Debates of 18 Jun 2020

Hon Members, Correction of the Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 17th June, 2020.

Hon Members, we have the Official Report of Tuesday, 29th May, 2020.
Any corrections please?

At the Commencement of Public Business - Item 4 onwards.
Hon Majority Leader, what do we have?

Mr Speaker, may I inquire if you have admitted any Statement?

No. There is no outstanding Statement.

Mr Speaker, all right. For the Presentation of Papers, it was slated for yesterday, and I indicated that the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs was understandably absent. In fact yesterday he was absent and I indicated that we should relocate the Presentation of these Papers to next week, by which time he would have conquered the forces confronting him.
Mr Speaker, so I gave indication that those Papers in the name of the Committee on Foreign Affairs be joined to the agenda of the Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and be relocated to next week.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, I do not even recollect whether the Business Committee factored this into the

Mr Speaker, again, as I indicated yesterday, the sponsors of the Land Bill, 2019 are themselves engaged in their own battles, and in the event, we cannot deal with it. In the circumstance and subject to the indulgence of my Hon Colleagues, we may have to adjourn until tomorrow, Friday, 19th June, 2020, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon.

Mr Speaker, we remember that when it became necessary for us to even suspend the Meeting and continue to come, there was Business for us. Now, our Hon Colleagues on the other Side are to have elections. Since yesterday, we have not been able to do any Business. The best thing to do is to also afford us the opportunity to stay away even tomorrow and come on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2020, when we can do Business.
Mr Speaker, because of COVID- 19, we should not even congregate
again, but the Hon Members in the Majority have a vital thing to do. They must do this exercise, and it is not their fault that they are not here.
Mr Speaker, use your discretion to Suspend our Sitting just like when we were asked to come even when the crisis was there. If anybody sees this Parliament today, they will not take us serious. The Hon Majority Leader should rather move the Motion for us to adjourn until Tuesday, 23rd June,
2020.

Mr Speaker, the reality has dawned on us. Obviously, we cannot expect our Hon Colleagues opposite to be here as the primaries get closer. Even if we were to have primaries, I am sure it would be the same situation.
I know the predicament of the Hon Majority Leader. The Business Statement for next week is usually read on Friday. Mr Speaker, under the given circumstances, and in my view, we can take the Report of the Business Committee as the first Business on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2020 so that we do not come tomorrow just because of the Business Statement.
Mr Speaker, like the Hon Yieleh Chireh said, the inability of the Hon Ministers, Hon Chairman and Ranking

Members of Committees supposed to be here makes it impossible for us to do anything meaningful. For us to just come and do the Business Statement, we can maybe suspend this Sitting and get the Report of the Business Committee ready and do it and go, or we can take it as the first item on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2020, and then we proceed with the rest of the work.
Since the Leadership is familiar with the content of the Business Statement, Hon Members who have Questions and other issues could be communicated to so that on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2020, we could have business.

Other than that, tomorrow, we would all come again, only to take the Business Statement and go back. I believe we can save ourselves the worry of congregating tomorrow, either by suspending Sitting now for maybe 30 minutes or one hour and get the Statement ready, or take it first thing on Tuesday and proceed. This is because we cannot blame our Hon Colleagues for not being here and obviously, they cannot be here.

It is practical and I am sure that the country appreciates that in a democracy where we have to have primaries, we cannot expect our Hon

Colleagues on the other Side to be here. However, the reality is that we cannot just come and do nothing, go and come again, do nothing and go. We can just suspend Sitting till Tuesday when we will be able to manage the difficulties that we have.

Thank you Mr Speaker.

Very well. The Hon Minority Chief Whip has spoken in addition to Hon Yieleh Chireh. Hon Majority Leader, unless there is something really pressing such that there is nothing that can be done about it, we may well bite the bullet, face reality and come back on Tuesday. I am inclined towards that and just giving you an indication from my point, so that we agree on that. Hon Majority Leader, I am out and would listen to you.

Mr Speaker, for practical reasons, I think that if the House does not sit tomorrow, it would not really derogate from the functions of the House. Mr Speaker, you may listen to Hon Members, and if you get a sense of the House and believe strongly that if we do not Sit tomorrow, it would not take anything away from the responsibilities of the House and that we would have to
recommence on Tuesday, in other words, suspend the Meeting until Tuesday, it could be done.

Mr Speaker, the video clippings of this House would show and I believe Hon Agbodza who was here one day when we said there were only five of them in the House would testify. There is no running away from the truth in these matters.

The point being made is that firstly, political parties should ensure that when they hold primaries, it should not fall within meeting periods. Secondly, I keep saying that what is really the purpose of these primaries when smooth gates have to be opened for all colours? What we are doing here in Ghana does not exist anywhere in

the world. It does not exist anywhere in entrenched democracies.

I think that for now, the constitutions of political parties impose on them that burden of holding primaries, but is it the only way open to us for us to maybe, re-energise membership of the House and is it the best way? I believe we have to confront this reality because to be honest, I cannot envisage what will happen to us in the next two general elections after this one. The path we are beating for ourselves is certainly not the best.

The two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should bite the bullet and do serious introspection into the operations of their constitutions and proffer the necessary amendments. We cannot carry on this way and pretend nothing is happening. We are walking on a very slippery road, so let us not bury our heads in the sand because what is happening is not the best. We all know that this is the genesis of corruption; we are sowing the seeds of corruption. Let nobody pretend that we do not know what is happening. We should take a cue and work to improve the system.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has really been engaging the

Thank you very much Hon Majority Leader. Hon Majority Chief Whip?

Thank you Mr Speaker. I know I just simply need to second the Motion that the Hon Majority Leader moved but I would like to comment on the view of the Hon Majority Leader on the primaries and their nature in political parties.
It is true that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs made some attempts to get the political parties to meet over their constitutions and on how they can safeguard this House. It is very apparent as the Hon Majority Leader said. If we continue to pretend and assume that everything is all right, he is predicting that maybe after the next two elections -- I doubt that it would get there because if you talk to many of the experienced Members in this Chamber, it looks like many are just exhausted with the bickering and unnecessary attacks. It is becoming like
a crime to have kept long in this House and gained experience.
Mr Speaker, I do not know if the Hon Majority Leader would recollect when we were in the United Kingdom Parliament and a question was asked on how we do our primaries. When we answered, it was like, is that a democracy; where we open every constituency every four years for primaries? In the United States of America, a congressman said that once you are in Congress, there is 87 per cent chance that you would remain there. That is the reason some of them are able to do four decades in Congress. This is because they do not just open every constituency for contest.
In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party said that you need to raise two- thirds in the constituency that it should be opened for primaries before primaries could be held.

They said in most of these situations if the sitting Hon Members of Parliament (MPs) could raise two- thirds signatories that the constituency should be opened for Primaries, they would not even contest because they know they would have lost fame. However, the way we do it, where

even if a person is the Hon Deputy Speaker all the way to the last backbencher, all the flood gates are opened in the constituency, we should be real.

I know this weekend would just be like what happened in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Primaries. Maybe, this time, because they are in government, it may even be worse the kind of largesse that would be exchanged. This is against our electoral rules but both Sides of the House engage in it as if it is the order of the day.

People compete in how much they give. If a person gives GH¢5,000, another would give GH¢ 10,000 and we all sit and laugh over it. Sometimes there are video evidences and yet the Electoral Commission (EC), the Attorney-General's Department and the police do not seem to be worried.

We should ask ourselves where people get those moneys from? If this weekend, someone spends GH¢1 million -- when I computed the salary of an Hon MP, together with the estimated ex-gratia, it does not even amount to that sum. So how would the person pay off for those expenses?

If as a country we all pretend that it is a normal practice and delegates from both Sides say it is their cocoa season, we just entrench corruption in our country and we do not see anything wrong with it.

Mr Speaker, notwithstanding what you have said, I thought tomorrow we would have the opportunity to wish those of them who face various battles well. However, because we would not have the opportunity tomorrow, perhaps the time now is opportune to wish my Hon Colleagues who would go into the contest very well. I wish them God's protection and hope to see them emerge victorious.
Mr Speaker, I wish that an overwhelming majority of those who would go into contest, if not everyone, should emerge successful. This is because as we have talked about today, in Parliament, generally speaking, the longer a person stays the better he or she becomes endowed in the performance of his or her functions as an Hon MP. We should all recognise that building the

Mr Speaker, I want to seize this opportunity to wish my Hon
Colleague, the Hon Majority Leader, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu well even though he has survived the threats of competitive democratic process. I have been in wonder land wondering what has happened to internal democratic values and processes of the NPP -- ? [Laughter] --
Mr Speaker, many of our Hon Colleagues are out there who would not go independent. They are not as lucky or as strong as the Hon Majority Leader. They need protection, prayers and our support.

They need our prayers and support.

My heart is out there for every incumbent Member of Parliament seeking return. It is a worthy political journey as the Hon Majority Leader has said. When we have more experienced Members of Parliament, the stronger our Parliament would become.

Mr Speaker, so I would want to wish all our Hon Colleagues of the NPP who are going through competitive democratic process on Saturday well. May it be peaceful?

Mr Speaker, we are monitoring closely and we would make comments as to monetisation and democracy being on sale, the evidence on the ground would support it.

Mr Speaker, so I support the initiative that we adjourn in order to give our Hon Colleagues ample time

tomorrow into the weekend to be able to make it.

I thank you for the opportunity.

Question put and Motion agreed to.