Debates of 10 Jun 2020

MR SPEAKER
PRAYERS 11:02 a.m.
Majority Leader (Mr Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu) 11:02 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have just a minor observation, and perhaps, a correction to be effected. Yesterday, we had a vote taken on the issue before us -- the Report of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee. The results were clear enough: it was 92 Hon Members who said the Report of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee should be rejected and 106 Hon Members in the House voted to support it. Mr Speaker, that was what emerged from the voting.
Unfortunately, we woke up today and many news portals indicated that 96 Hon Members indicated that the Report should be rejected and 102 Hon Members supported it. Mr Speaker, that was clearly not the case, and I wonder whoever filed this story?
Mr Speaker, I do not want to believe that it is part of any voter rigging racket that has started. Mr Speaker, what is right must be recorded. It was 92 against the Report and 106 in support of the Report.
Deputy Minority Leader (Mr James Klutse Avedzi): Mr Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader is right. The result of the voting yesterday was 106 in favour and 92 against the Report. That is the record we have here in the House. Whatever happened outside should not affect the record here. In any case, what is recorded outside does not change the outcome. It is still 106 votes in favour and 92 against the Report.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader is right in correcting that, but that is not the record here. It does not concern Parliament. Our record shows 106 in favour and 92 against. Nobody is changing that. I agree with him that he is right. That is the record. What happened outside has nothing to do with what we have here, and it is captured here in the Votes and Proceedings.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:02 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the caution I gave is that it does appear that the media report from this House carried the story that the result was 96 to 102. So I am just sounding a caution to the
reporters that indeed, that is not what happened. It is just to caution them that they should stick to the truth and not hearsay. I would want to believe that it is not Hon Ahmed Ibrahim who later told them that. It was 106 for and 92 against.
Mr Speaker 11:02 a.m.
Definitely, this honourable House is interested in what is said outside. After all, we are representatives. Being a representative House, we should reflect the truth in our outer publications. So I would advise all relevant persons to please establish their facts clearly when they report in these matters. Parliament, particularly is jealous of itself as a House of record, so when it comes to matters of record, this honourable House does not play with it at all, and of course, that is well reported on page 14 of the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 9th June, 2020.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 11:02 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:02 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 9th June,
2020.
Page 1…7.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa 11:02 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on page 6, the total attendance recorded is 202, but the votes which we have just discussed was 106 to 92. That gives us 198. There is a shortfall of 4, but there were no abstentions with the votes. Nobody abstained.
Mr Speaker 11:02 a.m.
Hon Member, that is most illogical. If an Hon Member walks in without going to sign, what prevents that person from voting? You are out of order please.
Mr Ablakwa 11:02 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is not an understatement; it is more.
Mr Speaker 11:02 a.m.
Let us stop these things.
Mr Ablakwa 11:02 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not being understood.
Mr Speaker 11:02 a.m.
Hon Member, you are out of order. Take your seat please.
Mr Avedzi 11:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, on the same page 6, the total Hon Members who attended Parliament yesterday is recorded as 202. Mr Speaker, this is a House of record.

The total Hon Members who voted yesterday was 198, which means that
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Hon Member, it could be that they left before we reached that stage.
Hon Member, what you are saying is merely speculative and out of order.
Mr Avedzi 11:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not sure that it is speculative. We would need to interrogate the records and know those Hon Members.
rose
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Yes, Hon Majority?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, initially, I thought the issue that was being raised by Hon Ablakwa was to the effect that the total number of votes cast exceeded the number present in the Chamber that would have been outrageous. What it means is that some people came and left before we voted. What is wrong with that?
Mr Speaker, Kennedy Ohene Agyepong was here, but before we engaged in the voting, he was
nowhere to be found and that is one example. So it does not mean that anything untoward happened. Thank you Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Hon Members, some of these things are remarks which are very much unparliamentary, because those who do not understand processes well will start misreporting these things, and create wrong impressions. We had tellers here and both Sides were duly represented, and we did a very decent job. Those who vote elsewhere must rather come and learn from this Parliament. Everything was done well. For a long time -- When we do something well, we must be proud of ourselves. Let us not start spooking when there is nothing to spook about.
Hon Members, page 12...14.
Hon Members, in the absence of any corrections, the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 9th June, 2020 is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, Correction of the Official Report of Friday, 22nd May,
2020.
rose
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Yes, Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa?
Mr Ablakwa 11:12 a.m.
I am most grateful, Mr Speaker. At column 021, the Hon Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson should be accurately captured. “Hawa” has been captured wrongly.
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Hon Members, any further corrections, please?
Hon Members, in the absence of any further corrections, the Official Report of Friday, 22nd May, 2020 as corrected is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.

Hon Members, item listed 3 -- Questions.

Hon Majority Leader, what is the position with the Hon Minister for Health?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I wanted to enquire from the Hon Deputy Minister. I know the Hon Minister is indisposed, so I wanted to know whether he is sufficiently enamoured to respond to the Question. [Pause]
Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister would respond to the Question.
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Thank you, Hon Deputy Minister.
Yes, Hon Philip Basoah, your Question?
ORAL ANSWERS TO 11:12 a.m.
QUESTIONS 11:12 a.m.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH 11:12 a.m.
Mr Philip Basoah (NPP -- Kumawu) 11:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to ask the Minister for Health the status of the Kumawu District Hospital project being undertaken by the MNS Company from the United Kingdom.
Deputy Minister for Health (Dr Bernard Okoe Boye) (on behalf of the Minister for Health): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, further to the conclusion of the Value for Money (VFM) Audit, the Ministry of Finance sought for legal opinion from the Attorney-General's Department on Government's options on the way forward when it comes to the project at Kumawu.
Mr Speaker, the Attorney- General's recommendation was for the Ministry of Finance to extend the
rose
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr Avedzi 11:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, this Question is not an urgent Question and the Answer needs to be provided in the Order Paper.
Mr Speaker, on page 51, we have answers to parliamentary Questions and the page is blank. So all that the Hon Deputy Minister read, we have not had the opportunity of also reading same.
Mr Speaker, we need your direction.
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
The Answer in effect is not published.
rose
Mr Speaker 11:12 a.m.
Yes, Hon Majority Leader?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the information I have is that, the Answer to the Question has long been submitted to the Table Office.
Unfortunately, when they communicated with the Hon Minister, he was indisposed, so they were not sure that he would make it, and that is why they did not submit the Answer.
Mr Speaker, so there is that mix- up, but because it is a constituency specific Question, I believe that we could allow the Hon Member to continue with the further probes that he would want to go into. As I said, for the fact that, it is not normal, it is inadvertent because they spoke to the Hon Minister and realised that he was indisposed, so they thought that because of that the Hon Minister may not be able to avail himself, which is why they did not programme the Answer.
However, subsequently, the Hon Minister asked the Hon Deputy Minister to come and represent him, but the further communication was also not done with the Table Office. So it appears that it is the reason the Table Officer did not provide the response, otherwise it was inadvertent. So we could allow the
Hon Member to go on with the supplementary questions.
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
In effect, there is no difficulty. The initial impression was that the Hon Minister was not going to come. In fact, there is a letter to that effect. The Table Office therefore did not publish that part of what could have appeared originally as the Answer. Incidentally, the Hon Minister has allowed his Deputy to answer the Question, and the Question has been answered. It would therefore be duly published accordingly as answered. The Hon Minister may therefore drop the entire Answer to the Table Office to be fully captured by the Hansard.
Hon Members, we would take the supplementary questions.
Mr Basoa 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, what is stalling the progress of the work is the inactiveness of the Letter of Credit (LC), which should give the contractor access to facts. I would therefore want to find out from the Hon Deputy Minister when the Letter of Credit would be made active or would be extended to the contractor?
Dr Boye 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the involvement of the Attorney-General's Department tells us that there are a few contractual issues, and those issues are being worked on as we
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Yes, Hon Member, any further questions?
Mr Basoah 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I have no further questions.
Thank you.
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
Hon Members, we would move on to the Question numbered 726, which is a constituency specific Question.
The Cost of Developing the COVID-19 Tracking Software
Mr Rockson-Nelson E.K. Dafeamekpor (NDC -- South Dayi) 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Hon Minister for Health how
much it cost the nation in total to develop the COVID-19 tracking software application and how many musicians came to launch it earlier two months ago. [Interruptions] --
Dr Boye 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, my Hon Colleague misdirected the Question to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry did not author COVID-19, so I would urge my Hon Colleague to direct it to the appropriate Ministry, so that he would be furnished with the Answers.
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
Hon Minister, to the best of your mind, which is the appropriate Ministry? This is just for our direction?
Dr Boye 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, it is the Ministry of Communications.
Mr Speaker, I would just say the approach to fighting the pandemic is an all-Government approach, meaning that we have almost all the Ministries involved; the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the National Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Ministry of Health, but the Ministry of Health is the focal Ministry, meaning that the coordination is done by us.
However, what the Hon Member is asking for, actually came from the
Ministry of Communications as part of the Government's approach. So he should please direct it to the Ministry of Communications, and he would be furnished with the Answer.
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
Hon Member, you have been directed accordingly to the appropriate Ministry.
Mr Dafeamekpor 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I take your guidance, but it is very important that the statement from Government during the launch of this software --
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
Hon Member, it is not an opportunity to make a Statement. [Uproar] --
Hon Member, you should take your seat. You have been advised as to the appropriate Ministry, so you should channel your question there. There should be no commentary at this stage. We shall go by the rules.
Yes, Hon Majority Leader?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 11:22 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that the Hon Member may address his mind to Standing Order 62 (1), with regard to what is happening here.
Mr Speaker, Standing Order 62 (1) provides 11:22 a.m.
“Questions may be asked of Ministers relating to public affairs with which they are officially connected, proceedings pending in Parliament or any other matter of administration for which such Ministers are responsible”.
Mr Speaker, the response from the Hon Deputy Minister is that their Ministry is not responsible for that so the Hon Member should direct it accordingly to the Minister responsible. That is how it is.
Mr Speaker 11:22 a.m.
I rule that there should be no debate.
Hon Members, we thank the Hon Deputy Minister for attending to the House to answer our questions, and to assist in giving appropriate directives where necessary.
Hon Deputy Minister, you are respectfully discharged.
Hon Members, we would move on to the item listed as 4 -- Statements.
Hon Members, order!
Hon Members, we have a Statement by the Hon Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, the Hon Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku and the Hon Deputy Minister for Health on the
STATEMENTS 11:22 a.m.
Dr Bernard Okoe Boye (NPP -- Ledzokuku) 11:32 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to make a Statement on the commemoration of world food safety day. The day is celebrated every 7th June of the year in commemoration of world food safety.
Mr Speaker, this year's celebration is themed “Food safety, everyone's business.” Indeed, food safety can aptly be described as everyone's business since we all consume food and are susceptible to any threat induced by its mishandling.
Mr Speaker, such a day is set aside to discuss the challenges and opportunities that come with the growing of food crops by farmers, the issues that arise vis-à-vis transportation, and the processes employed when it comes to storage and distribution.
Mr Speaker, the journey of food items from the farm to the family at home must be well orchestrated to
ensure that what we consume would give life as expected, and not ill-health as experienced when food is contaminated while travelling across the value chain.
Mr Speaker Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) two and three are all particular about the quality, quantity and availability of food and its correlation to good health and wellbeing. This means that agenda 2030 can only be possible with food safety issues well considered.
This year's commemoration of world food safety day in Ghana had the following objectives.

The first is to discuss food safety situation in our food business environment during the COVID-19 pandemic; secondly, to engage competent authorities, food operators and consumers in joint efforts to overcome the challenges facing food safety in the context of COVID-19; The third, is to develop follow-up actions containing recommendations and solutions to address the food safety issues identified, and lastly, to provide information, education and communication materials to consumers via all the social media channels and other traditional channels.

Mr Speaker, to achieve these objectives, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) engaged the media; about fourteen different television and radio stations from 1st June to 8th June to create awareness and educate the public. Educational messages; four in English, three in Twi and one in the Ga language were developed and disseminated to five Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Region and all the regional offices of the FDA to be played in information vans at community centres, markets and lorry stations across the countries. Information graphs on food safety were also developed and circulated via FDA social media handles.

Mr Speaker, the commemoration was climaxed with the food safety video conference on Monday, 8th June, 2020. This conference, which was actually through zoom brought together two hundred and twenty-four participants, key stakeholders and experts in Ghana, some African countries and the European Union (EU) to share their views and perspectives on the theme; Food Safety Situation in our Food Business Environment during this COVID-19 Pandemic. Thus the objectives set out for this year's World Food Safety Day were successfully achieved.

Mr Speaker, in this era where we are being taught how to co-exist with the SARS COV 2 virus, it is absolutely crucial that we consume safe, nutritious and balanced diet in order to establish an immune system fit for the purpose, thus preventing disease and preserving good health. This is paramount since our survival in this era is largely dependent on our compliance to prescribed protocols as well as the robustness of our immune systems. Mr Speaker, we are what we eat and that is the reason why food safety should be everyone's business.

Mr Speaker, I conclude with inordinate appreciation to the FDA for their hard work at guaranteeing food safety in Ghana; the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO); Ministries of Health and Agriculture amongst other Ministries and agencies that have worked hard and actively continued to strive at ensuring food safety for the benefit of all.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker 11:32 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Minister for this well- researched Statement.
Shall we take a contribution from each Side? Yes, Hon Member?
Mr Speaker 11:32 a.m.
Leaders should get ready to nominate next --
Mr Jabanyite 11:32 a.m.
Mr Speaker, indeed, food safety simply refers to handling, preparing and the storing of food in order to avoid risk of contamination. So it goes through a whole value chain when we are talking about food safety.
First, we are looking at its availability, its accessibility, its utilisation and its stability over a given period of time. Utility here means that the nutritional values that are required to all the various segments; we are talking about children, the aged and we are also talking about pregnant women.
Mr Speaker, in the midst of COVID-19, we all agree that there are disruptions in the food distribution chain, but more importantly, what this Statement seeks to draw our attention to, is to let us understand as a country, the required measures we need to give and the back-ups we need to give to the various institutions. For instance, the FDA, MoFA and all
those sectors that are to ensure that the food we eat are safe because eating a healthy food or a safe food would go a long way to giving us good health.
Mr Speaker, so I think it is a wake- up call by the Hon Deputy Minister that all these institutions who have been mandated to look into this, do it. We give them the material resource and also give them other capacities to enable them undertake their duties so that we can have safe food in this country.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker 11:32 a.m.
Thank you very much Hon Member for your good contribution and for your brevity.
Yes, Hon Member?
Mr Abraham Dwuma Odoom (NPP -- Twifo Atti Morkwa) 11:32 a.m.
Thank you Mr Speaker for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Statement ably made by the Hon Deputy Minister for Health.
Mr Speaker, food security is very critical at this moment especially in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Why I said that is because we have come to the realisation that our immune systems has been the critical factor that can combat this pandemic. And to have a good immune system
therefore, requires that we have to be very serious about our food intake.
Mr Speaker, in Africa now, we tend to be going towards growing food with many chemicals and pesticides. And it has come to our realisation that a lot of pesticides and chemicals are really becoming very harmful to us. Therefore as the speaker was alluding to, it is our cry and it is the expectation that as we look forward to improve our food intake by way of what we grow and what we eat, it would be very important that at this stage, we turn to looking at the organic food production concept. Mr Speaker, organic food production concept is when we try to rely on organic fertilizer rather than inorganic fertilizer so that at the end of the day, the farmers would be able to produce food that would really have good effect in our systems.
Mr Speaker, we are aware that if one goes by the organic production, one's productivity is very low. However albeit, it is the most important aspect for us to have the best immune systems, therefore Government must put in place policies and programmes that would support our farmers to be able to
produce organic food so that we can have good food and therefore have good immunity systems to combat any future pandemic.
Mr Speaker, let me also take this opportunity to throw a little light on the psychomenace. Psychomenace is what is happening in our oceans where the foreign vessels are always trawling along our coast taking all the smaller fishes by way of the drag nets that they use. It is important that at this stage, Government turns its attention on this menace and takes a critical look at it so that we can stop it and be sure that we would have good fishes from our oceans.
Mr Speaker, with this small contribution, I would like to thank you very much for the opportunity given me.
Mr Speaker 11:32 a.m.
Thank you very much.
One more from each Side? Yes, Hon Member, and then, the Hon Minister?
Mr Ras Mubarak (NDC -- Kumbungu) 11:32 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much indeed. And I would like to thank the Hon Member who made the Statement for a very timely Statement.
Mr Ras Mubarak (NDC -- Kumbungu) 11:42 a.m.
Mr Speaker, in a time like now when we are faced with COVID-19 where all of us are at risk of contracting COVID-19, if our immune systems are not well-boosted -- Mr Speaker, one of the things we could do to ensure we boost our immune systems is to eat healthily. Currently in our country and elsewhere on the continent of Africa, many people, day in day out, are resorting to eating ‘take aways'; we are resorting to eating take-out-foods; foods that have a lot of preservatives; foods that do not help boost our immune system, I would encourage --

Mr Speaker, I see my friend, the Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee, chanting from a sedentary position. What I am saying is that we need to eat healthily which would require us to eat as little of processed foods as possible. The grains we use to prepare our banku and tuo zaafi should be organic in such a way that we do not give ourselves diseases.

More often than not, when we go to functions, all that we are served with are sugary substances. The intake of these do not bode well for our bodies. So in very few words, I am encouraging that we eat a variety of fresh and unprocessed foods as a way

of boosting our immune systems and ensuring that not only are we keeping ourselves from contracting COVID- 19 but other diseases that are harmful as well.

Thank you Mr Speaker.
Minister of State (Alhaji Abu- Bakar Saddique Boniface) (MP) 11:42 a.m.
Mr Speaker, we all know that 7th June is always slated to celebrate Food Safety and it is something to create awareness for everyone's attention towards preventing, detecting and managing food-borne risks. This is the time to urge people to contribute towards food security. It also helps human health, agriculture, prosperity and sustainable development. For me, everybody has a role to play to ensure that the food that we consume is safe and does not go waste. Cutting food waste is a very good way to save money.
Mr Speaker, respect for food is respect for life. Sometimes, like an Hon Colleague said, we should know when to eat and what to eat at what time. In recent times, people have contracted certain diseases not because those diseases are hereditary. One particular disease I remember is diabetes.
Mr Speaker, you can find somebody eating food like banku and
okro soup at 12 midnight. We know that when you put banku down and cover it till day break, fermentation takes place. When you go to sleep, the function of the heart is not the same as when you are walking this medical experts will attest to the fact. This generates alcohol and sugar in your body. At the end of the day, people would develop some diseases, thinking that it is something that has been thrown on them but they have caused it.
Mr Speaker, we need to check the way we eat and even where we throw food away. We have forgotten that these foods we throw away can be recycled as renewable energy. It is so important that sometimes the good books say that if you eat and eat more than your capacity, you have sinned. Some people eat to the extent that they cannot even breath and they struggle in bed to sleep.
Mr Speaker, it is true because when we were kids, we ate in a communal manner and you would have everybody trying to cut the morsel into their mouths. By the time you got up, you could not even walk and when you went to sleep, you were in trouble. So, it is important that we educate our people and create the awareness.
For anybody who knows, food is only a form of energy to keep you moving and not to get you satisfied. It is important for us to educate our people on food waste. This is something that can help the society to create wealth for the people of our country and also enhance development.
Mr Speaker, on this note, I thank you very much.
Mr Speaker 11:42 a.m.
Yes, Hon First Deputy Speaker?
Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu (NPP -- Bekwai) 11:42 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to make a very short contribution.
Mr Speaker, food safety really connotes how we handle food. Often, food as it grows mostly for us Ghanaians -- we eat a lot of fresh foods and unless you eat a diseased plant or root, it is safe. Again, because we apply a lot of heat to boil or grill our food for so long, often our food is said to be very safe but not very nutritious.
However, in recent times, some very healthy development about food processing plants which sometimes preserve food for a period of time is growing in the country. It is the danger associated with the handling and

hygiene of the people handling the processing, packaging and storage which is the biggest threat in my view.

Mr Speaker, I have a friend who is a researcher in food security at the Koforidua Technical University. She did a research on the red processed grains among others. She came out with a very interesting finding and it was that they used two kinds of bottles. They sometimes use recycled bottles and also use new ones.

The research showed that all the recycled bottles used were safe and not contaminated but rather there were a lot of contamination in the bottles they had just picked straight from the factory for packaging. What she found was that for those that were recycled, they took their time to wash them thoroughly and keep them in very hot water all through till they finished the bottling. However, those they picked straight from the factory were assumed to be safe already. So they used that for bottling straightaway.

Mr Speaker, because most of those processed foods are not certified, straight from the factory so to speak, they go on to the market. It may be easy to detect contamination if it so happens. I suggest that the Food and Drugs Authority and the

Standards Authority pay attention and assist those who process these foods to ensure the highest standard of hygiene. In my view, if we do that, all our foods will be safe.

Thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker 11:42 a.m.
At the commencement of Public Business, item numbered 5, Presentation of Papers by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources.
Mr Moses Anim 11:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Lands and Natural Resosurces is unavoidably absent because he is on a national assignment in the Northern Region. So the Hon Deputy Minister, Mrs Naana Eyiah would lay the Paper on his behalf.
Mr Speaker 11:52 a.m.
Hon Second Deputy Majority Whip, you could have asked if the Hon Deputy Minister would be allowed to lay the Paper on his behalf but not the statement that the Hon Deputy Minister would lay the Paper. When we want to seek for permission, let us know how we seek it. It is not you who would tell us -- you have to make a request because it could be denied as your counterpart may say something else.
Mr Anim 11:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, by your leave and the indulgence of Hon Colleagues, if the Hon Deputy Minister would be allowed to lay the Paper?
Mr Speaker 11:52 a.m.
Thank you. I hope there is no objection?
Mr Avedzi 11:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague earlier mentioned the “Ministry of Lands and Forestry'' but I want to correct him. It is the “Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources''. As to the Hon Deputy Minister laying the Paper on behalf of the Hon Minister, we agree to it.
Mr Speaker 11:52 a.m.
Hon Deputy Minister, you may.
PAPERS 11:52 a.m.
Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah 11:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, item numbered 6 has four tax waivers listed as item numbered 6 (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv). Ideally, they should have been listed as item numbered 6, 7, 8 and 9 because they are standalone Motions but I would take all of them together in one Report.
Mr Speaker 11:52 a.m.
So item listed 6 (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), are in one Report and you want to take them together?
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 11:52 a.m.
Yes. Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker 11:52 a.m.
You may proceed.
MOTIONS 11:52 a.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah) 11:52 a.m.
Mr
Mr Speaker 11:52 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Chairman.
Who seconds the Motion?
Mr Benjamin Komla Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 11:52 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Mr Speaker, we went through the Report on the request and agreed that it is in line with your directive that whenever tax exemption is to be granted under the 1D1F Programme, separate request should be brought to the House and that has been complied with. Having approved that we do not have any problem to grant the waivers. Camelot is a very old company and some of us wondered if they have not already stood on their own that they would request for
Mr Benjamin Komla Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 12:02 p.m.
waivers at this time in order to expand. The amount is also less than US$350,000 but that is what they have requested for.

In the case of LK International Company Ghana Limited, it has been noted that they will be exporting some of the products and on page 9 of the Report, one of the third benefits listed there is increase in export earnings.

Mr Speaker, what is important is, are we going to be able to track its exports to the listed countries; Burkina Faso, Togo, La Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Mali so as to earn the appropriate foreign exchange that we expect from the export of the products of this company?

Often, we do not monitor these things such that there is a lot of angering voicing when the moneys are paid in - they log these amounts in their foreign accounts and we do not get the real benefits of what we expect to gain from them while we do this for the companies. I think that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has to back its activities up so that they can monitor and make Ghana benefit from what we are losing today.

Mr Speaker, we are giving out a lot of money; US$2,284,831.00 which is almost US$3 million. That is what we are giving up in these tax waivers and so it is important that we make the real gains from granting these waivers.

I believe that the Committee has given the go-ahead for the Plenary to approve the waivers which have been requested by the Hon Minister on behalf of these companies.

Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker 12:02 p.m.
Thank you very much. Hon Members, one from each Side. Hon Leaders, help us to do this so that we get one contributor from each Side. Hon Member for Ellembelle, Mr Buah?
Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (NDC -- Ellembelle) 12:02 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. I would like to thank the joint partnership between the Committees on Trade, Industry and Tourism and Finance.
Mr Speaker, clearly their objective here was that these companies had the opportunity under the 1D1F initiative and applied for waivers. There were critical questions that were asked and if one will recall, the original objective was that the 1D1F
was intended to create factories in each district in this country; to create jobs, add value to the products we already have in order to enjoy comparative advantage.
One will be surprised to know that at the Committee level, officials of the Ministry of Trade and Industry that came could not quite frankly give us the estimated number of jobs and could not quantify the impact of some of these proposals and this was very worrisome. We had asked them to bring that analyses since that is very important as it goes to the core of what we are trying to do.
Mr Speaker, not too long ago, we were here in this House debating the impact of tax waivers and its effects on our national purse and how we scrutinise and make sure that we reduce it as much as possible. The 1D1F was supposed to at least, bring out all these new factories which was the original idea but it turns out that these are companies that have been in existence -- in reference to Camelot Ghana Limited, everybody in Ghana knows that this company has been in existence before my birth. They are into printing of cheque books and other important documents, bank drafts, share certificates and so on and have been doing it for a long time.
So basically, these companies are taking advantage of the 1D1F and we may have to insist on the impact that these things they are doing is going to have. The LK International Company Ghana Limited is into the assembling of tricycles, motor bicycles and these are all imported and assembled and have been here for some time.
Mr Speaker, one will ask the question, what is its long term impact? So I believe that unfortunately, we have shifted the goal post. The original laudable idea was that we were going to fight to bring in companies to create new factories in each district but it turns out that we are shopping around to get companies -- In fact, in one instance, one company said they were approached by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and obviously, tax waivers are something that will go to their advantage. It is all right but US$3 million of otherwise, money that would have been revenue to Government is going to these waivers.
It is important that the Ministry of Finance, working with the right authorities will scrutinise and indeed, make sure that the critical objectives of the 1D1F which is to create jobs and add value to the things we produce here are something we focus on.
Mr Speaker, on that note, thank you.
Mr James K. Avedzi (NDC -- Ketu North) 12:02 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to support the Motion. I need the attention of the Hon Chairman of the Committee to effect some corrections. If we look at the front page that is page 1 of the Report, the third waiver, the amount quoted by the Committee is GH¢48,369.39.
On page 3 of the Order Paper, the Motion captures it as; GH¢48,396.39. At the third paragraph of the Report and on page 6, the Committee again repeated GH¢48,369.39 and then at the same page, under paragraph 4.0, the second amount, the Committee quoted the correct figure of GH¢48,396.39. To confirm that to be the correct figure, if we go to assessment from the GRA, at the back of the second form, the total assessment is GH¢48,396.39 which means that the Committee quoted a wrong figure in the Report on pages 1 and 6.
Mr Speaker, if the Hon Chairman could correct or confirm which of those figures is correct and with that I am sure we will be doing the right thing?
Mr Speaker 12:02 p.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Minority Leader.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah 12:02 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the assessment done by the GRA confirms what is captured by Motion 6 on the Order Paper as GH¢48,396.39 instead of GH¢48,369.39.
Mr Speaker, so, in the Report, wherever we have GH¢48,369.39, should read GH¢48,396.39.
Mr Speaker 12:02 p.m.
Very well.
Thank you very much. Corrected accordingly. Majority Leadership?
Mr Matthew Nyindam (NPP -- Kpandai) 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to also support the Report of the Finance Committee to approve a tax waiver for the various companies in the Report.
Mr Speaker, I believe that with the 1D1F, a lot of indigenous companies have taken advantage of this laudable programme and are benefitting from such a wonderful policy.

Mr Speaker, when we look at page 8 of the Report on Gee's Fresh Point Limited, it is a gender sensitive company that is into the processing

and packaging of birds especially guinea fowls and local birds. Mr Speaker, if you got to the northern parts of the country, a lot of women engage in this value chain production. As a gender sensitive organisation, I think that taking advantage of this policy would go a long way to benefit the women in the area.

Mr Speaker, if you also look at the LK International Ghana Limited, one of the easiest and most common means of transport in the northern parts of Ghana is by motorbikes. Now, there is also the Motorking popularly known as tricycle. If a company in Tamale seeks for this intervention then I think that it is laudable because it is the commonest means of transport in the northern region so I would want to urge my Hon Colleagues to support this Report for the approval of the relevant waivers.
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Thank you very much.
Question put and Motion agreed to.
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, Hon Minister for Finance, you may move the ensuing Resolutions.
Mr Nyindam 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with your indulgence and the leave of the
House, may the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance move the Resolutions on behalf of the Hon Minister?
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Very well.
Hon Deputy Minister, you may move Resolutions numbered 7, 8, 9 and 10 accordingly.
Hon Deputy Minority Leader, are the figures congruous?
Mr Avedzi 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, the figures are correct in the Order Paper?
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Very well. Any seconder?
RESOLUTIONS 12:12 p.m.
Mr Benjamin K. Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motions agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
RESOLUTIONS 12:12 p.m.
BY THE COMBINED 12:12 p.m.
Mr Benjamin K. Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motions agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
RESOLUTIONS 12:12 p.m.
BY THE COMBINED 12:12 p.m.
Mr Benjamin K. Kpodo (NDC -- Ho Central) 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motions agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
RESOLUTIONS 12:12 p.m.
BY THE COMBINED 12:12 p.m.
Mr Benjamin K. Kpodo (NDC - Ho Central) 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to second the Motion.
Question put and Motions agreed to.
Resolved accordingly.
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Hon Members, we would take Motion numbered 11.
Hon Chairman of the Finance Committee?
Mr Nyindam 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman has indicated that the Report is not ready.
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Very well.
The Hon First Deputy Speaker would take the Chair.
Hon Members, we would move to item numbered 13 -- the Ghana Communication Technology University Bill, 2020 at the Consideration Stage.
BILLS -- CONSIDERATION 12:12 p.m.
STAGE 12:12 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (M r W i l l iam A . Quait too) 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with your leave, if we could take clause 1 because there is an amendment that was not advertised.
Mr Speaker 12:12 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Quaittoo 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 1 delete “with perpetual succession”. It would now read: ‘There is established by this Act the Ghana Communication Technology University as a body corporate'.
Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe 12:12 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the proposed amendment by the Hon Chairman is right because we want to follow the template that we have established for some time now. So I agree with the proposed amendment.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 1 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 2 -- Aims of the University.
MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 2 subclause (1), line 3, delete “principles” and insert “objectives”.

Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 2, subclause (1), paragraph (d), line 2, delete “while fostering university-industry linkages”.
Mr Speaker, the reason is that we are breaking this objective into two so that fostering university-industry linkages becomes another paragraph.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:22 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, clause 2, subclause (1), add the following new paragraph:
“foster university-industry linkages”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition would read 12:22 p.m.
“Any other related programmes determined by the Council.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 2 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 4 -- Award of degrees
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 4, subclause (2), opening phrase, line 2, delete “if the University has evidence that proves” and insert “where the University has evidence”.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition becomes 12:22 p.m.
“The University may withdraw a degree, diploma or certificate that the University has awarded, where the University has evidence”.
Mr Speaker, the reason is that “… that proves” is the same as “has evidence”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:22 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 4 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 5 -- The University Council
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 5, subclause (1), paragraph (c), line 2, at end, add “nominated by the Minister”.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition would read 12:22 p.m.
“One representative of the Ministry of Education not below the rank of a director nominated by the Minister.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 5, subclause (1), add the following new paragraph:
“one representative of the academic staff nominated by the teacher associations of the academic staff”.
Mr Speaker, we are adding this to make the number 15. It was an omission.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:22 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr Avedzi 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, adding it to make the number 15 is not a sufficient explanation. There must be a reason we want a representative of the academic staff to be on the Council. So if the Hon Chairman could explain further?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:22 p.m.
Yes, Hon Ranking Member?
Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Committee is of the view that looking at the Bill, the position or the inclusion of teacher unions in the University Council is missing. The teachers or lecturers form an integral part of the University Community. So there is the need to give them that opportunity.
Then also looking at the fact that these days, it is not only University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) which is the only teacher union in the universities, there is the need to make it omnibus so that on their own, they can elect any of their members of the various unions to
represent them. This is the main reason for the amendment.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 5, subclause (3), line 3, delete “gender” and in line 4, delete “relevant” and insert “related”.
Mr Speaker, there are two of the word “relevant” in line 4. We are deleting the second one and inserting in its place “related”. The new rendition would read:
“The President, in making the nominations under paragraphs (a) and (f) of subsection (1) shall have regard to the academic qualifications, leadership qualities, expertise in finance, management, knowledge and relevant experience in matters related to academic and public administration and management.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:22 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member for Akatsi South?
Mr Bernard Ahiafor 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I believe strongly that “relevant” is suitable in the rendition.
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is a first “relevant” there which relates to it. The rendition is “relevant experience in matters related to”. We cannot have “relevant experience in matters relevant to academic …”.
This is why we changed the second “relevant” to “related”.
Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Committee is of the view that what the Hon Chairman said should be “relevant knowledge and experience in matters related to”. This is what we agreed on.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:22 p.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr James Klutse Avedzi 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman is proposing that we delete gender but
he has not offered any explanation why were are deleting “gender”.
Mr Quaittoo 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is catered for in paragraph (f) which reads “three persons nominated by the President, at least one of whom is a woman”. So the issue of gender is catered for.
Mr Avedzi 12:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the gender here does not refer to women. We would consider gender, but it does not say it should automatically be a woman. I do not think there is the need for the deletion of “gender”.
Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that my Hon Leader just wants to be a gender advocate, but we have taken care of that. If you look at it carefully, where we have “at least one to be a woman”, we want to make it open because the moment we put “gender” there, there would be insistence that there should be a woman. The President is already going to consider a woman in an earlier provision in the Bill. That is the reason we want “gender” to be deleted.
Mr Shaibu Mahama 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am back to the relevant aspect -- on why we want to take away the word “relevant” and replace it with “related”?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
You are taking us back to the deletion of “relevant”.
Mr S. Mahama 12:32 p.m.
It is the same clause.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
I wanted us to finish with the issue of the deletion of “gender”.
Mr S. Mahama 12:32 p.m.
Alright.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
There is an argument on the gender or reluctance to pursue further.
Mr Chireh 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the practice in this House, when we talk about gender in relation to legislation, it is about balance between men and women. So we say gender balance. We think that once it has been provided somewhere, we should open it, but what --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
That something you have provided is gender bias -- “three of whom are women”.
Mr Chireh 12:32 p.m.
We want to be gender neutral.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
That is gender bias so when you come down here, you want gender neutrality.
Mr Chireh 12:32 p.m.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Mr S. Mahama 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would now want to support the insertion of “related”. It would now read:
“The President in making the nominations, under paragraphs (a) and (f) of subsection (1), shall have regard to the academic qualifications, leadership qualities, expertise in finance, management, knowledge and relevant experience in matters related to academic and public administration and management.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
That is an amendment effected already.
Mr Avedzi 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am going back to clause 1(1)(f) where we have “three persons nominated by the President, at least one of whom is a woman”. Mr Speaker, in the previous Bill that we did, the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management, Ghana Bill, 2020 and the others, the Hon Chairman separated this - wherever we had “three people nominated by the President one of whom should be a woman”. He separated the provision and made that a separate paragraph. Why is it that in this one, he has not followed the same template?

believe he is talking about two different things. In those two Bills, they were nominees from the institutes themselves. The institutes were to have members of the institutes on the Board, and we fashioned out how there could be women nominated or elected from the institute to be on the Board. This is the nomination of the President. They are two different things; they are not the same.

Question put and amendment agreed to.

Clause 5 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 7 -- Establishment of committees
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
Hon Members, item numbered 13(ix).
Mr Quaittoo 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 7, sub-clause (2), line 2, at end, add “only”.
So it would read:
“A committee comprised entirely of non-members of the Council shall be advisory only.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
Would that make any difference if the word “only” is not there?
Mr Mathias Kwame Ntow 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we want to make a difference. If we say:
“A committee comprised entirely of non-members of the Council shall only be advisory.”
Does it make any difference?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
As it stands now, does it lend itself to a suggestion that they have any other function? I believe we can do without the “only”.
Mr Shaibu Mahama 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it does not. Once it says the committee shall be advisory, simpliciter, it does not suggest any other thing apart from being advisory, and so, we can leave it as such.
Mr Quaittoo 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is for emphasis and consistency. This has been the rendition in this House.
Mr Avedzi 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think we should leave the rendition that we have in the Bill. It is sufficient; the committee shall be advisory.
Mr Nyindam 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I just rose to support the Hon Chairman
because he has nothing against the committee being advisory, but for consistency sake because there have been other Bills that have the same rendition with “only”. If today, we try varying some of these provisions and somebody picks up Bills that we have passed in this House, there would be that kind of inconsistency. That is why I agree with him that the addition of “only” does not hurt the sub-clause in question so why do we have to remove it? For consistency, we should allow for the addition of “only”.
Mr Ahiafor 12:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the use of the word “only” is to put it beyond doubt that beyond advisory role, the committee has no other business to do. So there is nothing wrong if “only” it is there to put the rendition beyond any shred of doubt.
Secondly, in most of the Bills that we have legislated upon in this House, we have added the word “only” so on the grounds of consistency, we should also add it”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 7 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 8 -- Tenure of office of members of the Council
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:32 p.m.
Item numbered 13(x).
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 8, sub-clause (5), redraft as follows:
“The President may revoke the appointment of a member for stated misconduct, inability to perform the functions or for any other just cause.”

Mr Speaker, we believe that this is tidier compared to what is in the original Bill.

Question put and amendment agreed to.

Clause 8 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 9 -- Meetings of the Council
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 9, sub clause (6), line 2, delete “its” and insert “the”.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition is 12:42 p.m.
“The Council may co-opt a person to attend and participate in any of the meetings but a co- opted person is not entitled to vote at a meeting.”

Mr Speaker, we want to take away the possessive word.

Question put and amendment agreed to.

Clause 9 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 10 -- Disclosure of interest
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 10, add the following new subclause:
“Without limiting any further cause of action that may be instituted against the member, the Council shall recover the benefit derived by a member who contravenes subsection 1 in addition to the revocation of the appointment of the member”.
Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on the last line, “the” should rather be “the appointment of that member” because the clause refers to a member who fails to disclose his or her interest.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:42 p.m.
Yes, Hon Chairman, do you agree to that? You proposed an amendment and we need your permission to amend your amendment.
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in that case, if we go up, we have “the
member”. “That member” is also alright.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 10 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clauses 11 to 15 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 16 -- Vice-Chancellor of the University
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 16, subclause (5), line 2, before “efficient” insert “effective and”.
Mr Speaker, it would read 12:42 p.m.
“The Vice-Chancellor is responsible to the Council for maintaining order and ensuring the effective and efficient administration of the University.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 16 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 17 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 18 -- Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 18, subclause (3), line 1, delete “The” and insert “A”
Mr Speaker, we are doing so, because in clause 1, we said that “the Council shall appoint at least one Pro Vice-Chancellor”. Therefore, there could be more than one Pro Vice- Chancellor. So, we would have to make those subclasses a bit omnibus.
So for subclause (1) we said, “The Council shall appoint”. When it comes to subclause (2), “A Pro Vice- Chancellor” because they could be more than one. Subclause (3) should also read, “A Pro Vice-Chancellor.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 18, add the following new sub clause:
“(#) A Pro Vice-Chancellor shall, before assuming office, take and subscribe to the oath of office and the oath of secrecy as specified in the Schedule.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 18 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 19 -- Registrar of the University
Mr Quaittoo 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 19, add the following new subclause:
“The Registrar shall, before assuming office, take and subscribe to the oath of office and the oath of secrecy as specified in the Schedule.”
Mr Mathias Ntow 12:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is just like in clause 18, subclause (3), “The Registrar”, so why do we not say “The Pro Vice-Chancellor”, but “A Pro Vice-Chancellor”. So far as the person has been appointed he is “The Pro Vice-Chancellor” of the University and not “A Pro Vice- Chancellor”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Member, we are considering clause 19, which has to do with the “Registrar”. So if you have an issue with what we have dealt with already, then you should wait for us to finish with this one.
Mr Ntow 12:52 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker, that is what I was saying, but my Senior
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, add the following new subclause:
“The Director of Finance shall before assuming office take and subscribe to the oath of office and the oath of secrecy as specified in the Schedule.”
Mr Iddrisu 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, before you put the Question on clause 20, I would want to comment on clause 20 subclause (3), even though I have no advertised amendment in the Order Paper.
Mr Speaker, clause subclause 20 (3) reads 12:52 p.m.
“The Director of Finance is responsible to the Vice- Chancellor in the performance of the functions of the Director of Finance.”
Mr Speaker, combing through the Bill, I have not seen the defined functions of the Director of Finance. So which functions are we referring to?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Yes, Hon Chairman, do you have the functions of the Director of Finance anywhere?
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as prescribed in the Statutes of the University, clause 20 subclause (1) reads:
“The Council shall appoint the Director of Finance for the University, who shall perform functions as prescribed in the Statutes.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 20 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 21 -- Appointment of academic, administrative and other staff
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (1), line 2, after “effective” insert “and efficient”.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition would read 12:52 p.m.
“The Council may appoint academic, administrative and other staff as are necessary for the effective and efficient performance of the functions of the University.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 21 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 22 -- Remuneration and pension of staff of the University.
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, the deletion of the entire clause 22.
Mr Speaker, we seek to delete it because it is not the responsibility of the Council to determine the salary of the employees. Besides, we already have the Pensions Act, and we do not need to repeat it here.
Mr Iddrisu 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have a difficulty with the Hon Chairman's proposal to delete clause 22, particularly subclause (1). I would agree with him if he wanted to delete clause 22 subclause (2), because it is not for this Act to make the National Pensions Act functional and operational. It is already an Act which
governs the pensions regime in Ghana. So it is superfluous to add that.
Mr Speaker, if the Hon Chairman had sought to delete the word “pension”, I would have agreed with him, but if we say that it is not the Council, then who determines the remuneration of staff?
Mr Speaker, I have heard them argue about fair wages. If we go into the 1992 Constitution, fair wages is not mentioned anywhere. What is mentioned is the Public Services Commission, yet we have created Fair Wages to handle this matter.
Mr Speaker, this is just an experience of mine. We were negotiating with the university lecturers over book and research fund. We had almost gotten to the conclusions of the negotiation when they came in to say that that determination was for their Council. That is why I have the difficulty, because of this experience I had, the university lecturers at the time came in and said that the determination was not even vested in Fair Wages or Public Services Commission, but vested in the Council. That is why we had a difficulty establishing the research fund at the time.
I would want to believe that the remuneration of staff is a function of the Council within the Statute of the University, but I would be looking for the Statute of the University of Ghana
Mr Speaker, clause 22 subclause (1), says 12:52 p.m.
“…Other staff of the University in accordance with Government pay policy.”
The Government pay policy is what we determine at the public sector negotiating committee. So when that is determined for instance, if we say that all workers would get 20 per cent across board, then it would affect university workers, but I would want to believe that the University Council has a role to play in making this remuneration.
Mr Chireh 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the reason this clause was deleted is simply because the University Council does not have the money to decide how they would pay professors. Indeed, as we said, it is Government pay policy, and we know that if we do so each university council would have to determine the remuneration for their members, and we can imagine the number of public universities that would have different scales of remuneration. It would be highly impracticable. We know that it is the same Government pay policy and the negotiations that the Hon Minority Leader referred to, that would settle the matter. [Interruption] -- Mr Speaker, the Hon Minority Leader has agreed to agree. [Laughter].
Mr Ntow 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I wanted to find out from the Hon Chairman of the Committee, whether this is consistent with the laws of other universities, especially the University of Ghana?
As rightly said by my Hon Colleague, the Hon Yieleh Chireh, if it is the responsibility of the Council to determine the salaries and the pensions of the members of the University, then we can go ahead with this one. So I would want to find out from the Hon Chairman whether he did some research to find out whether this is consistent and is what pertains in other universities?
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, ever since becoming the Hon Chairman of this Committee, at least I have led this House to pass three universities‘ bills, and we do not have any of this clause in them. They are Government workers, and Government pays them. They do not have that cloud, therefore they have to go through the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission; they only negotiate with Government. Therefore we cannot legislate on it here, they are Government workers.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
1. 02 p. m.
Clause 23 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Clause 24?
Clause 24 -- Composition of the academic board.
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 24, subclause (1) paragraph (c), after “faculty” insert “or school”.
Mr Speaker, faculties and schools are almost at the same level.
Question put and amendment —
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Yes, Hon Shaibu?
Mr Shaibu Mahama 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, what we seek to amend, actually in the original Bill is “faculty”. So once we draft it in singular, it should be “each faculty or school”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Did you say it should be each faculty or school?
Mr Shaibu Mahama 12:52 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Yes, that is the proposed amendment moved. It is singular. You are probably looking at the item listed (xxi).
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Members, the item listed (xxi)?
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 24, subclause (1) paragraph (g), delete “faculties, schools”
Mr Speaker, they are already up there; that is the paragraph (g): “Directors of Institutes and Centres”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Members, the item listed (xxii)?
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 24, subclause (2), line 2, delete “its” and insert “the”.
Mr Speaker, I am just trying to delete the possessive word by inserting “the”. The new rendition reads
“…carrying out the functions under this Act.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 24 as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Clause 25?
Clause 25 -- Functions of the academic Board.
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 25, paragraph (f), line 1, delete “its initiative” and insert “the initiative of the Board”.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition reads 12:52 p.m.
“Prepare an initiative of the Board or at the request of the Council, reports and recommendations on any matter affecting the university…”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 25 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Clause 26?
Clause 26 -- Internal organisation of the University.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Chairman, the item listed (xxiv)?
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 26, subclause (1),
paragraph (a), delete and insert the following: “establishment, variation and supervision of academic Divisions, Schools, halls of residence, Departments, hostels and other bodies in the campus at Tesano in Accra, and any other place as the Council may determine;”
Mr Shaibu Mahama 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am just wondering whether the word, “in the campus” should not be “on the campus”?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Yes, Hon Chairman, why do you prefer “in the campus…” to “on the campus”? Do you have any objection to the change from “in the campus” to “on the campus”?
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that we may go with “on the campus”, but at the Committee level, I argued about this and suggested “on campus”, but I was defeated and it has come up here to be “on campus”. They said the campus is usually walled so it is within. That was the argument then.
Mr Ahiafor 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, “in the campus” is correct; “Within a campus at Tesano”, meaning within the geographical boundary of the Tesano Campus. That is what is in question so; “in campus at Tesano” is correct.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Let us read it out carefully and see :“establishment, variation and supervision of academic Divisions, Schools, halls of residence, Departments, hostels and other bodies in the campus at Tesano in Accra, and any other place as the Council may determine;”
If we substituted “on the campus” at Tesano --
Mr Chireh 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it would be better to have used “on”, but for a compromise, we would suggest within the campus, which means that it is within the enclosure of the - but if we say “in the campus``, the collocation we have is that normally, when we are talking about campus, it is on the campus, not in the campus. So ``within the campus` `maybe, would be better.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Member, what is here is not “within”? Do you want to substitute “within” instead for “on”?
Mr Chireh 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if the Chairman would not mind, I would recommend that we use “within the campus”.
Mr Quaittoo 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would go for either “in” or “on”.
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Member, propose your amendment and I will put the Question on it.
Mr S. Mahama 12:52 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, that we delete “in” and insert “on” so that it now reads:
“establishment, variation and supervision of academic Divisions, Schools, halls of residence, Departments, hostels and other bodies on the campus at Tesano in Accra, and any other place as the Council may determine;”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:52 p.m.
Hon Chairman, the item listed (xxv)?
Mr Quaittoo 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 26, subclause 1, paragraph (e), delete and insert the following;
“award of fellowships, scholarships, bursaries and prizes;”

Mr Speaker, we seek to do this because “exhibitions” are not part of
Mr Quaittoo 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 30, subclause (3), line 1, after “to” insert “and attend”. So we would have a new rendition that reads:
“A person whose name appears on the register is entitled to attend and vote at the Convocation.”
Mr S. Mahama 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, the proposed amendment does not flow with what the Hon Chairman said. It should rather be “attend and” and not “and attend”. So it would read:
“A person whose name appears on the register is entitled to
attend and vote at the convocation.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:12 a.m.
So what is advertised is the other way round?
Mr S. Mahama 1:12 a.m.
Yes, it is the other way round and should be corrected.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:12 a.m.
They actually intended, “attend and”. Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 30 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I just came in and was trying to follow what is being done. I am sorry for taking us back but for clause 28 (h), it provides, to “determine the award of scholarships and bursaries”.
In clause 26, the Hon Chairman just sent us through what the award involves - fellowships, scholarships, bursaries and prizes. So why have we left out those other two, “fellowships and prizes” in clause 28 (h)? I thought that for clause 28 (h), it should include “determine the award of fellowships, scholarships, bursaries and prizes”? However, we left out “fellowships and prizes”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:12 a.m.
So which is the preferred version? There are two versions, the new one and the one in the Bill. Which one is the preferred one, so I would direct the draftsperson to draft it?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I was reminding him that just as has been done for clause 26, the same rendition should have been imported into clause 28 (h). So it should read:
“determine the award of fellowships, scholarships, bursaries and prizes”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:12 a.m.
So shall I direct the draftspersons to redraft clause 28 (h) in terms of clause 26 as amended? I so direct.
Clause 31 -- Congregation
Mr Quaittoo 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 31, subclause (2), line 1, after “consist of” insert “the Chancellor”. The new rendition would read:
“A Congregation of the University shall consist of the Chancellor, the Council, the Board, members of the Convocation, graduates of the University and any other person prescribed by the Statutes”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 31 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, again for clause 31 (1), it says:
“The University may hold a Congregation at a time and place determined by the Council for the purpose of conferring degrees and awarding diplomas and certificates.”
The decision is made for degrees, it is conferred and for diplomas and certificates, they are awarded. In that case, we should look at clause 28 (g); “determine procedures for the assessment and award of degrees, diplomas and certificates”.
There should be symmetry in the language. In that case, we should have said: “determine procedures for the assessment and the conferment of degrees and the award of diplomas and certificates”.
Mr Speaker, this would make it consistent with what we have done in clause 31 (1).
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:12 a.m.
So which is the preferred one? Is that of clause 31 (1) the preferred option?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:12 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if it is the preferred option, then clause 28 (g) should sit in the same language. That is the point I am making.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
Yes, I understand you. If this clause 31 (1) is the preferred drafting, then I would direct the draftspersons to redraft clause 28 in terms of clause 31 (1). Is that acceptable?
I so direct the draftspersons to redraft clause 28 (d) and (h) in terms of clause 31.

Clause 32 to 35 ordered to stand part of the Bill
Mr Avedzi 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is no proposed amendment to clause 35 but I want to propose an amendment to the subclause 5, where the Internal Auditor shall, in accordance with subsection (4) of section 15 of the Audit Agency Act, 2003 (Act 658), submit a report to the Hon Minister and the chairperson of the Board. I do not know whether it should be the Board or the Council? If it is the “Council'', then we would have to change the “Board'' to the “Council''.
Question put and amendment agreed to
Clause 35 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 36 -- Accounts and audit
Mr Quaittoo 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 36, subclause 2, lines 3 and 4 delete “the time and in the'' and insert “a time and in a''.
The new rendition would read:
“The Council shall submit the annual accounts of the University to the Auditor-General for audit within three months after the end of the financial year and cause the accounts to be published at a time and in a manner that the Council considers appro- priate''.
Mr S. Mahama 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it would be noted that we have departed a little bit from “a time and place'' and have introduced “a manner''. Indeed, COVID-19 has shown that we could use other means to conduct a meeting. We contemplated a situation where we could zoom and use other forms and that is why the “time and manner'' has been used.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is no advertised amendment to clause 36 (1) but this House has a template for this. So I thought the Hon Chairman would allow us to use the template that we have in respect of that subclause so that it would read:
“The Council shall ensure the University keeps the books, records, returns and….''
Just as we have the template, we should just regulate to that in order to effect clause 36 (1).
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
Very well. I could direct the draftsperson to redraft to reflect the adopted format of the House. I so direct.
Mr Avedzi 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in clause 36 (2), which has been moved already, when the account is submitted to the Auditor-General for audit within three months after the end of the financial year, it has been stated that the Council shall cause the accounts to be published at a time and in a manner --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
Hon Deputy Minority Leader, the Hon Chairman has not proposed that amendment yet.
Mr Avedzi 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we have taken a vote on that subclause already.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
Very well. The “time and manner'' issue.
Mr Avedzi 1:22 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker. At the time and in a manner that the Council considers appropriate, there is no restriction on the Council as to when the account would be published, so if the Council decides that after the submission of the accounts to the Auditor-General by end of March and the work is finished by the end of June but it decides to publish it in December, it would be of no use again. So there must be a limit by which the Council should publish the account. If the liberty is given to the Council and it considers it appropriate, they might decide to publish it in December or even the following year.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
Should we provide the time frame within which the Council should publish the audited account?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the cure could be the publication, let us say, within one month upon receipt of the report. However, my bigger worry is in sub clause 2, when the Hon Deputy Minority Leader related to that. I
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
So what should I do? Should I defer the Consideration of clause 36?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as I said, we have a template for that so they could apply it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:22 p.m.
I would defer the Consideration of clause 36, so that the draftsperson would be guided by the template.
There is no advertised amendment to clause 37.
Mr Quaittoo 1:22 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we did not finish with clause 36, so if we
could do the amendment listed as item numbered (xxix) so that it would be considered by the draftpersons.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:32 p.m.
Sorry, I do not get you.
Mr Quaittoo 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am saying that there was an amendment in subclause 4 of clause 36. If we could do that then the draftpersons could then consider.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:32 p.m.
Kindly finish all with your proposed amendments and we will consider them together. So leave this one, and then tomorrow, we will consider the amendment to clause 36 in its entirety.
Clauses 37, 38 and 39 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, clause 39 (2), there is a minor amendment. “For the purpose of subsection 1, an officer of the University includes a principal officer”.
Mr Speaker, because principal and officer have been capitalised, I was looking for who qualifies to be described as a principal officer. It is not defined and so, I really thought that “principal” and “officer” should begin with small letters. Otherwise,
once we do it this way, we have to define who qualifies to be a principal officer?
Mr Chireh 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the principal officers of the University are those who are to swear the oath before they take office. So starting from the Vice Chancellor, Chancellor and all those who take an oath are the principal officers.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:32 p.m.
Hon Member, that is known to you. What about me or the persons to work with the law? So, I believe that the point is well placed that we provide a definition for who a principal officer is.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am just seeing that in section 13, principal officers of the University is defined. So in that case it will be right.
Clauses 40, 41 and 42 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 43 -- Interpretation
Mr Quaittoo 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move that Interpretation of “College”, delete.
Mr Speaker, we are saying so because it is one of the normal
structures used in the university. So the argument is that if we were to define “college”, then we should go ahead to define “school”, “faculty” and so on and that “college” is understood by the functionaries of all universities.
We strongly argued here that if we are to define “college” then we should define all the others. So we did not define “college”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaitoo 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move that Interpretation of “convocation”, lines 2 and 3, delete “Council or Academic Board who are registered by the Registrar” and insert “University.
Mr Speaker, I just checked this morning and if we did it in this manner, it would not sound well. So it would read; “Convocation means the principal officers of the University and all other senior members of the University as members of Convocation”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:32 p.m.
I do not get it. What do you mean by; “as members of Convocation?” You would have to delete that part as well. So, it becomes “Convocation means the principal officers of the University and all other senior members”.
Mr Quaittoo 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we must go on to indicate that; “who are registered by the Registrar as members of Convocation”. It is not all the senior members or anyone who is registered as a member of Convocation.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:32 p.m.
Shall we add this one to the clause to be reconsidered? This is because the amendment is not coming out clearly.
Mr Quaittoo 1:32 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is how it should be: the deletion in the Order Paper should end at “Academic Board” so that we can include; ‘who are registered by the Registrar as members of Convocation'.
Mr Speaker, the rendition I am proposing is this; “Convocation means the principal officers of the University and all other senior members of the University who are registered by the Registrar as members of Convocation”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:32 p.m.
Very well.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, looking at what we did for the University of Professional Studies, this is what we have. I do not know whether the Hon Chairman will consider that?

“Convocation means the principal officers of the University and other senior members of the University appointed by the Council or the Academic Board who are registered as members of the Convocation.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Is that acceptable?
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I proffered this amendment based on the definition of Convocation in this Bill. It looks like the other Bill considers Academic Board and so on.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
So what is the conclusion? I want us to take a decision.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that what we adopted for the University of Professional Studies Act is good enough. So we should adopt that.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Item numbered (xxxii).
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 43 Interpretation of “independent profit centre” delete.
Mr Speaker, the reason is that we did not use “independent profit centre” in the Bill.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Item numbered (xxxiii).
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 43 Interpretation of “Statutes”, line 2, delete “the” and insert “this”.
It would read; ‘Statutes means administrative guidelines enacted by the university Council in accordance with this Act to govern the internal operation of the university'.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Item numbered (xxxiv).
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 43 Interpretation of “Vice-Chancellor”, line 2, delete “as the Vice-Chancellor of the University”.
It would now read: ‘Vice-Chancellor means the person appointed under Section 16'.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Section 16 of what?
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, of this Act.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Then you have to add that.
Hon Member for Aowin?
Mr Ntow 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want the Hon Chairman to explain to the House because we all know who a Vice Chancellor is. So what is the importance of interpreting this in the Act? All over the world we know who a Vice Chancellor is as well as the duties and responsibilities of a Vice Chancellor.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Chairman, the Hon Member is saying that we already know who a Vice Chancellor is so why do we have to provide interpretation for that.
Have we provided interpretation for a “Vice Chancellor” in any of the Acts establishing a University?
Hon Member for Wa West?
Mr Chireh 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that has been the practice. Normally, we

interpret any officer or position that is under a separate clause. So we would normally say that “this person means the person appointed under this Act”.

Mr Speaker, it is legal to say that if the person was not appointed according to the referred section, then the person cannot occupy that position.

Of course, there are different terminologies because some institutions refer to the head as ‘Presidents' and so the “Vice Chancellor” is what has been provided for under that section. We all know that the Vice Chancellor is the head of the university, but legally speaking, how was he made the head of the university?

There must be a method of appointing him and the university Council has a way of doing the appointment. Once that is done then legally everyone must know who the Vice Chancellor is.
Mr Ntow 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to find out if interpretation was given to the “Vice Chancellor” in the Act that established the premier university in addition to the duties and responsibilities of a Vice Chancellor.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Member, there is a place that you can ask your questions but now we are at the Consideration Stage. So you are out of order.
I would put the Question.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, for all the Bills that we have done in respect of tertiary institutions, we have defined the word “Matriculate” or “Matriculation” just as we do for “Convocation”. However, it has not been done in this Bill so I am just drawing attention that we would need to create space and define either “Matriculate” or “Matriculation”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Chairman, would you define “Matriculation”?
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is important that we define “Matriculation” because it is used in the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Yes, clause 40 deals with matriculation.
“A student admitted into the university shall take the
matriculation oath and signed the matriculation register as provided in the statutes”.
So what is matriculation?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as I said, in the other Bills that established universities, we defined it so we would just adopt same.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Chairman, do you propose that we insert a definition for matriculation?
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, rightly so. I think that we can ask the draftspersons to consider a definition and insert before the definition for “Minister”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Chairman, kindly read a definition for “Matriculation” and let us adopt it to be part of clause 43.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the University of Professional Studies Act rather defines “Matriculate”. It reads matriculate means to officially become a student of the university.
I think it is about the same definition that we have used in other Bills. So we can just import this template into the Bill.
Mr Chireh 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we know the processes for some of the things and so we must follow it. A student must undergo matriculation and there is a book that a student signs after swearing an oath for the first time of being admitted into the university. This is the formal way to become a member of the university community.
So unless we would define the process of becoming a matriculant. I think that because of the things we know, to define every single thing would become difficult because we all understand what it means. But if we have to define it -- ? Are there legal consequences arising from any matriculation that is not done? In any case, if we look at it, it is provided for in the statutes. So long as the statute provides a method of becoming a matriculant, there is therefore no need to define it.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am not too sure that we need to split head over this. I just reminded that in all that we have done, in respect of universities, we have defined either matriculation or matriculate. That was all I said.
My Hon Colleague is finding fault as usual. I said that we need to look at what we have done in other bills and import same to this place. If there
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Very well. Hon Majority Leader, I will defer the Question on clause 43, so that whatever is left to be done will be done and added before we take the Question on it.
Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, sorry to take you back to clause 43 again. I just want to draw your attention to something.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Member, I have deferred, and you can consider with the Hon Chairman any new thing you would want to add.
Clause 44 -- Transitional provisions.
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have abandoned the amendment proposed to the headnote. It should still read Transitional provisions.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Member, first you have abandoned the proposed amendment to item numbered (xxxv) -- Very well. So, we would move to item numbered (xxxvi).
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 44, subclause (3), delete.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 44 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the next amendment also comes under clause 44, could I do that before you put the Question on the whole clause?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Member, it does not come to clause 44, it is a new clause. The draftspersons will determine where to put.
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, no. It should come as a subclause under clause 44. I am amending what is in the Order Paper.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Chairman, if you had said, “Add the following new subclause to clause 44”, that would have been -- but you just said, new clause.
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, add the following new subclause to clause 44:
“(1) Until the date of the first meeting of the Council and within twelve months of the coming into force of this Act, the governing body of the Ghana Technology University College shall have and exercise the powers conferred by this Act on the Council.
(2) Any act lawfully made or done by the governing Body of the Ghana Technology University College before the coming into force of this Act, shall have the same effect as if done by the Council.”
Mr Speaker, I have amended what is in the Order Paper.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Very well. So, it would read, “Add the following new subclause to clause 44.
Mr Quaittoo 1:42 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
The reason I have deleted subclause (3) is that it would be redrafted in the new subclauses and all should come under clause 44.
Mr Speaker, we have the original subclauses (1) and (2), subclause (3)
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 44 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
The Schedule ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Chairman, shall we do the Long Title or wait to finish the rest? -- Very well.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Hon Majority Leader, it is 2 o'clock.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe we can take an adjournment and come to continue with the Land Bill, 2019 tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the forenoon.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Yes, Hon Deputy Minority Leader?
Mr Avedzi 1:42 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if it a Motion he is moving, then I beg to second the Motion.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:42 p.m.
Well, it is 2.00 p.m. by my watch, so he
does not need a -- my watch is here before me -- no, not that watch.
ADJOURNMENT 1:42 p.m.
  • The House was accordingly adjourned at 2.00 p.m. till Thursday, 11th June, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.