Debates of 10 Dec 2019

MR SPEAKER
PRAYERS 11:08 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Monday, 9th December, 2019.
Page 1, 2 … 6
Mr Mumuni Alhassan 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, yesterday I was here but I have been marked absent.
Alhaji Bashir F. Alhassan 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, yesterday, I was present but I have also been marked absent.
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
It is noted. Thank you very much.
Page 7, 8 … 10
Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am most grateful.
Mr Speaker, on page 9, item numbered 8, the name of the Hon Member for Evalue Ajomoro Gwira, “Mrs Catherine Abelema Afeku” has been captured wrongly. The name is “Abelema”. There should not be an ‘n'.
Mr Speaker, still on item numbered 8, the last line on the Statement she read, it is captured “worring phenomenon”. The Table Office should kindly advert their minds to the spelling of the word “worring”. (worrying).
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Hon Members, page 10 -
Mr Samuel Nartey George 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, sorry to take you back. On page 8, I was marked absent but yesterday, I was present. I came in briefly and went to the meeting of the Committee on Communications as we took our Budget Estimates yesterday.
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Page 10 …19
Hon Members, the Votes and Proceedi ngs of Monday, 9 th December, 2019 as corrected is hereby accepted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, we move to item listed 3 -- Statement by Hon
Okudzeto Ablakwa on “International Human Rights Day”.
rose
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Sorry, Hon Minority Leader.
Mr Iddrisu 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for admitting the Statement, but I may have to indulge you, that after making the Statement our Standing Orders will require that he sits through for comments from Hon Members on the Statement.
The Appointments Committee is sitting and will require him and the Hon Atta Akyea to be there. So, after the Statement, he may be granted further excuse so that he will recline to the Appointments Committee for us to continue with proceedings. All other Hon Members of the Appointments Committee, let us proceed to the Committee. We gave 11.00 a.m. to support the Hon First Deputy Speaker to conduct the vetting of the Supreme Court Judges.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Thank you very much.
STATEMENTS 10:58 a.m.
Mr Samuel O. Ablakwa (NDC -- Tongu) 10:58 a.m.
Rt Hon Speaker, I rise to make this Statement in commemoration of International Human Rights Day which is today, December 10. I would like to use this day to urge our Government and all stakeholders to work to actualise the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by seeking justice and compensation for the 44 Ghanaian migrants who were massacred in the Gambia in July,
2005.
Mr Speaker, as we know, the commemoration of Human Rights Day on December 10 each year followed the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, a declaration which has become the world standard for the respect, protection, and promotion of human rights.
Two years later, precisely on December 4, 1950, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 423 (V) urging Member States of the UN and non-state actors to adopt and commemorate December 10 each year as Human Rights Day. Ghana is a respected Member of the United
Mr Speaker 10:58 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Ablakwa.
Alhaji Bashir F. Alhassan (NDC -- Sagnarigu) 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement on what undoubtedly would pass as one of the most sordid episodes in the history of our Sub- region.
Mr Speaker, it is important to put this matter in the proper perspective. It is what is in the mouth that enables the one in the stomach to persist. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations (UN) in 1948 hold sacred the right to life, liberty and property. It stemmed from the unspeakable brutalities that emerged during and after the Second World War when millions of people across the world suffered from human right violations and brutalities meted out to them by Nazi Forces. So the world swore, that never again should
we have this opportunity given to those who wield power to visit mayhem and brutality on innocent and law abiding citizens.
Mr Speaker, it goes without saying that one life lost unjustifiably, especially if it is perpetrated through extra judicial killings is one too many.

To speak of 44 lives that were lost unjustifiably through extra judicial killings is something that a nation's conscience cannot take. And I would want to join the Hon Member who made the Statement, to call on our Government to renew the action of fresh investigations into the matter, especially as it has emerged that these were seen to have sprung from orders given by the higher authorities of the Gambia and prosecuted by men in uniform, as has been revealed at the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission of the Gambia.

Mr Speaker, it has been 10 years since the ECOWAS commissioned that investigation and a report was issued. What has become of that report? It is when men of conscience decide not to speak and get quiet that atrocities are given a lease of life to continue. Mr Speaker, as a sub- region which is committed to the integration of all nations within it, it
Minister for Works and Housing (Mr Samuel Atta Akyea) (MP) 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am glad that Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa is very much alive to very important issues on the calendar of the world.
International Human Rights Day is a very important day for the entire world. There have been ancient debates as to whether rights are conferred on men by society or they are intrinsic, and by reason of one being a human being, he has some entitlements of rights. These philosophical debates have gone on for a long time. We have come to a point in realising that by reason of somebody being a human being, there are some rights which are attached to his humanness.
Mr Speaker, if you pay regard to our 1992 Constitution, the highest law of the land, we have made it very clear. We have fundamental human rights and freedoms. Mr Speaker, it is very interesting that when we talk about something being fundamental, it means that it is that which one can never negotiate. If you take the rights of a human being from him, you have reduced the individual to an animal. So, what makes us human is that there are certain rights which we should enjoy, and it should not be at the behest of anybody wielding power or acting on his own whims and caprices.
Mr Speaker, I would like to read a few things from our 1992 Constitution to buttress the point that Ghana has moved on. If you go to article 12, under Chapter Five of the Constitution, some very important statements have been made on human
rights which with your permission I would like to read:
(1)The fundamental human rights and freedoms enshrined in this Chapter shall be respected and upheld by the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary and all the other organs of government and its agencies and, where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons in Ghana, and shall be enforceable by the Courts as provided for in this Constitution.
(2)Every person in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this Chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest.”
So, we have a right in article 13 -- protection of right to life. Article 14 deals with protection of personal liberty and article 15 talks about respect for human dignity. Mr Speaker, I believe that is a particular area that really excites me.
Mr Speaker, I beg to quote article 15(1) of the Constitution.
“The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.”
It shows when one has to be detained and even the rights that one has. Equality and freedom from discrimination is firmly provided for in article 17.
Article 18 deals with the protection of privacy of home and other property, while article 19 deals with fair trial. I believe Ghana has really moved on, and we have lifted human rights to the level of constitutional enforcement.
Mr Speaker, as I perused the Statement of my good Friend, I was somehow ashamed that we are not talking about 1948, the Second World War and the rest of it, but in recent times when we tout ECOWAS, Ghanaians could suffer such atrocious treatment from a fellow African country. Sometimes it is a mockery that we are retrogressing when one black man should give another a lousy and shabby treatment, those who maltreated and colonised us would laugh in their chambers, that we wanted freedom, but we should look at where we are.
So I add my voice, that this matter should not be left to rot in dossiers. If 44 Ghanaians go through what is
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Minister.
Ms Laadi Ayii Ayamba (NDC -- Pusiga) 11:08 a.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement ably made by my Hon Colleague, Hon Ablakwa.
Mr Speaker, from the Hon Member who made the Statement, it is clearly stated that this crime was committed not less than 14 years ago. Fortunately on our part, the 44 persons that were murdered, although not in Ghana and not with our knowledge, our people took it upon themselves and made sure that they followed the issue to the letter.
Mr Speaker, based on discussions on how to ensure that there is some level of justice, there were agreements. As the Hon Member who made the Statement said in paragraph 8, there was an agreement that any time there is sufficient evidence, there would be some prosecution of the perpetrators. Today, we have listened to the fact
that three persons who were directly involved have come out to openly confess that they were part of those who executed this heinous crime. It is left to us to follow the issue and make sure that these perpetrators are taken up and justice is delivered.
Mr Speaker, it is very painful that one of the first rights of every human being could simply be taken because someone feels that he or she wants to satisfy himself or herself. This is how I see what has happened because how could you simply kill somebody without any justification?
Mr Speaker, 44 individuals from Ghana were killed. We never heard anything until it came up that this was what happened. Today, families of those persons despite the fact that it is 14 years down the line, they would still be thinking of their lost relatives because some of them might be breadwinners of those families.
Mr Speaker, it is very important that we as representatives of those families; we as representatives of Ghanaians; and we as Ghanaians, should take this issue up and make sure that the perpetrators are brought to book.
Mr Speaker, while we talk about this issue, we should not forget about our internal justice and bring the
perpetrators to book. It is very painful as we sit here today, that we still have issues on hand as to what has happened to this particular case or what has happened to those perpetrators.
We have issues such as the murder of our own former Member of Parliament of this House. The issue is still in court and so I will not like to go on and on because of contempt of court; but what is happening? It has taken too long. He was a Member of Parliament for God's sake! If up till now a Member of Parliament was murdered and we cannot rise and say enough is enough, we want to hear what is happening or going on, then how do we even talk about people we do not even know? We know that they had the right to live and that we need to ensure that justice is delivered for them.
Mr Speaker, we need to take those issues very seriously. We have the issue of the murder of Maj Mahama, who was killed in a very nasty way; the country went silent. We have heard, listened, followed and read issues on social media; however, as we sit here as Members of Parliament, we cannot tell what has actually happened, where they have gotten to, or what they are doing to the murderers. If we are not able to get anybody, they should let us
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member.
Leadership, any contribution?
Mr A. Ibrahim 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, Leadership would like to yield to Hon George.
Mr Samuel Nartey George (NDC -- Ningo-Prampram) 11:08 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
I would like to congratulate the Hon Member who made the Statement, Hon Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for a very important Statement made on this day. And I believe that it is not by chance that the very individual in our country who was chosen in 2005 by the then President, John Agyekum Kufuor when this matter was raised by the then Hon Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, then, Hon John Dramani Mahama, to spearhead Government's investiga- tion into this matter. 14 years ago, later is the President of the Republic of Ghana today. It has gone full circle and has come back to his doorstep.
He is our President today and I believe that it is for a good reason that it is at this time which God has allowed this new information to come out so that he could complete that which he started, which is the investigation into this matter. This is because the understanding we had was that both Governments agreed that when new
information comes out, they would allow for the prosecution of this matter. We have found new infor- mation that men in active service in the Gambian Armed Forces carried out this extrajudicial killings.
Mr Speaker, I believe that we are at the mercy of your ruling and further directives, but I would humbly plead that as a State, we should not just seek to do another investigation with the Gambia, bearing in mind the previous bottlenecks we faced even though there might have been a change in Government there. The State must be able to advert its mind to other options available to us under the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, which includes making a case to the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja.
Mr Speaker, again, by another stroke of fate, for the first time since its set up in 2005, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the President today, is our own, His Lordship Justice Edward Amoako Asante. It is important that we begin to explore all options to seek justice for these 44 people. This is because the wheels of justice might grind slowly but they must definitely reach their destination, and I believe that we have it as a life- long responsibility to ensure that justice is served in this matter.
Mr Speaker, I side with all the comments that have been made by the venerable Hon Atta Akyea, Hon Ayamba, the Hon B. Fuseini Alhassan and say that we believe that given your own human rights credentials, as stated in the Hon Ablakwa's Statement, you would be the champion and lead the clarion call for fresh investigations into this matter for us to finally secure justice for these 44 Ghanaian sons and daughters who were brutally killed on the orders of one man without recourse or respect for fundamental human rights.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much.
Mr Speaker 11:08 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member.
Majority Leadership?
Mr Nyindam 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we would yield to Hon Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi.
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Yes, Hon Member?
Mr Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi (NPP -- Asante Akim North) 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I support all the calls for the State to endeavour to protect the lives of human beings and property. All the
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
The Statement is further referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parlia- mentary Affairs for careful study of the Statement and the contributions made by Hon Members, with special reference to the 44 Ghanaians killed in the Gambia. They should please report to the House, in view of the seriousness of the matter, before Parliament resumes. Hon Members, that brings us to the end of Statements.
The Hon Second Deputy Speaker would take the Chair at this Stage.
At the Commencement of Public Business, item numbered 4 Presentation of Papers.
Item numbered 4(a), Minister for Health?
Mr Nyindam 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, with your leave and the indulgence of the House, could the Hon Minister for Planning lay the Paper on behalf of the Hon Minister for Health?
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Hon Minister, you may please do so.
PAPERS 11:28 a.m.
-- 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Item numbered 4(b), Chairman of the Committee?
Mr Nyindam 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, item numbered 4(b) is not ready. Could we take item numbered 4(c)?
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Chairman of the Committee.
By the Chairman of the Committee
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Item numbered 4(d), Chairman of the Committee.
Mr Nyindam 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, could the Hon Vice Chairman lay the Paper on behalf of the Hon Chairman?
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Yes, you may proceed.
By the Vice Chairman of the Committee (Mr Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer) on behalf of the (Chairman of the Committee) --
Report of the Committee on Communications on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Communications for the year ending 31st December, 2020.
Mr Speaker 11:28 a.m.
Item numbered 4(e), Chairman of the Committee.
Mr Nyindam 11:28 a.m.
Mr Speaker, could the Hon Vice Chairman lay the Paper on behalf of the Hon Chairman?
By the Vice Chairman of the Committee (Mr Kwaku Ampra- twum-Sarpong) on behalf of the (Chairman of the Committee) --
Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for the year ending 31st December, 2020.
Mr Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Item numbered 4(f)?
Mr Nyindam 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, items numbered 4(f), (g), (h), (i), are all not ready. If we could take item numbered 4(j)?
Mr Speaker, an Hon Member of the Committee would lay the Report on behalf of the Hon Chairman.
By Mrs Abena Osei Asare on behalf of the (Chairman of the Committee on Youth and Sports)
-- 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Item numbered 4(k)?
Mr Nyindam 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, item numbered 4(k) is not ready. If we could take the Order Paper Addendum?
Mr Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Hon Members, Order Paper Addendum. You sent a list, but it has not reached me.
Mr Nyindam 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Finance is not here,
but he is represented by his Hon Deputy --
Mr Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Are you talking about Motion numbered 5? Are you talking about an Addendum?
Mr Nyindam 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, rightly so. If we could take the Order Paper Addendum.
Mr Speaker 11:38 a.m.
The Order Paper Addendum has just reached me.
Hon Members, item numbered 1(a) on the Order Paper Addendum by the Hon Minister for Finance.
Mr Nyindam 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister is here to lay the Paper on behalf of the Hon Minister.
By the Deputy Minister for Finance (Mrs Abena Osei-Asare) on behalf of the (Minister for Finance) --
Request for waiver of Import Duties, GETFund Levy, NHIL Levy, Import VAT, AU Levy, ECOWAS Levy, EXIM Levy, Withholding Tax, Special Import Levy and other domestic taxes including VAT, NHIL and GETFund Levy amounting to approximately two hundred and seventeen million, two hundred
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we are ready to lay the Papers from --
Mr Speaker 11:38 a.m.
Very well.
By the Chairman of the Committee
-- 11:38 a.m.
Mr Nyindam 11:38 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we will go to the original Order Paper and take the Motion numbered 6 on page 4 of the Order Papaer by the Hon Minister for Works and Housing.
11. 47 a.m. --
  • [MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER IN THE CHAIR.]
    • MINISTRY OF WORKS AND 11:38 a.m.
    HOUSING 11:38 a.m.
    Minister for Works and Housing (Mr Samuel Atta Akyea) 11:38 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House approves the sum of GH¢147,529,298 for the services of the Ministry of Works and Housing for the year ending 31st December,
    2020.
    Mr Speaker, the allocation to the Ministry as provided within the medium-term expenditure framework for the 2020 financial year is as follows -- compensation, GH¢14 million; goods and services, GH¢2 million; CAPS, GH¢120 million, Internally Generated FundS (IGF), GH¢364,785,000; development partners, GH¢10 million. The total is about GH¢147,529,298 million.
    Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Works and Housing has been set up
    Minister for Works and Housing (Mr Samuel Atta Akyea) 11:48 a.m.
    to deal with the ever increasing housing deficit in the country by providing secure, safe, decent and affordable housing for the people of Ghana; as well as to manage public landed properties, coastal protection works, operational hydrology and storm water drainage water systems for the country.
    As part of our core mandate for the year, the Ministry would undertake intensive capacity building programme for its staff to enable them drive the works and housing agenda of the economy.
    Mr Speaker, regarding human settlement, the Ministry, its Department and Agencies in this sector would continue to undertake programmes that are aimed at reducing the GH¢2 million housing deficit in the country. The Ministry will complete the affordable housing project at Saglemi, and what former President Kufuor constructed in the year 2006 in Koforidua, Wa and Tamale.
    The provision of accommodation for the security services remains high on the agenda.

    The third phase of the Security Services Housing Project for the Ghana Police Service is about 17 per cent complete, and would be continued. Mr Speaker, the work has stalled now because the contractor insists that certificates are to be paid. We are pushing very hard for the Hon Minister for Finance to honour this obligation.

    Mr Speaker, under the Redevelopment Programme, the six- unit townhouse under construction is expected to be allocated to public and civil servants early next year. Also, an additional redevelopment would commence at the Roman Ridge enclave, and would entail the construction of 444 mixed-use housing, comprising 198 four bedroom-executive townhouses and 246 three bedroom apartments.

    Mr Speaker, the Ministry would continue with the construction of the various coastal protection works at Adjoa, Amanfu Kumah, Dixcove and Axim in the Western Region; Dansoman in the Greater Accra Region; and Elimina, Anomabu, Komenda and Cape Coast in the Central Region. The Sea Defence Projects would also commence in Ningo-Prampram. I wish to state that

    the President cut the sod for the commencement of the Ningo- Prampram Sea Defence Project a couple of days ago. Aboadze phase II in the Greater Accra and Western Regions respectively.

    In the area of drainage, improvement works to mitigate disaster associated with flooding in the various parts of the country shall be executed. This would include channel widening, opening and desilting works in major flood prone areas of major cities and towns including: Accra; Kasoa; Agbogba; Tema; Dawhenya; Ashongman; Frafraha; Oblogo; Amrahia; New Gbawe; Ashaiman, Taifa; Teyeman; Sowutuom; Winneba;, Takoradi; Kumasi; Hohoe; Wenchi; Ho and Sekondi among others.

    Mr Speaker, the Ministry is an infrastructural ministry. We intend rolling out these programmes for the improvement of our people, and the expansion of our Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

    On this note, I humbly request that the House approves the sum of

    GH¢147,529,298.00.

    Question proposed.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Nana Amoakoh) 11:48 a.m.
    Mr Speaker,
    I beg to second the Motion that the Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Works and Housing involving an amount of GH¢147,529,298.00 be approved for the 2020 financial year. In so doing, I present the Report of the Committee.
    1.0 Introduction
    In accordance with article 179 of the Constitution and Standing Order 140(4) of the Standing orders of the House, the 2020 Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Works and Housing was referred to the Committee on Works and Housing. This followed the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the Financial Year ending 31st December, 2020 by the Hon Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori- Atta on Wednesday, 23rd October,
    2019.
    The Hon Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Atta-Akyea, his two Deputies, Mr Eugene Boakye Antwi and Ms Barbara Ayisi, and a technical team from the Ministry assisted the Committee with its deliberations. Officers from the Ministry of Finance were also at the meeting, and provided clarifications and explanations to the issues raised by the Committee.
    The Committee is grateful to the Hon Minister and the Deputy
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Nana Amoakoh) 11:48 a.m.


    The Ministry continued with the drainage improvement works to mitigate the disaster risks associated with flooding in various parts of the country. These projects included Sakaman Lot 1 and Goaso Lots 1 and 2, which are progressing steadily. The drainage works at Ejura Lot 2 and Tepa Lots 1 and 2 are 32 per cent, 100 per cent and 10 per cent complete respectively.

    In 2020, construction of various reinforced concrete drains will be undertaken in 62 communities across the country.

    4.2 Human Settlement and Development Programme

    Provision of accommodation for the Security Services remained high on the Government's priorities. In line with this, the phase III of the Security Services Housing Programme which is for the Ghana Police Service commenced. The project comprises 320 units located at the Ghana National Police Training School, Tesano. The overall progress of work stands at 17 per cent and will be continued in 2020.

    Also, the Government affordable Housing Project at Asokore- Mampong, Kumasi for 1,030 housing

    units is progressing steadily and is currently at 90 per cent completion. Similarly, the Kpone Affordable Housing Project handed over to Tema Development Corporation limited (TDCL) comprising 24 blocks which is to provide 321 units of apartments is 95 per cent complete, and will be ready for habitation early next year.

    In the year 2020, the Ministry will arrange for appropriate financing for the completion of the Wa, Tamale (Wamale) and Koforidua Affordable Housing Projects which commenced in 2006. In a similar vein, the Saglemi Housing Project would be continued after the conclusion of the value-for- money audit.

    Furthermore, the completed 43- unit townhouses and 24 units of flats at Roman Ridge under the Redevelopment Programme were fully allocated to Public and Civil Servants. Additional 6-unit townhouses are expected to be completed by the end of December, 2019.

    In the year 2020, an additional redevelopment will commence at the Roman Ridge enclave of which the people of Ghana would be the beneficiaries of 444 mixed-use housing units comprising 198 No. 4- bedroom-executive townhouses and 246 No.3-bedroom apartments.

    Summary of Budget Allocation and Performance in 2019.

    For the year under review, the Ministry of Works and Housing was allocated a revised budgetary amount
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Nana Amoakoh) 11:48 a.m.
    GH¢
    GoG -- 188,645,096.00
    IGF -- 111,796.00
    DP -- 79,846,000.00
    Grand Total -- 268,602,892.00
    Summary of allocation by programme were also as follows:
    GH¢
    Management and Administration -- 7,049,818.00
    Human Settlement Development -- 47,275,011.00
    Infrastructure Management -- 214.278,063.00
    Grand Total -- 268,602,892.00

    Summary of expenditure performance as at 31st October 2019 is presented below:

    Table 1: Expenditure by funding source

    6.0 2020 Budget Allocation

    For the 2020 fiscal year, the Ministry has been allocated the amount of one hundred and forty- seven million, five hundred and twenty-nine thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight Ghana cedis (GH¢ 147,529,298.00) for the implementation of its planned activities. This comprises a GoG component of sixteen million, four hundred and forty-five thousand, eight hundred and twelve Ghana cedis (GH¢16,445,812.00) to be expended on Employee Com-

    pensation (i.e. Wages and Salaries) and Goods and Services. The IGF component is to be also expended on Goods and Services amounting to three hundred and sixty-four thousand, seven hundred and eighty- six Ghana cedis (GH¢ 364,786.00), one hundred and twenty million Ghana cedis (GH¢ 120,000,000.00) being the Annual Budget Funding Amount whilst ten million, seven hundred and eighteen thousand seven hundred Ghana cedis (GH¢ 10,718,700.00) being Development Partners' component to support capital expenditure. Table 2 above presents a summary of the budget sources.

    TABLE 2: Summary of Budget Sources
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Nana Amoakoh) 11:48 a.m.


    Drainage Management -- 21,283,923.00

    Coastal Management -- 33,500,000.00

    Operational Hydrology -- 25,000.00

    Grand Total -- 147,529,298.00
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Nana Amoakoh) 11:48 a.m.


    The Committee therefore appeals to the Ministry of Finance to come to the aid of the Ministry to enable it settle its indebtedness.

    7.4 Provision of Affordable Housing

    The Committee noted with concern, the high cost of affordable housing projects currently prevailing on the market. The concept of the affordable housing was to provide decent housing to public sector low income workers who have a constant stream of income and could pay through instalments or mortgage arrangements.

    However, the delay in the completion of these projects has made the houses more expensive and accordingly defeating the purpose for which the project was initiated.

    Currently, some of the affordable housing projects completed by SSNIT at Borteyman are ready for sale at GH¢272,000.00 for a two bedroom flat, and GH¢175, 000.00 for one bedroom flat respectively. Prices of the other affordable housing projects such as those at Kpone which were taken over by Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and those of Saglemi which are under a public private partnership arrange- ments may not be exceptions.

    The Committee also expressed dissatisfaction about the continuous

    delay in completing the remaining works on the Saglemi Housing project. The Committee is of the view that further delays in completing the project would lead to cost variations which would defeat the intention of the “affordable” concept. The Committee also believes that this project, when completed, could reduce the shortfall in the housing sector. The Ministry however, assured the Committee of its preparedness and commitment to continue with the remaining works on the project after the conclusion of the value-for-money audit.

    7.5 Inability to Obtain Guarantees for Affordable Housing

    The Committee was informed that the Ministry, during the year under review, initiated discussions with a number of investors towards rolling out mass affordable housing schemes across the country. Nonetheless, the issuance of corresponding Guarantees by Government is an impeding progress since that continues to be a prerequisite for these investors to commence work. Though the Committee is not oblivious of the Ministry of Finance/Government's position on the provision of Sovereign Guarantee, it is of the view that these Guarantees would serve as mitigating factors against uncertainty on the returns of, and on capital of the

    investors. The Committee also calls on the Ministries of Works and Housing and Finance to expedite action on the laudable intention of creating formal financing alternatives for housing by the establishment of a robust local mortgage banks and housing financing market.

    In addition to the establishment of the banks, a robust foreclosure in our mortgage laws should also be looked at to ensure certainty and speedy adjudication of mortgage disputes and conflicts.

    8.0 Conclusion and Recommendation

    The Committee, after carefully examining the 2020 Annual Estimates of the Ministry and having regards to the strategic role of the Ministry in the development drive of the country, recommends to the House to approve the sum of Gh¢147,529,298.01 to enable the Ministry of Works and Housing implement its programmes and activities for the 2020 Financial Year.

    In addition, the Committee reiterates its appeal to the Ministry of Finance to come to the aid of the Ministry of Works and Housing to enable it settle its outstanding financial commitments to contractors.

    Respectfully submitted.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Nana Amoakoh) 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, if we look at 2019, the current year, we would notice that they were just given a little over GH¢172 million. It was only in the course of the year when floods were looming that an additional GH¢200 million was given to help contain the impending floods.
    That is a complete indication that we are not ready to put in the kind of money that would secure the deficit of two million housing units, and that would help control flooding and save lives. It is like we are pretending to invest, and the Ministry is also pretending to work. There is no indication of any serious intention to get results.

    Look at our development partners, who normally, we would expect that in matters of difficulty, we would go to them for support. Our Report clearly shows --
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    Yes, Hon Member, any point of order?
    Mr Quaittoo 11:58 a.m.
    Rightly so, Mr Speaker. The Hon Member made a
    An Hon Member 11:58 a.m.
    Are you Mr Speaker?
    Mr Quaittoo 11:58 a.m.
    Maybe, Mr Speaker did not hear it, but I did. I am calling on Mr Speaker to make a ruling in this case, that there is no sign of seriousness on the part of the Ministry to achieve results.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    Do you disagree with that opinion?
    Mr Quaittoo 11:58 a.m.
    Yes, I do.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    That is his opinion. Hon Member, when you look at the Report, it says that the Ministry is indebted to the amount of GH¢330 million as of the end of September, 2019, and the Ministry's budget for 2020 is GH¢147 million. Now, if you owe GH¢330 million and you are given GH¢147 million that is the basis of his opinion; it is an opinion that the Hon Member has expressed. You can get the opportunity to counter that, but that is not a point of order.
    Hon Member, you may continue.
    Mr Amenga-Etego 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the statement that the devil is always in the details probably would explain to my Hon Colleague on the other Side. If we go and look at the figures, we would notice that the figures that have been put forward cannot address the problem. This means that we could interpret it to mean that the seriousness that should be attached to housing and its related problems is not what we see. That is the basis for my assertion.
    Mr Speaker, if we look at our development partners, we would probably notice that over the years, particularly in 2017 and 2018, they did not give us any support. Last year, they gave a little over GH¢79 million; then come 2020 proposals, there is a sharp dip of about 87 per cent. Now, we are getting about a little over GH¢10 million. What that could mean is that our development partners do not have confidence in our housing economy, so they do not really want to throw good money at something bad. That is one thing it could signify, and we should be very worried about that.
    Worse still, when we look at the Report, we would notice that even that meagre amount that was given, we
    were only able to utilise 2.3 per cent of it. That is also problematic. Was it absorption capacity? We need to know exactly why we could only utilise 2.3 per cent of what we got from our development partners.
    Going back to the figures again, we would notice that for an important area like slum upgrading or prevention, the allocations are always nil. We pointed out at the Committee that when a country wants to be seen to be serious about housing, it has to indicate what it is doing for its poor. The working class and the poor of this country are suffering, and there is no clear allocation here to address that problem.
    Mr Speaker, the housing project that has been left for Tema Development Corporation (TDC) to work on, we sell a two-bedroom house for GH¢172,000 while a three- bedroom is about GH¢272,000. I do not know how these figures could be described as affordable. So our figures must be very clear to back the policies that we envisage.
    In short, the things we need to do -- mentioning Saglemi for example, we do not need to wait three years for value-for-money audit while people sleep on the streets. Something could be done so that the completed units are utilised while the value for
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    Hon Chairman of the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises?
    Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi (NPP -- Asante Akim Central) 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have perused your Committee's Report. Looking at the policy objectives of the sector in comparison with the amount that has been given to the Ministry, the money that is given to the Ministry is inadequate.
    Mr Speaker, I refer to page 3 of the Report of your Committee, which outlines the policy objectives. With your permission I would like to read:
    “to reduce coastal and marine erosion;
    to address recurrent devastating floods;
    to provide adequate, safe, secure, quality and affordable housing;
    to build a competitive and modern construction industry;
    to enhance quality of life in the rural areas;
    to promote resilient urban development; and
    to enhance capacity for policy formulation and coordination.”
    12. 08 p. m.
    Mr Speaker, if we look at paragraph 4.1, the Coastal Erosion alone, which the Ministry aims at constructing defensive borders is enough. Most of it: Blekusu -- completion is done; Adoan -- 95 per cent; Elmina -- 85 per cent and Cape Coast, Komenda and Anomabu, the Ministry is yet to construct that.
    Mr Speaker, besides that, if we go into the hinterlands and look at the second paragraph on page 4 of the Report, it says:
    “In 2020, construction of various re-enforced concrete drains would be undertaken in sixty-two communities across the country.”
    Mr Speaker, I hope that this amount would be enough to cover the various drains that we need to cover in the country, because flooding and other drains to be done are a bit of a worry. It is in light of this that I would support that the amount that has been indicated, which is GH¢147,529,298.00 be approved for the Ministry.
    Ms Sophia Karen Edem Ackuaku (NDC -- Domeabra- Obom) 11:58 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to add my voice to the Motion that this honourable House approves GH¢147,529,298.00 for the services of the Ministry of Works and Housing for the year ending, 31st December, 2020.
    Mr Speaker, over the years, governments have grappled with the provision of decent and affordable housing for the public sector workers and in particular, and indeed, Ghanaians in general. The past Government appeared to have made many efforts in this regard. Infrastructure builds the economy and propels the economy to grow. The Ministry of Works and Housing is one of the key Ministries that helps in the building of the economy of this country.
    Mr Speaker, let me draw the attention of this august House to last year's Estimates which is about
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    Hon Chairman of the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises?
    Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I wonder what document my Hon Sister is reading from, and if we would have been privileged to - I thought this is a debate, but she has a document that she reads from, and the rules do not permit that.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    I wanted you to refer to the rule so
    that it could guide Hon Members. Which rule does not permit her?
    Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, immediately, I would have to refer, but I thought this was trite. If you give me time, I would refer and get back to you.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    Yes, read it to the hearing of Hon Members; it may be a good guide.
    Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is so, but I would quickly refer and get back to you.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 11:58 a.m.
    Hon Member, take that on board; this is a debate and we are not to read prepared speeches. You are to deliver your speeches extemporary.
    Ms Ackuaku 11:58 a.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker. I quoted the Medium-Term Expenditure for 2020/2023.
    Mr Speaker, let me refer to the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the 2020/2023 on the Ministry of Works and Housing - page 1, Appendix 4: Mr Speaker, when we look at the investments on the upgrading of the slums and the prevention of new slums, we would see that the investments have been zero from 2018, 2019 and 2020, and
    needs to be addressed seriously because Ghanaians are entitled to decent housing, and as such, housing is a human right issue which the Government needs to address. This is because if we do not change the slums in this country, it may compound on drainage, which may affect our flooding situation which has become—
    Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, I prompted my Hon Colleague on the other Side not to read a prepared speech. Now, as requested, I come under Order 89 which I beg to quote:
    “A Member shall not read his speech, but may read extracts from written or printed documents in support of his argument and may refresh his memory by reference to notes.”
    Mr Speaker, I so pray that my Hon Sister desist from a prepared speech; it is a debate.
    Mr A. Ibrahim 11:58 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Standing Order 89 that my Hon Colleague quoted is clear and Hon Sophia Ackuaku with the voice and outfit, is making a good point that my Hon Colleague on the other Side should be jotting notes down to advise the Hon Minister for Finance on that. He said the budget for the Works and Housing Ministry is woefully inadequate and the Hon Member is
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
    I have to listen to the Leadership of the Majority bench.
    Mr Nyindam 12:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague is unfortunately just off board because she is reading and our rules do not allow us to do so just as Mr Speaker quoted. You said that in quoting, one has every right to refer to some excerpts as found in Standing Order 89. However, if one is quoting, one has the right to read from their document and quote while we follow.
    However, if the Hon Member stands here to say that the Hon Majority Leader reads more than all Members here -- [Interruption.] Not when he is debating because sometimes he makes references and mentions the document he is reading from, so we all follow. For the Hon Member to stand up and make that blanket statement that he reads more than anybody in this House, especially knowing that the Hon Majority Leader is not here to defend himself - I want the Hon Member to withdraw that. As leaders, we should all learn. The rules are there. I thought that my Hon Friend was just going to tell the House that our Hon Colleague was reading some excerpts from a document instead, he went the way he did.
    He was totally off and he must withdraw, especially since the Hon Majority Leader is not here. For him to make those kinds of references to him. The Hon Member is a good Friend and I know that he would withdraw and apologise so we progress.
    Mr A. Ibrahim 12:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I wonder why my Hon Friend is afraid of their own facts. In concluding the debate on the 2020 Budget Statement, the Hon Majority Leader stood here and read for almost one hour. We did not raise objections to
    that. So if the Hon Member is saying that whenever he reads, he does not do so during a debate - He was concluding the debate on the 2020 Budget Statement and he read for one hour. We all sat here and jotted down our points.
    Mr Speaker, in any case, when Hon Members attended Committee meetings, technical teams came to meet them and documents were given to them. What a diligent Hon Member of this House should do is to jot down their points. So, if he says that no Hon Member should read a prepared speech - She prepared it herself because when she attended the Committee meeting, she listened carefully and jotted down points. That is what she is giving to this House, and we must take deference from that. She had not deviated and must be given the opportunity to proceed.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
    Hon Member, Standing Order 93(5) says:
    “The conduct of Mr. Speaker, Members, the Chief Justice and Judges of the Superior Court of Judicature shall not be raised, except upon a substantive motion, and in any amendment, Question to a Member or remarks in a debate on a motion
    dealing with any other subject, any reference to the conduct of the persons mentioned shall be out of order.”
    The Hon Majority Leader is an Hon Member of this House and is covered by this Standing Order. His conduct cannot be raised the way the Hon First Deputy Minority Whip has done. So I rule that you are out of order.
    I also rule that the Hon Member on the Floor was completely in line with Standing Order 89. This is because the Standing Order says:
    “A Member shall not read his speech, but may read extracts from written or printed documents in support of his argument and may refresh his memory by reference to notes.”
    She was actually quoting a document and referred to the title of the document. So she was quite in order and I would allow her to conclude. Hon Member, you may conclude.
    Ms Ackuaku 12:18 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your guidance.
    When we look at the investments on the upgrading of slums and the prevention of new slums, we would
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Ms Ackuaku 12:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, page 19, paragraph 529 of the 2020 Budget Statement states that the Saglemi Housing unit is 75 per cent complete where 682 are completed and ready for occupying. If as a country, we want to meet the SDG 11, then we must wake up and take the issue of housing seriously. I wonder how the Government can fulfil the promise of two million target housing deficit. We plead with the
    Government to increase the budget allocation to meet the target.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:18 p.m.
    Hon Members, we have a lot of Reports before us, so I would listen to Leadership, if they so wish and then put the Question.
    Mr James Klutse Avedzi (NDC -- Ketu North) 12:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to thank the Committee for the Report they have prepared, asking for an amount of GH¢147,529,298 to be approved for the Ministry of Works and Housing.
    If you look at page 5 of the Report, there is a summary of Budget Allocation and performance for 2019. A total amount of GH¢268,602,892 was approved for the Ministry for the year 2019. If you look at the Government of Ghana's (GoG) figure, GH¢188,645,096 was approved for the Ministry, but the actual expenditure as at 31st October, 2019, was GH¢196,303,929. This is an over expenditure of about GH¢7.6 million.
    Mr Speaker, this is against the Appropriations Act which we have approved in this House. We gave an amount of GH¢188,645,096 and the Ministry of Finance disbursed
    GH¢196,303,929, which is above, what we approved in the Appro- priations Act. The Minister of Finance should be able to tell this House how he could go ahead and release money to a Ministry, over and above what was approved in this House. That is my first point.
    Mr Speaker, the second point is that even with the GoG's amount, the Report is not detailed enough to show us what portion of that goes to compensation, goods and services and capital expenditure. That information would help us to know clearly, whether the amount was used to pay workers or used for development capital expenditure in order to solve the numerous problems facing the Ministry in terms of housing, flooding and protection. Probably, other Committees should give us more detailed information on the various items for which the moneys were spent.
    Mr Speaker, my third point is on the same page 5 of the Report. Looking at the development partners, the amount approved for them is GH¢79,846,000, but the Ministry received only GH¢1,802,513. There must be a reason why the Ministry was not able to access the money approved under the development partners.

    I think that the Hon Minister for Works and Housing should be able to tell the House what happened as a result of the Ministry's inability to access that money. The portion that has not been accessed, do we still have that available for which the Ministry should be able to access it? This is because if you look at the 2020 Allocation from the Development Partners, it is only GH¢10.7 million, so are we losing something that is not showing in the Report or what? The Hon Minister should be able to tell the House how that is happening.

    More importantly, the Ministry indicated a number of projects that they want to undertake in the year 2020 and for that matter, those intended projects will need not less than GH¢1.4 billion. That is the amount the Ministry will need for its planned programmes.

    Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Finance allocated only GH¢147 million to the Ministry. What percentage of their planned programme they will be able to achieve is not showing in their Report. If they want to achieve ‘a', ‘b' or ‘c' and the money they need to achieve that is GH¢1.4 billion, now they have been given GH¢147 million. What percentage of their planned
    Mr Nyindam 12:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to yield the Leadership contribution to the Hon Vice Chairman
    of the Committee on Works and Housing.
    Mr Kwaku Asante-Boateng 12:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:28 p.m.
    I hope you will explain some of the key points raised by the Hon Deputy Minority Leader.
    Mr Asante-Boateng 12:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, yes.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:28 p.m.
    Alright.
    Mr Asante-Boateng(NPP -- Asante Akim South) 12:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Floor.
    The policy objectives as outlined in the Budget Statement are three key areas that we need to look at as a nation. The first one is to reduce the housing deficit which is pegged currently around two million.
    The second is to reduce the coastal and marine erosion that we have been experiencing along our coast lines and the third and very critical one to our national development is the annual flooding issues that confront us especially in Accra.
    Mr Speaker, looking at the 2018 Budget Statement allocation, we realised that we were given only GH¢91 million but like the Hon Deputy Minority Leader said, we ended up spending about GH¢161 million in the year 2018.
    In the year 2019 too, we realised that the allocation given to the Ministry was not enough and somewhere along the line, we were able to get some additional money to supplement what was allocated to us in the Budget Statement.
    When you look at the total infrastructural sector which consist of roads, railways development, aviation, transport, inner-city development and special development of the Government, we realised that the infrastructural sector budget constituted 5.87 per cent of the total appropriation amount.
    Out of this, we realised that only 0.34 per cent of the total appropriation was allocated to the sector Ministry, which was only a small amount of 0.34 per cent which is not even up to one per cent of the total appropriation.
    Mr Speaker, coming back to this year, when you look at the total infrastructural allocation, it constitutes 5.22 per cent that notwithstanding, the sector Ministry was allocated only 0.15 per cent out of the total appropriated amount and we realised
    that this is woefully inadequate as my other Hon Colleagues have already touched on.
    In nominal terms, it may seemed that the amount that was allocated to the sector has reduced drastically by about 50 per cent. However, even in real terms, because of inflation and price indices within the construction sector, the amount that we have been allocated, is still below the 0.15 per cent that I am talking about because of the purchasing power of our cedi by way of losing its value over time.
    Mr Speaker, having said this, we submitted our planned programme and asked for an amount of GH¢1,423,000,000 to meet our obligations, but we have been allocated a total amount of
    GH¢147,529,298.
    Comparing this to the demands of the Ministry as contained in their planned programme, this constitutes only 10.33 per cent of the Ministry's request, and if you look at it sector by sector, even this amount, if we are to desilt only the drains in Accra, such that we will not be confronted with any flooding during the rainy season, that amount will not be enough.
    Mr Speaker, we also realised that there have been some delay in the issuance of commencement certificate and this year, we had the first
    Mr Asante-Boateng(NPP -- Asante Akim South) 12:38 p.m.
    commencement certificate on the 4th of September. This means that from January up to September, we were not able to execute any works, and if the Ministry will sit down with the Ministry of Finance such that the commencement certificate will be released earlier, it will help in executing our mandate.

    Mr Speaker, I would advocate for a situation where when the Budget is approved, there should be a threshold for all the sector ministers such that they can spend up to 50 per cent without waiting for any commence- ment certificate so that beyond that threshold, the Ministry of Finance would come in, and maybe, say if a minister has spent 50 per cent of his budget amount, the remaining 50 per cent would be regulated by the Ministry of Finance.

    As we approve budgets in this House, from the word go, issuance of commencement certificates can delay for over nine months. It is doing this country no good. I think the Public Financial Management Act should be looked at such that it would be given a leeway to the various sector Ministries to spend up to a limit instead of waiting to get commence- ment certificate for every work that would be done.

    Mr Speaker, as a Ministry, we are also confronted with the issuance of guarantee in order to embark on affordable housing. We cannot do it alone. We need the private sector to partner with the Government in the discharge of this responsibility because the government alone cannot provide this housing facilities such that the deficit of two million housing units would be eradicated.

    Mr Speaker, we have to take a bold decision as a nation. This is because, this is a situation that confronts us. If the private sector is the engine of growth, we need to, as it were, provide such guarantees so that they would be able to partner with Government in the delivery of housing in the country. So we also entreat the Ministry of Finance to come to the aid of the Ministry of Works and Housing in the issuance of guarantees so that it would enable our course.

    Mr Speaker, as a Ministry, we have arrears of GH¢33 million to pay contractors. If we have been given GH¢147 million budgetary allocation, some of the contractors we are owing have threatened taking us to court. I do not know how we are going to pay them. So we would entreat the Ministry of Finance --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
    Hon Member, the figure in the Report is GH¢330 million, and not GH¢33 million.
    Mr Asante-Boateng 12:38 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am sorry for that.
    Mr Speaker, when the Ministry of Finance comes during the Mid-Year Budget review, they should holistically look at this for us and increase the budget.
    Mr Speaker, notwithstanding the fact that the total amount we have is so small, I entreat the House to approve GH¢147,529,298.00 in support of the Ministry's planned programmes.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:38 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Minister for Works and Housing?
    Mr Akyea 12:38 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would just wind up on a few observations.
    I am grateful to the Committee for the meticulous job they have done. I do not believe that every issue of the Ministry could be captured in the Report, especially of performance lines and others that my Hon Colleague was insisting on. However, if there is a way that we should come to this House to give a proper briefing on performance and others, we would be able to do so.
    Mr Speaker, I wish to stress that we are committed to slum upgrading. We have a flagship project which is the Nima-Mamobi project to begin with. This is how to upgrade Nima and Mamobi to a world class residential area. It is a project of the Ministry, and it would come to fruition.
    Mr Speaker, we are committed to the Saglemi Affordable Housing project in terms of article 35(7) of the 1992 Constitution that as far as practicable, Government shall continue and would execute programmes commenced by previous governments. We should be able to see Ghanaians living in Saglemi before we go for Elections. We are working on it assiduously.
    Mr Speaker, there is the contention about moneys from our development partners, which is the sum of GH¢79,846,000.00. If I may explain why we have not spent all the money, these moneys are described as project preparation advance from the World Bank. It relates to the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project. These moneys were advanced to the Ministry by the World Bank, and so we would begin with the preparation for the Odaw challenges.
    If I should jolt the memory of Hon Members, last two weeks or so, this honourable House approved the sum of US$200 million for the GARID
    Mr Akyea 12:38 p.m.


    Mr Speaker, I have been told that I should address you rather than my senior who is trying to disrupt me.

    Mr Speaker, not too long ago, this honourable House approved the sum of US$200 million for the GARID project. But before we could access the money, they gave us what we call Project Preparation Advance. That is the sum of money which is quoted here, and it goes gingerly. That is why we have not spent all the money. It is not a situation in which they have given us the money and we are not spending it.

    Mr Speaker, on the issue of Ningo- Prampram, this is an inherited project. There are three projects that we inherited under the ministership of Hon Kwaku Agyeman Mensah. They are the projects in Ningo-Prampram, Komenda and Axim. They are with the Public Procurement Authority. When we came into power, we needed to push these projects of former President Mahama, and this is what we are doing. We were just given the commencement certificate lately. My good Friend would bear me out that the commencement certificate is just to say that go ahead and award the contract. It is the

    contractor who would find his own money to roll out the project and the certificate would come based on the works done for the Ministry of Finance to pay from our capital expenditure.

    This is the arrangement in place. I believe there is no cause for alarm, and it would not overly affect our expenditure. And the project would be done.

    Mr Speaker, I am very grateful to the Committee. I have requested the Committee that, apart from interrogating the Ministry's Budget, they should have constant engagement in which Hon Members from both sides would give us good ideas for the Ministry to advance the course of the Built Industry.

    What is very important, which I realised is the issue of housing matters to all of us. You would find Hon Members from the other Side being very much concerned about housing, and so are we also concerned. So that convergence of intention and vision should continue. We should not do anything to politicise that which matters to Ghanaians.

    Mr Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Before I put the Question, it is important for me to observe that we
    just celebrated Fundamental Human Rights today, and shelter is one of them. Apart from air, water, food, clothing, the next is shelter. It is so key. However, truly, the Budget Allocation to the Ministry is next to nothing. It is completely next to nothing.
    I was in that Ministry. At the time, water was added to it. It was the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.

    So the budget estimates used to be a bit bigger than this, but just this 10 per cent of the requirement is inadequate.

    I sympathise with the Ministry. As custodians of the national purse, we would need as a House to partner with the Ministry to see how we could raise additional funding for some of these essential sectors of our economy.

    That is why we would propose for the consideration of the House the establishment of the Ways and Means Committee which is a critical Committee of Parliament, which will assist the Executive to raise revenue either through taxation or other means to support the national coffers. I believe that it is important we consider

    that, and I am sure when the Standing Orders come before the House, we would look at it critically.

    The Ministry should also be interested in the establishment or in the passage of the Budget Act, which would support the Ministry to be more open and transparent, and to involve earlier participation of stakeholders so that before we get to this stage of laying the Budget Estimates, we would have agreed on annual and medium term basis, the key priorities of the economy. And so we would not have this because almost every year, we lament and wail about the inadequacy of the provisions and yet, we do not do anything to support the Ministry of Finance in this case.

    I sympathise with the Ministry, but as a Committee, our hands are tied, and we would be compelled, as the Hon Deputy Minority Leader has drawn our attention, to approve so that we do not offend the Appropriation Bill that would be presented to the House.

    Question put and Motion agreed to.

    Resolved:

    That this honourable House approves the sum of GH¢147, 529,296.00 for the services of the Ministry of Works and Housing for the year ending 31st December, 2020.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Available Hon Leader of the House?
    Mr Nyindam 12:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your leave, if we could vary the order of Business so that some Papers could be laid before we move to the Order Paper Addendum.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that we lay the Papers numbered 4(h) on page 3 of the original Order Paper.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Hon Member, do you want us to go back to the item numbered 4(h)?
    Mr Nyindam 12:48 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Item numbered 4(h) on page 3 of the Order Paper -- by the Chairman of the Committee.
    Mr Nyindam 12:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your leave, we would want the Hon Vice Chairman of the Committee to lay the Papers on behalf of the Hon Chairman.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Minority Leadership, any objection?
    Mr Avedzi 12:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Majority Whip asked of your leave alone without the indulgence of the House.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Well, I have added that, and that is why I referred to you the Minority whether you would indulge him.
    Mr Avedzi 12:48 p.m.
    If he amends his statement, we would support him.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Will you indulge him?
    Mr Avedzi 12:48 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Hon Vice Chairman of the Committee, you may proceed to lay the Papers.
    PAPERS 12:48 p.m.
    Mr Nyindam 12:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we would take the Motion numbered 3 on the Order Paper Addendum - by the Hon Minister for Education.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    I do not have the Order Paper Addendum.
    Mr Nyindam 12:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we would want to take the Motion numbered 2 on page 3 of the Order Paper Addendum.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 12:48 p.m.
    Well, I have just been given a copy of the Order Paper Addendum.
    Hon Members, we have Order Paper Addendum, and our attention has been drawn to page 3 to take Motion numbered 2 - Minister for Education.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES, 2020
    MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 12:48 p.m.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move,that this honourable House approves the sum of GH¢13,301,182,692 for the services of the Ministry of Education for the year ending 31st December,
    2020.
    Question proposed.

    Hon Chairman of the Committee (Mr William Agyapong Quaittoo): Mr Speaker, I rise to second the Motion, and in so doing, I present your Committee's Report:

    1.0 Introduction

    1.1 The Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the 2020 Financial Year was presented to Parliament on Wednesday, 13th November, 2019, by the Hon Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori- Atta. This was in fulfilment of article 179 of the 1992 Constitution.

    In accordance with Order 140(4) and 186 of the Standing Orders of the House, the Rt. Hon Speaker referred the Annual Budget Estimates of the Ministry of Education to the Committee on Education for consideration and report.

    1.2 The Committee subsequently met on Thursday, 5th December, 2019, and considered the referral. The Hon Minister for Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the two Hon Deputy Ministers for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum and Mrs Gifty Twurn-Ampofo, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Mr Benjamin Kofi Gyasi, officials of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    xiii. Non-Formal Education Division.

    7.0 Performance in the 2019 Financial Year

    7. 1 Financial Performance

    A total amount of eleven billion, one hundred and ninety-five million,

    four hundred and one thousand, two hundred and twenty-one Ghana cedis, seventy pesewas (GH¢ 11,195,401,221.70) was approved for the programmes and activities of the Ministry of Education in the year

    2019.

    The breakdown of the amount by source of funding and expenditure item is shown in Table 1 below.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    from its Contingency Fund under Government Obligations to the Ministry of Education, as part payment for the underlisted Projects:

    i. Construction, supply and installation of educational and training centres (STEM Centres).

    ii. ICT infrastructure at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.

    iii. Construction of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) building.

    The Ministry further explained that the above transactions reflected in the accounts of the Ministry because the payments were routed through the Ministry's treasury.

    7.3 Key Achievements in 2019

    The following activities, among others were carried out by the Ministry of Education during the year under review:

    Management and Administration programme

    The Ghana Education Service (GES) in collaboration with the Institute of Educational Planning

    and Administration (IEPA) and international partners, designed a training programme in School Leadership Management for heads of all basic and second cycle institutions.

    The Ministry continued with the strengthening of its governance and regulatory framework to facilitate effective delivery of education service. This covers the revision of the enabling legislation of existing institutes and the establishment of new management institutions that promote the provision of quality education service delivery.

    It commenced the imple- mentation of the new curriculum for kindergarten (KG) to Primary 6 (P6) in September,

    2019.

    Government developed, printed and distributed 157,000 Teacher Packs on new curriculum to teachers across the country. 4,086 Master, Regional and District level trainers as well as 152,000 teachers were also trained in the new curriculum.

    The Ghana Library Authority completed the construction of two (2) libraries and renovated ten (10) existing libraries.

    Government invested resources to increase the book stock in libraries across the country by 20 per cent.

    Membership of Libraries increased from 12,665 to 15,936 representing an increase of 21 per cent from 2018 to

    2019.

    Basic Education programme

    • With the support from UNICEF, Early Childhood Education (ECE) Policy has been put together to provide a framework for compre- hensive early childhood education as well as standards for teaching and monitoring of public and private providers.

    • Government continued with the payment of Basic Education Certificate Exami- nation (BECE) registration fees for all candidates in public schools. In this regard, Government in 2019 absorbed the registration fees for

    391,318 candidates from public JHSs.

    • Provided basic education establishment supplies of 156,925 class attendance registers, 100,000 teachers' note books, 2,207,383 boxes of white chalk and 161,735 boxes of coloured chalk to all public basic schools.

    • Procured Junior High School (JHS) uniforms for distribution to 294,000 JHS students in deprived communities for the 2019/2020 academic year. 300,000 uniforms have also been procured for distribution to pupils in KG and Primary schools in deprived communities.

    Secondary Education programme

    • The implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) Programme has resulted in a significant increase in secondary edu- cation enrolment. At the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, total bene- ficiaries for the two cohorts was 794,899 stu- dents.The num- ber of beneficiaries is projected to
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    reach 1,264,000 upon the completion of the current school placement.

    • With an increase in the demand for secondary education, Government commenced the construction of 804 class- room and dormitory blocks in secondary schools across the country under the GETFund. In addition, 158 SHS structures are being built with the support of the World Bank and Kuwait Fund.

    • Provided adequate supplies of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) for all students and teachers at the secondary level. This include:

    i. 4,254,570 Exercise Books.

    ii. 1,890,920 Note Books.

    iii. 472,730 Physical Education (PE) Kits.

    iv. 853,009 ICT Textbooks.

    v. 853,009 Core Mathematics Revision Guide.

    vi. 568,755 Past Examination Questions.

    vii.39,494 Technical Drawing Boards and Instruments .

    • To improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science, smart classrooms in 25 public SHSs were established under the Mathematics and Science for Sub-Saharan Africa initiative.

    • The Ministry commenced the process to align the over 200 public Technical and Voca- tional Education Training (TVET) institutions under the Ministry of Education to provide policy direction in the development of skills for industries .

    • Government concluded and entered into discussions with financiers for the construction of 2 state-of-the-art TVET institutions in each region of the country .

    • Initiated “My TVET” campaign to market and promote

    TVET .

    • The Ministry engaged Amatrol Company Limited to supply, install and upgrade the engineering laboratories of the Accra and Sunyani Technical Universities as well as the Bolgatanga Polytechnic.

    Tertiary Education programme

    •Completed and launched the Tertiary Education Policy which outlines clear guidelines for the structure, planning, development, regulation, operations and governance and accountability of the tertiary sub-sector.

    • Processes for the splitting of the University for Develop- ment Studies in 3 auto- nomous universities were completed. The S.D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies and the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences Bills were passed by Parliament.

    • Following the restoration of the teacher trainee allowances, a total of 48,071 trainees were paid allowances in the 2018/ 2019 academic year.

    8.0 Programmes/Activities for the year 2020

    The following programmes/ activities among others, will be undertaken by the Ministry of Education in the year 2020:

    Management and Administration programme

    • Develop, print and supply TLMs for the revised curriculum to include the following:

    Literacy, Numeracy, Creative Arts and Our World Our People Workbooks for 1,250,144 Kindergarten (KG) pupils.

    Literacy, Numeracy, Creative Arts and Our World Our People Textbooks for 1,614,280 pupils in Lower Primary.

    Literacy, Numeracy, Creative Arts and Our World Our People, History, Ghanaian Language and Science Textbooks for 1,561,058 pupils in Upper Primary.

    1,215,088 pieces of Teachers Guide for KG to Primary 6 teachers.

    • Commence the development of the new JHS and SHS curriculum and train JHS and SHS teachers on the new curriculum.

    • Decentralise the management of pre-tertiary education upon the passage of the Prei-tertiary Education Bill, 2019 by Parliament.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    (ii) Basic Education programme

    • Absorb the BECE regis- tration fees for 402,010 candidates from public JHSs.

    • Train 9,000 basic school teachers in the delivery of

    BSTEM.

    • Equip 4,400 basic schools with Science, Technology, Engi- neering and Mathematics (STEM) equipment.

    • Commence the construction of 20 STEM centres across the country.

    • To prepare the Ghanaian child for the digital economy, the Ministry will initiate a National Digital Literacy Project. This would include the following:

    • Distribution of broadband enabled digital devices for all learners and teachers.

    • Development of trainer module to develop the capacity of teachers and relevant implementers.

    • Development and provision of appropriate content for digital learning.

    • Establishment of a plant in Ghana to ensemble and refurbish the device and its relevant accessories.

    iii. Secondary Education programme

    • Commence work on the Ghana-China Project (AVIC Project) to rehabilitate and upgrade Technical Univer- sities, Polytechnics and TVET Centres .

    • Commence work on the first phase of the construction of 32 state-of-the-art TVET institutions .

    • Commence the implementation of the upgrading and modernisation of Vocational Education System in Ghana project (Planet Core).

    vi. Tertiary Education programme

    • Complete set-up of Common Applications Platform System (CAPS), test-run and deploy them for use.

    • Oversee the implementation of African Centres of Ex- cellence.

    • Operationalise National Research Fund.

    • Facilitate the implementation of the new curriculum in all 46 Colleges of Education in affiliation with five universities.

    • Complete preparatory activities for the establishment of open university to provide dedicated open and distance education learning and promote Open Education resources and quality.

    9.0 Budgetary Allocation for the Year 2020

    9.1 For the implementation of its programmes and activities for the year 2020, the Ministry of Education has been allocated an amount of thirteen billion, three hundred and one million, one hundred and eighty-two thousand, six hundred and ninety-two Ghana cedis (GH¢3,301,182, 692.00). The breakdown of the allocation by programme and expenditure item is shown in Table 4 below. The breakdown of the allocation to the various cost centres is also attached as an Appendix.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    1 0 . 0 O b s e r v a t i o n s a n d Recommendations

    10. 1 2020 Budgetary Allocation

    The Committee observed an increase of 18.8 per cent in the

    Ministry's total budgetary allocation for the year 2020 over the year 2019 allocation of GH¢11,195,401,221.70. The 2019 and 2020 budgetary allocations by source of funding is shown in Table 5 below.

    SPACE FOR TABLE 5, PAGE 12 -- 12.58 P.M.

    The Committee noted an increase in the GoG, donor and IGF components of the budget for year 2020. For the year 2019, no allocation was made to the Ministry from ABFA. However, for the year 2020, the Ministry has been allocated an amount of GH¢ 16,800,000 from the ABFA component of the budget. The Ministry informed the Committee that the ABFA allocation for the year 2020 is earmarked for the commencement of the construction of twenty (20) STEM centres across the country.

    It is worth noting that donor allocation for the year 2020 represents a huge increase of 2034 per cent over the allocation for year

    2019. The whopping increase in donor allocation is as a result of a number of projects that the Ministry of Education would implement in the year 2020.

    With regard to IGF, the Committee was informed that the increase in allocation for the year 2020 is due to measures put in place by the Ministry to increase its revenue generation in year 2020.

    The Committee commends the Ministry for putting measures in place to ensure an increase in its revenue generation. That notwithstanding, the Committee is of the view that over reliance on IGF for expenditure relating to Goods and Services may

    throw the planned programmes and activities of the Ministry and its Agencies into disarray if targets set for the year 2020 are not achieved.

    The Committee therefore entreats the Ministry of Education to effectively implement measures put in place to ensure that targets set for revenue generation in the year 2020 are met.

    10.2 Delay in the Releases of GoG Budgetary Allocation

    The critical role the Agencies under the ambit of the Ministry of Education play in the provision of quality education in the country cannot be underestimated. Regrettably, the Committee observed that delay in releases of GoG budgetary allocation coupled with difficulties in assessing releases through the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) continue to be a challenge to most of the Agencies under the Ministry of Education.

    While GES for instance, experienced regular releases of its quarterly Goods and Services budgetary allocations, delays in the processing of releases on the GIFMIS as a result of challenges with internet connectivity and lack of expertise at the various cost centres posed a
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.
    2019.
    Indeed, this situation has become a regular occurrence which adversely affects the implementation of some planned programmes and activities of the Ministry and its Agencies.
    The Committee therefore reiterates its recommendation in previous years that the Ministry of Finance should ensure timely releases of the GoG budgetary allocation, particularly for Goods and Services to enable the Agencies effectively implement their planned programmes for the year 2020. The Committee further urges the GIFMIS Secretariat to build the capacity of staff of state institutions in order to facilitate timely processing of releases.
    10.3 Infrastructural Development
    The Committee observed that provision has been made in the 2020 budgetary allocation of the Ministry to cater for the provision of additional infrastructural facilities to enhance education service delivery. The facilities include the construction of:

    · additional offices for the Ministry's Headquarters.

    · a new office complex for the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, National Inspectorate Board, National Teaching Council and the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.

    The Ministry would also continue with the renovation works at the headquarters of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and complete the construction and furnishing of the GES Training School in Saltpond.

    The Committee commends the Ministry of Education for putting in place, measures to ensure that inadequate office accommodation for its Agencies become a thing of the past. It urges the Ministry to expedite action on the construction works in

    2020.

    10.4 Inadequate Staffing

    It came to the attention of the Committee that most of the Agencies under the Ministry lacked the full complement of staff to effectively carry out their respective mandates.

    For instance, the National Inspectorate Board (NIB) requires a staff strength of eighty (80). However, it is currently operating with twenty- eight (28) personnel out of which nine (9) are on secondment from GES.

    The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has an established post of forty (40). Currently, the Council is operating with a staff strength of twenty-eight (28) who are all on secondment from GES. WAEC also has an established post of 821. However, it has 599 members of staff at post thus creating a staffing gap of 222.

    The Committee noted that the Ghana Book development Council, COTVET, NCTE, Non-Formal Education Division, among others are confronted with similar challenges. This situation, according to the Agencies, puts so much stress on the staff at post who have to work overtime and sometimes during weekends in order to meet deadlines.

    Undeniably, operating without the right calibre and the requisite number of staff affects the performance level of every organisation. The Committee therefore urges the Ministry of Education to put measures in place to address the staffing needs of its Agencies.

    10.5 Ghana Education Service

    (GES)

    i. 2020 Budgetary Allocation

    GES has been allocated an amount of GH¢8,087,520,229.00 for the 2020 financial year to implement its activities and programmes. The allocation by source of funding is made
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.
    SPACE FOR TABLE 6, PAGE 15 -- 12.58 P.M
    The Committee noted in Table 6 that allocation for compensation of employees of the Service represents 96.64 per cent of the total budgetary allocation. While 1.69 per cent budgetary allocation for Goods and Services would be utilised on general activities and for the payment of Capitation Grant, feeding grant to Special Schools, and as administrative grant to GES headquarters, Regional/ District Offices, Circuits and Special Schools, among others.
    GES will apply its Donor funds to the following focal areas among others:
    · Expansion and Development of 26 existing SHSs Projects.
    · Secondary Education Improvement Project (Original Project).
    · Secondary Education Improvement Project (Additional Funding).

    · Teaching of Mathematics and Science in Basic Schools.

    · Improving learning outcomes through community participation.

    Inadequate Non-teaching Staff

    The Committee observed that GES is still bedeviled with inadequate non- teaching staff in its District Offices, second cycle and special schools. According to GES, the situation is critical at the second cycle level, where enrolment has increased due to the Free SHS Policy. It has therefore become necessary for most SHSs to augment their non-teaching staff strength, particularly, security personnel and kitchen staff.

    To mitigate this situation, the Committee noted that the Ministry of Finance has granted GES an amount of GH¢ 16,875,201.60 as part of the 2020 allocation for compensation to recruit two thousand, two hundred and seventy (2,270) non-teaching staff.

    Untimely Release of Transfer Grants

    The Committee noted that untimely release of Transfer Grants adversely affects GES's Staff Rationalisation Policy implementation.

    The Committee was informed that Transfer Grants from January 2017 to September, 2019, which is approximately GH¢49.9 million was released in September 2019 and paid to the beneficiaries in October, 2019.

    The Committee expressed concern about this development. In the opinion of the Committee, this has the tendency of creating an avenue for high concentration of trained and competent teachers in the urban areas to the detriment of deprived communities.

    It is the hope of the Committee that in the year 2020, the Ministry of Finance would ensure that the quarterly releases of Transfer Grants are done timeously.

    10.6 National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE)

    2020 Budgetary Allocation

    For the execution of its programme and activities in year 2020, NCTE has been provided with a total amount of GH¢3,800,500,721.00. The amount is made up of a GoG component of GH¢1,917,274,267.00, an IGF component of GH¢ 1 ,677,353,254.00 and a Donor component of

    GH¢205,873,200.00.

    For the year 2020, NCTE will commit its funds to the following activities among others:

    · Facilitate the completion of prioritised on-going physical infrastructural projects in public tertiary institutions and ensure that all infrastructure are disability-friendly.

    · Facilitate the conversion of Wa and Bolgatanga Polytechnics to Technical Universities and ensure that they are appro- priately staffed and funded.

    · Facilitate the establishment of Open University to provide dedicated Open and Distance Education Learning and promote Open Education Resources.

    · Establish Tertiary Education Management Information System (TEMIS) to enhance monitoring and evaluation systems.

    · Oversee the implementation of African Centres of Excellence.

    ·Facilitate capacity development and investment in Colleges of

    Education to support delivery of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Curriculum.

    · Facilitate links with institutions and industry to enhance teaching and learning.

    · Coordinate with the National Accreditation Board to promote quality assurance practices.

    Taking cognisance of the number of programmes that NCTE would have to implement in its quest to ensure access to education, the delivery of quality education and management of education at the tertiary level. It is important that the Ministry of Finance ensures a timely release of the Council's budgetary allocation to enable it deliver on its mandate.

    Implementation of New Curriculum in Colleges of Education

    The Committee noted that NCTE commenced the implementation of new curriculum in all the forty-six (46) Colleges of Education in affiliation with five (5) public universities; University of Cape Coast, University of Ghana, University for Development Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Education, Winneba, in the year 2019.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    The Committee further noted that commencing in October, 2019, all the 5 universities got involved in the delivery of the new curriculum through assigned Colleges. Accordingly, Continuous Professional Develop- ment Roadmaps have been developed by four (4) universities. The University of Cape Coast is yet to complete the development of its Roadmap.

    Memoranda of Understanding to support the capacity development have been signed between T-TEL and all the 5 universities. Tutor Professional Development pro- grammes have been developed and are being rolled out. A National Assessment Policy on the implementation of the new curriculum has also been approved.

    The Committee acknowledges the importance of the implementation of the reforms that are geared towards the building of the competencies of teachers, and urges the NCTE not to renege on its supervisory role to ensure the success of the implementation of the new curriculum.

    Increasing Student/Teacher Ratio

    The Committee noted that the increasing student/ teacher ratio at the tertiary level poses a challenge to the quality of education service delivery in the country.

    According to NCTE, each programme at the tertiary level has an ideal and limiting value as far as the number of students per lecturer is concerned. NCTE has norms that guide the above. Unfortunately, most of the prescribed norms have been exceeded mainly due to the inability of tertiary institutions to recruit new lecturers, as against the increasing number of students occasioned by high demand for tertiary education. The situation has been compounded by the early retirement of experienced lecturers, resulting in low output of graduate students and researchers.

    Limited Opportunities for Science and Technology Programmes

    It came to the attention of the Committee that lack of resources to boost science education, coupled with low desire of many students to opt for science programmes at the pre- tertiary level accounts for limited enrolment for science and technology programmes at the tertiary level. This situation the Committee noted, has resulted in the difficulty in attaining the targeted 60:40 Science/Humanities ratio.

    The Committee was informed that in the 2018/2019 academic year, actual Science/Humanities ratio was 39:61. Fewer SHS students by ratio, offer Sciences, and more fewer qualify

    to read Science related programmes at the tertiary level.

    Also, at both the SHS and tertiary levels, science laboratories are not well equipped and there is limited capacity to enrol more students. The Committee underlined the need for the GES to institute measures to cultivate the interest of students in the sciences at the pre-tertiary level.

    10.7 Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training

    (COTVET)

    An amount of GH¢514,238, 458.00 has been allocated to COTVET for the implementation of its programmes and activities for the year 2020. This comprises an amount of GH¢2,928,995.00 from GoG, GH¢3,509,485.00 from IGF and GH¢507,799,978.00 from Donor Agencies.

    For year 2020, COTVET has programmed, among others, to utilise its allocation for the following to:

    · Market the Ghana TVET Voucher Project across the 16 regions of the country through the traditional marketing channels and the social media.

    · Monitor the implementation of career guidance and

    counselling activities in 100 public schools.

    · Establish TVET Clubs in fifty (50) JHSs across the country.

    · Develop a framework to establish a Ghana Skills Development Fund.

    · Orient and register eighty (80) potential TVET providers and accredit sixty (60) TVET centres to roll-out Competency Based Training (CST).

    · Conduct Skills Gap Analysis and Audit in three (3) prioritised sectors.

    · Accredit three (3) Assess- ment Centres to pilot Recognition of prior learning.

    The Committee underscores the significant role COTVET plays in the socio-economic development of the country by ensuring that the TVET system produces a globally competitive workforce through quality-oriented and demand driven learning.

    Training the youth to be technically and vocationally skilled will no doubt, prepare the youth for self- employment initiatives in all sectors of the economy. As noted by the Committee, COTVET is moving beyond performing activities to
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    achieving outcomes which will contribute to the TVET trans- formation agenda of Government. The Committee therefore urges the Ministry of Finance to adequately resource COTVET to enable it implement, supervise, coordinate and monitor skills development effectively in the country.

    10.8 West African Examinations Council (WAEC)

    2020 Budgetary Allocation

    WAEC is Africa's foremost Examining Body with the mandate to determine the examinations required in the public interest in member countries; it also conducts examinations and as appropriate, award certificates comparable to those of equivalent examining authorities internationally; and conduct any other examinations considered by the Government of a member country.

    For the 2020 fiscal year, WAEC (National) has been allocated a sum of GH¢45,833,095.00 for the implementation of its programmes and activities. This constitutes an amount of GH¢13, 138.095.00 for the compensation of its employees and GH¢32,695,000.00 for Goods and Services.

    2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) Fees

    For the year 2020, the approved fees for BECE is GH¢81.08 per candidate.

    The Committee was informed that Government has for the past three (3) years, undertaken to pay 100 per cent fees for candidates in Public Schools. To this end, the Ministry has been provided with an amount of GH¢32,595,000.00 for the payment of fees for 402,010 candidates from 10,461 public schools. Candidates in private schools would be required to pay the full approved fee of GH¢81.08 per candidate.

    The Committee urges the Ministry of Finance to endeavour to release the 2020 BECE examination fees to the Council timeously to enable it carry out all pre-examination activities on schedule.

    2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) Fees

    The Committee noted that the 2020 WASSCE will cost each candidate,

    GH¢240.40.

    For the year 2020, an estimated 362,060 candidates are expected to write the WASSCE, and in line with the Free SHS Policy, Government
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    Late submission of Continuous Assessment Scores

    The Committee's attention was drawn to the fact that some school authorities submit their continuous assessment scores very late.

    The Council indicated that late submission of continuous assessment scores by the schools delay the processing of the results of those schools. For school examinations, the results are processed using 70 per cent external examination scores and 30 per cent continuous assessment scores.

    The Committee urges the GES to engage school authorities on the need to submit continuous assessment scores to WAEC on time.

    10.9 Non-Formal Education Division (NFED)

    2020 Budgetary Allocation

    The Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) is the only institution under the Ministry of Education responsible for Community Education, Youth and Adult Functional Literacy. Its main aim is to increase inclusive and equitable access to, and participation in education at all levels.

    In 2020, the Division has been given an amount of GH¢50,397,098.00 to implement its programmes and activities. The Allocation comprises GH¢49,397,098.00 for Compensa- tion and GH¢1,000,000.00 for Goods and Services.

    In pursuance of its objectives, the Division plans to use its allocation for the following activities, among others:

    To

    a. Develop a comprehensive entry and learners assessment to measure progress of learning at all levels.

    b. Organise training pro- grammes for 2,400 facilitators in the Southern/Northern as well as the new Regions of the country.

    c. Develop and print primers - English, Local Languages and Vocational Books.

    d. Organise community educa- tion and awareness creation programmes on the Complementary Education Agency Bill, 2019.

    Lack of Vehicles

    The Division cited lack of vehicles for effective monitoring and evaluation

    of its programmes as a key challenge affecting the operations of the Division. Currently, NFED Headquarters and its offices at the Regional level have no vehicles for their operations.

    Considering the mandate of NFED, monitoring and supervisory visits are necessary for quality assurance. However, lack of vehicles is hampering the efforts of staff of NFED to carry out their activities effectively. For instance, the National Functional Literacy Programme is a field operational activity that demands supervision as key to quality learning outcomes. The inability of NFED to visit the classes regularly, especially where most classes lack learning logistics is greatly hindering the delivery of the programme.

    It came up during the Committee's deliberations that the only vehicle available to the division has broken down. Movement of officers has therefore become difficult.

    Against this background, the Committee underscores the need for the division to be adequately resourced to enable it procure vehicles and other logistics to support its work. The Committee further urges the Ministry of Education to consider alternative means of providing NFED with vehicles as a matter of urgency.

    Lack of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs)

    The National Functional Literacy Programme (NFLP) seeks to address youth and adult literacy engagements and skills development. The Committee observed that the NFLP currently lacks training materials in the form of primers (textbooks) to meet the needs of learners.

    It was further observed that TLMs in the form of learning cards, chalks, exercise books and other learning kits are lacking, and creates difficulty in teaching and learning at the classroom level.

    This situation, according to officials of NFED, is affecting language classes to the extent that enrolment of learners has dwindled over the years.

    10.10 Ghana National Commission for UNESCO

    The Ghana National Commission for UNESCO has been allocated an amount of GH¢2,630,636.00 for the implementation of its programmes and activities in the year 2020. This is made up of a compensation component of GH¢318,069.00 and Good and services component of

    GH¢2,312,567.00.

    The Commission, in the year 2020, will continue to serve as a link between UNESCO and Ghana.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    Accordingly, the Commission will organise programmes and activities that will contribute to global peace, quality education delivery, poverty alleviation, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, science, culture, communication and information. The Committee noted that, in year 2020, the Commission plans to utilise its allocation to undertake the following activities, among others:

    · Organise education and sensitisation programmes to assist government integrate the Sustainable Development Goal four (4) into the national Educational development efforts.

    ·Promote indigenous languages.

    ·Promote the agenda 2030 SDGs.

    ·Promote dialogue, tolerance and peace for change.

    The Committee identified the Commission's role as an important mechanism to promote indigenous languages, cultural diversity and multilingualism. For instance, the Commission facilitated the comme- moration of the 2019 edition of the International Mother Language Day by the Bureau of Ghana Languages
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    books, in order to enable locally printed books compete favourably with imported books. The Committee supports this call and urges the Ministry of Finance to grant the request.

    10.12 National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA)

    The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is responsible for the development of national curriculum and assessment standards for pre-tertiary institutions.

    The Committee noted that for the year 2019;

    the Council developed and produced pre-tertiary education curriculum materials for KG to Basic

    6;

    trained and monitored KG and primary teachers;

    increased public awareness and support for the KG and Primary curriculum;

    developed a comprehensive textbook approval process, which was approved by the Governing Council of NaCCA; among others.

    For the year 2020, NaCCA has been provided a budgetary allocation of GH¢1,808,760.00 to cater for its programmes and activities. This comprises GH¢608,760.00 for compensation and GH¢- 1,200,000.00 for Goods and Services.

    The Council plans to expend its budgetary allocation for the year 2020 to monitor and evaluate the fidelity of implementation of the common core subjects curricula;

    train master trainers on the national pre-tertiary Assessment Framework;

    Finalise and operationalise the NaCCA scheme of service;

    print and distribute copies of the final Pre-tertiary Learning Assessment Framework; among others.

    It came to the attention of the Committee that the Council is confronted with many challenges including lack of vehicles to undertake monitoring activities, and inadequate space, furniture and office equipment.

    Following the introduction of a new curriculum in basic education, the Committee considers it necessary for the Ministry of Education to ensure that NaCCA is provided with the needed resources for its programmes and activities, particularly those in relation to the implementation of the curriculum.

    10.13 National Service Scheme

    (NSS)

    Budgetary Allocation for Year

    2020

    For the year 2020, the National Service Scheme has been provided with an amount of GH¢656,592,432.00

    for its programmes and activities. This constitutes a GoG allocation of GH¢635,606,314.00 and an IGF component of GH¢20,986,118.00.

    In the year 2020, the Scheme will continue to deploy service personnel to the various sectors of the economy. In this regard, the Scheme will generate 140,000 pins for the 2020/ 2021 service year; organise National Service Scheme Posting conference; and print certificates for qualified personnel. It will also refurbish the Scheme's bungalows within Accra and acquire farmlands among others.

    Unwillingness of some Personnel to accept Postings

    The Committee noted that the unwillingness of prospective personnel to accept postings to some institutions and deprived communities within the country continue to be of great concern.

    The Committee is of the view that though the Secretariat is doing its best to educate personnel on the need to accept postings to institutions and places across the country, there is the need for tertiary institutions to complement the effort of the Secretariat by providing counselling services to prospective graduates to conscientise them to accept postings to wherever their services may be most needed.

    10.14 Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDLOS)

    Budgetary Allocation

    The Centre has been granted an amount of GH¢513,192.00 for the implementation of its programmes and activities in the year 2020. This comprises an amount of GH¢510, 692.00 from GoG and GH¢2,500.00 from IGF.

    The Committee observed that in line with its policy objectives, CENDLOS will deepen the use of the iCampusgh portal and iBox system by undertaking the following activities, among others:

    · Continue the production of eContent for four (4) elective subjects.

    · Install eight (8) additional iBoxes in SHSs.

    · Develop implementation strategies for Open Educational Resources polices for Ghana.

    · Complete the development of a draft CENDLOS Bill for the consideration of the Ministry of Education and the Attorney- General's Department.

    Manage and maintain IT infrastructure (iCampusgh portal and iBoxes) .
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    Challenges Confronting CENDLOS

    The Committee observed that challenges confronting the centre include delay in the release of GETfund allocation; inadequate computers for students; slow submission of iBox-related data from beneficiary schools; lack of ownership of the e-learning system; and refusal by some school heads to put the iBox to good use.

    Other challenges relate to lack of portable gadgets (SIMless tablets) which allow students access to iBox content outside school hours without recourse to the computer laboratories. With the iBox, students do not need Internet to access electronic content (e-Content).

    In view of the fact that students do not get access to computer laboratories in some schools after school hours, weekends and holidays, the iBoxes often become redundant. In such circumstances, the iBoxes can only be well utilised with portable gadgets that would enable students access their content outside school hours. The Committee therefore recommends that schools should make their laboratories available for use by students outside school hours, under strict supervision.

    10.15 National Teaching Council

    (NTC)

    The National Teaching Council exists to promote excellence and professionalism among teachers and managers of schools by ensuring standards at all levels of the educational system through licensing of teachers; monitoring and supervision of teacher education, promotion of continuing professional development; maintenance of discipline; and leading the overall process of transforming educational delivery.

    For the 2020 financial year, the National Teaching Council has been allocated an amount of GH¢ 1,308,760.00 for the implementation of its programmes and activities. The allocation is made up of an amount of GH¢608,760.00 for compensation and GH¢700,000.00 for Goods and Services.

    The Council, in the year 2020, will use its budgetary allocation to build Teacher Database, license and register teachers, institutionalise teacher professional development and improve management efficiency.

    The Committee took particular note of the initiative by the Council to license teachers as a means of enhancing teacher competencies and

    promoting professional standards and discipline within the teaching profession. The Committee acknowledges that the initiative will promote best practices for the benefit of all teachers and schools in the country.

    10.16 National Inspectorate Board

    The National Inspectorate Board has the mandate to provide independent periodic external evaluation and inspection of the quality and standards in pre-tertiary educational institutions in the country.

    The Committee noted that in the year 2019, the Board carried out comprehensive inspections in eight (8) secondary schools and six (6) basic schools across nine (9) regions, and subsequently disseminated the Inspection Reports to key stakeholders. The Board also inspected 448 pre-tertiary schools during the last quarter of 2019.

    Furthermore, the Board revised its inspection manual for school inspection and adopted a new approach which lays emphasis on data analysis. The Board trained Lead Inspectors on the importance of data collection and management, and how to collect data during schools inspection among others.

    The Committee observed that the Board has been provided a sum of GH¢ 1,320,392.00 as its budgetary allocation for the 2020 financial year. This comprises an amount of GH¢620,392.00 for Compensation and GH¢700,000.00 for Goods and Services.

    The Board intends to utilise its allocation to conduct school inspection on KG, Primary, JHS and SHS across the country; monitor the 2019/ 2020 BECE and WASSCE examinations; train 1,782 Circuit Supervisors on the Board's inspection tools nationwide; disseminate Inspection Reports; and organise capacity building programmes in international best practices in inspection and report writing for Lead and Team Inspectors, among others.

    1 0. 17 Ghana Library Authority

    The Ghana Library Authority is mandated to establish, equip, maintain and manage public libraries in Ghana. The objectives of the Authority include promoting literacy and long-life learning, introducing new access points for the public to engage with the Ghana Library Authority, create an enabling environment for learning across library network; improve book collection and increase accessibility to reading materials through technology.

    To achieve these objectives in the year 2020, the Authority has been
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 12:58 p.m.


    provided with a budgetary allocation of GH¢ 12,224,207.00. This comprises an amount of GH¢11,224,207.00 from GoG and GH¢1,000,000.00 from IGF.

    The Authority will, in the year 2020 deploy online learning platforms and set up school and public libraries on the Integrated Library Management System, increase public and school library book stocks (hard and E- books), increase the number of public libraries, increase mobile van outreach to basic schools, Increase static library membership and renovate public libraries, among others.

    Given the importance of libraries in promoting quality educational delivery, the Committee recommends that the Authority should be adequately resourced to discharge its mandate efficiently and effectively.

    11.0 Conclusion

    There is no gainsaying that education is the foundation for the development of every nation. Education unearths the potential of individuals and empower them to become responsible persons, who are able to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of a nation. It is within this context that the mandate of the Ministry of Education finds expression and justifies the need for the Ministry to be adequately resourced and positioned to play its role effectively and efficiently for the benefit of the nation.

    Against this background, the Committee recommends to the House to approve the sum of thirteen billion, three hundred and one million, one hundred and eighty-two thousand, six hundred and ninety-two Ghana cedis (GH¢13,301,182,692.00) for the programmes and activities of the Ministry of Education for the 2020 Financial Year.

    Respectfully submitted.
    Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe (NDC -- Akatsi North) 1:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion, that this House approves the sum of GH¢13,301,182,692.00 for the services of the Ministry of Education for the year ending 31st December,
    2020.
    Mr Speaker, in doing so, the Committee had a referral from you to study and report to the House. At our meeting, we noted that in the performance of the various agencies under the Ministry of Education, the provision for Goods and Services was not adequately reported. So we demanded the Agencies to submit to the Committee an expenditure on sums of money allocated for Goods and Services.
    Mr Speaker, out of the 13 Agencies that appeared before the Committee, four are yet to submit their reports on Goods and Services. Seven agencies have done so. In looking at them, I wish to commend the National Service Scheme for the manner in which they have utilised Goods and Services and their Internally Generated Fund (IGF).
    Over the years, they have been very consistent, and we see how useful they have become in the
    education sector. We commend them for putting up that outstanding performance, and we hope that they would continue to do very well.
    It is very important that as Government allows the various agencies under the Ministry of Education to retain their IGFs, the Ministry of Education should be interested to monitor very well how these sums of moneys are used. This is where we have realised that some of the expenditures made have question marks against them.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to pick one or two of these Agencies for study. First is the Ghana Library Authority. In their Report, on the use of Goods and Services, they had an allocation of GH¢500,000, and the manner in which they gave the report is not appropriate.

    They repeated one item several times and if you do the calculation, you would see that out of the GH¢ 500,000, they spent GH¢98,000 on vehicles alone, which is about 20 per cent of that amount.

    Again, they spent another GH¢98,000 on transport. They spent GH¢46,000 of that amount on equipment, machinery and acces-

    sories, then they spent GH¢24,999.99 on stationery alone. If you look -at domestic conference, they spent GH¢79,530, and I am not happy with these figures.

    Mr Speaker, I would urge the Ministry of Education to critically examine the books of the Ghana Library Authority and make sure that whatever sums of money are allocated to the various agencies under the Ministry are well accounted for. That is very important.

    Looking at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) they also have overruns in the 2019 Budget. Allocation for some of their activities.

    For instance, under telecommu- nication, the budgetary allocation was GH¢7,000, and they spent GH¢16,088; for refreshment items, it was GH¢20,001,00 (1.45), they went to GH¢22,325. Fuel and lubricants for official vehicles, they spent GH¢12,000 more than the GH¢65,000 allocation made to them, and that goes on and on.

    Mr Speaker, what I am trying to say is that it is very important for the agencies to stay within the budgetary allocations made to them and approved by this House. The Ministry, from time to time, must not

    just allow them to do whatever they feel like doing, but to scrutinise their expenditure and bring them in line with the Public Financial Management Act.

    (PFMA).
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:18 p.m.
    The Hon Chairman of the Committee is on his feet. Yes, Hon Chairman, any point of order?
    Mr Quaittoo 1:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, rightly so. The Hon Member talked about the Ghana Library Authority's expenditure on Goods and Services and quoted some figures. I have a copy here, but I cannot see the figures he is quoting from my sheet. Is he reading from a different sheet?
    Mr Speaker, he said GH¢98,000 was spent on vehicles and so on but I am not seeing this amount expended on this sheet.
    Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 1:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would not have the time to read everything, but if you look at it, we have maintenance cost of vehicles, then running cost of vehicles, fuel and then when you come down again and read another line, they have maintenance of vehicle, fuel, running cost of vehicle. If you put all these figures together, that is what brings the amount to the GH¢98,000 I am talking about.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:18 p.m.
    Is it maintenance of furniture or vehicles?
    Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 1:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is maintenance of vehicles, running cost of vehicles and fuel.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:18 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Chairman, look at those items, I think he added them together to get the GH¢98,000 -- [Interruption] -- No, not ‘buying', but ‘maintenance'. I noted that down.
    Hon Chairman, check on your documents because it is the Committee that has this document, we do not have it, and then reconcile your figures. At least, the point is made that there are some expenditure that the Ministry will have to look at, under some of the Agencies. That is what he is simply saying.
    Mr Quaittoo 1:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I still insist that the maintenance of vehicles do not appear twice here. It is maintenance of equipment and so many other things, and not vehicles; it does not appear more than once here.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:18 p.m.
    Well, Hon Ranking Member, if you have the item numbers, just draw the attention of your Hon Chairman.
    Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 1:18 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the items are not numbered. If I can read out the items, the heading is:
    ‘Goods and Services Application of Funds for the year 2019'
    List of Goods and Services
    Stationery -- GH¢9,999.99
    Telecommunication -- GH¢5,000
    Postal charges -- GH¢1,000
    Sanitation -- GH¢5,000
    Cleaning materials -- GH¢5,000
    Maintenance of vehicles -- 5,000
    Fuel -- GH¢30,000
    Running cost of vehicle -- GH¢3,000
    Maintenance of building --
    GH¢9,999.99
    Maintenance of equipment --
    GH¢1,000
    Stationery -- GH¢15,000
    Mr Speaker, you will realise that this is the second time ‘stationery' has appeared.
    Office facilities, supplies and accessories -- GH¢5,000 Medical supplies -- GH¢2,000
    Sanitation -- GH¢10,000
    Firefighting accessories --
    GH¢1,000
    Cleaning materials -- GH¢10,000
    Office accommodation --
    GH¢1,000
    Maintenance of vehicle --
    GH¢28,000
    Fuel -- GH¢25,000
    Running cost of vehicles --
    GH¢7,000
    Repairs of residential building --
    GH¢1,000
    Maintenance of building --
    GH¢10,000
    Maintenance of furniture and fixtures -- GH¢10,000
    Maintenance of machinery and plant -- GH¢10,000
    Maintenance of equipment --
    GH¢15,000
    Mr Speaker, so it continues, and I am sure that my Hon Chairman is now convinced that I am not just conjuring the figures.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:18 p.m.
    What he just did was to add the maintenance plus the fuel and the rest, which makes up the GH¢98,000. It is not only on maintenance, but the fuel and the rest. I have noted it down and so you may continue.
    Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 1:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, so my suggestion to the Ministry of Education is to make sure that they monitor the activities of the Agencies under them as well as the application of the IGF.
    In the performance of the Ministry in the Budget Statement on page 5, Under CAPEX, we have 199.28 per cent. We will not blame the Ministry for that but we would urge the Ministry of Finance, especially where after the Budget review some more allocations are made to the Ministry, in order not to make their budgets appear as if they have overspent the money allocated to them. We would wish that this is covered under the Ministry of Finance as their own expenditure. If they add it to the Ministry's expenditure, the Budget looks over - bloated, and that occurs every year.
    Last year, we had a similar issue and this year too, it has come up. So we would urge the Ministry of Finance to take up that responsibility instead of making the Ministry of Education or any other Ministry look as if they are causing the overrun.

    Mr Speaker, if we go to page 20, under paragraph 10.8, we have the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). In their report, we noticed that for the past year, in their expenditure, especially in running Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE), they have been incurring deficits. Last year, they could not balance their expenditure. This means that they spent more on the conduct of the examinations than they received.

    So we are of the view that WAEC should make sure that they inform Government accordingly on whatever amount needed for the conduct of examinations.

    They should inform Government accordingly because if the Govern- ment is paying for every student or candidate, and they conduct examination and there is a deficit, who bears the deficit?

    So the Ministry of Education and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) must come into agreement and see how best they could help WAEC to ensure that they could break even during the conduct of examinations, especially the Basic Education Certificate Examination

    (BECE).

    Mr Speaker, one other area we need to look at, which we encourage the Ministry to critically look at, is the Non-Formal Education Division. Some of us could boast that it is this non-formal education, which we used to call in those days as adult literacy programme, that helped our parents to read and write. It is important - Why is the Hon Minister laughing? Mr Speaker, it is important that much attention is paid to it.

    They however have a critical problem, which has to do with vehicles. So the Committee, at our meeting recommended that the Ministry, as a matter of urgency, gets a vehicle for them. When the Director was traveling from Tamale to Accra, his vehicle broke down on the road. According to him, they had to board a cargo truck to enable him come back to Accra. So we urge the Hon Minister to, as a matter of urgency, see how best we could solve that problem for them.

    If they could give them even one vehicle for the headquarters to start working before they do something later on, I believe they would appreciate it. It is very important that the Agency is looked at critically. It is happening at the regional and district levels. They do not have vehicles for monitoring activities.

    Mr Speaker, my final contribution is on the free SHS. We know that the Ministry of Education is responsible
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:28 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Member?
    Mr Alex T. Djornobua (NPP - Sefwi-Akontombra) 1:28 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
    I rise to support the Motion before the House in approving the Annual Estimates of the Ministry of Education for an amount of GH¢13,301,182,692. In doing so, I urge both Sides of the House to approve the budget for the Ministry to enable it carry its mandates in educating the Ghanaian citizenry.
    Mr Speaker, a nation cannot develop without educating its citizenry. There is therefore the need for Ghanaians to support the Ministry and the Government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
    In the year 2016, the Budget Allocation for the Ministry of Education was GH¢6,532,028. As I speak today, the allocation to the Ministry has doubled to over GH¢13 billion. It means that the Government of the day is laying more emphasis on the education sector.
    Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Education is doing marvellous work in the area of the free SHS and the basic schools. With the introduction of the free SHS, a poor parent from my constituency who could have used his cocoa farm as collateral for loan
    Mr Alex T. Djornobua (NPP - Sefwi-Akontombra) 1:28 p.m.
    for his ward's school fees is free today to invest the few proceeds from cocoa in other areas.
    Mr Speaker, in 2019, the Ministry of Education, through its interventions, provided 4,254,570 exercise books to students. In addition, 1,890,920 notebooks were also provided. The Ministry is not laying emphasis on only the free SHS. In the basic schools, 357 infrastructure are being built in the various schools. My Constituency, Sefwi Akontombra, has benefitted a lot from the construction of six classroom blocks in Adawu Mensa, Ayanfu, Manukrom and other areas, to mention but a few.
    Mr Speaker, in the free SHS, in terms of infrastructure, the Ministry has built 965 infrastructure across the various free SHSs in our country. With your permission, I would mention a few of these schools-- Mpohor Senior High School has benefitted from a 3-Science Laboratory; in Krachi East, Asukwa Senior High School has also benefitted from a dormitory block and in North Dayi, Vakpo Senior High School has benefited from a dormitory block.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to urge both sides of the House that we should help the Ministry of Education to implement its core mandates in educating our citizenry.
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I urge the House to approve the Budget Allocation to the Ministry to enable it sustain the gains made in the free SHS as well as the Teacher Trainee Allowances.

    Mr Edward K. Dery (NDC -- Lambussie/Karni) -- rose --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:28 p.m.
    Hon Member, I wanted to cede the opportunity to the Hon Leaders, but you are permitted. Let us hear you.
    Mr Edward K. Dery ( NDC -- Lambussie/Karni) 1:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion ably moved by the Hon Chairman of the Committee that this House approves the sum of GH¢13,301,182,692.00 for the services of the Ministry of Education for the year ending 31st December, 2020.
    Mr Quaittoo 1:28 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, I am not the one who moved the Motion. It was moved by the Hon Minister for Education, and I seconded it.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:28 p.m.
    You said what?
    Mr Quaittoo 1:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I said I did not move the Motion. I seconded it, but he referred to it as the Motion moved by the Hon Chairman.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:28 p.m.
    It is corrected accordingly.
    Yes, Hon Member continue.
    Mr E. K. Dery 1:28 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank him for the correction.
    Mr Speaker, my contribution is on page 13, item 10.2 -- delay of release of GoG budgetary allocation.
    Mr Speaker, the challenge of all the 13 Agencies that appeared before the Committee had to do with the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). Indeed, in the Report, it is also stated that GIFMIS has a problem, which is the lack of expertise to deal with the issues. My worry is that this is a national payment platform that supports the Ministries.
    1. 38 p. m.
    Why is it a problem for them to employ people with the expertise to handle this?
    It is not only the Ministry of Education; I could say that all the Ministries and Agencies in this country
    went through the same challenges. I would urge the Hon Minister that we cannot continue to frustrate our people -- even ourselves. A platform that is supposed to enable a very smooth payment have now become a problem. It could take people four, five or eight months to access their releases. I do not think this is the best.
    Mr Speaker, so I urge the Hon Minister, after approving this Budget Statement, that we should not encounter what happened in the past. At least, the releases should come timeously to support the delivery of goods and services.
    Mr Speaker, one of the key challenges we also observed as a Committee, was the fact that the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education even lamented on his challenges, talking about the increasing student ratio threat to quality delivery of education. This is at the high level, and he looks at this as a threat to quality delivery of education. What about the basic level; what about the second cycle level? We really need to look at it seriously.
    Mr Speaker, this is what the National Executive Director talked about, but the Minister is not even listening. It is serious; if these are
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:28 p.m.
    Leadership, you are not compelled to make these submissions yourselves; if you would allow any of your Hon Members to do it, there is no problem.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
    Mr James Klutse Avedzi (NDC -- Ketu North) 1:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to support the Motion and ask the House to adopt the Report. I also would like to commend the Committee for a very detailed Report.
    Mr Speaker, once again, the Ministry of EduGenerated Funds (IGF) for 2019. On page 4 of the Report, the amount appropriated for IGF was GH¢1.55 billion; but as of September, 2019, they had spent GH¢1.6 billion. This is something that Parliament has to do something about, that MDAs overspend their budget, which is a violation of the Appropriation Act. Just to draw the attention of the House to it that we should take a look at why MDAs overspend.
    Mr Speaker, also on page 5, we realised that the budget as of September, 2019, the CAPEX amount appropriated was GH¢9.5 billion; but as of September, 2019, GH¢18.9 billion was spent, which means that over-expenditure was another GH¢9.4 billion. We should not allow this trend to continue because if we approve the Budget Statement and the MDAs overspend, where does the money come from? It then means that other Ministries would suffer; while they do not have enough disbursement, some other Ministries are favoured and are allowed to overspend.
    Mr Speaker, on page 11 of the Report, it is also indicated that on Table 4 -- Goods and Services - there is allocation under management
    and administration, Non-Formal Education as well as Tertiary Education. However, there is no allocation under basic education, second cycle education and inclusive and special education. I understand that the allocation for Goods and Services for these sectors are not included in the Budget of the Ministry of Education.
    We have Free SHS and these students eat, and the expenditure for the cost of providing food for the students falls under Goods and Services; but there is no allocation for second cycle schools, which is the Free SHS for the Ministry of Education. This allocation is found in a different Ministry. We should not allow this to continue.
    Mr Speaker, so, if we are allocating GH¢13.3 billion for the Ministry of Education, we should not conclude that it is the cost of taking care of our education sector for the year; we have to go to another Ministry, fish out the figures and come and add them to this. Why can we not put this under the Ministry of Education and let one Hon Minister take care of it? Why should we put it under another Ministry?

    Mr Speaker, we know that this is a special initiative by the President,
    Mr Moses Anim (NPP -- Trobu) 1:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to support the Motion and also encourage Hon Members to do same. I also commend the Committee for a detailed work.
    In paragraph 239 of the 2020 Budget Statement, the Ghana Statistical Service has it that after 60 years of our independence, only 15 per cent of all Ghanaians aged 15 or older had reached secondary education or higher. If we assume that we are 30 million, then it means that about 4.5 million of us from 15 years or older have made it up to secondary education or higher.
    Worse still, the same Ghana Statistical Service has it that 19.5 per cent of Ghanaians have never attended school. These are all in paragraph 239 of the 2020 Budget
    Statement. That would also mean that about 5,850,000 Ghanaians have never attended school. So it is so refreshing, that at least from 2011, our allocation for education has moved from GH¢2.5 billion to about GH¢1.2 billion in 2019 and now to GH¢13.3 billion.
    Mr Speaker, it is so refreshing that year by year, we increase the allocation to education and make sure that Ghanaians would be educated. It is also refreshing that, at least, for 2019, we have seen that 75.4 per cent of the allocation as of the end of September has been released and expended. What we have to do, as a House, is to continue to ensure that the release rate is timeous and done very well for the progress of education.
    We should also continue our oversight responsibility and make sure that we would follow up on whatever goes to the Ministry of Education and its Agencies. The records from the Ghana Statistical Service is a bad one and for us to get this done, we need to plan as has been done. That is why as a House, we should all support the free senior high school (SHS) education Policy and subsequently see if we could do so progressively for tertiary institutions. This would prevent any child from getting left behind as we are all trying to do.
    Mr Speaker, to conclude, for non- formal education, when we take our 1992 Constitution, article 25(1) (d), says that functional literacy shall be encouraged or intensified as far as possible.
    Article 38(3) (b) reads:
    “The State shall, subject to the availability of resources, provide --
    (b) a free adult literacy programme, and free vocational training, rehabilitation and resettlement of disabled persons”.
    Mr Speaker, for constitutional obligations, we must be seen to push whatever we can for non-formal education to enhance the literacy rate that we all want.
    With these few words, I support the Motion and urge Hon Members to do same.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:48 p.m.
    Hon Minister, would you want to wind up?
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 1:48 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I crave the indulgence of the House to inform them before I address some of the specific issues
    that came up that our 2020 Budget is geared towards specific events, programmes and projects that the Ministry intends to do.
    Under the management and administration programme, because of the new curriculum, Ghanaian publishers have submitted manuals which we intend to purchase to submit to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) for approval. After approval, the Ministry would acquire them. We intend to acquire literacy and numeracy, creative arts, our world and our people, and history books for basic education in the country.
    Mr Speaker, currently, the curriculum for the junior and senior high schools are being revised. In the coming year, we would train the teachers and also acquire numeracy and literacy materials. In the bosom of the House lies the Pre-Tertiary Education Bill, which we hope the House would pass to further decentralise education to the appropriate areas.
    Almost all progressive economies have education and health decen- tralised to the local government agencies. Even in our country, Ghana, if we go around, all basic schools are either Local Authority (LAs) or District Assembly(DAs), emphasising the fact that basic education is a purview of the District Assemblies.
    Minister for Education (Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh) 1:58 p.m.


    Mr Speaker, we absorbed 100 per cent of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). We did not just put any figure that we like in the Budget Statement. We sat down with the West African Examination Council (WAEC), they gave us the budget and we input it in the Budget Statement. All Governments before us have paid the 100 per cent submitted by WAEC, and that is exactly what we would do.

    If for any reason WAEC, through its own expenditure, probably overspends, it is not because we are not paying the examination fees that have been brought to us. They have other things that they do. Let us be mindful that WAEC is an international body. Even in this country, they conduct other examinations for other entities as well. So it is not all their expenditure that we suo motu absorb 100 per cent.

    Mr Speaker, at that same basic level, we are doing the Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (STEM) centres. There about 10 that Cabinet has increased to 20, and we hope to deliver in the year coming. The plan is to put it in every school in this country. This House has already approved a loan facility of £76 million for science

    education to go down to all the basic schools in the country.

    We do not want the Ghanaian child to be left behind in this age of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and digitisation. The Ministry intends to move ICT a step further to include it in both the in-service and pre - service training of teachers, as well as in the classroom. We would supply digitally -- enabled devices to all our students as progressively as possible.

    Mr Speaker, in the area of secondary education, I heard my Hon Colleagues talk about the fact that they could not find the budget for the free SHS anywhere in our Estimates. This is true, and the Government is not hiding anything. Since independence, the Scholarship Secretariat has managed various forms of scholarships for Ghanaians without it appearing in the Ministry of Education's budget.

    Northern Extraction Scholarship merit bursaries, and disability bursaries, among others, have been managed under the Scholarships Secretariat. The Free SHS is a scholarship scheme in the country. For three years now, its budget has resided in the office of Government Machinery. So we are not hiding it, and it is not new.

    In fact, if we apply ourselves diligently to Budgets Statements that we have passed here, it has always resided in the Office of Government Machinery. This year's Budget Statement is still in the Office of the Government Machinery. All Ghanaians who go to school abroad are funded through tertiary scholarship which goes through the Scholarships Secretariat. So it has never appeared in the Ministry of Education's budget.

    Actually, the Government is a whole collaboration. The fact that it makes it efficient, we have divided it into Ministries -- School Feeding Programme has never been under the Ministry of Education. Does it mean that it is not part of the education activities that we conduct?

    Mr Speaker, the Government is serving itself well through collaboration and things that the other Ministries can do -- yes, they are part of the whole Government. If we go to a school and see the roads being tarred, it is not out of the Ministry of Education's budget, but under the Ministry of Roads and Highways. It is part of Government's activities.

    So we should accept the fact that it is not everything that affects

    education, like school-health projects. It is not directly under the Ministry of Education, but it is a collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, under the Ministry of Health. We have to understand that the Government is about collaboration.

    Mr Speaker, we would operationalise the National Research Fund, and hope to operationalise the National Education Regulatory Bill and the Bills that are here. In fact, we hope to provide all the colleges of education with infrastructure, going forward, which would come before the House.

    Some of the projects, which my Hon Colleagues are talking about as not being funded - really, the Ghana Library Authority, UNESCO, Non- Formal Education and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NACA) -- There are areas in which we fund these other bodies. In that respect, coming again to the House, if we look at a GETFund Formula, moneys that have been allocated to the curriculum and activities, Ghana Library Authority, UNESCO and so on are also -- [Interruption] because the Government of Ghana might not, through its own budget, fund things 100 per cent. That is why this House created a substitute fund called the GETFund to support the Government's education activities.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:58 p.m.
    Leadership, I propose we take a suspension.
    Mr Moses Anim 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, no. We could take item numbered 18 and then after that --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:58 p.m.
    I have been sitting for more than two hours, and I do not intend to, at least, do anything that would affect my health. So we suspend and then come back.
    2:05 p.m. -- Sitting suspended.
    3.51 p.m. -- Sitting resumed.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:58 p.m.
    Hon Members, you are welcome from the more than one hour break. We would get back to the consideration of the Annual Estimates of the various Ministries.
    Hon available leader, which item do we take?
    Mr Matthew Nyindam 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, if we could lay the Paper captured in item numbered 4(i) on page 3 of the original Order Paper. With your leave and the indulgence of the House, it would be done by the Vice Chairman of the Committee.
    PAPERS 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Nyindam 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, if we would go to item numbered 18, the Motion on page 9 of the Order Paper.
    MOTIONS 1:58 p.m.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi) 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House adopts the Report of the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises on the Budget Performance Report in Respect of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations for the Period; January to December,
    2018.
    Mr Speaker, in so doing, I present your committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    The Annual Budget Implementation Report of the Ministry of Employment andLabour Relations for the 2018 Financial year was laid in Parliament on 9th April, 2019 in accordance with Section 27 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
    Pursuant to Order 184 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, the Report was referred to the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises for consideration and report.
    ·
    Accordingly, the Committee met
    with the Hon Minister for Employment andLabour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffuor-Awuah, the Hon Deputy Minister, Mr Bright Wireko-Brobby and other officials from the Ministry on Tuesday, 12th November, 2019 and considered the Report. The Committee is grateful to the Hon Minister for assisting the Committee in its deliberations.
    2.0 Reference Documents
    The Committee was guided by the following documents during its deliberations:
    The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana;
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi) 1:58 p.m.


    Pass the Co-operatives Bill into law and also register one thousand, two hundred (1,200) co-operative societies with an estimated membership of twenty-four thousand (24,000).

    Following the successful development of a National Youth Employment Framework by the Ministry, the Ministry programmed to collaborate with stakeholders to develop specific programmes and in the areas of agro- business, green jobs, industrial parks, business incubation, lCT Apprenticeship and Skills Development. The initiative was expected to generate sixty-five thousand 65,000 job opportunities for the youth.

    6.3 Skills Development

    Train eight thousand (8000) persons, through the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) in various vocational trades. The NVTl also programmed to test and certify forty-five thousand (45,000) candidates in vocational skills.

    In addition, Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) was expected to train one thousand, four

    hundred (1400) persons in managerial and productivity enhancement skills.

    6.4 Labour Administration

    Conduct through the Department of Labour, three hundred and fifty (350) establishment inspections and place four hundred (400) job seekers in gainful employments. The Department also projected to settle at least ninety (90) of all reported labour complaints.

    7.0 Financial Performance For

    2018

    In year 2018, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations was provided with a budgetary allocation of three hundred and eighty- eight million, six hundred and sixteen thousand, two hundred and fifteen Ghana cedis (GH¢388,616,215.00) for the implementation of its programmes and activities.

    It is significant to note that out of the total amount allocated to the Ministry, a sum of three hundred million (300,000,000.00) was earmarked for the Implementation of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) Programme, leaving GH¢,616,216.00 for the Ministry's programmes and activities.

    According to the Ministry, the implementation of the NABCo programme was expected to commence in January 2018. However, its implementation delayed until November of the same year, at a time the programme had been

    relocated to the Office of Government Machinery.

    The breakdown of the Ministry's allocation by economic classification, and releases as at December 2018 is presented in the table below

    Table 1 - Allocation and releases as at December 2018.
    Chairman of the Committee (Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi) 1:58 p.m.
    SPACE FOR TABLE 1, PAGE 4 OF REPORT - 3.51 P.M
    8.0 Achievements
    The Ministry utilised its budgetary allocation to implement various programmes and activities some of which are enumerated as follows:
    Launched the 2nd phase of the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour
    (NPA2).
    Obtained cabinet approval for the unification of Public Sector Pension Schemes.
    Facilitated the formation and registration of 686 new co- operative societies. It also inspected 661 and audited 591 existing co-operative societies. 360 agricultural societies and 320 executive co-operative

    officers were trained by the Ghana Co-operative Council and Ghana Co- operative College in managerial and entrepreneurial skills respectively.

    The National Vocation Training Institute (NVTI), Opportunity Industrialisation Centres (OIC) and the Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCESS) trained 7869 persons in various vocational trades. In

    addition, the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI} trained 644 persons in various managerial and productivity enhancement skills.

    The Labour Department conducted 450 work places/ establishment inspections and placed 2485 job seekers in gainful employments. Details of the key performance targets for 2018 and achievements are highlighted in Table 2 on the next page.

    SPACE FOR TABLE 2, PAGE 6 OF REPORT - 3.51 P.M (
    FROM MAIN OUTPUT - COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT 1:58 p.m.
    FROM SKILLS DEVELOPMENT - LABOUR 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 1:58 p.m.
    Any seconder?
    Mr Richard M. Quashigah (NDC -- Keta) 1:58 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to second the Motion moved by the Hon Chairman of the Committee, which is a performance report in respect of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations. In so doing, I
    Mr Richard M. Quashigah (NDC -- Keta) 4:01 p.m.


    would look at paragraph 6 on page 3 of the Report which states among all things that the Ministry's intention was to achieve four main Budget programmes namely, management administration, job creation and skills development labour administration.

    Mr Speaker, in doing so, the Ministry was allocated a total sum of GH¢388,616,216.00. Out of the amount allocated, GH¢300,000,000.00 was targeted at the Nations Builders Corps which was introduced during the period. And so the Ministry was left with GH¢88.6 million to carry out its other activities. However, true to what was mentioned by the Hon Chairman, a number of activities were carried out.

    My worry is the non-availability of the details of how these moneys were spent. For instance, GH¢50 million was spent on compensation which was understood, but with goods and services where GH¢34 million was approved, only GH¢18.5 million was released to the Ministry. One would have expected that with the numerous programmes that claimed to have carried out, for instance the youth enrolled on the Youth in Agriculture model where they intended to achieve 10,200 youths, only 1,200 was the actual outcome achieved. They also intended to enrol 1,000 youths on the trade and vocational model, yet at the

    end of the day, they were unable to achieve anything.

    Then on the youth enrolled on Entrepreneurship -- 2,000 too was targeted but the achievement was zero.

    Mr Speaker, when you look at a number of targets the Ministry set for itself, they missed out on most of them and the question is, if they had given us details of the GH¢18.5 million they spent on Goods and Services, which we required and were assured that it would be made available to us before this Report is taken, then one would know for instance, exactly how much they spent on Arbitration of Conflict in the societies. This one talks about cooperative societies. For that one too, the target was 40 and they achieved zero.

    Mr Speaker, these details are needed. They should not continue to give us global figures such that when we come, we only come to talk about the fact that the Ministry was given GH¢34 million for Goods and Services and GH¢3 million for CAPEX and then it ends there. I do not think it does this nation any good.

    Mr Speaker, it is for this reason that I would insist that in spite of the fact we are taking this Report, the Hon Minister should be compelled to make

    available those details so that we can know exactly what we are doing. Other than that, we would only speak to global figures all the time, and if there are some hidden issues that are not transparent, we would not be able to discover those ones.

    Mr Speaker, it is important to also indicate that the YEA, during the period, was allocated GH¢515,834,919, but at the end of the day, the Agency only got GH¢227,913,677, and this represented 44.18 per cent. Why do we set so huge a target when we cannot even achieve 50 per cent?

    For the seven years that I have been in this House, especially the last three years, I have observed that huge targets were set, big amounts of moneys were voted, and at the end of the day, some Ministries got only 25, 30 or 40 per cent of those moneys that were voted. I believe that those unrealistic targets that we set for ourselves is unbecoming.

    In this particular Report, it is obvious that the targets that were set were not achievable and yet, we stuck to them, and the Ministry for Finance continues to refuse to release moneys for these various Agencies to carry out their activities. It is not surprising for me that sometimes global figures are

    given and then the details are hidden so that we cannot even know exactly what goes on within these various Ministries.

    Mr Speaker, before I sit down, I would want to reiterate humbly that you compel the Hon Minister for Employment and Labour Relations to give us the details of how he spent the moneys voted for Goods and Services. As for the CAPEX, we are told in this Report that they spent the entire amount in buying five pickup vehicles for the Inspectorate Division of the Ministry. That is understood, but what about the GH¢18 million that was given to them out of the GH¢34 million voted for Goods and Services? We need the details. It has been two weeks since we demanded for the details. We are considering the Report today, and still the Ministry has not been able to provide it.

    Mr Speaker, with these words, I thank you for the opportunity to support the Motion for the adoption of the Report.
    Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 4:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to give information to the Hon Deputy Ranking Member. At the Committee level, we requested for some information as he said, and the Ministry provided it and I have provided same to the Hon Ranking Member.
    Mr Kofi Okyere-Agyekum (NPP -- Fanteakwa South) 4:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to contribute to the Motion on the Budget Performance Report in respect of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
    Mr Speaker, in doing so, I would like to go to page 6 of the Report and highlight some of the achievements of the Ministry so that the impression would not be created that there was nothing done and that everything was gloomy.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at Table 2, you would realise that under Youth Engaged under YEA modules, the target was 125,000, and what was achieved was 107,576. This is a whopping 73 per cent higher than what it was before the Budget Statement. Mr Speaker, if you look at the Report, the numbers were 62,150, and it has moved to 117,500. So, even though the target of 125, 000 was not achieved -- it was slashed by only 14 per cent -- it was a significant increase.
    Again, Mr Speaker, if you look at the last item in the table, Labour Inspection Conducted, the target was 400 and the achievement was 450, which is 11.2 per cent above the target. Mr Speaker, if you look at the Report, for Master Craftsmen Trained, the target was 4,190, and the achievement was 4,567.
    Mr Speaker, if you go to the Cooperative Department, we have training on artisans and the target was 240 and the actual trained was 360 which makes it 133.3 per cent above the target. If you look at the training of farmers, the target was 160 and the actual was 320. That is over 100 per cent increase.
    Again, if you look at inspections carried out on cooperative societies, the target was 450 and the actual was 661. Mr Speaker, it is not all gloomy as the Hon Deputy Ranking Member would want to paint it.
    With these words, I urge the House to support the Motion.
    Mr Albert A. Alalzuuga (NDC -- Garu) 4:11 a.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Performance Review Report of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
    Mr Speaker, in contributing to the Motion, I have a few observations to
    make. One key observation I made is on Table 2 of the Report. In my opinion, the general observation is that there are some key activities that the performance is poor. One of them has to do with the youth enrolment in the industrial attachment module which is just about 1.9 per cent; that is too low. One other area is youth enrolment in the Youth in Agriculture Module.

    Mr Speaker, I am interested in this particular activity because the Government and especially the Minister for Agriculture has talked so much about Planting for Food and Jobs. If we are talking about jobs, they must target the youth. So if we are targeting youth for job creation and the target was to enrol 10,200 youth in the agricultural sector and they succeeded in only enrolling 1,200 which is just about 11 per cent, what kind of jobs is the Ministry creating?

    In the period of 2017/2018, we heard a lot about job creation which the Minister for Agriculture spoke a lot about. I do not know the kind of jobs they created. If it is just enrolling youth in the youth sector and paying them some allowance, then they are only performing at 11 per cent. I have a major concern with this.

    Mr Speaker, there is one other area that I observed and that is on page 9 of the Report on the Estimates for the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations. On page 9, there is one key activity that was so clear. In the Report, we have the incidence of child labour which, using 2016 as the base year, the rate was 13.1 per cent. On the same page, in 2017, the incidence rate increased to 21 per cent, but in this Report, it is silent.

    I read through the performance Report and wanted to see the trend. I noticed that it is silent, so I want to find out whether it was a deliberate attempt to not let people see how we are performing in that sector. Why are they silent on that, because this is something that the international community is interested in. I have checked the Report and have not seen how we are progressing in terms of performance --
    Mr Anyimadu-Antwi 4:11 a.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, my Hon Friend is a Member of the Committee. We have presented a Report of the Committee of which he is an Hon Member, yet he is here asking questions on what must be included and what is not included. If it is the Report that they submitted for 2018 performance which the Committee considered, and he did not find the information he is looking for, that is
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:11 a.m.
    Hon Chairman, you cannot rise on a point of order to raise such an issue. The important thing is that we all have to read Standing Order 155 to get the powers of the Committee. It seeks its livelihood from the Constitution and when you look at article 103, you would see it there.
    All these requests you are making here should have been made at the Committee level and you could have compelled them because you have the powers of the High Court or a Judge sitting at the High Court to compel the production of documents and all information.
    So, when you do not do that and come to the Floor, yes, you could draw our attention but you still have the powers to take action. You do not call on the Speaker to order because the power is already with you and you do not need the Speaker to add his
    Mr Alalzuuga 4:11 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the intervention and the opportunity to continue.
    Like I said, that particular activity on the issue of the incidence of child labour is something that the international community is very interested in. For that matter, I would want to urge the Ministry that in presenting Reports in the future, they should try to let us monitor and let the Report show how we are performing in that area, so that at least, we would
    be able to monitor and then make the needed input to help improve upon it.
    Mr Speaker, the other key point is what some of my Hon Colleagues have already mentioned. I think that the poor releases from the Ministry of Finance is a worry for all of us. It is impacting negatively on the performance of most Ministries and MDAs.
    I would want to urge all of us as Hon Members of Parliament (MP) from both Sides of this House to look at it seriously. If there is something that we can do, we should force the Hon Minister to release the money for the various Ministries to work. It would go a long way to help us get the needed development all of us are looking for.
    It is not the fault of most of the Ministers that they are having some of these low figures or achievements. It is as a result of lack of funding and I think that we should all urge the Minister for Finance. If he wants to see results, he should release the moneys.
    Mr Speaker, with these few observations, I thank you and ask that we adopt this Report.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:11 a.m.
    Hon Members, may we now listen to the Leaders, if they have anything to
    say, if not, I would proceed to put the Question.
    Mr Anim 4:11 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, you may proceed to put the Question.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:11 a.m.
    We would move to which other item?
    Mr Anim 4:11 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, we could move to item numbered 5, Motion.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    Item numbered 5 -- Motion, by the Hon Minister for Finance.
    Mr Anim 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I humbly ask your leave and that of leadership on the other Side of the aisle, to allow the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance to take the Motion on behalf of the Hon Minister for Finance.
    Mr Avedzi 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I do not have any problem with the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance moving the Motion but my only concern is that it is only the Hon Deputy Ranking of the Committee who is in the House -- the other Hon Members of the Committee are not in the House. I can see only the Hon Chairman of the Committee as a low ranger from the Majority side, meanwhile, we want to approve the Annual Budget Estimate for the Ministry of Finance
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    Well, since you do not object to the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance moving the Motion, we would proceed to listen to him. Maybe, as we go with the proceedings the other Hon Members may pop in and then they would be given the opportunity to contribute.
    So, the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, may move the Motion.
    ANNUAL BUDGET 4:21 p.m.
    MINISTRY OF FINANCE 4:21 p.m.
  • [Resumption of debate from 10/ 12/19]
    • Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    Any seconder?
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion and in so doing, I present your Committee's Report.
    3.0 Background
    The Ministry of Finance exists to ensure macro-economic stability for the promotion of sustainable growth and development of Ghana and her people through:
    The formulation and imple- mentation of sound financial, fiscal and monetary policies;
    The efficient mobilisation, allocation and management of financial resources;
    Establishing and disseminating performance-oriented guidelines and accurate user-friendly financial management infor- mation system; and
    Creating an enabling environ- ment for investment.
    In furtherance of the foregoing, the ministry is committed to the pursuit of excellence, transparency, probity and
    accountability in the management of financial resources.
    4.0 Objectives and Functions
    The goal of the Ministry is to ensure efficient and effective management of the economy towards the attainment of upper middle income status and poverty reduction.
    The National Medium Term Development Policy Framework (NMTDPF) contains four (4) Policy Objectives that are relevant to the Ministry of Finance. These are to:
    i.Enhance monetary discipline and financial stability;
    ii. Ensure improved fiscal performance and sustainability;
    iii. Ensure efficient management and utilisation of oil and gas revenue; and
    iv. Promote the fight against corruption and economic crimes
    The core functions of the Ministry include:
    Formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of macroeconomic, fiscal and financial policies;
    Ensuring effective mobilisation of domestic and external re- sources;
    Ensuring effective and efficient allocation and prudent manage- ment of resources;
    Establishing and disseminating performance-oriented guidelines and deploying efficient financial management information systems;
    Ensuring commitment to transparency, probity and accountability in the management of financial resources;
    Ensuring sustainability of public debt; and
    Supporting the development of an efficient financial sector that supports structural transformation of the economy, promotes financial inclusion and is well integrated into the global financial system.
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 4:21 p.m.


    5.0 2019 Budget Performance as at End September, 2019

    SPACE FOR TABLE BUDGET PERFORMANCE, PAGE 4 & 5 -- 4.21 P.M

    5.1 Macroeconomic Achievements for 2019

    The work of the Ministry in 2019 contributed to the attainment of major macroeconomic indicators such as a Real GDP Growth of 6.2 per cent as at September 2019, against a whole year 2019 target of 7.1 per cent, fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP (cash) of 4.5 per cent as against a 2019 annual target of 4.2 per cent, debt to GDP Ratio of 60.6 per cent as at September 2019, as against end of year 2018 target of 60 per cent and

    total expenditure as a ratio of GDP of 14.5 per cent as at September, 2019 compared to the 2019 whole year target of 21 per cent.

    6.0 The 2020 Annual Estimates for the Ministry of Finance

    A total amount of GH¢747,901,749.00 has been allocated to the Ministry of Finance, its Departments and Agencies for the year 2020. The breakdown of the allocation are as follows:

    Compensation for Employment:

    Government of Ghana -- GH¢ 362,273,560

    Internally Generated Funds -- GH¢18,489,447

    Donor Sources -- 0

    Subtotal: -- GH¢380,763,007

    Goods and Services:

    Government of Ghana -- GH¢50,757,038

    Internally Generated Funds -- GH¢42,795,880

    ABFA -- GH¢3,091,200

    Donor Sources -- GH¢210,500,522

    Subtotal: -- GH¢307,144,640

    Capital Expenditure:

    Government of Ghana -- GH¢46,000,000

    Internally Generated Funds -- GH¢13,994,103

    Donor Sources -- 0

    Subtotal: GH¢59,994,103

    GRAND TOTAL GH¢747,901,750
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 4:21 p.m.


    6.1 Allocations to Departments and Agencies of the Ministry

    The amounts stated below represent allocations to the various Departments, Divisions and Agencies of the Ministry of Finance:

    6.1.1 Finance Headquarters

    The Headquarters of the Ministry has been allocated a total of GH¢360,542,354.00 to pursue its programmes and activities for the 2020 financial year:

    Compensation for Employees: -- GH¢38,902,221

    Goods and Services: -- GH¢270,208,445

    o/w GoG -- GH¢41,373,468

    o/w IGF -- GH¢26, 680, 655

    o/w Donor -- GH¢199,063,122

    o/w ABFA -- GH¢3,091,200

    Capex: -- GH¢51 ,431 ,688

    o/w GoG -- GH¢41,431,688

    o/w IGF -- GH¢10,000,000

    Total -- GH¢360,542,354 This amount would be spent on the various units of the Headquarters as follows:

    Human Capital and General Administration GH¢76,394,602

    Budget Division GH¢33,936,886

    Treasury & Debt Mgt. Division GH¢1,529,879

    Resource Mobilisation & Econ. Relations Div. GH¢97,079,843

    Economic Strategy and Research Division GH¢5,787,394

    Financial Sector Division GH¢138,288,359

    Public Investment and Assets Division GH¢5,806,793

    Policy Coordination, M&E Division GH¢ 1,397,682

    Legal Division GH¢320,916

    6.1.2 Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD)

    For the year 2020, the Controller and Accountant General's Depart- ment (CAGD) has been provided the following allocations:

    Compensation for Employees:

    GH¢281,683,246

    Controller and Accountant General's Department, where the Hon Deputy Minority Leader used to work would get GH¢296 million, the Ghana Statistical Service would get

    43.24 --
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    Hon Chairman of the Committee, you have invited the Hon Deputy Minority Leader.
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have not invited him.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    By mentioning his name, you have invited him.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
    Mr Avedzi 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I do not know whether where I worked before is part of the Report that the Hon Chairman of the Committee is reading. If it is, I expect to see it in the Report ,but if it is not, then he should withdraw and apologise to me for saying I have worked at the Controller and Accountant General's Department before. I am proud to have worked there but what has that got to do with the Report?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    Have you worked at the Controller and Accountant General's Depart- ment before?
    Mr Avedzi 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have worked there before.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    So he is right. What is wrong with the reference he made?
    Mr Avedzi 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, he is right by saying that I have worked at the Controller and Accountant General's
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:21 p.m.
    Actually, the Hon Deputy Minority
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 4:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, 6.1.5 Institute of Accountancy Training (lAT)
    The Institute of Accountancy Training (IAT) has been allocated an amount of GH¢3,897,208 for the 2020 financial year to be spent as follows:
    Compensation of Employees -- GH¢3,023,036
    Goods and Services -- GH¢310,908
    o/w GOG -- GH¢200,000
    o/w IGF -- GH¢110,908
    Capex -- GH¢563,264
    Total -- GH¢3,897,208
    6.1.6 Financial Intelligence Center (FIC)
    The Financial Intelligence Center has been allocated an amount of GH¢7,326,725 for the implementation of its programmes and activities for the 2020 financial year. The breakdown is as follows:
    Compensation of Employees -- GH¢4,986,084
    Goods and Services -- GH¢1,768,491
    Capex -- GH¢572,150
    Total -- GH¢7,326,725
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 4:21 p.m.
    6.1.7 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will, for the year 2020 generate internally and retain an amount of GH¢28,205,455.00 to be spent on its programmes and activities as follows:
    Compensation of Employees -- GH¢18,489,447
    Goods and Services -- GH¢8,292,508
    Capex -- GH¢1,423,500
    Total -- GH¢28,205,455
    7.0 Observations and Recom- mendations
    7.1 Policy Formulation and Implementation
    The Committee observed that the Ministry of Finance has a key responsibility of formulating and implementing sound macro economic policies, effective mobilisation and
    efficient allocation of internal and external resources to all sectors of the economy and ensuring sustainable debt management.
    7.2 Domestic Credit Rating Agency
    The Committee noted that the Ministry of Finance, in the year 2019

    developed and published the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the engagement of a consultant to develop a business plan for a Domestic Credit Rating Agency (DCRA).

    In the 2020 financial year, a consultant will be engaged to develop the business plan based on the TOR. It is envisaged that the Domestic Credit Rating Agency (DCRA) will be established and fully operational in the 2021 financial year.

    7.3 International Financial Services Center (IFSC)

    The Committee observed that as part of processes towards the establishment of an International Financial Services Center (IFSC), a Concept Note was prepared and submitted by the Ministry to the African Development Bank (AfDB) in the 2019 financial year for consideration.

    The Ministry will in 2020 develop a legal framework and a business model for the establishment of the IFSC, the implementation of which is expected to commence in 2021.

    7.4 Financial Intelligence Reports

    In the year 2019, the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) prepared

    and disseminated 83 Intelligence Reports (IRs) to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to assist in investigations and prosecutions.

    In 2020, the Financial Intelligence Center programmes intends to prepare 130 of such reports.

    7.5 Non-Tax Revenue Mobilisation

    As at the end of September, 2019, Non-Tax Revenue amounting to GH¢3,414.47 million had been collected as against the 2019 annual target of GH¢9,021.65 million. To help pluck any loopholes in the non- tax revenue collection system, the Ministry cooperated with the Ghana Audit Service to audit the banking arrangement for Internally Generated Fund's (IGF) collection.

    The Ministry will in 2020 implement the recommendations from the audit of the banking arrangement.

    7.6 Protecting the Public Purse

    The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is charged with the responsibility to protect the public purse and ensure the attainment of value for money for every cedi spent by Government.

    To build the procurement capacity within the public and private sectors,

    the Authority in the year 2019, trained about 2,500 procurement staff of various entities. The PPA also trained 200 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the use of the Public Procurement Model of Excellence (PMME) tool on the PPA website.

    In the year 2020, the PPA intends to build the capacity of 2,000 procurement staff from both the public and private sectors. Also, the Authority will train 400 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the use of the Public Procurement Model of Excellence (PPME) Tool on the PPA website.

    7.7 Improving Governance of SOEs

    The Committee was informed that as part of interventions aimed at improving the governance of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), the Ministry has previously conducted a study on Government's equity holdings in these enterprises.

    Pursuant to recommendations from the study, a new portfolio management strategy is being pursued through the establishment of a centralised framework for overseeing Govern- ment's interests and governance of SOEs, Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) and other state entities including regulatory bodies. To this

    end, a State Interest and Governance Authority Act has been passed.

    7.8 Bond Issuance

    In 2019, Government, through the Ministry of Finance issued Eurobonds up to US$3.0 billion. An amount of US$2.00 billion of the proceeds from the issuance was used for critical infrastructure to support the 2019 Budget while the remaining US$1.00 billion was used for liability management operations.

    Government proposes to raise International Capital Market (ICM) funding up to US$3.00 billion in the year 2020. These funds would be used for budget support, energy sector restructuring and liability management.

    Apart from the regular Eurobond transactions, Government would also explore the feasibility of issuing one or a combination of the Green Bond, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Bond, Sukuk Bond and Syndicated/Bridge Loan subject to prevailing market conditions:

    7.9 Establishment of the Ghana Commodity Exchange

    The Committee observed that as part of Government's agenda for agricultural transformation, the
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 4:21 p.m.


    Securities and Exchange Commission supervised the establishment of the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) which has a state of the art trading system. The Exchange which was launched by His Excellency the President is helping to facilitate trade in commodities.

    7.10 Public Accounting

    The Committee noted that the Controller and Accountant General has the mandate to receive, disburse and provide secure custody for public funds. The Department in consultation with the Auditor-General, specifies for covered entities the accounting standards, policies and the classification system to be applied in public accounting to ensure that a proper system of accounting operates and is adhered to.

    In the year 2019, the CAGD ensured that the 2018 Annual National Accounts were completed and submitted to the Auditor-General within the mandatory period is before 30th March, 2019.

    The Department will strive to ensure that by the close of the First Quarter of 2020, the 2019 Annual National Accounts would have been prepared and submitted to the Auditor-General as required by law.

    The Department will also implement the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the year 2020.

    7.11 Government Chart of Accounts

    The Government of Ghana Chart of Accounts (COA) has in 2019 been successfully updated to incorporate the newly created regions and districts and other emerging needs of the Government and also Covered Entities. The updated Chart of Accounts (COA) has been successfully uploaded onto the

    GIFMIS.

    In 2020, the Ministry will look to consolidate the gains made in GIFMIS and ensure prudent cash management under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system.

    7.12 ICT led Government Payroll Management

    The Committee was informed that the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) will continue to enhance the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the management of the government payroll to ensure efficiency and integrity of the system. The CAGD will therefore continue with the implementation of the GoG Staff Card and operationalise E- Forms in addition to the E-Payslips.

    7.13 Conditions of Service of Staff of the Public Procurement Authority

    The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is the entity recognised by statute as the regulator on matters relating to public procurement and contracting. Without due diligence by the PPA, the state stands to lose colossal sums of money.

    As such, the Authority must be well-motivated to carry out its mandate, lest the authority cannot attract and retain qualified staff. This will also stem the tide where some staff could be lured into engaging in unethical conducts. The Committee implores the Minister for Finance to take a critical look at the remuneration of staff of PPA.

    8.0 Conclusion

    The Committee has carefully examined the 2020 Annual Estimates for the Ministry of Finance and found the programmes for which the sums have been allocated to be in line with the mandate of the Ministry and its Agencies.

    The Committee, in view of the foregoing, respectfully recommends to the House to adopt this report and approve the sum of seven hundred

    and forty-seven million, nine hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and forty-nine Ghana cedis GH¢ 747,901,749.00) for the imple- mentation of the programmes and activities of the Ministry of Finance and its Agencies for the 2020 financial year.

    Respectfully submitted.
    Mr Richard Acheampong (NDC — Bia East) 4:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to the Report under consideration for the House to approve an amount of GH¢ 747,901,749 for the operations of the Ministry of Finance for the year ending 31st December, 2020.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to make a few observations. Looking at the “Background” of the Report on page 2, one of the mandates of the Ministry is the efficient mobilisation, allocation and management of financial resources. So we would implore the Ministry to collaborate with the Ghana Revenue Authority to set targets that are achievable so that Government can also plan within that space. We are told that, the Ghana Revenue Authority would record a shortfall of about GH¢3 billion in 2019, and we projected to spend this money and
    Mr Anthony Effah (NPP — Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa) 4:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much. I also rise to support the Motion to approve the budget for the Ministry of Finance and its Agencies.
    Mr Speaker, the 2019 votes for the Ministry were effectively utilised to the extent that they got good micro- economic indicators as evidence of how much they have managed the economy for Ghanaians. We have also seen how much they improved the treasury function to ensure that our debt management is really on course to identify what to pay and when to pay.
    Mr Speaker, in proposing a budget for 2020, I believe that we have to go ahead to do this to ensure that the Ministry is able to do a lot more than we have done in the past.
    For example, in their report to Parliament, they indicated that there was consistent downtime, especially with the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), and that if we must improve funding for the 2020 activities, then GIFMIS would be improved and also be extended to the new regions and districts.
    Mr Anthony Effah (NPP — Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa) 4:41 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, revenue mobilisation is a big challenge for the Ministry, and we know that they have good plans in place to ensure that we improve the tax collection structure and tax compliance.
    Mr Speaker, I would also like us to look at the energy sector debt that came to the Government unplanned. The understanding was that some of these were not anticipated, and that when it hits us, we had to find about GH¢5 billion to meet some of the payments.
    Mr Speaker, with the approval of this budget, I am sure the Ministry would consider the expected payments and the challenges of the energy sector so that we would be able to address them.
    Mr Speaker, the financial sector clean-up is still ongoing, and I am aware that the Ministry has brought some requests to the House to support them to finance the liabilities or the exposures that they are anticipating.

    Even though some work has started, I believe there is still more work to be done, and approving the Budget for the Ministry will enhance their ability to manage the outcome of the clean-up exercise.

    There is a lot also ongoing to digitise and automate some of their key processes. Mr Speaker, with the approval of this budget, I believe that it will encourage the Ministry to do more to ensure that as a country, we are able to protect our coffers and also enhance processes to ensure that revenue generated from managing the country is achieved.

    With these few words, I call on the House to support the Motion to approve the budget.
    Mr James Klutse Avedzi (NDC -- Ketu North) 4:41 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I also rise to support the Motion, but to draw the House's attention to some of the issues that I believe we should consider.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the amount being requested for the Ministry of Finance, about GH¢747,901,749, a jump from GH¢533.5 million is a 40 per cent increase from the previous year.
    It looks like because they are holding the ‘purse', they are comfortable to get a bigger share of the ‘cake' to themselves. This is because when we look at the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Education this afternoon, it was 18 per cent increase from the previous year, however, with the Ministry of
    Finance, it is a 40 per cent jump from the previous year. We expect that when we come to Parliament, we should not have less than 40 per cent increase or across board so that we know that the ‘envelope' is big enough, so everybody's ‘cake' is increased by 40 per cent. This is just an observation.
    Mr Speaker, on this issue, I will need the Hon Deputy Minister's concern. If you look at page 6 of the Report, Goods and Services is about GH¢270 million of which the Government of Ghana(GoG) component is about GH¢41million, IGF is about GH¢26.6 million and donor is GH¢199 million.
    Mr Speaker, Goods and Services are recurrent expenditure and are going to borrow -- [Interruption] -- about GH¢199 million, almost GH¢200 million is going into Goods and Services, and what is the Ministry of Finance going to involve itself to the extent that Goods and Services would cost GH¢270 million and donor component is almost GH¢200 million? Does the Ministry of Finance generate IGF? Apart from the Controller and Accountant-General's Department, this is under the Ministry's headquarters; they have IGF of about GH¢26.6 million. Where is this IGF coming from? Can the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance
    tell us because I do not know where they would generate that much money as IGF to spend.
    If you go to CAPEX, there is IGF of GH¢10 million also there, why are they generating the money under IGF? He should just explain to us so that we will know that we are not approving a budget that they will not be able to raise the money to spend.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the allocation to the Controller and Accountant-General's Department which has offices all over the country--I have been named as a former worker there -- the amount is GH¢296million.
    They have offices in the regional capitals, and in almost all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), staff of the Controller and Accountant-General's Department (CAGD) are there and are paid by CAGD. The total budget for them is only GH¢296 million, but the budget for the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance is GH¢360 million.
    I think the Hon Minister should be able to tell us why that much is given to the headquarters and those who are actually doing the work (CAGD) have less than GH¢300 million. I am talking in terms of the volume of work they perform because if we want to go into details and look at GH¢360 million that is going to the headquarters, this
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:41 p.m.
    Majority front bench?
    Mr Nyindam 4:41 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, let me yield to Hon Okyem Aboagye.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:41 p.m.
    Alright.
    Mr Daniel O. Aboagye ( NPP -- Bantama) 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you and the Hon Leader for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion being discussed which is a request to approve an amount of GH¢747,901,749 for the Ministry of Finance in the 2020 Budget Statement.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the “Background” of the Report, at paragraph 3.0 on page 2 of the Report, you can clearly see that the role of the Ministry of Finance is quite important, especially in respect of the formulation and implementation of sound financial, fiscal and monetary policies to ensure that this country really functions.
    If you look at the second bullet point, it talks about efficient mobilisation and management of financial resources. For that reason, I believe that the request that is before us should be supported, and I encourage all my Hon Colleagues to support it.
    I just want to say for the fact that the Ministry of Finance has to mobilise tax revenue for instance, to support all the activities in the Budget Statement for the various Ministries, and we are told that our tax revenue is about 4.6 per cent of the GDP as compared to our peers in Africa, such as Kenya and so on, which are doing about 18 to 20 per cent.This tells us that the Ministry of Finance has a lot
    of work to do. Even though we might see it as a weakness, but in certain ways, if you look at the fact that we have a gap of about 6 to 8 per cent to meet our peers in revenue mobilisation, it tells us that there is the opportunity for us as a country to be able to raise a lot of money from our tax revenue by expanding the base, blocking the loopholes and doing a number of things to ensure that we have revenue to embark upon all the activities and plans of the Government for the year 2020.
    So even though the allocation to the Ministry's headquarters may be bigger than some of the Departments and Agencies under the Ministry, I think that is what it is supposed to be. because the Ministry has the responsibility to supervise the activities of those Agencies and Commissions.
    Therefore if much is allocated to the headquarters, I do not think it is for nothing.

    Mr Speaker, what the Hon Deputy Minority Leader talked about is on page 6, these are not allocations that are not out of place. These are allocations that are meant for the various divisions to handle critical Departments and sectors of the Ministry of Finance to be able to do

    that which they are mandated to do by law.

    Mr Speaker, without saying much, I believe that it is legitimate and not out of place. It is to support everybody so that all the Ministries would be able to get all the support in respect of the need to block leakages, revenue management mobilisation, efficient allocation, control of corruption, and setting up the environment to also ensure that investors come in. I believe that by giving them about GH¢747.9 million is a reasonable request, and I encourage all Hon Members to support.

    Thank you so much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, a few issues have been raised, and so you have time to expatiate on them.
    Mr Kwarteng 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think Hon Avedzi raised a legitimate observation when he pointed to the almost GH¢27 million IGF and a further GH¢10 million IGF for the Ministry of Finance. He is right. Traditionally, the Ministry of Finance does not have IGF, but we charge 1 per cent of Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) at the port. These moneys go to pay the service providers at the ports with a small
    Mr Avedzi 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I hope this is good information. If I had not asked, we would not have had this lecture. However, if it is backed by law that 1 per cent CIF is charged and another 0.4 per cent is charged, I do not have any problem but if they are not backed by law, that is where the problem is.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    I thought he said they are captured under the Fees and Charges Act. So they are covered by law.
    Hon Deputy Minister, you may continue. Or have you ended?
    Mr Kwarteng 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, that is about the point which I wanted to provide.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of GH¢ 747,901,749 for the services of the Ministry of Finance for the year ending 31st December,
    2020.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Available leader.
    Mr Moses Anim 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we may go to page 3 of the Order Paper Addendum, item numbered 3, Motion.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Order Paper Addendum, Page 3, item numbered 3, Motion -- Minister for Planning?
    Mr Anim 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your leave and that of our Hon Colleagues on the other Side, we --
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Hon Minister for Works and Housing, is your Leader out of order?
    Mr Akyea 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, he should say with your leave and the kind indulgence of the Hon Colleague. This is because our Hon Colleague has not got powers to grant leave. I do not want you to confer powers that this man --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    That is a timely correction. I wanted to draw his attention that they actually indulge. He cannot get leave from them. He should have said with the kind indulgence of his Hon Colleague opposite. But as for the leave, you have to get it from Mr Speaker.
    Mr Anim 4:51 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker. So I will do it rightly. With your leave and the indulgence of our Hon Colleagues on the other Side. [Laughter.]
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to know whether it is the indulgence of the House or the
    Hon Deputy Minority Leader. It is the indulgence of all of us.
    Mr Speaker, as a matter of fact, if the other Hon Members of the House do not agree or indulge -- [Interruption] Then he must as well ignore the indulgence aspect. If he would want the indulgence of Hon Members, it should be the indulgence of the whole House and not of the Hon Deputy Minority Leader.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    The Hon Leader was on his feet speaking for and on behalf of the Majority who are seeking to move a Motion, and so he cannot crave for the indulgence of the persons seeking to move the Motion. They are seeking the indulgence of those who would be opposing the Motion.
    Hon Chairman, I do not know the concept you are propagating. This one is not dealing with finance, it is dealing with governance --[Laughter] -- and so you are completely out of order.
    Hon available Leader, you may go on.
    Mr Anim 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, as I usually tell you that I am glued to your back, I thought they were glued to my back since I am doing this on their behalf. So they are supposed to support me.
    Mr Anim 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, so I ask your leave and the indulgence of our Hon Colleagues to allow the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance to move the Motion on behalf of the Minister for Planning.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Minority bench, your indulgence is being sought.
    Mr Avedzi 4:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it would be difficult for me to allow this Motion to be moved. This is because --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 4:51 p.m.
    Actually, he did not ask for your allowance. [Laughter.]
    Mr Avedzi 4:51 p.m.
    My indulgence. It would be difficult for me to indulge in this issue because we are approving budgets for Ministries, Departments and Agencies. The Hon Ministers themselves do not see the approval of their budgets important and so they do not come to the House.
    Mr Speaker, if the Hon Minister is here and there are questions pertaining to that Ministry through the debate, he would be able to provide answers just as the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance did. The Minister
    for Planning is not here. If we ask questions, who would respond to it?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, as a matter of fact, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) sits under the Office of the President. The Annual Estimates of all Agencies under the Office of the President are referred to the Finance Committee and it is the Hon Minister for Finance that moves the Motions.

    For some reasons, because now we have an Hon Minister for Planning, the Clerks-at-the-Table put the NDPC under the Ministry of Planning, but it is the Finance Committee that considers their Estimates, and the Minister for Finance, just as he does with the Office of the Head of Civil Service, it is the same the Hon Minister should move the Motion for NDPC.

    Technically speaking, the NDPC is not under the Ministry of Planning; it is under the Office of the President, and it is the Hon Minister for Finance that moves the Motion. That has been the practice. So technically speaking, what we have on the Order Paper is an error.
    Mr Avedzi 5:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I completely disagree. I have chaired
    that Committee before. The NDPC is under the Office of the President, and it is always an Hon Minister of State at the Presidency who would be designated by the President to come and appear before the Finance Committee. We have done this over the years.
    Mr Speaker, if they are changing it, they should tell us. He should not say that that, has been the practice; that has never been the practice.
    Those days, Hon Azong and Hon Mustapha would appear before the Finance Committee because they were Hon Ministers of State. That is the practice.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:01 p.m.
    The practice as I know it is that, when the NDC is in power, the Ministry is called Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and when the NPP is in power, the Ministry is called Ministry of Finance. There is a difference. During Seth Terkper's time, even that in practice, economic planning was still under the Ministry of Finance. I cannot attest to what you just talked about, that it is the Clerks- at-the-Table that actually captured it as Minister for Planning and that it should have been Minister for Finance.
    Clearly, the NDPC is under the Office of the President. We always have an Hon Minister overseeing these agencies under the Office of the President. It is either an Hon Minister of State at the Office of the President or another sector Minister. So if we have it as Minister for Planning -
    This morning, I saw the Hon Minister here up to the time we went on suspension. I am sure he was here expecting to be called. Unfortunately, it did not get to his time. One would understand his absence because maybe, duty has called him back to his Ministry.
    The point you raised is important because Hon Members could raise an issue where they will be looking for the Hon Minister responsible for NDPC to respond to. I will assume, until proven otherwise that the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance is in the position to respond to those questions that would be raised. We would give him the opportunity to do so, and if we find that he lacks the full mandate and authority, then we can move further to other Business.
    Yes, indulgence does not give the opportunity for you to oppose. You can express reservation of your indulgence, but at least, you do not elevate that to the position of a right.
    Hon Deputy Minister, you may do so.
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:01 p.m.
    We are grateful.
    ANNUAL ESTIMATES, 2020
    NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 5:01 p.m.
    PLANNING COMMISSION 5:01 p.m.
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 5:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to support the Motion and in doing so, I present your Committee's Report.
    1.0 Introduction
    The 2020 Annual Estimates for the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) was laid in the House on Wednesday, 13th November, 2019, and referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with the 1992 Constitution and Standing Orders of the House. This referral followed the presentation of the 2020
    Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government to the House by the Hon. Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta.
    The Committee, in considering the Estimates, met with the Minister responsible for Planning, Hon Prof. George Yaw Gyan-Baffour, Director- General of the Commission, Dr Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa and a technical team from the Ministry of Planning and the Commission as well as officials from the Ministry of Finance and hereby presents this Report to the House.
    2.0 Background
    The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) exists to advise the President on national development planning policies and strategies, to prepare and ensure the effective implementation of approved national development plans and to coordinate the decentralised planning system.
    The Mission of the Commission is to coordinate development policies and strategies and to manage the decentralised planning system for the timely preparation and effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development plans at all levels.
    3.0 Objectives and Functions
    The objectives of the Commission as derived from the Medium-Term Development Policy Framework: The National Medium-Term Development Policy Framework (NMTDPF) “Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All” are as follows:
    Improve decentralised planning;
    Enhance capacity for policy formulation and coordination; and
    Ensure improved fiscal perfor- mance and sustainability;
    Pursuant to Act 479, the core functions of the National Develop- ment Planning Commission (NDPC) are to advise the President on development planning policies and strategies and to do any of the following suo motu or at the request of the President or Parliament.
    Formulate national development policy frameworks and ensure that the strategies, including consequential policies and programmes, are effectively carried out.
    Study and make strategic analysis of macro economic and structural reform options.
    Make proposals for the development of multi-year rolling plans taking into consideration the resource potential and comparative advantage of the different districts of Ghana.
    Make proposals for the protection of the natural and physical environment with a view to ensuring that development strategies and programmes are in conformity with sound environmental principles.
    Make proposals for ensuring the even development of the districts of Ghana by the effective utilisation of available resources.
    Monitor, evaluate and co- ordinate development policies, programmes and projects.
    Undertake studies and make recommendations on develop- ment and socio-economic issues.
    Formulate comprehensive national development planning strategies and ensure that the
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 5:01 p.m.


    strategies and their consequential policies and programmes are effectively carried out.

    Prepare broad national development plans.

    Keep under constant review national development plans in the light of prevailing domestic and international economic, social and political conditions, and make recommendations for the revision of existing policies and programmes where necessary and perform such other functions relating to development

    planning as the President may direct.

    Coordinate the decentralised national development planning system by prescribing the format and content of development plans for the districts, ministries and sector agencies to reflect integration of economic, spatial and environmental principles, and ensure their compatibility.

    4.0 2019 Budget Performance

    The Budget Estimates approved for the Commission for the 2019 financial year amounted to GH¢7,312,555. The breakdown is as follows:

    Compensation of Employees -- GH¢4,198,490

    Goods and Services -- GH¢2,829,065

    Capex -- GH¢285,000

    Total -- GH¢7,312,555

    Actual Outturn for 1st January to 30th November, 2019 shows the following:

    Compensation of Employees -- GH ¢2,332,081. 99

    Goods and Services -- GH¢2,505,406.00

    CAPEX -- GH¢525,960.00

    Total -- GH¢5,363,447.99

    Achievements of the Commission as at 30th November, 2019 include:

    i. Briefed 40 media houses on the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Ghana's implementation arrangement, sources of information and data for reporting and linking stories to the SDGs.

    ii. Prepared a Voluntary National Review (VNR) report on Ghana's progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda. This followed an inclusive process that led to the submission of the VNR Report to the United Nations on 14th June, 2019, and presented to the high level political forum on sustainable development in New York on 17th July, 2019.

    iii. Prepared a multi-dimensional child poverty report in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) and the UNICEF.

    iv. Finalised macroeconomic model and trained selected staff of NDPC and MDAs.

    v. Approved Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDPs: 2018 - 2021) for 25 MDAs and 197 MMDAs.

    vi.Prepared Ghana's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicator baseline report, which provides the status of the SDGs targets at the beginning of the first year timeline and serves as a benchmark against which achievement of SDGs will be tracked.

    vii. Held a number of coor- dinated meetings around various thematic issues, such as inclusive growth, nutrition, population and implemen- tation of the MTNDPF. These meetings were convened to streamline and ensure effective implemen- tation of key Government flagship priority programmes.

    viii. Reviewed the draft of Ghana Infrastructural Plan (GIP) to ensure that infrastructural proposals are sufficiently forward-looking and inter- nally consistent.
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 5:01 p.m.


    ix. Completed the inception report for producing infogra- phics, and visualisation of the GIP for wider dissemination.

    x.Completed internal draft of planning guidelines for plan preparation to be used during the next planning cycle (2022-

    2025).
    Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 5:01 p.m.


    arrears was said to stand at about GH¢l.4 million. Worse still, some allowances due Commissioners were also said to be in arrears.

    The Committee finds this situation to be a fertile recipe for the demoralisation of the staff and members of the Commission, and hence strongly implore the Ministry of Finance to take immediate steps to release the necessary funds for the payment of these arrears. Measures should also be put in place to avoid a reaccumulation of such arrears in the future.

    7.0 Conclusion

    The Committee, upon a careful consideration of the Budget Estimates for the National· Development Planning Commission (NDPC), respectfully recommends that the House approves the sum of nine million, seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand, five hundred and twenty-five Ghana Cedis (GH¢9,757,525.00) for the implementation of the programmes and activities of the Commission for the 2020 financial year.

    Respectfully submitted.
    Mr Alex Adomako-Mensah (NDC -- Sekyere Afram Plains) 5:11 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
    The Commission performed its constitutional mandate of advising the President on the national development planning policy and strategy, and tracking the implementation of policies, programmes, projects and activities in relation to the development policy framework.
    Mr Speaker, the 2019 Budget for NDPC was GH¢7.3 million and out of that amount, GH¢5.3 million was the actual release to the Commission. For the compensation of employees, the difference was GH¢1.8 million, and that was meant for the salaries and allowances of the 15 new recruits.
    For the 2020 Budget Statement, the Commission requested GH¢17.5 million to enable them implement the medium-term national development agenda in the 2020 financial year, but only GH¢9,757,525 was allocated to them. There was no CAPEX allocated to the Commission, therefore they would find it difficult to maintain their fixed assets and other office space when there is a problem.
    Mr Speaker, as stated by the Chairman, the Director-General said that they raised a grant of about GH¢4.1 million from donor partners, but it was not confirmed whether it was released to them. There was outstanding staff allowance, and that was for the 18 Deputy Directors and other staff including the Director- General, which amounted to GH¢1.4 million. This does not make the job attractive.
    When it comes to the challenges that the Commission faces, they are a lot; but the financial resources for NDPC, especially for maintenance and other activities of all sectors of the country --
    Mr Speaker, capital expenditure as stated for 2020 was not given; therefore they would find it difficult to acquire even a vehicle. They have an 11-- year old vehicle that was located by one of the Directors.
    Staff constraints is another problem. Currently, the service conditions are not attractive enough for them to attract new professionals to join the Commission, and we all see the importance of this Commission. If they are not getting professionals to join them, this would not help the country. Therefore it is important that the Commission is
    improved with more funds and resources so that they could keep working.
    Mr Speaker, when we look at the applications of the 15 people who applied, only seven were able to attend, because they did not find it attractive. Allowances were not good, and salaries were also a problem. So it is better that we find a way to help the Commission, so that it would work like others such as the Bank of Ghana and other State institutions of that level because this Commission is very important.
    Mr Speaker, they normally rely too much on donor support for the implementation of national pro- grammes. That makes them unfit. Also, the delay in the release of the little approved Budget given to them is a problem.
    With these few words, I support the Motion and move that we adopt this Report for them to get this amount for the 2020 financial year.
    Mr Daniel Okyem Aboagye (NPP -- Bantama) 5:11 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to support the Motion.
    Mr Speaker, if we look at Act 479, which defines the mandate of the Commission, we would see that the
    Mr Richard Acheampong (NDC -- Bia East) 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your Committee's Report and make a few observations. We are called upon to approve the sum of GH¢9,757,525 for the implementation of the programmes and activities of the NDPC for the 2020 financial year.

    As the Hon Chairman indicated, the Commission expects an amount of GH¢4.1 million from donors, and then this Commission sits with the Ministry of Finance --

    Mr Speaker, in the 2020 Budget Statement, Appendix 4(b), item 15 under DP funds it is zero allocation. This amount of GH¢4.1 million is not captured in the 2020 Budget Statement. So in order to maintain transparency, accountability and judicious utilisation of State resources, at least, we should know that we would expect GH¢4.1 million from donors, and the utilisation of it should be captured in the Report as well as the 2020 Budget Statement, so that we could also monitor through.

    The same thing applies to the Ghana Aids Commission -- they have some expectations to receive some amount from donors, but it was captured in the 2020 Budget Statement. Meanwhile, they would spend this money and by the end of the day, they would inform us that they received so much and spent so much. Who polices the amount of money they receive from donors?

    Mr Speaker, this is the work of the Ministry. A budget briefing should have been discussed with them, and
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Before I put the Question -
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
    Mr Avedzi 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I want to caution that on page 6 of the Report, where the Director-General
    of the Commission informed the Committee that the Commission would endeavour to raise some grants from donor sources to the tune of GH¢4.1 million to fill the gap, once we would not approve it they could raise money, but they cannot spend it. If the money is raised and there is an opportunity for a Mid-Year Review, we could revise their budget upwards.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    I wanted some more information on this outstanding staff allowances. Was it captured in the 2020 Budget Statement?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, these would be captured under non-road arrears in the 2020 Budget Statement. The Budget Statement has a line for road and non- road arrears.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Was it captured or it would be captured?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it would be captured because the arrears captured in the 2020 Budget Statement does not cover all the arrears. So if there is a line in the Budget Statement for arrears, it would cater for some arrears, but we would not know the break down as to which of the Agency's arrears that would be paid.
    There is GH¢4.4 billion allocation for arrears, and that is why we bring these things to the fore, because there is no breakdown as to the allocations thereof.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    It is important for the Ministry of Finance to note this down because of the key role that is performed by the NDPC. I do not like the music, “heaven knows where we are going''. We do not know where we are going -- it is only heaven who knows where we are going. That is not correct. We should have a national vision and know where we are going -- it is very critical. Let us motivate the experts -- the people with experience to go to the Commission to at least, lead us to craft out that vision. Maybe, because of the uncertainties-- I also wonder why we have a three-year medium- term development plan. Why is it not five years?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the blueprint of ‘'Ghana Beyond Aid'', would be submitted to this House --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    I am talking about today, and not tomorrow.
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker.
    Yesterday, we met with the office of the Hon Senior Minister, and they are finalising the ‘'Ghana Beyond Aid'' document, which would be submitted to this House.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    When would that be?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in first --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    We have a Committee on Government Assurances, so mind what you say.
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, yesterday the Hon Senior Minister appeared before the Finance Committee and assured us that they are in the throes of putting together the ‘'Ghana Beyond Aid'' document, which would be submitted to Parliament, debated upon and -
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    When would that be done?
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am sure it would be done in the First Meeting of the next Session.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    So when it is submitted we would not need aid again?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Which is the ‘‘other Side''? [Laughter.]
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, there are several forms of aids.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Hon Chairman of the Committee, thank you so much.
    I would put the Question.
    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Resolved:
    That this honourable House approves the sum of GH¢9,757,525 for the services of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) for the year ending 31st December, 2020.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Yes, available Hon Leader, I am sure we have executed our --
    Mr Nyindam 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we have done well, but there is an indication if we could take item
    numbered 11, which has been budgeted in the 2020 Budget Statement. With the workload that awaits us and the two days that we may not have the opportunity to Sit, if we could at least do item numbered 11 before we adjourn the House.
    rose
    Mr Nyindam 5:21 p.m.
    It is not a controversial Motion - it has been budgeted for in the Budget Statement. [Interruption.] So I do not see why my good Hon Friend would debate what is in the Budget Statement. The policy has already been approved -- it is a bond that has been documented, so I do not know what his problem is.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:21 p.m.
    Hon Deputy Minority Leader, you have started debating the Motion that has not been moved.
    Mr Avedzi 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the information I had from the Hon Ranking Member of the Finance Committee is that he and the Hon Chairman of the Committee had agreed earlier that this particular Motion and the Motion on the revenue Bills should be taken tomorrow.
    So if the Hon First Deputy Majority Whip turns around to say that we should move a Motion of US$3
    billion, which in Ghana cedi terms is about GH¢17.4 billion at this moment when we do not even have quorum, we are not being fair to Ghanaians. To take advantage of this to push a GH¢17.4 billion Agreement, I do not agree. We should take it tomorrow when we have quorum.
    Mr Nyindam 5:21 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, this is not fair for him to say that we want to push it through. We would definitely push it through because it has already been budgeted for in the 2020 Budget Statement. In any case, he said he got indication that they have agreed, he did not tell me that he had agreed with somebody about anything. The Hon Chairman of the Committee did not tell me that they have agreed. He just indicated to me if we could take that Motion. We do not want to Sit up to 22nd December, 2019. We all know how constrained we are. So if he has something else to say, he should say it, but he should not say we want to push it through. What is the meaning of that?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    Well, I only understand that there is
    one department in the hospital called the push department. I did not know that even on the Floor of Parliament, we have pushing going on here.
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minority Leader knows that the Hon Ranking Member and I have a cordial relationship, and we have a number of tax Bills to consider. That was why the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance in charge of revenue came. When he came, I told him that I have an agreement with the Hon Ranking Member not to take the four tax Bills today because we have not worked on them. As a matter of fact, the Hon Ranking Member has gone to the Constituency, and we are doing business in the House. I am obliging him, and not taking controversial matters on the Floor.
    Mr Speaker, the US$3 billion request for the Eurobond is foreign financing approved by this House in the Budget Statement, and whether he likes it or not, Government would borrow on this one. The Budget Statement has made provision for it, that we should borrow US$3 billion to close the gap. What is controversial about this matter? The Budget Statement which this House has approved says we should borrow from domestic and foreign sources. From the foreign sources, we should

    issue an Eurobond for US$3 billion, and domestic borrowing goes on a daily basis. So if we are here to approve what we have originally agreed on in the Budget Statement, what is controversial about it?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    Hon Chairman, nobody says it is controversial. The issue I thought we were addressing was the reference he made to you about the fact that you had disclosed to him in private that you would not take — that you disclosed to your Hon Ranking Member —
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, but how could he speak for me?
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Ranking Member is supposed to be in the House, doing business here. I am the one obliging him that because he is not here, there are certain Reports I am not taking.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    I like the words you used, “he is supposed to be here; but you know that when duty calls —
    Dr Assibey-Yeboah 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, but the Hon Chairman is always here.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    Hon Chairman, go through your Votes and Proceedings and see whether the Hon Chairman is always here.
    We do not need to belabour this point. I think it is about whether the House is in the mood to continue with proceedings because this is actually an item that I think is not controversial. It goes with a Resolution, and that is where the consensus comes in. Moving the Motion is not a problem, but taking the Resolution is because we would need numbers for that. Since people have started raising issues about the numbers, it looks like people are not likely to support the request of the available Hon Leader.
    Mr Avedzi 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee made a statement and I think it is not good for us. He said that the US$3 billion is in the Budget Statement and whether we like it or not, the Government would borrow. If that is the case, then why are they bringing it here for us to approve?
    Mr Speaker, if they have already put it in the Budget Statement, and for that matter Government would automatically go and borrow, then we do not even need to move any Motion. They should go ahead and borrow. Why is he bringing it here?
    They are wasting our time by bringing it here because they know they would borrow, whether we like it or not. They should go ahead and borrow.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    I do not know why you are raising temperature on this matter. The language of the Hon Chairman is not giving room for consensus building. That is just a phrase he used, but I think he did it as a jest. I do not think he meant it so we should not split heads over that statement.
    Mr Nyindam 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think you said it all. I am sure if the Hon Chairman said those words, which I do not want to repeat does not mean that we just have to do things just the way my good Hon Friend suggests — obviously no. This is because the indication is that this is not controversial. It is something that we are all fully aware that we would definitely approve. Mr Speaker, but the question is whether the House is in the mood, because we definitely have to do the Resolution. If we decide to debate the Motion, we could defer the Resolution and take it tomorrow.
    Mr Speaker, but the issue is that my good Hon Friend is also fully aware that we are constrained with time. In fact, I must say that we have
    all done well, where sometimes we have to come, suspend, go back and allow Committees to sit and come back again. It is something in the interest of our nation. To also decide to put things aside just for the sake of it, I think that — there is a big difference between today and tomorrow. So we could debate the Motion and defer the Resolution. You could take just one or two contributions and we would be good to go.
    Alhaji Inusah A. B. Fuseini 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, this indeed is not controversial. Hon Deputy Minority Leader, if we are minded to take this, it is not controversial. Except that my good Hon Friend, who I have tremendous respect for, just clearly stated the obvious that we would need US$3 billion to move this country, and also that they have no way of getting it than going to borrow, and that it has already been captured in the Budget Statement.
    I would want the Hon Deputy Minority Leader to understand that that is what he is saying; that there is no way, and we have to borrow to survive. [Laughter.] I agree with him that there is no controversy. We would need US$3 billion; US$1 billion would go to budget support, US$1 billion for restructuring and the other US$1 billion for liability management.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    Hon Member, you are already debating the Motion. [Laughter.]
    Alhaji I.A.B. Fuseini 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am not debating it. I am just telling us how we would use the US$3 billion.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:31 p.m.
    The Motion, has not been moved, and you are already telling me how it is to be utilised.
    I take it that we would take the Motion but defer the Resolution till tomorrow. That is the understanding I have gathered.
    Mr Avedzi 5:31 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Motion is where Hon Members who were at the Committee meeting, especially the Hon Ranking Member, would speak and raise issues that they discussed at the Committee meeting. We have other members of the Committee alright; but because the Hon Ranking Member told me that he and the Hon Chairman had agreed that this Motion and the revenue Bills would be taken tomorrow, why all of a sudden —? So we are not prepared to take this Motion. We are prepared to take the Motion tomorrow, where the Hon Ranking Member would be
    present. So I do not know why we are pushing it today — we should look at the time, 5.00 p.m. We could take the Motion tomorrow. What is the issue that we cannot take it tomorrow, but want to take the Resolutions immediately, when we would have the numbers to do so tomorrow?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:41 p.m.
    Hon Members, in Parliament, we have the usual channels of communication, which are widely opened.

    When things discussed in confidence are not debated in public, once we keep coming out with confidential discussions behind the scene, we clog the channels of communication and have a problem in building trust among Hon Members.

    So please, whatever you always discuss behind the scenes, try as much as possible to leave them there and trust each other so that we can work together.

    When you keep coming and airing these things, definitely, the usual channels of communication in the House would be completely blocked. What you have is that you would never get consensus building. As for unanimity, I do not even encourage it, because if two people think the same way, it means one is not thinking.

    At least, with consensus building, give and take is something we have to encourage. As I stated recently, that is why the House is organised in the horse-shoe arrangement for us to build consensus. This is the way to go.

    So please, I urge the House for us to take the Motion, but defer by deferring the Resolution. I know that the Hon Members here, unless those present say that they are not privy to the discussions at the meeting, the absence of one person should not stop the House from continuing with its Business.

    Hon Members, we would move on to the item and then I would invite the Hon Chairman to move the Motion.
    MOTIONS 5:41 p.m.
    Chairman of the Finance Committee (Dr Mark Assibey- Yeboah) 5:41 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that this honourable House adopts the Report of the Finance Committee on the Request by the Government of the
    Republic of Ghana for approval of the 2020 International Capital Market (ICM) Funding Programme for an amount up to three billion United States dollars (US$3,000,000,000.00) to finance Growth-Oriented Expenditures in the 2020 Budget Statement (including restructuring the energy sector) and to Conduct Liability Management of Refinancing the 2023, 2026 and the 2030 Eurobonds and other domestic debt securities.
    I beg to present your Committee's Report.
    The request by the Government of the Republic of Ghana for the Approval of the 2020 International Capital Market (ICM) Funding Programme for an amount up to three billion United States dollars US$3,000,000,000.00) to finance Growth-Oriented Expenditures in the 2020 Budget Statement (Including restructuring the energy sector) and to conduct Liability Management of Refinancing the 2023, 2026 and 2030 Eurobonds and other Domestic Debt Securities was presented to the House on Monday, 2nd December, 2019, by the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, Mr Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng on behalf of the Minister responsible for Finance.
    Pursuant to article 103 of the 1992 Constitution and Orders 169 and 171
    Chairman of the Finance Committee (Dr Mark Assibey- Yeboah) 5:41 p.m.


    of the Standing Orders of the House, the request was referred to the Committee on Finance for consideration and report.

    The Committee was assisted in its deliberations by a Deputy Minister for Finance, Hon Charles Adu-Boahen and a team of officials from the Ministry of Finance.

    The Committee is grateful to the Hon Deputy Minister and the officials from the Ministry of Finance for the assistance.

    2.0 References

    The Committee referred to and 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 Government of Ghana for the 2020 Financial Year.

    3.0 Background

    As part of measures contained in the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, the Government stated its intention to raise up to US$3.billion from the International Capital Markets (ICM) to finance growth-oriented expenditures, including restructuring of the energy sector and liability management.

    Pursuant to the approval granted to the Government to issue up to US$3 billion on the International Capital Market (ICM) for Regular Eurobond, Green Bonds among others for the 2019 fiscal year, the Government of Ghana on 19th March, 2019 successfully issued a US$3 billion of bonds. The issuance was in three tranches of 7-year, 12- year and 31-year Eurobonds of US$750 million, US$1.25 billion and US$1billion priced at 7.6875 per cent 8.125 per cent and 8.950 per cent respectively.

    In line with the proceeds utilisation plan as approved in the 2019 Budget Statement, an amount of US$2 billion was used for critical infrastructure to support the Budget and the remaining US$1.00 billion for liability management operations. [Please find attached as APPENDIX “A” details of the utilisation of the 2019 Eurobond proceeds].

    The 2020 bond issuance is aimed at raising an amount up to US$3 billion to finance Growth-Oriented Expenditures' in the 2020 Budget Statement (including restructuring the energy sector) and to conduct liability management of refinancing the 2023, 2026 and 2030 Eurobonds as well as some other domestic debt securities.

    4.0 Purpose of the Issue

    The purpose of the 2020 International Capital Market (ICM) Funding Programme, among others, is to continue the diversification of the country's sources of funding. The indicative utilisation of the bond issue is as follows:

    Two billion United States dollars (US$2,000,000,000.00) to

    finance growth-oriented expenditures in the 2020 Budget Statement. Of this amount, one billion United States dollars (US$l,000,000,000.00) will be used to restructure the energy sector; and

    one billion United States dollars (US$l,000,000,000.00) to conduct liability management of refinancing the 2023, 2026 and the 2030 Eurobonds and other domestic debt securities.

    5.0 Provisional Plan for the Utilisation of 2020 Bond Proceeds

    The proposed financing plan involves issuing of up to US$3 billion in bonds to be disbursed as follows:
    Chairman of the Finance Committee (Dr Mark Assibey- Yeboah) 5:41 p.m.
    Budget Support -- US$1.00 billion
    Restructuring of the Energy Sector -- US$1.00 billion
    Liability Management -- US$ 1.00 billion
    Total -- US$ 3.00 billion

    6.0 Observations

    6.1 Eurobonds Issued by Government

    The Committee observed that as at the end of November, 2019, Ghana had issued seven Eurobonds amounting to US$9.50 billion. Of this amount, the outstanding balance as at the end of November 2019, stood at US$7.695 billion. The difference of approximately US$1.805 billion represents the amount that has been paid off on the 2007, 2013, 2015 and 2016 issuances.

    6.2 Bond Types

    The Committee was informed that the International Capital Market (ICM) funding programme for the year 2020 would include regular Eurobond, Green Bond, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Bond, Sukuk Bond and Syndicated/Bridge Loan, depending on the market conditions.

    6.3 Consistency with National Debt Strategy

    The Committee noted that the International Capital Market (ICM) funding programme for the year 2020, is consistent with the Medium- Term Debt Strategy (MTDS) of
    Chairman of the Finance Committee (Dr Mark Assibey- Yeboah) 5:41 p.m.


    SPACE FOR APPENDIX, PAGE 9 - 5.41 P.M
    Dr Bernard Okoe Boye (NPP - - Ledzokuku) 5:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Moiton and to recommend that Hon Members help to adopt and make this request possible.
    Mr Speaker, the US$3 billion is very important to make sure that we continue with most of the infrastructural projects that are meant to increase productivity and help to spur growth. The energy sector is so crucial and currently, we have over 5,000MW of installed capacity. We need to keep the cash flow going, and there ought to be enough liquidity in the system to make sure that the lights are kept on as we have them now.
    I would like to mention a few things about the Pwalugu Project, especially. We expect about 60MW when it is completed from the hydro plant as well as 50MW from the solar farm.

    It is a multi-plant project, that would help to support irrigation. We are expecting to cover about 25,000 hectares of land with 15,000 out- grower farmers estimated to benefit from the programme. Like the Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee mentioned, this is the single biggest,

    and I believe the most impactful project we would have in the northern part of the country. I am very excited about it, especially considering the perennial and persistent flooding that we have been having when the Bagre dam is spilled. This time, the dam would help to contain some of the water.

    Mr Speaker, I would also want to mention that we passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act. We would want to stay within the fiscal deficit of 5 per cent or below, and getting this US$3 billion would help us make sure that we are able to spend what we have and keep within the limits we set for ourselves.

    Mr Speaker, with these words, I urge Hon Members to support the Motion.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:51 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Member?
    Mr Daniel O. Aboagye (NPP -- Bantama) 5:51 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
    If you look at the Report, from page 3, paragraph 5.0, it spells out exactly how this US$3 billion would be used. An amount of US$1 billion would go into budget support; US$1 billion would go into restructuring of the energy sector and the other US$1
    billion would go into liability management.
    Mr Speaker, Ghana is truly challenged with energy. We saw this under the previous administration. We have managed it so far to, at least, avoid the dumsor in the last couple of years. So I believe that if we are able to get this US$1billion, it would give us the opportunity to meet our commitment to potentially leverage another US$1billion from the World Bank to try to renegotiate and restructure the financing of our energy sector which is so needed for the power development agenda.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the Appendix attached to the Report, it explains the Budget support. If you look at the details of what this fund would be used for, you would realise that if you are to compute the lines numbered A, B, D and F, we are talking about allocating roughly about 46 per cent directly to infrastructure. That is what the Hon Chairman of the Committee mentioned about the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam. That is about 46 per cent.
    If you consider the support that would go into the Free Senior High School (FSHS) in the line numbered H, even though there is a lot of debate about the fact that it is consumption, I have a different opinion about the fact that it is investment in our human
    Mr Richard Acheampong (NDC -- Bia East) 5:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to the Report under consideration.
    Initially, I objected to this very Report because it is a total betrayal of trust. At the Committee level, my Hon Ranking Member discussed this very issue with the Hon Chairman of the Committee. He told him we are taking only two Reports, which we have to take charge of. The Hon Chairman, having been informed about the departure of the Hon Ranking Member, tried to sneak in this very Report, but be it as it may, I would speak to it and make my observations.
    Dr Boye 5:51 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, as Hon Members, we always take advice and guidance from you. I heard you clearly say that we should do well not to bring matters that are discussed in confidence to the open. I listened carefully and I have put it in my pocket which I would use in my life.
    However, my Hon Brother heard you clearly and within a few minutes goes back to the same thing you advised against. I would want to remind him that you have given counsel on this, and I think that counsel is very much in order.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 5:51 p.m.
    Hon Member, take that on board in your contribution.
    Mr R. Acheampong 5:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, under Observation, the Government is touting that by the end of November, 2019, they had issued seven Eurobonds amounting to US$9.5 billion, which is about GH¢52 billion. So if the House approves of this facility, it makes it the eighth Eurobond issued by this Administration. This is the Govern- ment which said when in Opposition that they would not borrow to manage this economy. The President then said the money is here; we are sitting on money. Yete sika so nanso ahia yen to wit we are sitting on money, but we are poor.
    Mr Speaker, the Government is going to borrow US$3 billion. The sad aspect of it is; we are going to borrow for infrastructure, for poverty eradication programmes, to the tune of US$972 million. Meanwhile, we were told that every constituency would be given US$1 million.
    Mr Andrew K. E. Mercer 5:51 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague on the other Side is misleading this House. He said that if we look at the Observation, the Government has borrowed US$9.5 billion in Eurobonds. Definitely, that is not true. This is giving a historical account of all the Eurobonds that Governments had contracted since 2007. So he cannot suggest that this Government has borrowed US$9.5 billion in Eurobonds since January,
    2017.
    Mr R. Acheampong 5:51 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my good Friend was not listening to me. I indicated that the Government is touting that by the end of November, 2019, we have issued seven Eurobonds and this is the eighth one. So what is his point? I want the Hon Member to state what they said in Opposition.
    Mr Speaker, moving forward to the utilisation of the Eurobond, as a State, we cannot raise our own resources to fund Free SHS and we are going
    to borrow GH¢2 billion to fund Free SHS for the year 2020. The saddest aspect of it is that we would spend GH¢200 million under Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme. How can we pay back this GH¢200 million? What is the exit plan, and how are we making sure that those people would be well catered for and there would be an exit plan for them to get something to do, work and pay taxes so that we can recoup this money.
    Are we going to spend GH¢200 million under this facility for LEAP activities? Mr Speaker, we do not need to borrow to do this exercise. We need to generate our own revenue for these kind of exercises.
    Mr Speaker, so this is not something that we have to support; that we should be happy to borrow money for these kind of exercises. Where is the US$1 million per constituency that they promised us? Three years down the line, the US$3 million has not been delivered, and now they are going to borrow US$3 billion and allocate US$972 million out of it for Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP).
    Mr Speaker, it is stated here that the Zongo Development Fund would have GH¢100 million meanwhile the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is doing the same thing for the people living within the
    Mr Ahmed Ibrahim (NDC -- Banda) 6:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise to support the Motion.
    In going through the Observations in the Report, it is true that our Hon Colleagues on the other Side said yeti sika so, to wit, we are sitting on money. They meant there is money in the country, and that when they come, they would not borrow as we did. However, if you go through, it looks like we need to reassess and re- evaluate the Eurobonds we have been taking.
    This is because if you are a businessman and you borrow, and when the time is due for you to go and pay, you cannot pay, but have to borrow to pay for what you borrowed, you have to do a reassessment. You have to ask yourself, what if at maturity, you go and you are not able to get something to borrow? It means that you would be blacklisted. You are borrowing and are unable to raise your own resources to repay your loans. What does it tell you? It tells you that there is a critical problem in the near future.
    When you look through the Observations of the Report, when we were exiting power, the US$750 million that was borrowed in 2007 was why we created a Sinking Fund, so that at maturity, we would pay it.
    Since then, if you read, we have gone to the Eurobond market seven times. If you have gone to the Eurobond market and have borrowed seven times, and any time there is maturity, you have to go and borrow before you can repay, then you come and tell us that this economy is booming; where is the money? If you cannot pay and anytime there is maturity, you have to go and reborrow --

    They know where the moneys are, so they said they would not borrow. I have gone through the various budgets and just this afternoon, I looked at the 2009 National Budget. It was around GH¢6.8 billion. I looked at the 2016 Budget which was about GH¢33 billion. After taking the total revenue of GH¢6.8 billion, we left it at GH¢33 billion.

    When I did the computation for the whole eight years, during the Mills- Mahama Regime, the total revenue was GH¢153 billion. Within three years, our Colleagues have gotten about GH¢142 billion with nothing to show. Today, they are saying we should even go for US$3 billion Eurobond before they can do what they want to do.

    Mr Speaker, that is not even the case. If you go through the Budget Statement, if we are able to make judicious use of our domestic resources, we would not go for these kinds of bonds. Why am I saying this? They said that they would allocate GH¢6 million for Government communication. When the Finance Committee met the Minister for Finance and asked him, he said this money is in the Budget of the Ministry of Information.

    We met the Ministry of Information and asked where the money was. They said it was not in their budget. They are not making judicious use of domestic revenue, yet they say we should go for US$3 billion Eurobond. Who would come and pay this? There are critical issues and I believe that our Hon Colleagues would appropriately tell us, so this is not the opportune time.

    I am coming from the National Investment Bank where I looked at
    Mr Quaittoo 6:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to know if he supported the Motion.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:01 p.m.
    He has resumed his seat, so I do not know what point of order you would raise.
    Mr Quaittoo 6:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, did he support the Motion or not? Initially, he said he was rising to support the Motion. Everything he said, was it in support of the Motion?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:01 p.m.
    Well, he said he supports the Motion, but has some criticisms and that is allowed. You can criticise it in spite of the fact that you are supporting it, so he is right to do so.
    Hon Deputy Minster, do you want to speak before your leaders?
    Mr Nyindam 6:01 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, let me allow the Hon Deputy Minister, and maybe after him, with your leave, you would grant me the opportunity to make a few comments.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:01 p.m.
    The Motion was moved by the Hon Chairman, so the Hon Deputy Minister can make comments, and I would give you the opportunity.
    Hon Deputy Minister?
    Deputy Minister for Finance (Mr Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng) (MP): Mr Speaker, it is important that I assure and correct my Hon Colleague from the other Side who suggested that in his opinion, the fact that we are borrowing money to retire other liabilities on our books suggests that as a country, the economy is going the wrong way.
    I wish to state respectfully for his education that, what we are doing is called liability management. Up to 2016, this economy deteriorated to the extent that our macroeconomic fundamentals became very weak. Our credit rating dropped so low that borrowing from the market became very expensive for us.
    Mr Speaker, you would recall that in 2016, we procured a Eurobond at an unprecedented high rate of 10.75
    per cent. Thankfully, in 2017 to date, we have succeeded in improving the economy. With that improvement comes our credit rating. Therefore what we are doing is to rely on our superior credit rating now to borrow at more reasonable rates to retire the high rate instruments that they put on our books. It makes a lot of sense.
    As Ghanaians, we have sacrificed to build a better economy, so we should leverage that and procure cheaper loans to retire the expensive loans that we contracted under the Mahama Administration. That is what we have been doing, and it is sad that my Hon Colleague would suggest that this is a negative development that has rather made him sad.
    I take it that he did not really understand what was happening, and I hope that he has benefitted from the education that I have provided. I hope going forward, he would join Government in saying that “please take advantage of your superior credit rating and procure more facilities to retire the expensive ones that we procured in previous years”.
    Mr Matthew Nyindam (NPP -- Kpandai) 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for
    the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Floor.

    Let me put on record that no Government said borrowing is evil, but we criticise the increasing and the unproductive rate of it. I also want to put it on record that borrowing to pay school fees did not start from President Akufo-Addo. If we want to take records in this House -most of us, our parents borrowed to pay our school fees and we are what we are today. They sold their precious commodities to pay for our school fees and today, we are Hon Members of Parliament.

    Mr Speaker, so if the President would borrow to pay for the school fees of our own children and to build the human resource in this country, it is not evil. My brothers and sisters must enjoy - they must build their capacity. It is incumbent on every government to develop the human capital of its own.

    Mr Speaker, I also heard my Hon Colleague talked about the 1D1F. Yes, in the disbursement, there are areas that the Government said they are difficult areas -- areas that investors are not motivated enough to go there, Government would do direct intervention. So today if an
    Mr Matthew Nyindam (NPP -- Kpandai) 6:11 p.m.


    allocation goes to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which talks about 1D1F, it is joy and we must be happy.

    Mr Speaker, Hon Members have complained about how bad our roads are - we all interrogated the ‘‘Green book'' that suggested that roads were constructed, but unfortunately, the roads are not there. With the Eurobonds that would be issued, US$1.2 million would go to road developments -- and they are complaining.
    rose
    Mr Nyindam 6:11 p.m.
    I remember in this House, when President Akufo-Addo decided to create regions, Hon Richard Acheampong was so happy because he needed a region. Today, in the disbursement -
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:11 p.m.
    Available Hon Leader, you have invited him to --
    Mr Nyindam 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, he was on his feet before I mentioned his name, so I do not --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:11 p.m.
    He did not catch my eye, until --
    Mr Nyindam 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, because you had bowed your head --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:11 p.m.
    Please, I have to recognise him.
    Mr R. Acheampong 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the available Hon Leader, has grossly misled the House. He made a statement that they interrogated the “Green Book'' and we said we constructed roads and they did not find the roads.
    Mr Speaker, is the Circle Interchange there or it has disappeared? [Interruption.] -- It was in the ‘‘Green Book''. The Kasoa Project was also in the ‘‘Green Book'', so if he says it has disappeared - he should withdraw that statement and apologise to this Side of the House.
    Mr Nyindam 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am happy he mentioned a few of the items that he saw in the ‘‘Green Book'' that still exist. I did not say I did the interrogation with him. I did it on my own and some of the roads that they claimed some presidential candidates were sleeping so they did not see are the roads I talked about. So today, if US$1.2 million would go to road development, it is something that we all must be happy with.
    Mr Speaker, he talked about Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme. Poverty is a disease and whatever could be done to fight it must be done because it is in our interest.
    Mr Speaker, I do not see anything wrong with this particular bond. As I said the allocation makes a lot of sense. I do not want to re-echo about the Pwalugu dam, I do not want to talk about the Planting for Food and Jobs -- he talked about Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP). These are things that we must support and it is incumbent on every government to make sure that they provide better lives for their people.
    Mr Speaker, with these few words, I thank you for the opportunity.

    Question put and Motion agreed to.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:11 p.m.
    I understand we would not take the Resolution today, but tomorrow.
    Hon Members, it is time for us to take a bow, unless the Hon Leaders indicate otherwise. It is my intention to adjourn proceedings.
    Mr Ahmed Ibrahim 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we have no objection.
    Mr Nyindam 6:11 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we are in your hands.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:11 p.m.
    Hon Members, the House is adjourned till tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.
    ADJOURNMENT 6:11 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 6.19 p.m. till Wednesday, 11th December, 2019 at 10.00 a.m.