Debates of 14 Oct 2020

MR SPEAKER
PRAYERS 12:25 p.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Hon Members, Correction of the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 13 th October, 2020.
Mr Speaker 12:25 p.m.
Hon Members, at the Commencement of Public Business.
Minority Leader (Mr Haruna Iddrisu) 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if I may indulge you on Standing Order 72 and refer to article 112 of the 1992 Constitution. Before I do so, there is some misleading information in the public domain arising out of the sudden
Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah 12:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to add my voice to what the Hon Leader of the Minority has just said.
Mr Speaker, we should allow the political parties to trigger all constitutional processes be it a party or national constitution or any Legislative or Constitutional Instru- ment as set out towards the selection of a candidate in these trying times that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) faces.
Mr Speaker, let us be circumspect and let the media allow the NPP to take the necessary legal steps. As the
Hon Minority Leader rightly said, this has not triggered a by-election, and we must respect the tenets of the Constitution and abide by it.
It is a very sad situation, and we do not want to add what is not expected of the media in terms of the process of selection. Some went as far as saying that the party had settled on the widow of our late Brother and that is not the case. Let the House be properly informed; let the C.I. 127 be properly triggered and let the steps that the NPP has set out to select a candidate be respected.
Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it is important to emphasise that this discussion is basically to ensure that the appropriate legal information is put out. That should be the basis of any discussion. Unfortunately, however we want it, we cannot regulate how the media discusses it. What is important is that, we will let them know what the legal position is.

The Hon Minority Leader started from article 112 (6); I would have started from article 112 (5) which states:

“Whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk to
Mr Speaker 12:35 p.m.
I thank you very much, Hon First Deputy Speaker. It is very important for the media to advise themselves and the public accordingly and would quote from laws and then the Constitution. Let all of us learn to quote holistically.
Whereas article 112 (5) states that bye election in such circumstances shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurs, it is qualified by clause (6) of article 112 which is raised in very simple, plain and clear language. Notwithstanding clause (5) of this article, a by-election shall not be held within three months before the holding of a general election. Of course, simple calculation tells us that we are within the three months since this incident occurred. Therefore, there can be no by-election by mere calculation and effluxion of time. So, let us not misadvise ourselves.
Hon Members, I would respectfully say that if we do not take
care we would add insults to injury if we become unnecessarily speculative in this kind of situation. We should all learn to quote from the Constitution itself or seek direction from the Public Affairs and now our Legal Department whenever we want to quote from or make references from laws and the Constitution and we are not ourselves sure. The Legal Department can be of help without reference to the positions of political parties and it would definitely be a good direction.
Hon Members, we have a Legal Department which is situate downstairs of the Speaker's Block. Please contact them or the office of the Clerk to Parliament. They would always find the appropriate answer for you. I thank you very much.
Hon Members, Consideration Stage.
Mr Boamah 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with your indulgence, could we consider item numbered 4; Complementary Education Agency Bill, 2019 at the Consideration Stage?.
Mr Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Thank you, Hon Members, Consideration Stage, please.
Complementary Education Agency Bill, 2018 at the Consideration Stage.
Chairman of the Committee, clause 7, please?
BILLS -- CONSIDERATION 12:35 p.m.
STAGE 12:35 p.m.
Chairman of the Committee (Mr William A. Quaittoo) 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, during our last Consideration of this Bill, we actually did an amendment for clause 7 but we thought that the whole clause had to be substituted with what we have here.
So, I beg to move, clause 7, delete and insert the following:
“(1) A member of the Board who has an interest in a matter for consideration --
(a)shall disclose in writing the nature of the interest and the disclosure shall form part of the record of the considera- tion of the matter; and
(b) is disqualified from being present at or participating in the deliberation on or determination of the Board in respect of that matter.
Mr Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Members, it is for your consideration.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, so, I take it from the Hon Chairman for the Committee that when we get to clause 7; “Disclosure of interest” we would take what is advertised in page 2, subclauses 1, 2 and 3 as advertised to substitute what is in the original Bill.
Mr Quaittoo 12:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we have taken the amendments up to clause 24, and clause 7 was flagged
when we were doing the amendment last week. So, we are now amending clause 7 and then we go straight to clause 24. Clauses 1 to 23 have been taken already; clause 7 was flagged. Mr Speaker, so, we would start with clause 7 and then we move on to clause 24.
Mr Speaker 12:35 p.m.
So, Hon Minority Leader, we can proceed with this and continue at the appropriate point.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Speaker 12:35 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader?
Mr Iddrisu 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I support the proposal by the Hon Chairman of the Committee to substitute clause 7 as advertised in page 2 of the Order Paper but before the words, “matter for consideration”, if we go back to the original construction, the words “by the Board” is missing. I do agree entirely with his new proposal but:
“(1) A member of the Board who has an interest in a matter for consideration by the Board
--”
Mr Speaker, “by the Board” is missing. Whether he is amenable to
that inclusion as a further amendment to clause 7(1)?. I think it is appropriate that we add “by the Board” because the idea is that conflict of interest is the most veritable source of corruption. So, we would want people to come in a clean, transparent and open manner that they would not take a decision on a matter before the Board guided by selfish personal interest but in the interest of the institution.

So, the words; “by the Board”. Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman can go to the original Bill in the second line of clause 1 and add the words; “by the Board”.
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Chairman, let us add; “by the Board” for the avoidance of doubt. In fact, it can be stated that one can easily assume but for the avoidance of doubt, “by the Board” and then for all consequential matters to follow. Is it agreeable?
Mr Quaittoo 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not agree. It does not change anything but I think that this is better.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I guess you would have to put the Question on the entire clause 7.
Clause 7 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 24 -- Establishment of learning centres.
Mr Quaittoo 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (3), paragraph (b), line 2, delete “women, the youth and the elderly” and insert “the youth and adults.
Mr Speaker, so, it reads; “improved lifelong and education for children who are out of school, the youth and adults”.
Mr Iddrisu 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am opposed to the Hon Chairman's amendment to delete “women”. It does no harm to the Bill. For the purpose of our market, financial literacy is part of adult education or non-formal education and there are many women who just want to know how to add up 2 and 3 and what it means for the purposes of their market transactions.
Therefore, it does no harm when we emphasize for an opportunity for women. Why would they leave out “the youth and the elderly” and delete “women”? So, they should leave it as it is as it does no harm to the Bill at
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman should probably have given reasons for deleting “women”. I would want to remind him that “the elderly” do not cover all women. The age of a child ends at 18 years but when someone is 21 years, it does not make that person elderly.
So, when he assumes that “the youth” will cover all this, it is not so. That is why I want us to agree with --
rose
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Chairman, kindly take your seat. The Hon Minority Chief Whip will finish and then you can react.
Alhaji Muntaka 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker that is why I agree with the Hon Minority Leader that it is for the avoidance of doubt and to emphasize that women should take advantage of this. So, please, let us leave the original rendition, it will do us some good than just taking “women” out.
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Chairman, please since you --
Mr Quaitto 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I guess the Hon Minority Chief Whip is not clear on the amendment I made. We are replacing the words “women, the youth and elderly” with the “the youth and adults”. So, a woman is an adult. Mr Speaker, we are concerned with the word “elderly” and changing that to “adults” and that will cover “women”.
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Chairman, I do not think that you understand what the Hon Minority Chief Whip said.
Alhaji Muntaka 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree with the Hon Chairman on the change to “adults”. However, what is worrying is that if we are not careful, the women may lose the opportunity to stand out. We should let “women” stay because that alone gives them an opportunity to know that there is an opportunity for them to take advantage of. With the nature of our society that we find ourselves in, I would want to plead with the Hon Chairman that , the rendition adequately takes care of what he intends to do, but making “women” stay in the Bill also reminds women to take advantage of this exercise.
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip, assuming they say; “the youth
and adults including women”, will that satisfy you? So that we simply delete “women, the youth and the elderly” and insert “the youth and adults including women”.
Is that all right with you? Are you satisfied with that?
Mr Quaittoo 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we have done previous amendments to the target group of this Comple- mentary Education Bill. The targets are firstly; children who are out of school, the youth and adults. It is the same amendment we are doing here.
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
All right. From the notes, you may go ahead.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Speaker 12:45 p.m.
Item numbered (iii)?
Mr Quaittoo 12:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, paragraph (f), delete “adult”.
Mr Speaker, it will be; “promote learning festivals”. Initially, the learning festivals were targeted to only adults but now, we are changing it to be across board for children out of school, youth as well as adults. That is why we have deleted the word “adult”. So, it is to promote learning
festivals at any level of complementary education.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Iddrisu 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, before you proceed to put the Question on clause 24 entirely, I would like to seek your leave and indulgence to take the Hon Chairman back to clause 24 (2). It reads:
“The Agency shall determine the communities in which a learning centre shall be established taking into consideration subsection (3) of section 23”.
(3) The objects of a learning centre are to…”

Mr Speaker, there is something wrong with this rendition in terms of elegance. We can stay with the quote at Clause 23(3) and then create “objects of a learning centre” as an independent clause, but if we mix up the language then it means that if someone takes this Bill, the person must go to subclause (3) of Clause 23 and then return to (3) which is the objects of a learning centre.

Mr Speaker, subclause (3) of Clause 23 reads that “The Agency
Mr Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader, can we stand this down because it looks as if it would require some further discussion?
For that matter, I would not put the Question on the entire clause 24.
Also, the Hon First Deputy Speaker would get ready to take the Chair.
Clause 25 -- Validation and accreditation of complementary education.
Mr Quaittoo 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move clause 25 subclause (1), line 1, delete “organisations” and insert “regulatory bodies”
Mr Speaker, we propose this amendment because the Education Regulatory Bodies Bill has been passed and so we would have to refer to those specific regulatory bodies.
The new rendition would read: “The Agency shall, in consultation with relevant regulatory bodies …”
Mr Iddrisu 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I support the proposed amendment by the Hon Chairman, however, the heading of the clause is about validation and accreditation. So, deleting the word “organisation” and inserting “regulatory bodies” is apt, but is it a matter of consultation? Is conducting validation a matter of consultation? If it is consultation, then why is it that in the second line of clause 25(1), we are introducing the word “mainstream” instead of “accreditation”? In the headnote there are the words “validation and accreditation” to reflect the content in clause 24(1).
However, we are now proposing an amendment to the clause to read “The Agency shall, in consultation with relevant regulatory bodies, validate and mainstream all forms of complementary education”. I want an explanation as to why we are not using the word “accredit” in place of “mainstream”.
Mr Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Hon Chairman?
Mr Quaittoo 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minority Leader may be right
about the word “accreditation” because that is the sole responsibility of the regulatory bodies. So, the Agency does not have any right to accredit a complementary education centre, rather they would have to consult the regulatory bodies for the accreditation.
Mr Speaker 12:55 p.m.
If we are satisfied then I would put the Question.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Speaker 12:55 p.m.
Item numbered (v).
Mr Quaittoo 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move clause 25 subclause (3), delete.
Mr Speaker, we are proposing the deletion of this because it indicates that the Agency shall grant accreditation. However, the Agency do not grant accreditation because accreditation is solely the responsibility of the National Accreditation Board which has now been placed under the Education Regulatory Bodies.
Alhaji Muntaka 12:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, whereas I agree that the Education Regulatory Bodies do specific accreditation, if a community goes through all the criteria that has been set and this Agency wants to recognise
MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:03 p.m.
Hon Minority Leader?
Mr Iddrisu 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we are on clause 25 and the Hon Chairman has proposed the deletion of subclause (3) which reads “The Agency shall grant accreditation to a
learning centre within the National Qualification Framework”.
The Hon Chairman's ambivalence is on the use of the word “accreditation”, but I still believe, and with the leave of Mr Speaker, that we should maintain subclause (3) and further amend it to read that “the Agency shall approve a learning centre”. So, the Agency would determine that this is a learning centre for the purpose of a complementary education.
The Hon Chairman may not be comfortable with the word “accreditation” but at least there should be an approval process so that in any region or district we would know that this is a dedicated centre for complementary education that has been approved and recognised by this Agency which is being established for the purpose of complementary education. So, I think that we should further improve subclause (3) rather than deleting it entirely.

What would we do if tomorrow anybody just refers to a place as a Complementary Education Centre? This law is to regulate discipline in the realm of complementary education so I am opposed to the proposal to delete subclause (3), but I have a

further amendment to it for the Agency to grant approval to recognise learning centres; it is significant in my view.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Yes, Hon Chairman, let me ask you questions.
I am reading from clause 24. It is this Agency itself that would set up the learning centres. This same Agency will in consultation with relevant organisations validate and mainstream all forms of comple- mentary education. However, when we come to subclause (3), it reads: “The Agency shall grant accreditation to a learning centre…”
So what is the purpose of this subclause (3)? I am supporting the deletion, but probably you would have to explain why you put it there in the first place?. If the Agency is the one setting it up, if it is collaborating with other agencies to provide or mainstream the learning arrangements, then who is to accredit it and why does it need to give it accreditation again?
Mr Quaittoo 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in the education sector, we recently, enacted the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, and all forms of accreditations in the structure right from primary school to senior high
school level are all accredited by the National Inspectorate Authority including complementary education.
So the Agency is not clothed with the authority to accredit an educational centre. They see to it that one is established. Maybe, if a group or community would want to have complementary education, they would facilitate it, but when it comes to the final accreditation, they do not have that authority. They would have to go to the National Inspectorate Authority.
Even if the Hon Minority Leader says we should change it and say “approve”, what is the difference between subclauses (3) and (1)? Clause 25(1) reads: “The Agency shall in consultation with the relevant regulatory body …” We are saying relevant because complementary education as seen in this Bill could start from the primary level even up to the university level. That is what this clause seeks to do, that complementary education could go that far.
So at this level, we have different regulatory bodies. At the primary and senior high school levels, it is the National Accreditation Authority and when it comes to the tertiary level, it becomes the National Council for Tertiary Education, which is now a commission. The two have merged to
Mr Iddrisu 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Chairman should have just taken a cue from you that he is basing on your advice as his justification to delete three, then I would walk with him. Mr Speaker, you have helped the Hon Chairman by saying that because we are establishing it in clause 24, there is no need for any approval again. With that, I would agree with him.
However, Mr Speaker, just that when he was reading, the Hansard captured him as still using the words “relevant organisations” which has been substituted for “relevant regulatory authorities”. With this I am now with him, but I do not buy his explanation.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Very well. Are we on item 4(v)?
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 25 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 26 -- Facilitators of complementary education
Mr Quaittoo 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (3), delete and insert the following:
“The Agency may collaborate with any other public or private body for the purpose of engaging personnel to serve as facilitators for the Agency.”
Mr Speaker, the rational is that, here it was mainly using national service personnel, and we have a number of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that are specialised in this area which facilitate the training of facilitators. And so we thought of expanding it. It could be the National Service Secretariat or any other body. This is the reason we are replacing it with this rendition “”The Agency may collaborate with any other public or private body …”
So we are bringing the word “private”. Otherwise we would use the NGOs. But as it is now, the NGOs are more on the field given off that service than even the Ministry of Education.
Mr Iddrisu 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I support the Hon Chairman's amendment, but I have two essential concerns. The first is the use of the
word “engaging”. If he is talking of recruitment, he should say so. What is the meaning of engage? He is talking about the recruitment of facilitators for complementary education because if we go further to clause 26, what they have are persons who have the ability to facilitate or conduct lessons and have experience in working with the youth and adults. With the use of “youth and adult” if he goes back to the earlier rendition, it has “elderly”.
Mr Speaker, I support him but with recruitment of facilitators for complementary education, is the word “engage” sufficient that anybody would understand to mean so?
Secondly, Mr Speaker, when we say collaborate with private body, it is too omnibus a word. In the public sector, what we know is that, one could collaborate with other public institutions like the National Service Secretariat. But to say a private body is too open-ended. This is my other concern.
Mr Quaittoo 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not know of any other word that we could use. This is because if we say “recruit“, it means that probably we have to make terms of reference and pay them and all that? But with engagement, the NGOs would usually
take up this responsibility. That is why we are bringing in the private bodies. This is because they are more on the field than the Ministry of Education.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
What about engagement with private agencies?. You are still dealing with the NGOs, right? He thinks using “private body” is too wide.
But I think it does not spoil anything because you really may not know the limit to which opportunities in the private sector you could take advantage of.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza 1:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I just feel the Hon Chairman should beef up. If you read article 38; the Directive Principles of State Policy, and having also read lifelong learning, adult literacy and others from the Explanatory Memorandum, one of the significant words used in article 38(2) (b) is free adult literacy programme, free vocational training, and rehabilitation of people with disabilities.
Mr Speaker, currently, many people who have learning difficulties and disabilities are not able to be in the mainstream education. It is NGOs and private people who carry out
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:05 p.m.
Hon Member for Adaklu, we are now at Consideration Stage, so you must speak to a specific clause and make a specific proposal. Now you have general concerns. So let me deal with clause 26 which I was finalising, then if there is any specific clause you would want to bring back into discussion, I would allow you.
Clause 26 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 27 -- Regional Complementary Education Agency
Mr Quaittoo 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, delete and insert the following:
“Regional offices of the Agency
(1) There shall be regional offices of the Agency in each Region.
(2) A regional office of the Agency shall be known as a Regional Complementary Education Agency.”
Mr Speaker, we would also add a new subclause, which is better than the rendition we have here and that is why we are making this amendment.
Mr Iddrisu 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I did not get the opportunity to study modern drafting as they argue now. “There is established in each region, a Regional Complementary Education Agency.”
What is wrong with that? Whether old school or new school, what is wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with what is in the original Bill. We are establishing it by statute. “There is established in each region, a Regional Complementary Education Agency”. So it means we are establishing it.
Mr Speaker, I do not see anything wrong with clause 27(1) as in the original Bill. Whether modern school or old school or new school, I stand by my old rudimentary training in drafting that there is nothing wrong with clause 27(1). So the Hon Chairman should not be seeking to change it, unless he is also a student of modern drafting and he must support it with cogent argument that this is modern. There is nothing wrong with 27(1) as in the original Bill. Therefore, I would not support his amendment.
Mr Quaittoo 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in the existing Bill that we have been doing, we are departing from this kind of rendition. This makes it mandatory: “There shall be”. This means that we are establishing it.
If the Ministry is not ready, particularly with finance to establish this, we say “there shall be”. So at any point that the Ministry is ready, then the Regional Office would be established. But if we say, “There shall be Regional Offices of the Agency” -- the former rendition which says, “There is established in each region,” it means that right from the onset of this, there should be an establishment at the regional level.
Besides, we changed the heading, “Regional Complementary Education Agency” to “Regional Offices of the Agency”. So, “There shall be” and there is no compulsion or timeline to this. But if we say “There is established” -- I am inclined to change from chemistry to law anyway. There is a difference between the two statements and that is what has been given. There is established is different from there shall be.
Mr Iddrisu 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, clause 27(1) -- I would go with what is in the original Bill. Then, 27(2), I would go with the Hon Chairman.
“There is established in each region, a Regional Complementary
Education Agency”, a creation by statute. So in each region, there would be a Regional Complementary Education Unit, so to speak. There is nothing wrong with 27(1) as in the original Bill and I am not convinced by that. He is now saying, “There shall be Regional Offices”. No. “There is established”, we are creating it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Hon Member, we create the agency but do we create regional offices and district offices? No. The Agency would determine and establish. I do not think it is appropriate to also create established regional offices as if they have legal capacity on their own. Regional offices, district offices are branches created by the agency which is established by law. So I think “established” is inappropriate for regional and district offices.
Mr Quaittoo 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, sometimes when we are doing these Bills and other lawyers who come for the winnowing are not here, then we the chemists tend to be frightening them. I wish Hon Inusah Fuseini and Hon Yieleh Chireh were here. They would be frightening them and not me. [Laughter]
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
You are moving the amendment so please justify it and leave those who are not here out.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am concerned with the clause 27(2). The intention with the amendment is to take it away from the Regional Coordinating Council as proposed by the original rendition. Is it the intent and why would they want to take it away from the Regional Coordinating Council? I just want the Hon Chairman to provide an answer.
Mr Quaittoo 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in the Pre-tertiary Education Bill, the intendment was to make the regional and district education departments of the regional and district coordinating councils or assemblies and that has been abandoned. So the original rendition for (2) was made in such a way that because they thought that the education unit would be part of the coordinating council or the district assembly, then we could say that the original Complementary Education Agency is a department of the Regional Coordinating Council. So that full decentralisation for the Pre- tertiary level has been stopped somehow. We are developing that and it would come to Parliament. That portion was not agreed on. So once we are no longer going to have that, then we cannot have this. So the
Regional Education Office would not be a department of Regional Coordinating Council. “A Regional Complementary Education Agency is a department of a Regional Co- ordinating Council of a region.” It is no longer going to be so. So the Agency cannot be part of it.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I just want to find out from him the current situation of the non-formal education units. Do they have their budgets and support direct from the Ministry of Education or they draw from the district assemblies and the regional coordinating councils? The reason I am asking this is that - I agree with him when he says the Bill is not yet in this House but I thought a lot of the fora that has happened has come to some conclusion or some determination that both health and education should be properly decentralised.
The Bills are not here and we would not have this opportunity to do this. Are we saying that because maybe those Bills have not yet been changed, we would want to take this one away? I would want to know the current structure of the non-formal education that exist. How is it working? Is it not working under the district assemblies and the regional coordinating councils? I thought that is what is happening. Or it is just a stand-alone department of the Ministry of Education that runs from
Accra all the way to the districts? I just want to be sure.
Mr Quaittoo 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, they are not under the regional and district coordinating councils. They are under the Ministry of Education so at the regional level, it is under the Regional Education Directorate and at the district level, it is under the District Education Directorate. They have a small unit manned by one or two persons and they draw their funding directly from the Ministry.
Mr Iddrisu 1:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, just borrowing from the Hon Chairman's words - we are talking about deeper decentralisation so when we say regional coordinating council, it is not the same thing as regional education directorate. So if we want to use “Regional Education Directorate, let us say so. This is because in clause 27(2), the specific words are “Regional Coordinating Council” (RCC) but there are regional education directorates and they would come under the directorates.
The RCC is more of the political establishment of regional coordinating council but there is a regional education unit in each region. So Mr Speaker, with your leave, we may have to change the words, “Regional Coordinating Council” to “Regional Education Directorate”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:15 p.m.
Where is the coordinating council in the proposed amendment?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we have amended clause 27(2) and he is posing a question on the new rendition that “A regional office of the Agency shall be known as Regional Complementary Education Agency”. The Hon Member is asking why we are not putting the first one under the Regional Coordinating Council, and I am saying that they are going to be two separate entities. This is now an agency of the Ministry, and it is going to be on its own, just like the National Inspectorate Authority is an agency of the Ministry of Education on its own. They could be in the same building at the regional level as the Regional Education Directorate, but the director there would not report to the Regional Education Director. He would be a director on his own.
Mr Iddrisu 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I have a difficulty with that policy decision. You see, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) introduced that concept of life long education, and it is to start from the basic school level to the secondary, and then to the tertiary. Those that would be left out of it, are what this Bill is targeting --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
I am looking out for the Ministry that this agency would operate under. It says: “The Minister may in consultation with…”, and the Minister means the Minister responsible for Education. However, this is a unit within the Ministry. That is how it is intended, but not to be part of, or not to be a department of the Regional Directorate of Education. [Interruption]
Dr A. A. Osei 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is a question that he must be clear about. He is saying that he does not
want the agency to be under the Regional Education Council, but what is the policy of Government? A person's personal presence may not be what we are talking about. If there is a Regional Education Council of the Ministry of Education that coordinates regional education, then that agency is part of it. So, we cannot say that because it is a separate agency, it does not report to the regional -- then it would not work. This is because education is education. One is formal, and the other is non-formal, but they are all education. So, we would have to be careful.
The earlier rendition in the original Bill, I agree is wrong, but it is a Regional Education Council that the agency must report to, not to the national in Accra. Otherwise, there would be problem at that level, so, we would have to be careful.
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, an agency of the Ministry reports to the Ministry, and not to any other agency of the Ministry. The Ghana Education Service which has a directorate at the regional level that we all know- the Regional Education Directorate, is only an agency or a regional office of the Ghana Education Service, which in itself is an agency of the Ministry. So, this agency is also going to be a unique agency on its own with its district office as well as its regional office. So, it would have a regional --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
So, the Ghana Educational Service (GES) is the one responsible for primary (basic) and secondary education. Is that right?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker. That is for the new education districts, and this is established for the out of school children and for adult education. So, that is also another one that would report to the Ministry. It would have a unique district and regional directorate, just like the National Inspectorate Authority. It does not report to anybody within the Ghana Education Service. That is an agency on its own. So, this agency is going to be unique at the district and regional levels, and then at the national, report to the Minister. That is why here, a Minister is defined.
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service would have no authority over that, and neither would the vocational and technical education, which is now coming up. The Ghana Education Service would not have authority over the vocational and technical unit. They would also be a unique agency on their own, with their own Director-General. So, they would run parallel educational system and report to the Minister straight away.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 27 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 28 -- Functions of a Regional Complementary Education Agency
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, Paragraph (a), line 2, delete “subsection” and insert “section”.
Mr Speaker, the new rendition would become 1:25 p.m.
“…Coordinate the activities of the Complementary Education Section of the District Education Service.”
Mr Speaker, here, the District Education Service may have the Complementary Education Service, but it is not being added to this new agency.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
The District Education Office would not be a district office of GES. Is that what you are saying?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
So, now it would be captured as: “…Coordinate the activities of the Complementary Education Service of the District Education Service.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
I would want to be clear in my mind on what you are doing. You have rightly said that what we call the
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as it is now, we have Complementary Education being managed by the GES. But when this Bill comes into force, that aspect of the Complementary Education at the district level would now be coordinated by the Regional Complementary Education Unit. So, we are kind of hiving off the Complementary Education at the district level to the Regional Complementary Education.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
And wean it off from GES to Complementary Education?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker. So, it would be captured as: “…Coordinate the activities of the Complementary Education section of the District Education Service.” So, here --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Do we have any Complementary Education Unit at the GES? You are
relating to the Bill, which consideration has been suspended.
1. 35 p. m.
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the amendment is not fully captured in the Order Paper. What I have in my notes is not fully captured in the Order Paper. So the Order Paper says we should change “subsection” to “section” but further to that, there is deletion of “department of education -- [Interruption]-- if I want to proffer a new amendment, we can get it done but let us see the new amendment. The new amendment would be: delete “subsection” and insert “section”, and again, delete “department of education of a”; and delete “assembly in the region” so the new rendition would read:
“Coordinate the activities of the complementary education section of the District Education Service”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
District Education Service?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Yes, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Have we established that or are we creating?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
We already have District Education Service of the Ghana Education Service. And as it is now, they are doing complementary education.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Why do we not just remove the “education service” and just say “of the district”? Why do you not just remove “coordinate the activities of the complementary education section of the district” so that you do not confuse GES with dis-associate from?
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker that is a better rendition. But as it is now, complementary education - they have all this long thing here because in the Pre-Tertiary Bill, we were to do full decentralisation of the Education Service so; in that case, the District Education Service would have been called Department of Education of a district assembly, and that has not been done. And that would not do; the Teacher Unions have fought it so, it has been stopped so; that would not exist. Department of Education of a district assembly of a region would not exist; what exists now is the “District Education Service” and they are doing complementary education now. We are saying that Regional Complementary Education office would coordinate this aspect of the Ghana Education Service.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
We do not want Ghana Education Service.
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree with you by saying that we should delete “education service” and insert “of the district” so that the new rendition would be:
“Coordinate the activities of the complementary education section of the district —
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
You can even remove “section” and it would read:
“Coordinate the activities of the complementary education in the district”.
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Yes.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I just confirmed; they do not fall under whether the regional or the district offices of GES. They are a ‘stand- alone' kind of agency so we need to be very clear what we want to really do. They do not fall under those offices that the Hon Chairman is talking about. When we go to the region, the Regional Non-Formal Education is a stand-alone office; it does not work under the Regional Director of Education.
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am clear in my mind because after this, in clause 32, we have “District Complementary Education” also established or there would be (b), district education, which should be
independent of the Ghana Education Service.
The complementary education agency is going to be different from the Ghana Education Service. They would not report to them; they would take their instructions from the Ministry of Education right down to the district level. So, we are saying that the first functions of a regional complementary education agency say:
“A regional complementary education agency shall-
(a) Coordinate the activities of the complementary education at the district level”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Then it should be:
“coordinate the activities of complementary education of the district”.
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Yes, of the district without making any reference to the Ghana Education Service.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 28 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 29 -- Regional Director of Complementary Education
Mr Quaittoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 29, subclause (1), delete and insert the following:
“There shall be a Regional Director of Complementary Education in each regional office of the Agency.”
Mr Speaker, we are changing from this because we thought that we should not give the Board authority to appoint the regional director.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Draftspersons, is it the appropriate drafting, we want a regional director for the agency in each region? If we say “shall be in the office”, what does that mean? Can we not say:
“There shall be a regional director of complementary education in each region”.
Mr Quaitoo 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we were silent on the mode of appointment in the sense that the Ministry or the Ghana education structure itself, may have their own means of --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
No problem, but I am saying that the way it is captured, Hon Chairman of the
Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, is it not strange?: “There shall be a regional director of complementary education in each regional office of the agency” is that appropriate? I would rather suggest: “There shall be a regional director of complementary education in each region”.
Mr Ben Abdallah Banda 1:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I completely agree with you because if we say that “there shall be a regional director of complementary education in each region”, what it means simply is that, for every region, there shall be a regional director. We do not really have to add “in each regional office of the agency”. That addition of those words is surplusage and is rather not necessary so, I agree with your rendition.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:25 p.m.
Are we add idem?
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 29 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I marked something here in line 2, that is, “the Regional Director of Complementary Education is the head
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
I direct the draftspersons to effect the appropriate change. With clause 30, I understand that you have done those that are not advertised already. Have we taken the vote on clause 30 already?
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, there is no amendment to clause 30.
Clause 30 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 31 -- Budget of a Regional Complementary Education Agency
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 31, lines 2 and 3,
delete “Complementary Education”. So, we would just have “Agency” there. It would read:
“The budget of a Regional Complementary Education Agency shall form part of the budget of the national office of the Agency.”
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 31 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 32 -- District Complementary Education Agency
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 32, delete and insert the following:
“District offices of the Agency
(1) There shall be district offices of the Agency in each District.
(2) A district office of the Agency shall be known as a District Complementary Education Agency.”
Mr Banda 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that clause 32(1) should rather read: “There shall be a district office of the Agency in each region.”
The way it has been couched now, it means that for every district, there shall be district offices. I do not think that is the intendment of the provision. The intendment of the provision is that for every district, there shall be a district office but not district offices in each district.
So, Mr Speaker, I propose that it should read:
32. (1) There shall be a district office of the Agency in each Region.
(2) The district office of the Agency shall be known as a District Complementary Education Agency.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
So, 32 (2) should begin with “the”?
Mr Banda 1:45 p.m.
Rightly so, Mr Speaker.
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
In the same way, if we agree with this amendment, then we should go back to clause 27 and do same. This is because it is the same rendition for the regional offices and Hon Banda has put it in a better way.
Clause 27 should read:
“(1) There shall be a regional office of the Agency in each region.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
Let us take the vote on this one and then I would direct the draftspersons.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 32 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
I direct the draftspersons to use clause 32 as a guide to redraft clause 27 as amended.
Clause 33 - Functions of a District Complementary Education Agency
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 33, line 3, before “efficient”, insert “effective and”, and in line 4, delete “areas within the”.
The new rendition would read:
“A District Complementary Education Agency shall, in accordance with the comple- mentary education policy of the Ministry responsible for Education, ensure effective and efficient delivery of all forms of
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 34, delete and insert the following:
“There shall be a District Director of Complementary Education in each district office of the Agency.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
I think that it should end at “in each district”.
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
All right.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 34 -- as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 35 -- Functions of a District Director of Complementary Education
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 35, delete and insert the following:
“A District Director of Complementary Education --
(a) shall oversee the objectives of the Agency in the District; and
(b) is answerable to the Regional Director of Complementary Education.”
We are doing this because in the first rendition, we did not make him responsible to anybody, so we are saying that he is responsible to the Regional Director of the Agency. So, we have broken the functions of the District Director into two.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
How do you oversee the objectives? Hon Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parlia- mentary Affairs, the District Director shall oversee the objectives? How do you oversee the objectives? You may oversee the activities or ensure the attainment of the objectives.
Mr Banda 1:45 p.m.
You cannot oversee the objectives. You shall ensure the implementation of the objectives.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:45 p.m.
You can ensure the attainment of the objectives of the Agency.
Hon Chairman, do you agree?
Mr Quaittoo 1:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that it should read, “oversee the activities”. That is what is captured here, “oversee the activities of the Agency in the district” and not “objectives”.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Very well.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 35 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 36 -- Regulations
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 36, opening phrase, delete and insert the following:
“The Minister shall, within twelve months after the coming into force of this Act and on the advice of the Board, by legislative instrument, make Regulations to provide for”.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, whenever we put this rendition, they do not abide by it and we do not do anything about it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
You are entitled as a legislator to draw the wind when it is not done.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:55 p.m.
We should amend it and attach some punishment that would force them to do it. This is because we have said it again and again and nothing has happened. I agree with the rendition except that they do not follow through.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 36, paragraph (e), after “effective'', insert “and efficient''.
The new rendition would be:
“the effective and efficient implementation of this Act''.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 36, add the following new paragraph:
Mr Napare 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want to propose a further amendment to the new paragraph, which could read:
“to provide scheme of service to regulate the recruitment and placement of staff of the Agency''.
Mr Speaker, I proposed this amendment because we do not have to limit it to the facilitators. If it is reviewed to include the other staff, it would be helpful because non-formal education is an agency which is often manipulated by politicians. Any time a new government comes to power, the staff have to be moved, so if the Hon Minister provides regulations to the recruitment placement of staff including the facilitators, it would be in a good direction.
Mr Nortsu-Kotoe 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the issue my Hon Colleague raised has two dimensions. One is about recruitment of staff but what the Hon Chairman addressed is about facilitators who would be on the field -- the volunteers who would be engaged to take the learners through the lessons. However, on the other clauses on the “establishment of
regional and district offices'', there are provisions for the recruitment of staff for the Agency. This is where the difference is. The proposed amendment by the Hon Chairman of the Committee, only talks about facilitators, that is people who would be volunteer workers for the Agency on the field. It could create a problem if we should go by his proposed amendment.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this amendment should be broadened to include the staff. Facilitators are paid allowances but they cannot necessarily be staff of the Agency. The other clauses that the Hon Member for Akatsi North, Mr Nortsu-Kotoe, talked about is only about the regional and district directors and not the other staff.
However, as he rightly said the process of recruiting the staff would take care of it with this rendition because there would be no provision in this Bill when it is passed into an Act that clearly shows how the staff of the Agency would be recruited, apart from the district and regional directors.
Mr Speaker, it is important that since it is an addition of a new clause, maybe, we could leave the Hon Chairman's proposed amendment as subclause 1, and do the general staff as subclause 2.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip, clause 15 which is “appointment of other staff'', reads:
“The President shall, in accordance to article 195 of the Constitution, appoint for the Agency other staff that are necessary for the efficient and effective performance…''
Alhaji Muntaka 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, because it is the regulation that gives the details on how it should be done and that is why it needs to be stated that the Hon Minister would ensure that there is a scheme of how the staff are engaged, just to buttress how it has been stated in clause 15. In the regulations the scheme should be provided on how this could be achieved, other than that it could just be hanging.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
With this one, the power of appointment is delegated by the President to the Board and not the Hon Minister.
Clause 15 (2) states that:
“The President may, in accordance with clause (2) of article 195 of the Constitution, delegate the power of appoint- ment in subsection (1) in writing to the Board''.
Unless that has been amended.
Alhaji Muntaka 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I agree with you but the regulation is - From practice, a person heads an Agency, the Board does virtually everything and the Hon Minister only forwards that regulation to Parliament.
We always use the Hon Ministers because they report to Parliament but it is the Board that does all those regulations. I still believe that this part would fit very well with the clause 15 because in the hindrance of clause 15, we need to know the steps that would be taken to achieve it. Otherwise, the clause 15 would have taken care of the facilitators but we want to add it to the facilitators because they are the key persons that make the Agency work apart from the office work.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:55 p.m.
Hon Members, having regard to the state of the Business of the House, I direct that the House Sits outside the regular Sitting hours.
Mr Quaittoo 1:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I do not have any problem if we have to add to the regulations that the Hon Minister has to bring to this House, a scheme of service for staff. However, I have not seen this in the recent Bills that we passed in the House but it does not hurt if we should add it.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
In the case of the facilitators, we may not have trained or qualified teachers but at least, there would be some basic level of qualification that one would need to have before he or she could become a facilitator.

Alright, Mr Speaker, so, he can propose an amendment.
Mr Dominic Napare 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I propose that the paragraph for “facilitators” should stand and then I propose an additional paragraph to provide for a scheme of service to regulate the recruitment and placement of staff of the Agency.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Hon Members, scheme of service is a management matter. I do not know why we should legislate it. It is usually discussed and negotiated before they are put on paper. So, I think we should leave the Board and the
Management to determine that. If we legislate, it would make it rigid; from my experience, scheme of service should be a matter to be negotiated and determined by the Board.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, maybe, it should be terms and conditions of service of the staff, other than that --
Even the qualification and other things of the facilitators are equally a management matter but it is important that in the Regulation, it is clearly spelt out. Whereas in communities like mine, it may be easier to get the right persons to do the facilitation, maybe, in some parts of your Constituency because of its rural nature -
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip, my Constituency has no rural area. Even where you taught, Abodom is not rural.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I was in Abodom. I know that part is rural and we have a clip that was recently shown from Hon Nyindam's Constituency where someone was teaching children computing and what he said about what computer and mouse are -- he was misinforming the children in the name of educating them.
That is why if this is provided, then we would know that if we have a learning centre, these are the categories of persons who can be there and these are their qualifications.
Mr Speaker, I think it is important that it is in the Regulation. The same way, the terms and conditions of the general staff should also be in the Regulation so that they would be clearly spelt out to guide negotiation with the staff among other things. It is important that we put it in and not to just leave it with clause 15. It would become a blanket cheque and the difficulty of managing a blanket cheque on government coffers itself
-- 2:05 p.m.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, as I rightly said, I do not have any problem agreeing to what my Hon Colleague is proposing but we advised that it should be “terms and conditions” and not “scheme of service”. A scheme of service is usually expressed in the employee bluebook. So it should be terms and conditions of service.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Yes, so, what is the rendition you are offering?
Hon Chairman of the Committee, what is your view? Are you proposing this and making a further proposal or you are amending this to accommo- date what you have agreed to do?
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the new paragraph that I have proposed stands. That is accepted but he is adding on.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Now, Hon Chairman of the Committee, do you want to propose a new one as addition to clause 36 or as a standalone one?
Mr Dominic Napare 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, yes, I propose an additional paragraph to read:
“the terms and conditions of a staff of the Agency.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
Hon Members, are you clear? I would ask you to vote on it.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want you to add a caveat so that the draftspersons could put it in the best of legislative language for having gotten the intent.
Clause 36 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:05 p.m.
I direct that the draftsperson captures the last amendment as appropriate.
Clause 37 -- Interpretation
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 37, interpretation of “lifelong learning”, line 2, delete “which is”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 37, interpretation of “lifelong learning framework”, lines 2 and 3, delete “and which provides” and insert “to provide”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 37, interpretation of “National Service Secretariat”, delete.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 37, interpretation of “National Qualifications Framework”, delete.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Quaittoo 2:05 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, clause 37, add the following new definitions:
“District” means Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly;
“Ministry” means Ministry responsible for Education”.
Mr Banda 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, are we defining “District Assembly” or “Districts”? This is because in the Order Paper, we are defining “District” but are we defining “District Assembly” which I know includes metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies or we are defining districts?
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 37 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Item numbered (xiv)?
Clause 34 -- District Director of Complementary Education
Mr Quaittoo 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, at this time, I do not rise as an Hon Chairman of the Committee on Education but as the available Leader, so indulge me to end my amendment here and give the opportunity to the Hon Minister who also wants to finish his amendment. He has just about eight clauses.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon available Leader, do you mean that you want the Consideration of the -- ?
Mr Quaittoo 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want the Consideration to end because there are some corrections that need to be done in what I have.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Very well.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of the Consideration Stage of the Complementary Education Bill, 2019 for today.
Yes, Hon available Leader, what next?
Mr Quaittoo 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I believe that we can now take item numbered 5 on page 8 of the Order Paper -- Real Estate Agency Bill, 2020 at the Consideration Stage.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I asked my Hon Colleagues on the Winnowing Committee if they were done in order to make considering the Bill easy but I get the indication that they are not done.
While I agree with the Hon Minister that he may want to get this done quickly, if he would not mind that we take this afternoon to do the winnowing so that it will hasten the process as soon as we start considering the Bill instead of trying to put every clause taken for the first time through the Consideration stage. I think that will take more time.
Mr Quaittoo 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that Bill has been looked at and I do not think that there are many controversial clauses -- Can we kindly attempt it and if there are challenges, we will stop? However, for now, there are no problems since they have already been dealt with at the Committee level.
Mr Speaker, it is only where we have controversial issues that we call on the winnowing committee to meet to discuss the issues but where there
Alhaji Muntaka 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would just want to get an indication on how long we intend to - because we did not make provision for extended Sitting and it is past 2 o'clock. If we just want to start, that is fine. How far do we want to go? So, that we are all clear in our minds that this is just to enable us start while we go on to do winnowing to be able to build consensus to hasten the process. Are we doing three clauses just to kick start the Bill so that we can go on to do some winnowing?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Clause 1 alone has five proposed amendments --
Mr Quaittoo 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that we can do 10 clauses and stop.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Hon Members, whatever happens, I will bring proceedings to a close at 3:00 p.m. and at most, that is 40 minutes from now. So, let us proceed.
The Real Estate Agency Bill, 2020 at the Consideration Stage.
BILLS - CONSIDERATION 2:15 p.m.
STAGE 2:15 p.m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:15 p.m.
Clause 1?
Clause 1 -- Application of this Act
Nana Amoakoh on behalf of the (Chairman of the Committee) 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (1), lines 1 and 2, delete “a tenancy for a term of not less than one year” and insert “all forms of tenancy”.
Mr Speaker, the reason for this amendment is that we want to cover the entire tenancy agreements.
Mr Banda 2:15 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the original rendition limited it to a term of not less than one year taking into consideration the fact that in the tenancy agreement, the maximum period that a person can charge for rent is six months.
So the original thinking was to give an exception to the Tenancy Act but upon a further deliberation, it was decided that the scope of the application of the law should cover all forms of tenancy. It does not matter the extent of the duration; it could be one year but once it can be interpreted
to mean a real estate transaction, it does not matter the time limitation and then this Real Estate Agency Bill which will soon become a law, will then cover that business. That is the thinking informing this proposed amendment.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want clarity on “all forms of tenancy”.
Is it the intention of the Hon Minister to use this Bill, if passed into Act, to amend the Rent Control Act?
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Chairman?
Mr Banda 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this Bill is being fashioned within the remit of real estate transaction and “real estate transaction” has been defined at page 28 of the Bill. So any kind of transaction that falls within this limit and which can be defined as a real estate transaction -- it does not matter the time limitation -- can be categorised.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Chairman, but the definition of the “real estate transaction” does not include renting. It depicts a buyer and a seller of a property so how do you rope in all forms of tenancy?
Hon Member for Bodi?
Mr Sampson Ahi 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I think that the Real Estate Agency Bill is altogether different from the Rent Control Act. The Rent Control Act regulates the relationship between the tenant and the owner of the property but this one is about a transaction of the sale of a property between a seller and a buyer. I do not see the reason for the reference to the Rent Control Act.
Mr Speaker, I think that this proposed amendment is not necessary.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Ranking Member of the Committee?
Alhaji I. A. B. Fuseini 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, if we amend clause 1 in terms of the proposal, there would be an internal inconsistency in clause 1(2). I have looked at the proposed amendment but the Committee never considered clause 1(2).
Now, it is not about collecting rent, rather it is regulating the practice of commercial transactions in real estate; sale, purchase, rental and lease. The promoters of this Bill intend that transactions must be one year and above. That is why when a transaction is below one year and it is renewed, it is extended to be within the ambit of this Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Ranking Member, I am still not clear as to how rental or tenancy for one year comes into real estate because the definition is clear that “real estate transaction” means the process by which a right in the unit of a real property is transferred between two or more parties and in the case of conveyance involves one party being the seller and the other being the buyer.
It is in the interest that is being transferred and not the right of occupancy which is what comes in when it comes to tenancy. So where does the tenancy of six months or more come in?
Alhaji I. A. B. Fuseini 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the last part of the definition
you have read is what we call the categorisation or example of the practice of real estate but if it is for conveyance then it would be between a seller and a buyer. If it is a rental property then it is between the lessor and the lessee.
Mr Speaker, it appears to me that the definition you read refers to the right and the Hon Minister is a learned lawyer at the Bar. It appears to me that this Bill does not contemplate the transfer of a right in a rented property which is below one year.
Mr Samuel A. Akyea 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we should be very careful not to confuse tenancy rights or property rights with an agent who is trying to be involved in that commercial arrangement and the kinds of things that an agent should do and the law that the agent should come under. This is what we are trying to do and not try to even talk about the rights of tenants here.
We are talking about the instance where somebody wants to rent a place and there is the necessity for an agent; what the agent is supposed to do or not to do and how the State would be able to monitor what the agent is trying to do and exact the taxes and so on is the intendment of this Bill.
So we should get the difference because it has nothing to do with the Rent Control Act and so on. Is there
a situation where somebody wants an interest in a property dealt with, and is it commercial on orientation? And has there been an instance where there is the necessity for a middle man who we call the agent and the responsibility of the agent and so on as well as how the State would exact the requisite taxes and to prevent money laundering and so on? That is the intendment of this Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
So, when it comes to the transfer between owner and agent then that is where the six months and one year comes in. Then we are not setting this out clearly because the owner is transferring his right as the property owner to the agent to rent it out for a period. So the agent has become the real estate practitioner but the agent may not own property, rather he would take other people's property. That transaction is what we are trying to regulate here.
I think that we need to negotiate this further because we can spend 30 minutes on one clause and we would not finish this Bill.
Mr Akyea 2:25 p.m.
Mr Speaker, my humble view is that we can start this and where we think that there is a challenge we can stand it down because insofar as our good Hon Friends are not satisfied with some
provisions we can return to them later. My view was for us to make a start and that is what we are attempting to do and if we should end at 3.00 p.m. or as the Speaker would decide, we would come back and consider the issues critically.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:25 p.m.
Hon Minority Chief Whip?
Alhaji Muntaka 2:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am confused and I would want some clarity from the Hon Minister.
Mr Speaker, I have a property and the Hon Minister is a real estate agent who would rent the property to Hon Abdallah Banda. So we are saying that the transaction between me and him is what this Bill seeks to address.

Meanwhile we have a law on rent which says when he and I are done, he cannot rent it to Hon Abdallah Banda for more than six months. But he is talking about he and I having it for more than one year.

This is where my confusion is, as to how this would not affect Hon Banda. This is because the agent is taking it for more than one year; the law says the agent should not give it out for more than six months.

I am told the Bill is on its way to the House. Maybe, we would agree
Mr Akyea 2:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, that is why the amendment seeks to achieve a situation in which we are talking about real estate transaction of any hue or colour.
If it is a real estate transaction, whatever the time considerations are -- because as a matter of fact, we are also trying to push for the amendment of the Tenancy Act, but if it is a real estate transaction and there is a major man involved called the agent, such transaction is what this Bill seeks to deal with.
It is not even the issue of a one- year tenancy or a three-year tenancy, but whatever that transaction may be. This is because, ultimately, there is a middleman who stands between the owner of the property and the tenant. It is not only the tenancy, but the vendor and vendee as the case may be. So whatever it is, the middleman's role is what this Bill seeks to regulate.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:35 p.m.
Clause 1 does not mention an agent at all. From all the discussions of the Hon Minister, we are trying to regulate arrangement between a landlord, an agent and a tenant and transaction on how an agent takes and gives out a property, is that right? If that is so, the first clause does not mention agent at all.
Alhaji I. A. B. Fuseini 2:35 p.m.
Clause 1 is just establishing the jurisdiction of the law. That is the purpose of clause 1, the area of coverage of the law. This law would regulate agents who are called real estate brokers in this law.
So the practice would involve real estate practitioners who are not brokers, just like insurance practitioners and real estate brokers whom we would call agents. The intendment of this law is captured in the Long Title, but when we extend it --
I know the intendment is to try to deal with a larger issue of money laundering because one of the conduits of money laundering is real estates. So we would want to regulate it so that we would be able to track money laundering.
Come to think about it; a rent of a property for six months or nine months or less than one year, what rent could be paid on it that could be the issue
of money laundering? That is why the original promoters of the Bill said everybody who leases property for less than one year should not come under this Act. Now if in the lease agreement, there is a provision for renewal, then it comes under, and that is captured under clause 12. However, if it is just a period of less than one year, simpliciter, it should not come under the agreement.
Mr Speaker, there must be good reason. I have always discussed this with my brother, Hon Yieleh Chireh. When the drafting instructions are given to the draftsperson and he reduces it into legislation, we are not privy to the policy that is informing the legislation. And so when we change these things, we create problems. We could have even gone to clause 5 by now since there is no problem with clause 1 actually, from the way it stands.
Mr Banda 2:35 p.m.
Mr Speaker, you may not really get the understanding of the clause clearly if you do not read the whole Bill. This is because, if you look at clause 39 of the Bill, it sets out an elaborate provision on real estate brokers and agents. And we need to read everything in order to be able to get the linkage between clause 1 and the rest of the provisions.
Mr Speaker, you could have a tenancy agreement for maybe less than a year involving real estate brokers and agents which would involve a substantial amount of money for which reason, as the Hon Minister rightly stipulated, some amount of tax would have to be exacted from that transaction. And you may also have some property transaction which may last for a year but in respect of which the amount involved may be less than what the six months tenancy agreement would bring.
Mr Speaker, so the thinking was that, in order to avert such a situation, once we have a transaction which could be classified as real estates including a tenancy agreement involving a broker or an agent transacting business between the owner of the property and the potential buyer or tenant of the property, such a transaction ought to be categorised and defined as a real estate transaction.
That explains the reason the original rendition was proposed to be amended to read the way it is being proposed so that any kind of transaction which looks like a real estate transaction regardless of the duration ought to be categorised and brought into the ambit of a real estate transaction. Mr Speaker, this is the thinking.
Alhaji I. A. B. Fuseini 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to draw the attention of Hon Banda to item (ii) of the Explanatory Memorandum.
It is a requirement of article 106 for a Bill to be accompanied with an Explanatory Memorandum. Look at clause 1. Clause 1 provides for the application of the Act in relation to real estate transactions and provides for real estate transactions which are exempted from the application of the Act.

The exemptions are intended to take care of situations in which a person does not require a licence to engage in real estate transactions and in which that person is not bound by the rules that govern real estate practice.

That is clause 1 so why is he changing it? That is the intendment of clause 1. It is intended to exclude leases or rentals which are less than one year from the real estate practice. That is the intendment of clause 1.
Mr Banda 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I get the Ranking Member's submission but the question we need to ask and answer is this -- to me, it does not matter the duration. Where there is a landlord and a tenant wanting to
negotiate a transaction through an agent, how do we classify such a transaction? Can we not classify such a transaction as a real estate transaction or that one would come under the Rent Act? If that is the case, then the Hon Minister is also advising that we can abandon this proposed amendment. My worry is that where two parties decide to engage in a transaction through a broker or an agent for maybe six months or seven months, how do we classify such a transaction?
Mr Chireh 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
I think that if the Hon Minister is willing to withdraw the amendment, that would be helpful. For us, we still have -- if he feels strongly about it then he could come under a second consideration if he so wishes. But if we want to make any small progress at all today, then we cannot be sticking onto policy issues that he himself raised in the memorandum.
As the basis for the law, he wants to suddenly change it without explanation. It does not work like that. I think he should decide what he wants to do but he always has the opportunity of coming back for a second consideration. All of us are convinced about his amendment.
Mr Akyea 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, in view of the serious issues raised here, I would advise that we abandon the amendment and proceed.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Very well. Item (i) abandoned.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Item numbered (ii)?
Mr Amoakoh 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, since we are leaving clause one as it is, I think there is no need for us to go to subclause 2 and delete the whole thing. The reason we were deleting the first one and inserting certain things - but from what we have done so far, I think we do not need to delete the subclause 2 of clause 1. We have to leave it as it is.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Very well. Item (ii) abandoned.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Item (iii)?
Mr Amoakoh 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, it falls on the same sequence. If we are going to maintain the same structure
as we have done, then subclause 3 should be left.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Very well. Amendment abandoned.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
Item (iv)?
Mr Amoakoh 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (3), paragraph (h), lines 1 and 2, delete “bank under the laws of this country or an insurance company” and insert the following:
“bank, an insurance company or a credit union under the laws of this country”.
Mr Shaibu Mahama 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, any quick clarification why we are adding “credit union”?
Mr Banda 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, this is so. If you look at the new rendition: “…bank, an insurance company or a credit union under the laws of this country”.
Mr Speaker, that is where maybe a bank has an arrangement where they rent apartments or accommodation for their staff or their employees or an insurance company also has the
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:45 p.m.
What it means is that you are combining subclause 3 (h) and (i) and redrafting it.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Mr Amoakoh 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (3), paragraph (i), delete.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 1 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 2 -- Establishment of the Real Estate Agency Council
Mr Amoakoh 2:45 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, subclause (1), line 2, delete “with perpetual succession”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 2 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Hon Member, I would now hear you on clause 1.
Mr Ahiafor 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on clause 1, subclause 3 (h) (iii), I would want to direct the attention of the draftspersons to the fact that we have used pronouns and possessives, so, they should redraft it.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Very well, the draftspersons are directed to re-draft to exclude the pronouns and possessive verbs.
Hon Members, we would move on to clause 3.
Clause 3 - Object of the Council
Mr Ayeh-Paye 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I beg to move, delete and insert the following:
“3. The objects of the Council are to --
(a) regulate the provision of real estate agency services; and
(b) promote and facilitate real estate agency practice and real estate businesses.”
Mr Banda 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, instead of saying “real estate agency practice and real estate businesses”, it should rather be captured as “real estate business”, or “the business of real estate.”
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
So, it should be captured as “real estate service and real estate agency practice and real estate business”.
Question put and amendment agreed to.
Clause 3 as amended ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 4 -- Functions of the Council.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I drew the attention of the Hon Minister to this. If we look at the number of amendments that we have under clause 4, and looking at the time that we gave ourselves, I thought that this would be a very good place to pause.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Which watch are we using?
Alhaji Muntaka 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we are using your watch.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
So, when it is 3.00 p.m., wherever we have reached, we would stop there.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:55 p.m.
We have two minutes to 3.00 p. m.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
That is according to your watch but not mine.
Alhaji I.A.B. Fuseini 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, on the amendment that has been carried out, the advertisement reads: Delete and insert the following…” The meaning of this is that the whole of clause 3 is gone -- that is all. So, we do not need subclauses (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g). We do not need them.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
However, under clause 3, we have no (c), (d) to (f)?
Alhaji I.A.B. Fuseini 2:55 p.m.
Very well, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Hon Members, it is actually 3.00 p. m. according to my watch, so we would bring proceedings to a close here and continue tomorrow. Therefore that brings us to the end of the Consideration Stage of the Real Estate Agency Bill, 2020 for today. [Pause]
Yes, Hon available Leader, do you have any announcements to make?
Mr Quaittoo 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, no. So, I would humbly ask that we bring
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Yes, Hon Minority Leader?
Alhaji Muntaka 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would only like to thank Hon Members -- I hope that the Hon Minister and his Chairman are listening. We are saying that we are taking the opportunity to thank Hon Members for their endurance, but we hope that they are listening.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
Very well, Hon Members, I think that I should remind Hon Members that tomorrow, Hon Members would travel to Mankessim to mourn with the family of our slain Hon Colleague. The one week anniversary is tomorrow, so, we would adjourn early and go together. The Protocol
Department or the Whips would inform us of the arrangements for Hon Members to travel to Mankessim.
Alhaji Muntaka 2:55 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we cannot hear the announcement that you are making.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:55 p.m.
I am saying that tomorrow, which is a Thursday, is the one week observation of the Hon Member for Mfantseman. Therefore, the House would adjourn early to enable Hon Members to travel together to Mankessim to mourn with the family and back. So, Hon Members should take note and prepare. I am sure that the Protocol Department would inform the Leadership and Hon Members of the travel arrangements.
ADJOURNMENT 2:55 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 3.02 p.m. till Thursday, 15th October, 2020 at 10.00 a.m. in the forenoon.