMENT 2 p.m.