Debates of 17 Mar 2021

MR SPEAKER
PRAYERS 11:39 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 11:39 a.m.
Mr Speaker 11:39 a.m.
Hon Members, we commence with the correction of Votes and Proceedings. We would look at the Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 16th March, 2021.
Mr Speaker 11:39 a.m.
Hon Members, I have a copy of the Official Report of Thursday, 4th February, 2021. Any correction?
Mr Samuel O. Ablakwa 11:39 a.m.
Mr Speaker, at column 005, third paragraph, “Appointments Committee” should be captured accurately as it is in our Standing Orders.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker 11:49 a.m.
Any other correction?
Hon Members, the Official Report of Thursday, 4th February, 2021, as corrected represents the true record of Proceedings.
Hon Members, I have admitted a number of Statements. I would permit about three of them to be read today. I would propose that the Statements be read and the comments would follow after the third Statement is read.
I would want us to recognise the women. You can see how they are splendidly attired today?

I would give them all the recognition than the gentlemen. So we would start with a Statement to be read by the Leader of the Hon Ladies in Parliament, Hon Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the Deputy Whip of the Majority Group and this would be on the theme: International Women's Day, “Choose to Challenge - Women Leading the Fight Against COVID-

19”.

Hon Lady, you may do so now.
STATEMENTS 11:49 a.m.
Ms Lydia S. Alhassan (NPP -- Ayawaso West Wuogon) 11:49 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity.
Mr Speaker, it is often said that the world is a man's world. This statement is typically made to confirm the power of men in today's world. Yet, the story of humanity, either from the realms of religion or from the perspectives of science, cannot be told in full without reference to the central role of women. Indeed, from the days of creation to the current 21st Century global order, the actions of women across a wide array of socioeconomic domains have contributed immensely
to shaping our world. And so, it is not out of place for the world to institute a day to celebrate women.
The 8th day of March, was set aside to be celebrated as International Women's Day. Indeed, the theme for the celebration, ‘Choose to challenge' could not have been more perfect in view of the extraordinary burden placed on us by the COVID-19 pandemic. It therefore provides a perfect opportunity for us to ponder over the roles that women have played in solving some of the daunting problems of the world in the past, and ref1ect upon the roles they can play in overcoming the number one problem of our time; the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Speaker, it is true that available data suggests that men have suffered more casualties from the COVID-19 pandemic than women. That, however, in no way diminishes the wanton effects that the pandemic has had on women all over the world. To better capture the scope of the effect of the pandemic on women, one may have to first consider the fact that women constitute the majority in the informal sector. The pandemic-induced lockdowns and other restrictions practically collapsed the informal sector, and many women in the sector who heavily depended on daily wages were robbed of their livelihoods.

Here in Ghana, the brunt felt by women did not only manifest in the loss of jobs in the informal sector. It affected their health too. A recent publication by the Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics revealed that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana has disrupted anti-natal care and heightened anxiety among pregnant women. This finding is extremely worrying as it could be a strong indication of an increase in maternal and child mortality rate in the country.

Mr. Speaker, these and many other effects of the pandemic on women are the more reasons women have to be at the centre of all policies designed to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Ghana began its vaccination efforts and I would like to use this opportunity to advocate for more women to be vaccinated in the initial phase of the exercise.

Again, much of the public education and sensitisation programmes should be targeted at women. Indeed, the experience of women to champion the vaccination agenda cannot be overemphasised. They have been at the forefront of the vaccination campaign in dealing with the six childhood killer diseases for years. It is imperative, therefore, for Ghana to

leverage the power and influence of women to drive home the COVID- 19 vaccination efforts.

Now more than ever, women must be encouraged to take a front seat in the fight against the pandemic. The evidence suggests that, in parts of the world where women have shown decisive leadership, significant headways have been made towards overcoming the pandemic. In that regard and in commemoration of the International Women's day, I urge all women leaders in the house and beyond to step up to the plate and lead the charge in our various corners to ensure that Ghana succeeds in our battle against the deadly Coronavirus disease.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker 11:49 a.m.
The second Statement stands in the name of Hon Laadi Ayii Ayamba, Member of Parliament for Pusiga on the rising rate of cervical cancer and its effect on women.
Hon Member, you may do so now?
Ms Laadi A. Ayamba (NDC -- Pusiga) 11:59 a.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Mr Speaker, before I start, may I use this opportunity to congratulate all mothers and women in Ghana and every Colleague of mine here in Parliament who is a woman for the efforts that we have put in and for every man's wife. I also thank all the men for the support they have given us.

Mr Speaker, I am most grateful for the opportunity to make this statement on the rising rate of cervical cancer and its effects on women.

Mr Speaker, cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cells of the cervix, which is the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina.

Mr Speaker, World Health Organization (WHO) records shows that cervical cancer is a common cancer among women worldwide and it is estimated that 528,000 new cases and 266,000 deaths occurred in 2012 alone. Cervical cancer ranks as the most common cancer among women in Ghana.

Mr Speaker, according to a publication on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Information Centre (www.hpvcentre.net), the population of Ghana which is made up of 8.57 million of women above the age of 15 years are at the risk of developing cervical cancer. Recent estimates in the same report indicate that every year, 3,151 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 2,119 die from the disease. Cervical cancer is also said to be the second most frequent cancer among women in Ghana which is mostly among women between the ages of 15 and 44 years.

Mr Speaker, cervical cancer is however, one of the diseases that is preventable and its prevention is based on early diagnosis and treatment of precancerous lesions.

In an article published on BMC WOMEN'S HEALTH website on 5th March, 2020, a total of 2,711 women aged 18 years or older were surveyed. Only 225 (8.3%) had ever had a pelvic examination and only 66 (2.4%) of them reported ever having done a Pap Smear test leaving close to 90 per cent who have never gone to either a clinic or a hospital for cervical cancer screening.

Mr Speaker, according to an article published on PLOS ONE (www.Journal.plos.org) it indicates that, there is evidence to support the
Mr Speaker, other ways of preventing cervical cancers are 11:59 a.m.
Delaying first sexual intercourse until the late teens or older.
Limiting the number of sex partners.
Practicing safe sex by using condoms and dental dams.
Avoiding sexual intercourse with people who have had many partners.
Avoiding sexual intercourse with people who are obviously infected with genital warts or show other symptoms.
Quitting smoking.
Recommendations
Mr Speaker, according to WHO, men play a very important role in the cervical cancer screening behaviour of women in low and middle income countries like Ghana; therefore the need for spousal support.
Financial support.
Increase in the number of female Medical specialist or Gynaecologists offering cervical cancer screening.

Organise free screening in some public health facilities to avoid the need for finances which is a major hindrance.

Creating public awareness in all health facilities by our health personnel and other stakeholders.

Providing a budget to cater for all cancers so that vulnerable people will not be found wanting.

Thank you, Right Honourable Speaker.

Mr Speaker, I take the opportunity to challenge all women in Parliament to ensure that they go for a Pap smear test to check their status.

Mr Speaker, thank you for this opportunity.
Mr Speaker 11:59 a.m.
Hon Members, the third Statement stands in the name of Dr Prince Hamidu Armah, Hon Member for Kwesimintsim, on the International Day for Women and Girls in Science.
Hon Member, you may do so now?
International Day for Women and Girls in Science
Dr Prince Hamidu Armah (NPP -- Kwesimintsim) 11:59 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to present this Statement to the House.
In our culture, when in the presence of leaders, one is expected to listen observe, and learn.
12. 09 p.m.
This was confirmed to me by some senior Hon Members of this House, who were kind enough to share with me the lessons they had learnt. On the strength of that, it was my intention to wait a little longer before rising to speak in this Chamber. However, the importance of this day requires that I set aside this self-imposed rule and make my voice heard. Mr Speaker, therefore, I thank you for admitting my Statement.
Mr Speaker, on 11th February of each year, we mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. It is a day set aside by the United Nations in recognition of the need to have more women in the field. As we celebrate the day, we need to reflect on how far we have come, but more importantly, how we can get even further.
Mr Speaker, science is a reflection of society and the people who lead it. If we are to achieve meaningful social equity between the genders, then women must be as well represented in science as men are. Women are the more populous gender, and yet, continue to be under represented in science. This is the result of long standing biases against the female gender.
Mr Speaker, according to a 2017 report from the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ghanaian girls are prevented from participating in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programmes by a number of factors. These include gender stereotyping, which drives socio-cultural beliefs about girls' inability to study STEM.
There is also inadequate citizen awareness about the importance of these programmes, while unfriendly and gender insensitive teaching methodologies also discourage girls from entering STEM programmes. Let us not forget that until recently, women were routinely shut out of many activities including education itself. This created a self-perpetuating myth about the supposed abilities of women, which in turn led to further discrimination and exclusion.
Mr Speaker, the effects of this have been terrible. The lack of strong female role models in the sciences prevent more young girls from taking on the challenge. In shutting out the greater proportion of our population from contributing to such a significant endeavour, we deprive ourselves of talents and potentially world changing innovations.
The exploits of women such as Marie Curie, the only person to win two Nobel Prizes in two separate sciences at a time when the field was even more male-dominated should tell us what women can do when they are allowed the opportunity.
Mr Speaker, again, we must remind ourselves of the present exhortation from one of our own, James Emmanuel Kwegyir Aggrey, to educate women in order to educate the nation. The evidence shows that children who come from households in which the mother has also had education are more likely to climb the educational ladder. For every woman who gets into science, we are potentially placing their offsprings, males as well as females on a similar path that would benefit not only themselves, but the entire nation.
Mr Speaker, with science and technology playing an even more dominant role in our lives, the need to ensure the full participation of women
Dr Prince Hamidu Armah (NPP -- Kwesimintsim) 11:59 a.m.


and girls in the twin disciplines becomes more urgent. The next generation of women and girls must experience none of the barriers that held their forbears back.

Mr Speaker, thankfully, there have been efforts the world over to bring women into science. In Ghana, as of 1987, only one out of every 11 children in secondary school was female. The realisation of this stark fact spurred interventions such as Science, and Mathematics Education Clinic, and the Ghana Science Clinic for Girls, led by the notable educationist, Professor J. S. Djangmah. So successful were these interventions that they were replicated in other African countries.

To these and others, we can credit the fact that as of 2015, there was one girl for every three boys in a science-related programme in our secondary schools. It is not enough for a population that is more than 51 per cent female, but it is progress made.

Mr Speaker, a lot remains to be done. However, in its 2017 study, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) found out that in Jasikan, for example, only 29 of the 855 girls in senior high school were pursuing Science. Research also shows that the

number of students, especially female graduates in STEM-related careers, is inadequate to fill the ever increasing job opportunities in those fields.

Even though women contribute a greater share of the population, they occupy only about 26 per cent of STEM jobs as reported in 2019 by women in STEM.

Mr Speaker, in 2018, the Global Education Monitoring Team also noted that women in Ghana account for less than a quarter of all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics degrees.

Data from the World Bank on gender parity index for Ghana shows that access to education continues to favour boys and men, although it improved from 0.62 per cent in 2011 to 0.77 per cent in 2018. The introduction of the Free Senior High School Programme has brought further improvement, and the ratio for 2019/2020 academic year stood at 0.95 per cent.

Mr Speaker, again, this is progress but it is not enough. We have more to do, especially in ICT, natural science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, manufacturing and construction, in all of which female enrolment remains below 10 per cent.

Mr Speaker, it must be noted that some of the advances that we are

seeing are due to the necessary cultural changes and that addresses the perception of women's role in the home and at workplace. The effort that led to more women climbing the professional --
Mr Speaker 11:59 a.m.
Hon Member, you may need to summarise your rather very lengthy statement, or else it would lose its import.
Dr Armah 12:19 p.m.
Mr Speaker, we would need to expose our daughters to STEM and related career options as early as possible. We can do this through our natural interactions as parents, guardians and teachers, but we must also create special programmes to address this. We can go back to the Girls in Science Programmes, we can create new programmes with similar missions, and we can set up STEM centres with the focus on women and girls. The important thing is to allow girls a chance to learn about science, interact with mentors, and where possible, acquire basic skills in the field. We would also need to support girls in STEM with learning opportunities. This would mean collaborating with businesses to institute internship and placement opportunities.
Mr Speaker, the urgency of this task is not in doubt. Ghana cannot be
left out of the science-based revolution that is sweeping the world. We cannot do this with one hand tied behind our backs as it were, but it is exactly what we would be doing if we do not get more women involved in science. That is why this day is important. The opportunity is to afford us to reflect, revise, retool, and it must not be missed.

A generation from now, our girls could be at the forefront of global innovation. It is possible if we can begin now. Let us not let them down, let us give them a chance to be great, and let us work to give this day, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, its fullest meaning.
Mr Speaker 12:19 p.m.
Hon Members, we have one more Urgent Statement, but I would want us to stop here so that we can celebrate the women. That Statement is on a different subject matter, so, let us take this opportunity to celebrate our women then we can take the final Statement.
I will recognise a number from each Side of the House guided by the women this time around and not the men. Do not worry, they will take the lead, and you would follow.
Mr Speaker 12:19 p.m.
Three Ladies from each Side and one Gentleman.
Mrs Cudjoe Ghansah 12:19 p.m.
Then Leadership.
Mr Speaker 12:19 p.m.
Do you want the men to celebrate you? Well, two Ladies and two Gentlemen. That is gender parity.
Mrs Ursual G. Owusu-Ekuful (NPP -- Ablekuma West) 12:19 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I must congratulate all the Hon Members who made the Statements for excellent presentations made this morning which touched on various aspects of our lives.
Mr Speaker, incidentally, today is my mother's 79th birthday. Christina Akua Brago-Diawuo is the strong woman who raised me to fear God, work hard, and to speak my mind. I take this opportunity to celebrate all Ghanaian women who strive hard against the odds to keep their families' bodies and souls together.
Mr Speaker, one of the negative impacts of the pandemic and the lockdown was the rise in incidents of domestic violence, and I dare say, a few men may also have fallen victims.
Let us all work together to ensure that our homes are safe spaces and havens for women and children. We choose to challenge the status quo; we choose to push boundaries; we dare to dream and we strive to excel and create more opportunities for our young women to also aspire to attain the height in every sphere of human endeavour.
Our sisters and young women deserve to be given every opportunity through mentoring, training, support and encouragement to be all that they can be, and not to consider any area of human endeavour as off limit. We are strong if we stand together, and see that what happens to one woman affects the entire world.
Mr Speaker, we must also prioritise women's health. We, women, are the glue that holds families together, and we all know how the loss of our mothers' lives devastates homes. The Akan adage goes that Akoko nini biara nni hoa, ne mma di n'akyi. To wit, there is no cock that has chicks following it. Chicks follow hens, and hens make sure that the chicks are protected, fed, nurtured, and grow well. Our mothers are the glue that hold our families together.
Mr Speaker, periodic health checks annually must institutionalise
with accurate data digitised. Reminders can be sent to all women over 40 years to have Pap smears, mammograms and regular health checks as a baseline, and to have regular annual health checks so that any disease can be detected and treated early enough before they become problems that may lead to our untimely deaths.
I believe that if it is not already part of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), it should be made a mandatory part for all women, to have regular health checks, and on the flip side as well, for men too to have regular prostate checks because that has also been seen to be a major problem for men over a certain age.
Mr Speaker, all the 40 female Hon Members of this august House today are extraordinary women, for we have braved and overcome considerable odds to win and retain our seats. I say ayekoo to every single female MP today, and our illustrious forebears.
Let us all as Hon Members of this Eighth Parliament, men and women, lead the charge for our political parties to encourage even more women to contest and win our primaries and general elections so that we can at least, work together to double our numbers in the Ninth Parliament. We need affirmative action now.
Mr Speaker, our Girls in Information Communication Technology (ICT) Programme have also provided young girls across the country with ICT skills, and provided some devices to them. It also enables women in technology, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Technical Officers, Chief Information Officers, applications and website developers, women teachers, lecturers in science to mentor Junior High School and primary students and encourage them to take up careers in ICT and the digital world. We are changing the world one girl at a time and Ghana would be the richer and better for it. Together, we can make a difference.
Last Sunday was Mothering Sunday, the Mother's Day of the United Kingdom and so, I take this opportunity to wish all the women of Ghana a happy International Women's Day and a happy Mothering Sunday, even though belated.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings (NDC -- Klottey Korle) 12:19 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate all the Hon Members who made the various Statements, and to make a small contribution to what has already been done.
Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings (NDC -- Klottey Korle) 12:29 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, women were disproportionately affected, especially in the light of the economic downturn, not just in Ghana, but across the world. What the pandemic did was simply to reveal the lapses that already existed. The rise in domestic violence was also an indication of what was underlying in the society that we live in anyway. Perhaps, it is an opportunity for us to address these issues so that at the time of crisis, we do not see an unusual flare up in some of these cases.
Mr Speaker, with regard to cervical cancer, given that we have so many people who now have the Ghana Card, which is the national identity card, that could be used as part of some kind of algorithm to disaggregate information within the population so that the groups within the female cohort could be targeted based on what public health personnel have noticed to be a trend in cervical cancer in Ghana. So that these people, based on the cards that they hold, can be used as a database within which they can be contacted on having regular cervical smears which should also be based on the trend that we have observed here whether it is annually or every three or five years.

Mr Speaker, cervical cancer is preventable, and when caught early, is treatable. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to have a national screening programme because not only is it cost effective but it also saves lives. I think that this is a subject that comes up every year when we discuss cervical cancer and the fact that it is killing so many women and needs to be addressed.
Mr Speaker 12:29 p.m.
The First Deputy Speaker to take the Chair.
MR FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Please continue.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings 12:30 p.m.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Perhaps, it is time we look at mechanisms and policies that we can put in place to ensure that the high rate of deaths we are seeing, secondary to cervical cancer is actually curbed. We have seen internationally that having a national screening programme for cervical cancer actually causes a change in the trend of the prevalence and incidence of the disease. It is cheaper to prevent and cheaper to screen.
Mr Speaker, the other thing as well is the personnel required to do the pap smears. Usually, it is the doctors who do it and in some cases, only gynaecologists or obstetricians. However, the skill in smear taking is one that can be taught and our public healthcare personnel like nurses and community nurses can be taught how to do the smears, so that it can help in a situation where we do not have enough doctors.
The doctor-to-patient ratio is unacceptable. We still do not have patients falling through the cracks because we would have enough medically trained staff who are certified smear takers and can therefore ensure that as many women as possible are screened to reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer.
Mr Speaker, I know that we have a lot of Members to contribute and a long day with the debate on the Budget, so I would end here with another appeal.
As we celebrate Women's Day, perhaps, Parliament needs to also once again look at the option of childcare facilities for mothers who would have to come in to work on weekends and work late. This would enable female Members of Parliament (MP) to be as productive as the men are. Because then we would not have to constantly worry about going back home to look after the children in our households.
Mr Speaker, charity begins at home and perhaps, Parliament can set an example for the other Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other institutions by setting the pace with regard to how we create more flexible hours for women to be optimally efficient and still be able to manage their home affairs.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Are we done with the two women each? So, I need one more woman from here.
Rev Fordjour -- rose --
Some Hon Members 12:30 p.m.
Yes.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:30 p.m.
Very well. Hon Member, please start.
Mrs Agnes Naa Momo Lartey (NDC -- Krowor) 12:39 p.m.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity.
I would want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Hon Members who spoke earlier. I think that this entire month is a month of celebration for all women. I congratulate all women of Ghana, women of Parliament and I also, specially want to congratulate the great women of Krowor, my Constituency.
Mr Speaker, data shows that men have suffered more casualties in this pandemic. However, due to their caregiving roles, women became extra vulnerable because all of a sudden, the pandemic hit the unprepared world. Women have also had to take up extra responsibilities that they were not prepared for. They became heads of homes, both the
nuclear and extended families, taking a toll on their lives and their careers.
Most women's health were affected. In the case of cervical cancer, due to the high cost of treatment most women who find themselves in the informal sector are unable to afford treatment. Oftentimes, you would realise that the ailment is detected late, leading to fatalities. This caregiving role of women is often not rewarded.
Mr Speaker, women have had to let go of themselves to take care of family members, like I said. It has affected their resources in terms of their time to undertake other responsibilities that pertain to their careers and also progress in life in general. Women are therefore being celebrated this month for all the world to know that it is not a crime for a woman to pause and take care of herself. It is not a crime for a woman to have periodic health checks.
It is also very essential for a woman to take a break when needed and to ask for support when and where necessary. It is also very important for us to take time and pamper ourselves. Like today, the House could agree and pamper women of the House. I think that an Hon Member who spoke earlier made a point for women that we also need to take good care of
ourselves and have the men support us. I would want to believe that all the men of this House are in support of women being supported.
Mr Speaker, in bringing my short contribution to a close, I would also acknowledge how far we have come with the support of some women or a He for She. I think that has also supported us in coming this far, especially those of us coming from very strong areas in terms of contesting for our seats. I would add my voice to the affirmative action that when the Bill comes to the floor of the House, we would all support it as a corrective measure in bringing women to a certain appreciable level in terms of leadership in politics and other spheres.

Rev John Ntim Fordjour (NPP -- Assin South): Mr Speaker, I must thank you for dedicating special time to celebrate our women, both in Parliament and in society at large. I must thank the Hon Members who made the Statements for affording us

the opportunity as a House to once more celebrate the important roles that our women play in society.

Mr Speaker, women possess special intellectual abilities and special abilities that are very useful in society, if only we would recognise, identify them and develop them to the commensurate level. While I wish all our women Happy International Women's Day and as we celebrate their unique skills, we cannot continue without condemning violence and abuse against women.

On this occasion, I would single out the recent spate of violence against women which sadly resulted in the death of two of them and to signal that if we are men, we must recognise that women are not only weaker vessels but special vessels. They are made weaker vessels for us to empower them and they are made special vessels to enable us to have an equitable society.

Mr Speaker, I would say again, that women have special abilities and we recognised so when subsequent to the first week of March, 2020, at the advent of the first two cases of COVID-19 reported in Ghana, I was gladdened that we did not have Kwame buckets, Kofi buckets or Ahmadu buckets which to a large

[REV. FORDJOUR] [REV. FORDJOUR]

extent saved many homes and many individuals from contracting the virus but we had Veronica buckets.

Madam Veronica Bekoe, is a female and a true representation of the prowess of the Ghanaian female -- a biological scientist. That must signal to us that as fundamental and basic as the veronica bucket is, it embodies a scientific concept which must indicate that there are many women in the society who when empowered, would be able to lead global innovation and take Ghana to a point where we would be recognised in the world over as a leader of global innovation.

Mr Speaker, as I listened to the Hon Members who made the Statements, there were portions that indicated that the participation of women and females in the education system is still very low. Thankfully, the Free SHS has come to empower and to improve that narrative but there is still a lot more that has to be done to encourage females to equitably participate - they do not only belong to the kitchens, the markets and other sought after places. We must signal that Parliament, laboratories, engineering factories, should be places that women must also take their places.

There are a few barriers that we must overcome if we want to see the equitable participation of females at optimum levels in all these facets of society. One, is to overcome the cultural and religious stereotyping and the social barriers that have prevented many females to reach the maximum that they ought to reach.

Mr Speaker, I must commend the Government that pages 168 and 169 of the Budget Statement, define eminent expression Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and investment earmarked for it. However, I would be glad to see an all-girls STEM school from the high school level, just as we have some very notable schools that are known for females like Wesley Girls High School, Aburi Girls Secondary School, St Roses Secondary School and Yaa Asantewaa Girls Secondary School.

I look forward to seeing special model schools dedicated for STEM at the second cycle institutions, special vocational model schools, TVET - schools dedicated to only females and not only left at the senior high but sustained through tertiary and to dedicate funds to support very brilliant ladies even through tertiary, provide incentives for every female in Ghana, who would excel at the high school,

to be able to pursue engineering, science, mathematics. This would empower our society.

I recalled that from secondary school to the university and even up to the PHD level, every class that I had been to because of the science and engineering biases, very few females were my class or course mates. However, those females proved to be some of the most superior in all those classes.

Mr Speaker, I wold want to conclude by celebrating our women and to assure them of our support. They could count on the support of the men in this august House and all the women in this country could count on the support of us as men so that we would provide the enabling environment, so that they could rise to their fullest potential.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very much.
Mrs Dzifa Abla Gomashie (NDC -- Ketu South) 12:39 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would like to thank all the women who came to Parliament before me -- consciously or unconsciously, we all have become role models. What we do in and out of Parliament, shapes the thinking of the young child.
Mr Speaker, I chose to challenge the status quo -- I chose to contest in a community where no woman had ever dared to contest and to win in constituencies like -- Ketu South, Ketu North, Akatsi South, Akatsi North, Central Tongu, North Tongu, South Tongu, Anglo and Keta. I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death to be where I stand today but I challenged the status quo because I know I dared another woman or girl child could also dare to break that cycle.
Mr Speaker, it is my wish that perhaps next year, we would not be here to celebrate only ourselves but the women at the witches' camp, the women whose husbands have battered and beaten them, the women who do not live to tell their stories. Perhaps, the celebration would not just be for us who are privileged but also for those who are not privileged. Perhaps, our course should not just be to look at ourselves as the ones who are educated and have dared to tread where many women have not.
Mr Speaker, I want to acknowledge the amazing women who were in my late mother's generation who challenged the status quo. Women who were in development, women who sought to let their voices be heard around the table and discussed issues
Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (NDC -- Ellembele) 12:49 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I would want to thank the Hon Members who made the Statements and to also congratulate all our very hard working women in this House.
On a day like this, we have to all reflect on the important role of women and how without them we would not be in this House. As we celebrate women, I would want to celebrate my mother. Someone asked me about my mother and I said my mother is my “father'' because my father died when I was seven years and it took my mother to stand and make me a man. So, on a day like this I am very proud to join all women to celebrate them.
On a day like this we also must reflect on the challenges that women face and what we could do to make their lives better and to make sure that they would continue to break the glass ceiling and make sure that the fight for women's rights and equality is given true meaning -- the right of fair wages for women, their reproductive rights, the right for the best health care for women. We must reflect and ask questions about our health care system and what it provides for women and look into it and make sure that diseases that afflict women are covered in the health care system.
It is very important on a day like this that we also look at some of the challenges women face. One of them that was talked about was the issue of domestic violence and how its impact is on families, sexual harassment that affect women from the
primary level all the way to the university level and across the society. “Sexual harassment'' is the harassment which involves the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones which include unwelcome or inappropriate gestures and this is something that women worry about.

I think on a day like this, we must all reflect on it and make sure that we create conducive environment for women to succeed and this is very important.

Mr Speaker, even as we celebrate women today, we must look at the recent COVID-19 crisis and its impact on women as well as the efforts we are making to fight it. We must also make sure we come out with solutions and policies that will address the serious challenges that women have faced and the impact of the pandemic especially on women.

There is a lot we are doing in terms of supporting small businesses and we know that the dominant force in our market places in this regard are women. What efforts are we putting in place to empower them to make sure that small businesses are getting the type of support that will boost their businesses?

This is my last point and it has to do with one important issue on women in the sciences and what we do to support them. I think it is very critical and if this country is to succeed and make progress, we must make sure we are opening the doors and avenues for women in the sciences and the only way is to make sure we create affirmative action in the area. We must begin in our educational system to create avenues, especially, for rural women to succeed.

Mr Speaker, just last week, I had to support a young girl who had good grades to further her education in the sciences and yet the family is forcing her to marry because they could not sponsor her education. I am sure that there are many of such stories across the country. How do we support such vulnerable young girls to succeed? There is a lot of work to do and on a day like this, we must all brace ourselves and be committed to supporting women by opening doors for their empowerment.

Mr Speaker, I thank yu.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:49 p.m.
Hon Member, why did you not take the opportunity? I have given you the opportunity and now one female Hon Member is up and an Hon Leader is also up. I do not know what to do.
Very well. Let me recognise the female Hon Member.
Mr Murtala Mohammed Ibrahim 12:59 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to these outstanding Statements made by our Hon Colleagues.
Mr Speaker, my contribution is brief; I just want to remind myself and Hon Colleagues on the important role of women in the collective growth and progress of our society and that importance is being recognised by Muslims trough the Islamic jurisprudence.
As Muslims, we are guided by the Qu'ran which is supposed to be the Word of Allah and the Hadith which is the sayings of the Holy Prophet and the Sunnah; the practice of the Holy Prophet. There is a Hadith and it is Sahih one of the authentic Hadiths and in this, someone walked to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and asked him of his mother and father, whom he should give a gift to? The Holy Prophet (PBUH) asked this person to give it to his mother and the person came back the second and third times and had the same responses given. When this person came the fourth time, the Holy Prophet asked the
person to give it to his father and added that if he gives it to his father and he refuses, he should leave him.
The interpretation of this is that even if you have an item and you want to give it to either your mother or father, in Islam, one had to divide it into four parts and give one part to your father and the three parts to your mother -- [Hear!][Hear!] --
Mr Speaker, what is famous was the last sermon of the Holy Prophet and this is also important to also remind Hon Colleagues that one of the earliest people who accepted Islam, was a woman who was the wife of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.)- Khadijah. She was 15 years older than him; she was 40 years and the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) was 25 years when they married. She employed the Holy Prophet; a wealthy business woman in Mecca at the time who needed a trustworthy person to run her merchandise and in the entire city of Mecca, the most trustworthy person at that time was Mohammad (SAW) and by then he was not a prophet. Khadijah employed him as her employee and they ended up falling in love and getting married.

When the holy Prophet became a Prophet or received prophethood, Khadijah was the first person who
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:59 p.m.
Is that your suggestion or -- ?
Mr M. M. Ibrahim 12:59 p.m.
Mr Speaker, with all these words, I associate myself with the Statement and urge all of us that respect and regard for women is not just a social issue, but as a Muslim, it is a religious obligation which ought to be respected at all times.
Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity, though it would have been denied due to the insistence of some of my Hon Colleagues for you not to invite me. Thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:59 p.m.
You are out of order.
Minority Leadership?
Mrs Comfort D. Cudjoe Ghansah (NDC -- Ada) 12:59 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to add my voice to the Statement as well as contributions by Hon Members who have wished us well during this celebration.
Mr Speaker, it is a one month celebration for women and I would like to take the opportunity to wish the First Lady of Ghana, Her Excellency Rebecca Akufo-Addo, a happy 70th birthday. She celebrated her birthday this month and I wish her well. I would also take the opportunity to greet our former First Ladies; Mrs Lordina Mahama, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills and the former Second Lady, Matilda Amissah-Arthur. I would also wish the Second Lady of Ghana, Mrs Samira Bawumia as well as Prof. Jane Naana Opoku- Agyemang.
Mr Speaker, as women, we stand to be counted today. We stand here today to tell the men that it is a Day for them to celebrate us. It is a Day for men to appreciate all the women nationwide and it is a Day that we would also say congratulations to all
women everywhere; on the streets, farms and everywhere. We say congratulations to them.
Mr Speaker, in 2013, women in Parliament were 29, in 2017 the women were 36 and currently, women number up to 40. We plead that the men should support women for us to increase our number in Parliament. We wish that by the next Parliament women would form about 35 per cent or 40 per cent of the House.
Mr Speaker, we especially plead with the female Hon Members to check on the female students in Senior High Schools when they embark on their tours. Recently, on my return from Ho, I travelled to Ada to support the students in my constituency only to find out that in three villages, some of the girls have been asked to stay at home because they have brothers who are attending schools. So, the girls have been asked to stay home and allow their brothers to attend school. Mr Speaker, I intervened in this matter to support the girls to also attend school with their brothers. If we do not support ourselves as women, we would be doomed because it is not everyone who cherishes the idea that women should progress.
Mr Speaker, I would like to plead with the House that with regard to
Mr First Deputy Speaker 12:59 p.m.
Majority Leadership?
Mr Habib Iddrisu (NPP -- Tolon) 1:09 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I want to associate myself with the contributions made by Hon Members on this important matter.
First of all, I would like to congratulate all women especially my beautiful mother and beautiful women as well as all the beautiful women in Tolon Constituency. Today, I could not even identify some of our female Hon Members because they are looking extremely beautiful, colourful and very committed to the International Women's Day.
Mr Speaker, I just want to add that there could not be any better time than now for women to have 50 per cent representation in Parliament. At the moment, we have about 15 per cent being women in this House. I know that political parties have tried to
encourage women to participate or represent various constituencies. I believe that it is still not enough and women need to be given a lot of opportunities, encouraged and empowered to be able to represent various constituencies in the country.

Mr Speaker, if you look at the governance and political systems in Ghana, women have proven to be very efficient when they occupy political positions, and both Sides of this House, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have actually improved, looking at what happened from 2008 till date. Women have been given an opportunity. We have been able to get the first female Speaker of Parliament from the other Side; we got the female Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the first female Chief Justice, the first female Chief of Staff and we also have the first female Minister for Communications who has proven to be very competent and robust in the discharge of her duty.

In my view, on this important day, we should encourage women and give them lots of opportunities and let them represent constituencies and protect them. If we look at the presentation by Dr Armah, it is very discouraging

that if you see the number of girls who are studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), it is below the mark. I think that there should be a form of education or pre-education for ladies or girls who want to study in these subject areas.

Mr Speaker, let me conclude by congratulating women again and to also tell my colleagues that we should show women love today. At least, we should take our women and our wives out today and show them some love since today is a very important day for women, a day that we should all remember that women are part of us. I share the same plea with the Hon Member for Tamale Central, Hon Murtala Muhammed Ibrahim. Even if we look at our religion, we believe that women are part of us because we believe that it is out of our ribs that women were created. For this matter, they are part of us, and we should move along with them and give them equal opportunities.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:09 p.m.
Hon Members, I am happy that at least the Hon Deputy Whip acknowledges that in some years past, I shared Champagne. I have taken note. I would prepare for another one.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:09 p.m.
Hon Minister, today, I am appointing you to spend on my behalf. [Laughter.] But there is this interesting piece I am reading. I think I should share it with you, women, who are celebrating today.
“The happiest women today are not the married ones. They are not the single ones. They are not the ones with stable careers and good income. The happiest women are the ones who made a choice to love themselves wholly and truly; women who chose to leave past behind, work on their self-esteem and put high price tags on themselves. They stop playing victim, they stop wallowing in self-critique and dining in pity parties. They move pass their anger, fears and bitterness. They realise that happiness is a personal choice and responsibilities. They choose to be defined by their present and not their past. They are happy because they do not need validation from anyone. They are happy because they know that they do not need to throw shade on anyone for them to shine. They are happy because they chose to be the queens of heart.”

There is a Statement by the Volta MP caucus. Yes, Hon Nortsu-Kotoe, you are reading that Statement recently Published Texbooks that portray Ewes in bad light.

The Ewe Caucus Textbook Saga
Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe (NDC -- Akatsi North) 1:09 p.m.
Mr Speaker, before I present the Statement, I seek your indulgence that in consultation with Leadership for a very good reason, we would delete the first three lines of paragraph 4.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to make this Statement on behalf of the Volta Regional Members of Parliament Caucus on recently published textbooks for use in our schools, which portray the Ewes in a very bad light.
Mr Speaker, the history of Ghana cannot be said to be complete without the people of the Volta Region. As a region, we have and continue to play a very important role in the economic, social, and political development of the country. Traditionally, our revered chiefs play very crucial roles in the maintenance of peace and resolution of traditional matters. Citizens of the Volta Region like any other region in the country have held and continue to hold positions of high repute to make
the country move forward as one country united with one purpose.
Mr Speaker, many a time, political leaders in this country make derogatory comments about the Ewe people which we have taken for granted. The first of this kind was in the late 1960s when a leading political leader in this country referred to the Ewes as inward-looking people. That remark at the time is still on the lips of some Ghanaian politicians. A recent statement by another politician was that all Ewes in Ghana were Togolese.
This brings to mind the ignorance of some people that the Ewes and for that matter the former Volta Region became an integral part of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, through legitimate means and that the people were not annexed through wars.
Mr Speaker, the last straw which broke the camel's back is the derogatory remarks contained in a number of textbooks written for use in our Basic Schools in the country. Every ethnic group in this country has unique features, characteristics, values and norms. Every ethnic group in this country has a cultural identity such as traditional deities that are cherished and preserved. It is therefore, naïve for the publication of textbooks that
tend to portray the Ewe ethnic groups as voodoo worshipping people.
In a world of development where science and technology has become the order of the day, a publisher in a statement of imagination says that it is juju that makes a team win a football match and assign such magical powers to the Ewe people. In the said book, the history of Ghana by Badu Nkansah Publications, Textbook 3, a reference is made to the erroneous impression that the Ewes vote for their chiefs to be selected. We see this as a distortion of our tradition and history and so we feel-slighted by the publishers of this textbook.
The book further alleges that this so-called vote for chiefs is influenced by the elders. The publishers must note that the Ewe people have rich culture including the right to succession of chiefs, and nowhere in Ewe land is ballot used to select a chief. We have defined traditional steps and rites that are followed like any other tribe in Ghana for succession to our chieftaincy stools.
Mr Speaker, the Volta MPs Caucus of Ghana's Parliament has taken notice of the public outrage and condemnation against the publisher's clear ethnocentric and divisive content. It is important to state unequivocally that as a caucus, we find
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:09 p.m.
Yes, Hon Sowah?
Mrs Della Adjoa Sowah (NDC -- Kpando) 1:19 a.m.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement.
I wish to say that although Mr Badu Nkansah apologised for his textbook, we should go ahead and condemn it in no uncertain terms. This is because we need to deter future historians from putting out inaccurate information that would cause harm to our citizenry.
Mr Speaker, the wrong depiction of the Ewe people for a long time has led to a lot of discrimination and a lot of hurt to them. This ill-informed idiosyncrasies have caused marginalisation of the tribe so that sometimes, if one is Ewe, he is either not employed or does not get promotion. A classic example is the recent case of Mr Domelevo.
Mr Speaker, there is also the famous case of Mr Salah in our law books. So this is something that has been promoted for years even though it was not documented. So to have it documented, it is now a very serious issue.
Mr Speaker, this stereotyping of the Ewe people has caused a lot of emotional trauma for many of them in Ghana and outside the country.
Mr Speaker, recently, a friend's son who was born and bred in Canada wanted to get married to a young lady. The lady's mother said she would not allow her daughter to marry an Ewe. This is somebody who has also lived in Canada for many years but one can see that the ideas and portrayals are so deep that it continues to be displayed whether in Ghana or outside Ghana.
Mr Speaker, we have all had our experiences with other tribes. I remember as a child, we lived in an area where there were some Ga families and I found them very noisy, vulgar and always quarrelling. In fact, it was so bad that I said to myself that the last tribe I would ever marry from is Ga.
Interestingly, I went to the University, met other Ga people whom I found very polite, kind and I even met one who is my husband today. [Hear! Hear!] -- He is very polite as Hon Dan Botwe described him just two days ago at Ho. He said my husband is a perfect gentleman.
Mr Speaker, these are some of the ideas we all have that we must let go of. I also have a lot of Akan friends and I have had bad experiences with them. I found some of them very dishonest, money-conscious, and
very dubious and some have even duped me before. But Mr Speaker, that is not the reason I should go around and say that the Akan people are thieves or sakawa people. If we do that, we are destroying our own society.
Ewes in Ghana have contributed so much to this nation in various ways. My own maternal great grandfather, who was called Teacher Ntumi lived in Tamale for many years and he taught many people. In fact, many of our people tell me that but for him, they would not be where they are today. I remember the former Controller and Accountant-General was surprised when he heard that my maternal great grandfather was Teacher Ntumi and he said that but for Teacher Ntumi, he would not be where he was in education. Hon Ibrahim Adams also told me same.
So, Mr Speaker, Ewes have contributed in diverse ways. A lot of rural areas teachers are Ewes and so we should not be marginalised in that way. The Ghana National Anthem was composed by a distant relation, Mr Philip Gbeho.
Mr Speaker, Ewes are very kind- hearted; we are very good people. We accept everybody and we should be regarded and accorded that respect instead of being marginalised and portrayed as people who are from Togo. Almost every Ghanaian came from somewhere not only the Ewes but nobody remembers where
Dr Clement A. Apaak (NDC -- Builsa South) 1:29 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Statement that has serious implications for the unity and cohesion of our country as a people.
Mr Speaker, I believe this Statement has become necessary and relevant today not just because the content, as condemnable as it is, is the way in which an author who is purported to have written the history of Ghana has presented a specific ethnic group in a bad light.
Mr Speaker, as the Hon Member who made the Statement clearly indicated, if we do not stand up today and speak against the attempt to formalise ethnic prejudices, ethnic idiosyncrasies and ethnic bigotry today against one recognised group in this country, it is bound to spread, affect and infest the rest of us as a society.
Mr Speaker, knowing who you are and how global you have been and your willingness and interest in taking note of global phenomena, you would
agree with me that it is these same kinds of undertones that laid the foundation for one of the most heinous genocides that this continent called Africa has ever witnessed; and I speak about the Rwandan genocide.
Mr Speaker, what is even more worrying is that the authors and publishers of these books claimed to have done so on the basis of guidelines provided them by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) -- a public institution responsible for assessing and endorsing what comes for teachers to use to educate our wards and for our students to learn.
Mr Speaker, I cannot understand why anyone would try to put such a material in a book intended to be used for the education of our wards. Yes, we have heard that NaCCA did not approve of the books but I still insist that a lot more due diligence is ought to be done and any publisher who has the privilege to be engaged to produce books intended to be used to instruct our wards ought to know the boundaries. It is not right; it is not proper. It is condemnable and I agree that a simple apology is not enough. The said author and the publishing house ought to be sanctioned to serve as an example.
Mr Speaker, I am aware that under the auspices of the new curriculum, a number of books have been produced. The last time I checked, even as captured in the Budget Statement under the educational sector, close to 1000 books have been approved by NaCCA on the basis of the new curriculum. I would want to make this clarion call that we take a critical look at the books already approved to evaluate them and make sure that there is not even more dangerous content hidden in some of them. This is because I cannot believe and understand why any business person would seek to produce and distribute content in a book that has not been approved. Mr Speaker, that contradiction alone, raises red flags.
Mr Speaker, before I take my seat, let me draw attention to the fact that it is not just about the attempt to denigrate or present the Ewe people of Ghana in a bad light. It is also the deliberate effort to misrepresent the history of Ghana by diminishing the role; providing embellishment and falsehoods seeking to suggest that the founder of our country, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP were the worst things that ever happened to Ghana.

That is also a matter that deserves equal public attention.

Mr Speaker, we have a country to maintain and improve. If there was ever a time, that we ought to be advocating for national cohesion and given where we are today in our social, political and economic life, that time is today. Every Ghanaian is a Ghanaian. It is not only ethnic group that traces its ancestry outside of the boundaries of today's Ghana.

There are groups that trace their ancestry to Israel, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, so why have they not been singled out as the Ewe people have been done? It is in bad taste, it ought to be condemned and the authors ought to be sanctioned. NaCCA also have a lot of explanation to do.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:29 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member for Hohoe?
Mr John-Peter Amewu (NPP -- Hohoe) 1:29 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. I would want to add my voice to the comments made by the Hon Colleagues.
Mr Speaker, it is important to note that this country, Ghana is a unitary
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:29 p.m.
Yes, Hon Member?
Ms Angela Alorwu-Tay (NDC -- Afadzato South) 1:29 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to also add my voice to the Statement ably made by my senior Colleague.
Mr Speaker, I have a worry. The worry I have is that the name Badu- Nkansah has a title as “Professor”. So from the basic education we got from the university and from senior secondary schools those days, I know that others have written books on each ethnic group. If for nothing at all, this professor should have gone to the History Department of the University of Ghana to talk to people like Dr Kofi Baku, a typical Ewe man from Vakpo and others to learn some history of the Volta Region before coming up with a textbook for all the basic schools in this country. What was he trying to do? I am surprised! If that is really his title, then I am sorry. He needs to do it better. He apologised two days ago and it is on google. What is he trying to tell us the Ewe people? Is he trying to tell us that -- Mr Speaker, I do not know what to say?
Mr Speaker, this professor must with immediate effect work with us the Volta Caucus in Parliament to ensure that the textbooks that are already in the system are withdrawn. It is disrespectful to us. We feel very sad about it because at a point in the history of this country, somebody referred to us -- We the proud people from the Volta Region as Togolese. There is an Ewe tribe in Togo, but that does not make us Togolese.
Mr Speaker, my only appeal to you is that, whoever gave this person the assignment to write the textbook must immediately withdraw it from the system.
Mr Speaker, in the next five years, most of us will not be sitting to debate this. The children would have assimilated this in their minds and start preaching it that,
“As for you people, you vote for your chiefs. You are inward- looking.”
Mr Speaker, there are a lot of our Hon Colleagues married to Ewe people. Is that the history they want to teach them? No way! We have - I refer to the last paragraph of the Statement made by Hon Nortsu- Kotoe that his book should be withdrawn with immediate effect, or else --
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.

Hon Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful?

Hon Members, I would have to cut it down because I am advised that there is a long list of contributors to the debate. After her, I will take one more Hon Member and then come to Leadership.
Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (NPP -- Ablekuma South) 1:39 p.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker, stereotyping of ethnic groups, even in jest, must stop. Ga people are not all quarrelsome, Akan people are not thieves or sakawa and Ewe people do not all love juju, and northerners are not whatever it is they are purported to be.
Mr Speaker, I have first cousins from Agbozome and Aveme Beme and I identify with them all. One of my favourite places to spend time in this country is Leklebi. I think that the Volta Region has one of the most beautiful places in this country.

It is important that no ethnic group in Ghana should be unfairly stereotyped or stigmatised. Our textbooks must accurately depict our culture as it is being used to educate and not to corrupt our impressionable

youth. Our textbooks must be used to train them, and expose the beautiful diversity of our country to every child, so that they appreciate what makes us uniquely Ghanaians.

I know that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of Ghana (NaCCA) is doing a fantastic job, and must be encouraged to regulate those who would produce the textbooks that would be used to educate our children. I just saw something on social media about one textbook, which claims that Manchester United fans have no brains, just like jelly fish, and that is in a textbook. One may think that it is a joke, but there are places and times where we act in jest, and it is certainly not in producing content that would be used to educate our children, and our textbooks must be accurate.

I am glad that the publishers have apologised and indicated that they are taking steps to withdraw the offending publication. NaCCA must insist that every copy of the offending publications which my information tells me, have not even been approved for publication, must be withdrawn from the market. We do not want materials like this circulating, and once it has been put in print, if it is all not taken out, years from now, someone may pick it up and claim that, that is what the truth is. Speaking against it on the

floor of Parliament alone is not enough. The Education Committee must take it upon itself to follow on this story, and insist that NaCCA does its job, and every copy of this offending publication and any others like it, must be withdrawn from circulation.

We must be proud of our country, no matter where we come from. We should protect and defend our diverse cultures and traditions, and uphold the dignity of every Ghanaian, regardless of their ethnic background. When all is said and done, at the end of the day, we are one nation, one people with a common destiny, and we sing or swim together. So, it is incumbent on all of us to so act, to celebrate and encourage our unity in our diversity.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:39 p.m.
Hon Members, I would admit one more. Have you agreed amongst yourselves who should be next? I will take one before Leadership.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (NDC -- North Tongu) 1:39 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am most grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement which has been competently delivered by my Hon Colleague, the Hon Peter Nortsu-Kotoe.
Mr Speaker, in this 21st Century, it really would have been more edifying for this House to be discussing the future of education, and be looking at content that would move this country forward in leaps and bounds, and lead us into development and progress, where we would defeat poverty and bring prosperity to our people. We should be discussing textbooks that focus on important subjects like programming, coding, artificial intelligence, designing, and the real history of Pan-Africanism, which would inspire our people to believe in ourselves that, as the Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah said, indeed, the black man is also capable of managing his own affairs.
Mr Speaker, rather sadly, here we are, being forced to condemn a very terrible backward publication. They are not only one or two, but they are quite many, and I have two of the offending publications here. The first one that I hold in my hand is named “History of Ghana”. The irony is that the book has been named “History of Ghana”. I believe that a founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the erudite historian Professor Adu Boahen would be turning in his grave. Professor S. K. Buah would be turning in his grave, Professor Addo Fening, who I met at the University of Ghana, who taught me, would be totally shocked at the
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:39 p.m.
Hon Member, you declined to read the others, so, I suggest that you do not read --
Mr Ablakwa 1:49 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I will follow your cue. It is a very wise counsel. I agree with you that we should not even dignify the content.
Mr Speaker, what is also worrying at page 38 of this book which I would not read to follow your guidance is that, it portrays a certain mind-set. This is a textbook for class three pupils, and it is teaching them about intermarriages, that if one marries from another race, one's children would be exotic. It says that one would have an exotic partner, and would produce beautiful exotic children, and one would stand a chance of becoming a member of that race that he marries into, and that is under benefits of intermarriages.
Mr Speaker, the content of this book is only going to cause mass brain damage to our children. It is poisoning them, it is total mis- education, and this book therefore does not deserve to be in our schools and on our shelves. I sent out my research team last week, and they obtained this at the market at the Rawlings Park in Accra. The two books; “History of Ghana” and the “Golden English for Basic Four” cost an amount of GH¢56 .00. It is being sold, so, when the publishers claimed that they do not know how it found its way into the market and they are feigning ignorance, who profits from the sale of these books? We clearly cannot buy that explanation. The publishers must take responsibility because they know how it got into the
market, and they must withdraw them.

Mr Speaker, NaCCA also comes up for criticism. I hold in my hands a letter that NaCCA wrote to the publishers on 25th September, 2020. When we read the first paragraph, yes, for the record, NaCCA did not give them the final approval, but NaCCA said in the first paragraph, which says and I quote:

“Your submission having gone through the first page of the textbook approval process was found to have satisfied most of the technical and content requirement”.

NaCCA itself has let this country down. I have gone through all the 96 pages of this book, and the 288 pages of the second one, The Golden English Basic 4, and I do not see how these should satisfy any technical and content requirement based on the new syllabus.

Mr Speaker, NaCCA must admit that they let this country down. They were not diligent; they were derelict, and I agree that they have to appear before the Committee on Education

together with their supervising Minister and answers must be offered.

The publishers too must be summoned to appear before the same Committee to explain what happened. How they could even conceive this thought and publish it, and how these books were sold on the market to find their way into our schools.

Mr Speaker, this is a very serious matter. We all know that article 17(2) of our Constitution frowns against discrimination. We are all one people and equal before the law, and we are all contributing towards the forward march of our country. And so, these books should not be tolerated.

What is also worrying is that our investigations shows that these books have been on the market since September last year. These books have the logo of NaCCA and both have “based on the new NaCCA syllabus” stamped and embossed on the cover pages. Clearly, NaCCA should have been more up and doing. The law allows them to enforce their regulatory responsibilities. They could have impounded these books and sanctioned the publishers.

Mr Speaker, this is a matter that should really engage our attention. It
Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (NPP -- Ellembele) 1:49 p.m.
Mr Speaker, let me thank the Hon Member who made the Statement, Hon Nortsu-Kotoe, and Hon Colleagues who have contributed to this very important Statement.
Mr Speaker, this afternoon's discussions should not have been about this; it should have been about our beautiful country, our proud history and culture, and the things that bring us together and our strengths. Unfortunately, somebody dropped them all.
I have heard that we should blame the publishers and NaCCA. The Ministry of Education must take full responsibility, and so should the Government. We should see Government coming up with measures to avoid the recurrence of this tragedy.
Mr Speaker, it is not only these bigoted lines in these books that are a matter of concern. I read another book that is about the history of Ghana on the market. The description and picture that has been created about the visionary Osaagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah is not what we want our children to read. That he was a
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:59 a.m.
Hon Members, having regard to the state of business of the House, I direct that the House Sits outside the regular Sitting hours.
Hon Member, you may continue.
Mr Buah 1:59 a.m.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
To be very brief, I think that we must commend this Statement and make sure that measures are put in place. We should see NaCCA and
the Ministry of Education come out with measures to ensure that this would never happen again. We should see steps taken to withdraw this book immediately and those found culpable, especially the publishers, punished and banned. These are the steps that must be taken and certain things must be done to ensure that we unite as a country.
Mr Speaker, we cannot take our unity for granted. We have come too far and we have to work and make sure that we have a very strong and united country. We can only do that if we understand that we should say and do things that would bring us together and not things that would divide us.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh (NPP -- Nsawam/Adoagyiri) 1:59 a.m.
Mr Speaker, let me thank you for the opportunity and thus commend my Hon Colleagues among the Volta Caucus for the extent of maturity that they have shown in this matter. Before and after independence, seeming tension among ethnic groups have existed. This country has co-existed and lived with this concern for a very long time.
Mr Speaker, it is also important that we distinguish a few things. If you
listen to some contributors to this Statement, one of the things that we should distinguish clearly is that it is not the case that there is a certain ethnic group against another ethnic group in this country. It is the case that there has been some form of literature published, which for want of a better word, appears to be devoted to feeding into a perception that exists. So, it is important we distinguish that.
Mr Speaker, my good self, an Akyem and Asante blend, born, bred and grew up in the Volta Region, would be the last person to support any attempts, outward or covert, to maltreat or push to the periphery any ethnic group in this country. I want to establish clearly that it is important that we all get to know this.
Mr Speaker, growing up in the Volta Region, I was privileged to have schooled in one of the distinguished icons of the Volta Region. One of the phrases or statements normally made by our brothers and sisters in the Volta Region goes like this: “miade aa cocoa meli oo, agbale koe”, to wit, “we do not have any natural resources, all we have is education”. The people of the Volta Region have devoted themselves to this and I am very proud to have been born, bred and raised there.
Now, if we go into African history, for instance, the problem between the Tutsis and the Hutus, as Hon Ablakwa tried to make some reference to, started in some form of innocuous way. Little did they know that it could blossom and the whole country would be caught up in flames. So, inasmuch as I wish this matter had not come up for discussion, it is also important that we confront and deal with it once and for all.
Mr Speaker, to the extent that it is being discussed on this forum, is very important. We want all of us in both parties to send a signal out there that nobody should be supported and nobody should facilitate any attempt to put the country on a collision course. It is important that we recognise that.
This is not to belabour the point but the concluding part of the Statement calls for the withdrawal of this material. I have a different view. I do not think that that would be the solution. What we should do, Mr Speaker, if you would permit, is that probably the Committee on Education would have to engage the writers and you would be surprised that they would turn out to become ambassadors to help deal with this perception and this matter. So, it is not as simple as calling for the withdrawal of the literary materials, but we have to engage the
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:59 a.m.
Hon Member, under what Standing Order did you say you were coming?
Mr Annoh-Dompreh 1:59 a.m.
Mr Speaker, under Standing Order 92 (1)(b).
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:59 a.m.
How does that come in? Nobody has interrupted you. This is anticipation of interruption -- [Laughter]
rose
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:59 a.m.
Yes, Hon Minority Chief Whip, what is it?
Alhaji Muntaka 1:59 a.m.
Mr Speaker, if the Hon Deputy Majority Leader wants to have a bite, maybe, he could be given three or five minutes to do that but he should not try to come through the backdoor; that is difficult to jump through.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 1:59 a.m.
Very well.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, I would grant you the space because of your relationship with the Volta Region.
Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin (NPP -- Effutu) 2:09 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I was
at a funeral today and monitoring from afar. I thought that the Lord himself would bring me here on time to add my voice and I thank you for the treasured opportunity to say a few words on this.
Mr Speaker, before I address the main issue, I think that there is a matter that requires action from Parliament and that is the power given to NaCCA. Per the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023) which was passed -- regrettably, we did not give them the enforcement powers to confiscate such materials.

We did not also give them the power that for all books that would be published outside of approved text books, there is a pre-requirement for NaCCA to clear it. So, after all the talk, if clearly we want to stop some of these things, we would have to take a serious step to give NaCCA the power. This is because when this issue came with all the criticisms, what did the regulator do? The regulator has no power, unlike the Food and Drugs Authority, which has the power to even confiscate. Unfortunately, somebody can be in his or her corner

and write something which would get into the market and some of these things would be experienced.

Mr Speaker, of course, I am worried -- when we were returning from Ho, I told you that I needed to visit Tsiame and Nyekornakpoe to see my father and my cousins and I was happy the way I was received. That is my paternal hometown where I grew up. I schooled at Tsiame and did some hunting at Nyekornakpoe. I am proud of -- [Interruption] -- the Hon Member is talking about west meanwhile he is worried about the east. He should not say these things.

Mr Speaker, this has been published so it has become an issue, but on a lighter note, sometimes, I meet my friends from other tribes. For example, there are very serious jokes that a Dagomba man would crack with a Fulani man -- there are serious jokes amongst them but these things are not for publication.

During the vetting at the Appointments Committee, I asked the Ashanti Regionalal Minister- designate how they portrayed their culture such that everybody accepts it. In Winneba, when the Aboakyer Festival is celebrated and a person is a Christian, he or she does not get closer, but in the Ashanti tradition, when they see fetish priests, they term it as culture.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:09 p.m.
Former Hon Second Deputy Speaker, you said you want to take advantage of your formal position to make a contribution, sos I indulge you.
Mr Joe Ghartey (NPP -- Esikadu/Ketan) 2:09 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I am mindful of the fact that I would not respond to my Hon Colleague, Mr Ablakwas's invitation for me to respond.
Mr Speaker, first of all, I would want to congratulate the Hon Member
for North Tongu, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, for this Statement, and also the facts that he has stated -- [Interruption] --
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:09 p.m.
You should know from the length of the Statement that it cannot come from the Hon Member for North Tongu, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa. [Laughter]
Mr Ghartey 2:09 p.m.
Mr Speaker, I was very surprise but since he tried to heckle me, I thought he made the Statement.
I thank the Hon Colleague who made the Statement and the historical facts that were put in it. However, there is one other historical fact that we must know of which is that the first presidential election in this country was held in 1960 and the two candidates were Dr J. B. Danquah and former President Nkrumah. History has it and I stand corrected, that the only region that Dr J. B. Danquah won was the Volta Region. So, nobody can tell me that the Volta Region is one persuasion or another. Perhaps today, they vote in one direction but who knows tomorrow as the popular song goes?
Mr Speaker, we cannot handle this matter on political basis. The unity of this country is above politics and that is why I support this Statement. I have
no biological link to the Volta Region but I am a Voltarian by choice as I say. I had my honeymoon in the Volta Region -- as soon as I married my wife, I matched her to the Volta Region to meet my people who lived there.
Yesterday, I drove towards Drovo and I said to myself what I have always said on the Peki road that the Volta Region is so clean -- the villages are so clean. This is not to say that the Western Region villages are not clean, so nobody should go and say that, and neither did I say that the Central Region - because the Hon Deputy Majority Leader is threatening me. Hon Member for Effutu, Winneba is clean but the Volta Region is also very clean. Their food is tasty and everything is nice about them. Ghana would be the poorer without the Volta Region.
Mr Speaker, we are one country -- united we stand, divided we fall. The Volta Region is very much part of the Ghana that we have all come to know and love.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for indulging the former Hon Second Deputy Speaker.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:09 p.m.
Hon Members, that brings us to the end of Statement time.
Mr Afenyo-Markin 2:09 p.m.
Mr Speaker, the debate on the Budget Statement would continue and I believe you have been furnished with the list of the various speakers for today?
Mr Speaker, as it pleases you, you may proceed.
Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:09 p.m.
Very well.
Number one on the Minority side, is the Hon Member for Adaklu, Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza.
MOTIONS 2:09 p.m.
  • [Resumption of debate from 16/ 03/2021]
    • Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza (NDC -- Adaklu) 2:19 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
    Mr Speaker, I would limit my presentation to a few areas but largely on the infrastructural aspect.

    However, before then, I would like to make brief comments about two particular tax handles that Government intends to introduce.

    Mr Speaker, the first one has to do with the sanitation. I do not have any problem with Government investing to improve sanitation in this country but I find it very difficult to support Government for taking money from drivers and not spending a penny of that money to improve the condition or safety of the roads but rather concentrate on sanitation.

    I cannot support this unless the Hon Minister, in the Budget Estimates, would agree to redistribute these moneys and give 5 pesewas to sanitation, 20pesewas to the Road Fund and then GH¢5pesewas to the National Road Safety Authority. Beyond that I cannot support this because it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

    Mr Speaker, the second has to do with the COVID-19 tax. I see no reason why in a country where people have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, others are finding it difficult to pay rent and others do not know where money will come from to do anything - while other countries are rather supporting their citizens, we want to tax those who are not the cause of this pandemic.

    This country provided over GH¢22 billion to Government during the early outbreak of the pandemic, some from the Stabilisation Fund, Bank of Ghana, US$1billion from international partners and within one year, they are telling us those moneys are finished and we should pay for it. When they mounted billboards saying; ‘Remember me, I gave you water', Remember me, I gave you free electricity' - this is an obnoxious tax and I do not think it is worth anyone paying for it and Government should find other means of paying for these things. This should not be a tax that other people should pay.

    Mr Speaker, I do not believe that the GH¢22 billion has fully been accounted for and so, I would not support the COVID-19 tax. Let me quickly get to the issue on policy statement on roads.

    Last year, Government told us that, that was the first ‘Year of Roads' and the only amount provided for this flagship project was GH¢1.2 billion. In the 2021 Budget Statement, we are told this is the second ‘Year of Roads' but the amount of money Government has provided is less than GH¢1billion.

    Where is the commitment of this Government towards funding roads in this country?

    Mr Speaker, we are told that the Road Fund generated GH¢ 1.8billion last year. How come the Government cannot make that money available to the Ministry of Roads and Highways? This is good amount of money and Government has misplaced priority in terms of road construction. There is nothing in this Budget Statement that tells me that all the lofty things they talked about will be adequately funded.

    Let me give an example. We have all been told that the Sinohydro was the game changer in terms of road construction in this country. Per the Agreement approved in this House, by 31st December, 2020, all those projects approved should have been completed. Let me give you the condition of the roads now; if we consider the Accra Inner City Road, this Budget Statement states that, ‘the
    Minister said and I beg to read 2:19 p.m.
    “Further approval will be obtained from Cabinet and
    Parliament after financing arrangement has …'.
    Mr Speaker, so on what authority did the Ministry sign the contract between Mota Engil Group and the Government of Ghana? So, I suggest to the Hon Minister to go back, open a bid and select a fit-for-purpose developer because the current developer, Mota Engil Group, is not a valid contract. So, they should not tout themselves around the world that they have won a US$570 million contract to build the Accra Tema Motorway because this Side of the House still believes Mota Engil Group does not have a valid contract with the Government of Ghana because the ingredients of such contract are missing.
    Have you ever heard that a contract has been signed and we cannot even tell the source of funding for the project? We cannot tell when the contract will start and end? Is this also considered a contract? It is not possible because there are significant ingredients that go into a valid contract and all these things are missing.
    Mr Speaker, I am saying that Mota Angil Group does not have a contract and by article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution, this contract is not valid and this Side of the House will not support it.
    Minister said and I beg to read 2:29 p.m.
    I will move to aviation. I have already said that not much has been done in terms of aviation except the continuation of the airport projects. The most significant thing is that the Government is attempting to get a national carrier and I support that.
    However, I caution that if we are going to pitch our camp with Egypt Air, as our hub, Government should be careful. This is because I believe that Ghana is a more stable country politically and in terms of everything than Egypt, and if our national carrier is now going to be anchored on Egypt Air, I fear a bit. The Government of Ghana should be able to look further into that to make sure that when this airline is activated, it would be fit-for- the purpose.
    Mr Speaker, there is also an issue that needs to be settled; the Pokuase Interchange is a project that needs to be automatically continued under the NPP Government because we were here in the year 2016 when it was approved.
    Indeed, the process of procuring the contractor -- because it is an African Development Bank (AfDB) loan, it is supposed to go through competitive bidding. There is nothing wrong with that.

    I would like the Hon Minister to be candid with this House - that project cannot be entirely annexed to the NPP to the extent of saying that the NPP is building an interchange. I agree that the construction phase is ongoing at this time but they have to give credit to the people who actually initiated it - unfortunately, my Hon Colleague, the former Hon Minister for Railways, has stepped out of the House.

    Mr Speaker, the former Hon Minister for Railways inherited the Tema-Mpakadan project and the project is ongoing because it is to the benefit of this country. However, any attempt to make it look as if it is a flagship project by the NPP Administration is not being fair to other Administrations. Indeed, the 1992 Constitution allows successive Administrations to continue projects already started by other Administrations. I believe we can progress more.

    Mr Speaker, if you look at the transport policy aspect of the Budget Statement, not much has happened. They mentioned 100 buses for Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) when MMT probably needed about 500 buses. We should do more and I am saying that why could we not consider what was done with the State Transport Corporation (STC)? Mr Speaker, we were in this House when

    we borrowed money and bought buses for STC. We said that from that day, the STC should be able to run, be profitable and buy their own buses. Today, the CEO of STC, Nana Akomea, tells us that the STC buys their own buses without coming to this House.

    Mr Speaker, this is progressive and we need to do same for MMT otherwise if we buy them 100 buses when they need 500 buses, they would just overuse the buses and the company would collapse again. So, buying 100 buses out of the 500 buses is not enough. We need to change the policy so that they can charge at least a fare that would allow them to buy fuel and pay their drivers. Currently, they are charging less than the fuel they consume so how can they survive? We buy them the buses, they buy fuel and they cannot even recover the fuel cost, yet we are surprised as to why they are not able to progress.

    Mr Speaker, I think we can do better than this. The Hon Minister for Transport has not said anything that inspires me that he would do anything wonderful at the Ministry, apart from saying that they would complete the landing sites in the 2012 CBD loan that former President Mills brought to this House which was capped and resuscitated.

    Mr Speaker, as for the Year of Roads, it has been a total failure and I believe that we can do better in the future and the Ministry of Roads and Highways --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:29 p.m.
    Hon Member, I would invite you to Bekwai and you would see that the Year of Roads did very well for Bekwai so it was not a total failure.
    Mr Agbodza 2:29 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would not be surprise because currently the most expensive road project is a seven kilometre road from Hohoe to Wuitordze at GH¢111 million. This works out to be over US$2 million per kilometre. So, do not be surprise that Hon Peter Amewu is in this House because it was a significant investment that was made.
    Mr Speaker, they awarded the project in my village but the contractor never showed up. So, God has blessed you that the contractor has been able to do yours. Maybe there is a reason as to why they did your road and neglected roads in my area, but I do not have any evidence.
    Mr Speaker, indeed, asphaltic overlay is ongoing in some places in Tema, Kumasi -- because of the US$100 million that we borrowed. I would say it again that under the NDC, asphaltic overlays were done in all the regions at the same time so if they are
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:29 p.m.
    Hon Member for Akim Swedru?
    Mr Kennedy N. Osei (NPP -- Akim Swedru) 2:29 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Floor.
    Mr Speaker, I would not take the path of the Hon Ranking Member. One issue I would want to make clear in this House is that until the politician stops politicising issues about road infrastructure in this country, we will never move forward as a country. I am saying this because over the past years, we are always politicising issues concerning roads. Mr Speaker, roads are very dear to the heart of every nation.
    A country with about 78,000 kilometres of road network, we have to ask ourselves how many of these kilometres are in good shape. This should be of concern to every politician in this House. This is what we have to advert our minds to and ask ourselves how these projects would be funded. We cannot have the beautiful roads that we are all talking about if there is no money. How much taxes do we generate as a country? This should be our focus and concern.
    Mr Speaker, as a country, we need to come together and build consensus on how to fund road projects in this country. The little analysis I have done so far is that if we want to develop our road network, then we would need not less than US$2 billion and that is about GH¢12 billion being put in the Budget each year so that the roads we want would be constructed.
    Mr Speaker, it is a legitimate call by every Ghanaian to ask for good roads, but we cannot build those roads when there is no money.
    Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague talked about finding the money for the construction of the roads, but do we have to borrow or we should generate taxes by ourselves? When the Government mentioned an upward adjustment of the road tolls in the Budget Statement, we all saw the uproar in this House by Hon Members who represent their constituencies. Mr Speaker, we want roads in our constituencies but we do not want to support the Government.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the 2020 projects of Government alone, the Government maintained or undertook periodic maintenance on about 41,000 kilometres of roads in this country just to put those roads in good condition and make them motorable. Do they know how much money we lose as a country?
    Mr Edward A. Bawa 2:29 p.m.
    Who are you asking?
    Mr K. N. Osei 2:39 p.m.
    I am asking you because you represent the people of your constituency --
    Mr Bawa 2:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my colleague, the Hon Member seems to be helping us in terms of sources of funding and others. He has asked us a question, that do we know how those moneys and other things are got? I asked who he was asking, and he said he was asking us.
    Mr Speaker, we do not have the answer. We would want him to provide us with those answers.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:39 p.m.
    You are out of order. [Laughter.]
    Hon Member, proceed.
    Mr K. N. Osei 2:49 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, each year, Ghana loses billions of United States Dollars as a result of bad road network. There are a lot of foodstuff that go waste in the hinterland because we have poor road networks. This is what we need to advert our minds to.
    Mr Speaker, in 2020 alone, if you look at the Budget, you would see that Government alone released about GH¢4.85 billion for road infrastructure. This is the biggest
    investment a Government has ever invested so far in the road sector. This was in 2020. If we have our colleagues on the other Side asking for where the roads are, all these moneys went into the construction of good roads and not just ordinary roads.
    Mr Speaker, in 2021, Government would continue with the road maintenance works and construction activities as indicated in paragraph 832 of page 151. There are several roads that Government has listed down that in 2021, construction would be embarked on. If we look at Table 24 of page 151, you would see the various projects that Government undertook in 2020. I urge my colleague to look at the work that Government did in 2020 alone. Paragraph 845 of the Budget Statement has full details of these projects.
    Mr Speaker, in paragraph 386 on page 152, Government completed the first phase of the Obetsebi Lamptey Circle to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange, and in 2021, it would continue with the second phase, and we would ensure it is completed.
    Mr Speaker, work is still in progress on the Kumasi Lake Side road, and as at the end of December, 2020, about 68 per cent of that road has been completed. The people of
    this country need good roads. This is why President Akufo-Addo and his Government is committed to ensuring that we build good roads and not just any road, and he has shown commitment by the amount of money spent in 2020.
    I heard my colleague saying that the Ministry of Roads and Highways' Budget is just dependant on donor funding. Maybe, my Hon Colleague is looking at the development partner funds. These are not donor funding. They are loans that the Ministry would take to construct those roads that he wants. These are the loans they would take in addition to the Government of Ghana's (GoG) component of the Budget.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at Appendix 10 B and C, of the Budget Statement under the heading “New Commitments in 2020” and the “Approved projects/programme list to be contracted from concessional and non-concessional external loans for 2021 and medium term”, there are several road projects to begin in
    2021.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to move on and say something little about the railway sector. No country has been able to develop with bad road networks or bad railway networks.
    All the nations we have seen around the globe have developed at the back of good roads and good railway systems. If we want expansion of our economy, then we need to ensure that we have good railway system.
    In 2020 alone, Government embarked on a massive development in the railway sector, which saw a remarkable progress because of the railway masterplan which the Akufo- Addo-led Government decided to put together and has become a guiding document for the Ministry to ensure that they chart that path.
    Mr Speaker, again, in 2020, Government completed the rehabilitation work on the Accra- Tema and Achimota-Nsawam section of the Eastern railway line and the Kojokrom-Tarkwa through Nsuta section of the Western railway line. This is what the Akufo-Addo-led Government did in 2020.
    Mr Speaker, in 2021, Government has programmed to complete the ongoing standard gauge railway project at Kojokrom-Manso section of the Western railway line of 22 km and the Tema-Mpakadan section of the Ghana Burkina Faso railway line, which is about 97.7 kms. This means that if this project is completed, we would be able to have easy connection to other parts of the country.

    Mr Speaker, Government again in 2021 is to secure a loan facility to continue with the construction of the 58kms of Western railway line, and this project would go on and be completed. This is what the people of Ghana need and want to see. They would want to see those road networks being built. They would want to see that railway network being built. They do not want to see the usual politics that we involve in it.

    Mr Speaker, again in 2020, Government started with the procurement process for a strategic investor to partner on the development of about 303kms of the Eastern railway line which passes through the Boankra Inland Port from Tema through Kumasi near Koforidua and it would be completed. We know the history of the Boankra Inland Port.

    So we have a visionary Government who decides to look for a partner to construct the railway line of about 303kms so that there would be easy movement of goods from the main ports to those inland ports. So that those coming from the north or the neighbouring countries that always travel far on road would be able to use both the passenger and the cargo line to convey their goods to their various destination.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:49 p.m.
    Hon Member you have one more minute.
    Mr K. N. Osei 2:49 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Government is looking for every opportunity to make sure that it raises funds to construct the roads. That is why Government has been so innovative.
    Now, Government has completed the feasibility study on how to use the PPP approach to construct or dualise some key roads in this country. The Accra to Kumasi road and the Accra to Cape Coast road - these are very key roads which are very dear to the heart of every Ghanaian and Government has completed it. It is in the process of selecting a contractor to ensure that we are able to construct those roads. So those people who ply those roads will now have a good road to travel on to cut down the several accidents.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I would want to urge the House, especially my Colleagues on the other Side that this Budget, which has a theme, “Economic Revitalisation through Completion, Consolidation and Continuity” would be achieved. I would therefore urge them not to hesitate in supporting for the approval of this Budget.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:49 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have exhausted your time.
    Mr K. N. Osei 2:49 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Hear! Hear!]
    Dr Dominic A. Ayine (NDC -- Bolgatanga East) 2:49 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Motion that this honourable House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government Ghana for the year ending, 31st December, 2021.
    Mr Speaker, this Budget is being presented in accordance with the 1992 Constitution and the Public Financial Management Act. We do know that every budget that is presented to this House is a mechanism for public resource allocation, but it is also the mechanism for accounting to the people on how the resources allocated under the Appropriations Act are utilised to enhance public welfare. Therefore, any Minister who comes here on behalf of the President is accounting to the representatives of the people on how the resources we allocated in the previous year's Appropriations Act have been utilised to enhance public welfare.
    Mr Speaker, those with the responsibility of drawing up the
    budget owe the people a fiduciary obligation to act with probity, and probity is one of the fundamental values of our Constitution. The last time I checked the meaning of probity, it means the quality of having strong moral principles, honesty and decency. It means that a Minister for Finance in coming to this House, must act with honesty. It means that the Minister for Finance must comply with all the constitutional and legal imperatives that relate to or concerns the budget that he is presenting to Parliament.
    Mr Speaker, there are a number of constitutional and legal issues arising out of this year's Budget that I would want to highlight on for the consideration of the House. The first one concerns a patent constitutional breach that the Rt Hon Speaker brought to the attention of this House and that relates to the tax or purported tax to the budget of the judicial branch of Government.
    Mr Speaker, in terms of article 179 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the President is obligated to cause to be laid before Parliament, the Estimates of the Judiciary without revision but with recommendations that the Government may have on those Estimates. From what the Rt Hon Speaker said, it would appear that the executive branch of Government
    Dr Dominic A. Ayine (NDC -- Bolgatanga East) 2:59 p.m.
    acted in a patently unconstitutional manner when they revised or purported to revise the Budget of the Judiciary before bringing it to this House. That is a violation of the constitutional tenets of judicial independence as guaranteed by article 127(1) of the 1992 Constitution which with your permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to refer the House to the verbatim provision of article 127(1) of the 1992 Constitution:
    “In the exercise of the judicial power of Ghana, the Judiciary, in both its judicial and administrative functions, including financial administration, is subject only to this Constitution and shall not be subject to the control or direction of any person or authority.”
    So, Mr Speaker, clearly, in seeking to revise the estimates and cut the Budget of the Judiciary, the Minister responsible for Finance acting on behalf of the President of the Republic has violated this constitutional injunction and this House, as the Rt Hon Speaker puts it, should not be a party to a violation of the Constitution of the Republic. I am sure my friends on the other Side would say that if we are not satisfied with the actions of the Government, we should
    proceed to court; maybe because they are sure that they would get a unanimous verdict in their favour. [Interruptions] -- Mr Speaker, on a more serious note, the three branches of Government are co-equal and as Justice Jackson said in the case of Youngstown Sheet v Sawyer, the
    “Constitution disperses power the better to secure liberty and it contemplates that the dispersed powers would integrate into a workable government.”
    Mr Speaker, we cannot have the integration of the three co-equal branches of Government into a workable government when the executive branch deprives the Judiciary of resources and then dominates the allocation of resources in such a way that the Judiciary may be denied of basics such as paper, well-furnished offices, computers and so on. Mr Speaker, you know how this can undermine the administration of justice. The efficiency of the delivery of justice can be undermined if the Judiciary is not allocated sufficient resources to be able to operate.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to underscore one point before moving to my next issue that I want to raise. Justice is not one of the things that we can give up in the name of fiscal tightening. If they want to tighten the
    budget, it should not be the Judiciary that should be at the short end of the stick. That is the point that I am making.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to urge this House that on account of this patent violation of the 1992 Constitution, specifically, articles 127 and 179 opines that we should not approve the estimates of the Judiciary as presented unless and until the original estimates are reinstated and presented to this House. That is my proposal for purposes of the approval of the Budget of the Government.
    Mr Speaker, there are also a number of constitutional and statutory breaches that have occurred.

    Yesterday, in his eloquent presentation on the fiscal measures of the Government, the Hon Member for Bolgatanga Central made it clear to this House that there is an understatement of expenditure amounting to GH¢7.5 billion. In other words, in presenting the Budget to this House, the Hon Minister for Finance hid GH¢7.5 billion away from the oversight functions of Parliament.

    Mr Speaker, I think this is again one glaring breach of the constitutional principle of probity because of the fact

    that Government is engaged in false accounting and deceptive practices when it comes to the presentation of the Budget.

    Mr Speaker, you know that false accounting is a crime under the Criminal Code of the Republic, specifically in terms of section 140 of the Criminal and other offences Act and Section 177 (1) (c) of the Companies Act, of 2019 (Act 992) which we passed.

    Mr Speaker, if a director of a company can be disqualified for engaging in false accounting, if a public officer can be prosecuted for engaging in false accounting, what should we do to the Minister for Finance of the Republic of Ghana who engages in false accounting to the people's representative on how public resources have been used to the people of this country? There are constitutional consequences and in due time, I am sure we will raise those for the attention of this House.

    Mr Speaker --
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
    Mr Afenyo-Markin 2:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Hon Dr Dominic Ayine
    Dr Ayine 2:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Member for Bolgatanga Central, Hon Isaac Adongo is on record in this House as having referred to the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for 2021 and he made a statement that went unchallenged. That statement was that of an accounting perspective that the Minister for Finance has not disclosed about GH¢7.5 billion of expenditure to this House. That statement is on record. It was never challenged.
    Mr Speaker, by the way, the Hon Deputy Majority Leader must know
    that I am simply serving notice of subsequent actions that may be taken. Mr Speaker, you know that when there --
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Member, I want to be clear of what the complaint is about that he made a statement just as he has repeated?
    Yes, Hon Deputy Majority Leader, I was to be assisted here. The complaint is that the Hon Member made an allegation that the Hon Minister for Finance has not reported -- I remember that exactly and I remember the response of Hon Kwaku Kwarteng. So, what is the issue now?
    Mr Afenyo-Markin 2:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in the Hon Member's submission, he contended that when a director of an entity falsifies accounting records, it is a criminal offence. Therefore, when a public officer does same, consequences must be suffered accordingly. He concluded that submission by saying that the financial records have been falsified and for that matter, the public officer concerned must face consequences. When he was asked to bring proof, he talked about Hon Adongo's submission. I would need to distinguish that submission from what he is saying now.
    Mr Speaker, his contention was that some records were disaggregated instead of putting them all together, he said Government put in one breath, some disclosures and kept others separately. My Hon Colleague, Mrs Osei-Asare responded to Hon Adongo. So, if he says that it went unchallenged and he wants to anchor his submission on the same submission, I beg to say, that is not the correct position of the law and that is not the submission he should make.
    Mr Speaker, he must find comfort in the space he has got now to withdraw or that he provides proof, because no public officer under this Government has misreported.
    Mr Speaker, IMF and World Bank have not sanctioned any official and this country has not paid any penalty for falsifying information. If he wants it, I will do so and put my reputation on the line. So, he should not say that we are misreporting.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Leader, I now get the picture clearly. To the best of my knowledge, both Sides are interpreting facts. So, it can be their opinion and opinions are free.
    So, please proceed.
    Dr Ayine 2:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you. I was just going to refer the Hon Deputy Majority Leader to the fact that it should be possible; once we have the evidence for a motion for a vote censure to be brought in respect of the Hon Minister's action, and we will think about that in terms of the evidence that is available despite whatever was said by the former Deputy Minister for Finance.
    Mr Speaker, when constitutional provisions and legal provisions mandates that state actors, ministers conduct themselves in certain ways, we as a House must take obligation that the Constitution has imposed on them as well as the statutory provisions that we have enacted, we must take them seriously.
    Mr Speaker, there is one other breach that I would want to draw the House's attention to and that is breach of Section 30 (2) of the Bank of Ghana Act (as amended). In respect of that Act, borrowing from the Bank of Ghana is stated not to exceed 5 per cent of the revenue for this fiscal year.
    In respect of the year 2020, the Minister for Finance borrowed GH¢22.5 billion from the Bank of Ghana. That has been stated in the Budget Statement. The revenue for the year was GH¢54 billion. Now,
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Member, you have one more minute.
    Dr Ayine 2:59 p.m.
    All right, Mr Speaker. It is all thanks to the interjections of the Hon Deputy Majority Leader.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    No, when you stop your microphone, the time stops reading.
    Dr Ayine 2:59 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    However, I would want to touch on the issue of the National Cathedral. I am sure that most of the Hon Members would know that this has become an issue for me because I am gravely concerned about the priority status which is being accorded this project, which was first announced by the President of the Republic as his commitment to God. The President has the right to freedom of religion.
    He has the right to make a commitment to his God, but that should not be at the expense of the people of this country. Why should we be spending an amount of US$100 million on a National Cathedral? The justification that is provided in this Budget is that it is going to be an inter-denominational sacred place for the nation, and that it would provide sacred infrastructure for the nation that is much needed. Who says that we need sacred infrastructure in this country instead of schools, hospitals, and running water?
    Mr Speaker, we were told that this was a Public-Private-Partnership Project, and that the role of the Government was basically to give the land for the construction of the Cathedral. How come the Cathedral is finding its way in a very stealthy manner into the Budget? If there is no public funding for it, what are --?
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Member, kindly wind up, your time is up.
    Dr Ayine 2:59 p.m.
    All right, Mr Speaker. So, there are public procurement implications. I have read from the Budget that a letter of intent has been issued. I would be inviting the Minister to come here and account to us how
    the contractor for the project was selected.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Members, I would call on the Hon Egyapa Mercer.
    Mr Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer (NPP--Sekondi) 2:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Motion that this Hon House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the year ending 31st December, 2021, which was moved on Friday 12th March, 2021 by the Minister of State responsible for the Finance Ministry, the Hon Majority Leader, and seconded by the Minister for Information, the Hon Member of Parliament for Ofoase/ Ayirebi, the Hon Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah.
    Mr Speaker, before I speak to the issue, I have heard Hon Member after Hon Member debate in respect of the revenue measures that were introduced specifically to deal with the excess capacity payments, which is the Energy Sector Recovery Levy Delta Fund of 20.00 pesewas. But essentially, this levy is unwarranted. I have heard Hon Member after Hon Member, particularly on the other
    rose
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Member, hold on.
    Dr Donkor 2:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Colleague is grossly misleading this House. Mr Speaker, when he states that installed capacity was 2,800
    megawatts and we needlessly contracted at an additional 600 megawatts -- I am only up because this is a House of record. The Akosombo Dam has an installed capacity of 1,020 megawatts, but with the dependable, depending on the year -- in 2014, it was less than 600 megawatts, so, he does not have to use the 1,020 megawatts as his basis to mislead this House. He should use the dependable capacity.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you.
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 2:59 p.m.
    Hon Member, you may continue?
    Mr Mercer 3:19 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I do not see where this often cited dependable capacity and installed capacity argument comes from. In 2016, the installed capacity was 3,795 megawatts and the dependable capacity was 3,525 megawatts. Our peak demand as of 2016 was 1,800 megawatts, so, what are they talking about? These are matters of fact. My good Friend and Senior on the other Side should please be guided and not suggest that I am misleading the House. I am not.
    Mr Speaker, as I said earlier, the Energy Sector Recovery Programme
    at page 21 suggests that if nothing is done about the excess capacity payments that this Government has to pay for because of the shortfall, what the projected energy sector shortfall on arrears would be is US$12.564 billion in 2023. Mr Speaker, this is not chicken feed; this is money that can fund the development expenditure of this country; this is money that we largely pay for power we do not need. This is a matter of fact.
    Mr Speaker, if a Government is saddled with a situation where it incurs cost to pay for its contractual obligations, and has not got the funds to meet them, it has essentially two options: continue to borrow to pay or raise some taxes to ensure that these amount of moneys are paid.
    I would have thought that our Friends on the other Side, during whose tenure in office that these contractual obligations were imposed on our beloved country, would rather have supported the Minister for Finance in these bold measures that he has put across, just so that the projected US$12 billion this country would accumulate over the next three years we are able to deal with those cost items so that our energy security as a nation can be guaranteed.
    Mr Speaker, if you look in the Budget Statement, you can see clearly that significant investments have been
    Mrs Della Adjoa Sowah (NDC -- Kpando) 3:29 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.
    I would want to congratulate the Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu for a very good delivery. It was full of wonderful phonetics, and decorum. I am sure Mrs Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu must be very proud of him? However, when the people of Kpando listened to him let out a cry dzu kuikui. That
    cry is only let out in times of despair which means they, like many millions of Ghanaians, are in a state of despair.
    Mr Speaker, before I start my contribution, I would want to react to the last Hon Member who contributed. He said something about excess capacity. I have heard it several times. The Government blames its woes on excess capacity. Yesterday, the Hon John Jinapor completely debunked that, but I see that today, the Hon Member still talked about excess capacity.
    Mr Speaker, if indeed the Government is paying for power more than it needs, then it goes to say that his Government really does not know what it is doing. I would want to put it in good perspective for the people of Kpando to understand.
    We have Togbui Foli who is the head of Bokpe community. He finds that their staple food and raw material for industry is maize. Now, there is drought and maize is in short supply, so, he contracts Efo Kosi to supply them 50 baskets of maize with the understanding that they would take or pay.
    Mr Speaker, Efo Kosi produces 50 baskets of maize for Bokpe
    community, and then, they are only able to consume 28 baskets, leaving 22 unconsumed. Mr Speaker, in the course of time, Togbui Foli travelled and let us say, Togbui Nana takes over. Now, Togbui Nana says that he is a better manager than Togbui Foli, and that he can use five loaves of bread and two fishes to feed 5,000 men plus their wives and children. Let us say 30,000 people and then, he finds this contract in place by Togbui Foli -- extra maize they do not need.
    Mr Speaker, what should a good manager do with it? Should they always sit and complain that Togbui Foli did not do a good job? We are left with 22 baskets. Or they should find uses for it?

    Mr Speaker, they go about complaining to everybody even to the international community that the reason for our woes is that we have 22 extra baskets we cannot use. What will a good manager do with it?

    Mr Speaker, let me now go back to my own contribution and I would start it with the proposed increase in petroleum prices at the pump price. Permit me to go down the memory lane. In 2014, world crude oil prices
    Mr First Deputy Speaker 3:29 a.m.
    The Second Deputy Speaker to take the Chair.
    MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER
    Mrs Sowah 3:30 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, this is because in their view, the ESLA was insensitive and a nuisance. Indeed, the then flagbearer of the NPP, Mr Akufo-Addo, and his running mate, Alhaji Bawumia also mauled the initiative and described it as insensitive and named it a nuisance tax.
    The ESLA was passed with a sunset clause that five years after its passage, it would be repealed. If all things had been equal, in November, 2019, the ESLA should have been repealed. The then opposition campaigned that when they came into power, they would repeal the ESLA
    because it was too burdensome for the people of Ghana. Ghanaians voted them into power and what were we expecting, a repeal of ESLA?
    Mr Speaker, even before the sunset, in their first Budget Statement, instead of repealing it, they maintained it. That is double standards to the shock of everybody. Wonders will never end and why do I say that? The ESLA they called burdensome, insensitive and a nuisance, the same men now looked Ghanaians in the face and told us that they are increasing it by 5.7 per cent. This is what is insensitive and this is what is a nuisance.
    Karma is very real and as karma would have it, the very person who came to the House to propose that this ESLA would be upped is no other person than the Hon Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu who led the walk-out. Karma is very real. He is now left to eat humble pie on behalf of the President and he does so without batting an eye.
    Mr Speaker, the song now in the NPP song book is COVID-19; everything, COVID-19. What they cannot do, COVID-19; what they can do COVID-19. Let us not forget that they are adding GH¢0.30 per litre to the price of oil. Already, from January to date, there has been a 17
    per cent increase in fuel prices. So, if you add the 5.7 per cent extra, it means that Ghanaians would pay 23.7 per cent. This is not only burdensome and insensitive, but let me borrow Hon Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu's favourite word, it is capricious. Let me add that it is malicious, obnoxious, wicked and evil and the people of Ghana do not deserve this.
    Yesterday, Hon Kwaku Kwarteng said that COVID-19 disrupted businesses and destroyed livelihoods. The same is repeated in paragraph 8 of the Budget Statement, which I read as follows:
    “The ensuing crisis has disrupted supply chains and exerted undue pressure on economic and financial systems, killed businesses and jobs.”
    Mr Speaker, yet this Government who itself says that COVID-19 has affected it, turned around and wants to burden the ordinary citizens who have not yet recovered from COVID-19. How wicked can they be? They said we should vote for them for four more years. Is it for four more years of suffering? Is that what they are doing?
    I think that all right-thinking Ghanaians and Members of this
    House should stand against it. No matter your political affiliation, if you can stand and look at your constituents in Gomoa, Bekwai, Effutu, and Oforikrom and support and increase their sufferings, then I should say that you are also very heartless.
    Mr Speaker, I did the maths and it goes to show further that this Government has no clue of managing the resources of this country. Why is it that? They seek to increase pump prices by GH¢0.30. Now the average consumption in Ghana is 11.7 million litres a day. If you multiply it, it means that per day, the Government is seeking to make GH¢3.51 million and in a year, it would add up to GH¢1.28 billion.
    They are imposing GH¢1.28 billion on the average Ghanaian in Torkor, Kpando, Gbefi and Kudzra, yet under their watch, illegal fuel trade denies the Government of GH¢1.9 billion. The recent industry report has clearly shown the mismanagement by this Government, that under their watch, they can lose GH¢1.9 billion. They then turn around to tax the ordinary person in Agbogbloshie market and in Kpando market to give them GH¢1.28 billion, while somebody else is stealing GH¢1.9 billion and they are not talking about that.
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:30 a.m.
    Hon Sowah, hold on.
    Mr Annoh-Dompreh 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, ordinarily, I would not have done this since it is Women's Day. I was enjoying what the Hon Member was saying until she made a statement that somebody had stolen a certain amount. I cannot even recall the amount she mentioned. Could she be kind enough to be specific to reference who she referred to? This is a House of record and for all to be carried along, it is important that she puts it in context.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Member, kindly, do that.
    Mrs Sowah 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I said the “illegal fuel trade'' under the watch of Government lost GH¢1.9 billion
    and I would read it. The Chairman of the Board of Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Mr Senyo Hosi in launching the report said that:
    “The highest problem is with those who are supposed to watch and make sure criminals do not try''.
    That is the GRA, the security apparatus, the political establishment which is as corrupt as the criminals we equally have among the PSPs. Mr Hosi also said that we effectively have a state capture situation where almost every phase or structure of the entire chain is heavily compromised. GRA and the National Security are comprised -
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Member, hold on.
    Yes, Hon Member for Abetifi, Mr Bryan Acheampong?
    Mr B. Acheampong; Mr Speaker, Order 93 (4) says that a debate must be relevant to the subject under discussion. What somebody has alleged outside is not a statement of fact. What Mr Hosi said is not a statement of fact -- he said that the National Security and the police are
    corrupt. Are those facts? They are not facts that the Hon Member could stand on --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Member, after the Hon Member has contributed you would have your turn, so hold on and wait for your time.
    Mr Avedzi 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Member rose and started talking. We did not know what he was doing - whether he came under a point of order or he wanted to contribute. It is important that when an Hon Member stands, we should know what he or she wants to do and when you allow the person then he or she could begin to talk. Under which order did the Hon Member come under?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Deputy Minority Leader, your suggestion has been noted.
    Hon Member for Kpando, Mrs Della Sowah, your time is almost up, so wind up.
    Mrs Sowah 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the interruptions have disrupted my frame of thoughts as well.
    Mr Hosi said that the regulators comprising - CEPS, GRA, BNI are being compromised. He went on to say that:
    “A number of time we have had smuggling happening at the shores with security officials protecting it. If we readily have to fix this, we need proper leadership. What we are doing at CBOD is to bring this situation to light. Our politicians have been funded by some of these proceeds''.
    Mr Speaker, if they protect those who deal in illegal fuel trade, syphoning off GH¢1.9 billion and they want to tax the ordinary kenkey seller at Tsakpoi, it is sad and misplaced.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up. You were given 15 minutes and you have gone beyond that.
    Mrs Sowah 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, even with the electricity expansion to communities, this Government has extended electricity to communities in Togo with our poles and metres and communities in Ghana do not have electricity.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Member, your time is up.
    Mrs Sowah 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:39 p.m.
    Hon Majority Chief Whip, is your intervention an issue that Government has officially extended electricity to Togo? It could be a purchase arrangement, so let us hold on. We could ask the Hon Member to provide better particulars with respect to that particular issue, so it is not an issue that we need to bother ourselves with.
    Mr Annoh-Dompreh 3:39 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in this House we trust in your guidance and wisdom -- I only demanded your guidance so that she would provide this information to the House. We all have interest in it so it is important we know the facts.
    Dr Emmanuel Marfo (NPP -- Oforikrom) 3:49 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to focus my intervention wholly on environment because environmental matters and on a lighter side just like the way Parliament for example, has asked that the Executive should be reminded that Parliament and the Judiciary are also Arms of Government. In the same stretch I also would like to remind ourselves that the environment is also one of the pillars of development. In the development discourse, we have often talked about economic development, giving it some weight as against environment.
    Since 1995, when the world almost redefined what development must mean in terms of its definition as sustainable development which has environmental sustainability as one of the pillars of development, we have committed ourselves to a number of policies that seeks to direct the globe towards perceiving economic development and at the same time ensuring that we do so without compromising the quality of our environment.

    Mr Speaker, just like we have agreed in the SDGs, particularly,

    goals 6, 13, 14 and 15 we have committed ourselves to clean water and sanitation, climate actions, quality life under water, on land and all these things have strong implications for environmental sustainability.

    Mr Speaker, as a continent, we also have the same environmental aspirations and particularly, if you look at the goals 7 of the Africa Agenda 2063 which aims at environmental sustainability and climate resilient communities and economies.

    So, clearly, the world is moving towards a place where we are not only thinking about economic growth but also about perceiving that growth that does not compromise that quality of our environment.

    Mr Speaker, Ghana as a country has committed itself to the same aspirations in many forms. When you look at the Directive Principles of State Policy of our Constitution particularly, article 36(9), we are clearly told to take steps to safeguard the quality of our environment and protect it. So, we have a constitutional injunction to do anything possible to ensure that as we pursue our development in trying to construct roads, build schools, bridges and so

    on, we do so in a way that is environmentally sensitive.

    Again, we affirm this goal or aspiration in our long term Ghana@100 Development Framework where we have stated that we want to build a well-planned, safe communities and households and protect our natural environment.

    Mr Speaker, in the short term, the coordinated programme for social and economic policy of 2017-2024, we have again affirmed that belief that we want to safeguard the natural environment and ensure a resilient environment.

    So, all these aspirations exist yet we have a number of challenges when it comes to environmental issues in our country. I am sure that one of the issues that may come to mind is water pollution from illegal mining, poor sanitation, high volumes of domestic and industrial waste that we see.

    Mr Speaker, indeed, in the programme that was submitted by the Hon Minister for Finance on behalf of the President, at paragraph 256 of the Budget Statement enlists a number of these challenges for our information.

    The overall effects of all the environmental challenges that we have
    Dr Emmanuel Marfo (NPP -- Oforikrom) 3:59 p.m.
    are that we may conclude that our environment is not in the best of shape as it ought to be. Indeed, if we look at the 2020 Environmental Performance Index, Ghana ranked 168 out of 180 countries that were assessed. So, this means that we have a long way to go as far as environmental sustainability is concerned.
    Mr Speaker, it is not surprising because as we all know, there is always tension between economic imperatives of our development and environmental exigencies. So, while we pursue our development, sometimes, we are not mindful of the environmental impacts of the decisions that we take. So, even though we may be growing in our GDP numbers and doing well in the fiscal and monetary policies of the state, but our environmental performance index or score may not be that attractive.
    So, in this context, I am happy that this Budget Statement and Economic Policy attempts to respond to some environmental issues that may help us achieve our aspirations as a country.
    Mr Speaker, I would like to narrow down to two or three issues. The first one is about waste management. If we look at what we refer to as electronic waste (e-waste)
    and also plastic waste, the high volumes of waste that we generate -- in fact, in the year 2009, we were told that Ghana was generating about 260,000 metric tonnes of e- waste and that by the year 2020, the figure may double. So, conservatively, one can say that probably, we are moving beyond 500,000 metric tonnes of e-waste.
    If we put this in context and look at the way we are using plastic and electronic materials; computers, mobile phones, electronic gadgets on the market these days and the fact that technology is developing very fast and the fact that we may be changing these gadgets over time because people use their phones and change it in a year as well as shortening the life span of computers. So, increasingly, we may be seeing higher volumes of electronic waste and therefore, we must prepare towards managing this chunk of waste.
    Mr Speaker, globally, between 30 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste is produced in Europe and they find their waste in developing countries and Ghana is a major destination of e-waste. So, in the next 10 to 20 years, what are we going to do? Let us remember that we are in the year 2021 and we have committed ourselves as part of a global world to achieve sustainable development
    goals by the year 2030. So, we have a space of 10 years to make sure that we put interventions and policies in place to ensure that we are able to manage our waste very well and recycle it as much as possible.
    Mr Speaker, that is why I am excited by the intervention that Government has brought up. I would like to refer to page 137, paragraph 739 of the Budget Statement where Government is piloting an incentive payment programme for e-waste collection and it is happening at Old Fadama at Agbogbloshie. The idea is to make payment to people who collect e-waste and give them a competitive price for that.
    If since the year 2020, the policy paper that has been given to us suggests that we have been able to do just 30 metric tonnes for a period of one year, then it means we have a long way to go if we are to deal with the almost 500,000 metric tonnes. That is why we need to be more aggressive as a country in dealing with e-waste.
    Mr Speaker, happily, on page 137 again, paragraph 740, we see Government coming in with the intervention of constructing handover centres at the premises of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), and the purpose is to have this hub
    serve as a receiving centre for e-waste from the informal and individual collectors and given prices that are above the market value. In other words, Government is incentivising the collection of e-waste in order to have a more regulated approach to managing it.
    Again, at page 137, paragraph 741, Government proposed to deal with this problem first of all, by promulgating the National Plastic Management Policy and also develop accompanying implementation plan just in May, 2020.

    Indeed, it may interest you to know that Ghana is the first country to sign on to the National Plastics Action Partnership; therefore, it suggests to us that Government indeed has a certain commitment towards managing plastic waste and moving us towards the environmental sustainability dreams that we have.

    Mr Speaker, let me touch on a sensitive matter that deals with environmental financing. I have heard many Hon Colleagues argue, especially, when it comes to sanitation and pollution levy. I remember what former President John Agyekum Kufuor said some time ago that Ghanaians tend to know the cost of
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:59 p.m.
    Hon Member, thank you very much.
    Hon Members, we would suspend Sitting for one hour so we would return at 5.00 p.m.
    4.04 p.m. -- Sitting suspended.
    6.03 p.m. -- Sitting resumed.
  • [MR SECOND DEPUTY SPEAKER IN THE CHAIR.]
    • Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:59 p.m.
    Hon Members, you are welcome. We shall continue with the debate on the Motion we have on the Floor. It is the turn of --
    Mr James K. Avedzi 3:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I think we should have Hon Murtala Mohammed Ibrahim. If he is not here, then we would take Hon Sam George.
    Mr Haruna Iddrisu 3:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we had the honour of our own Leader to present the Budget Statement for and on behalf of the President and he is holding the fort for the Minister for Finance. On that day, we read on page 1 of the Budget Statement, three important documents laid; the Petroleum Revenues and its distributions; and the Annual Debt Report of which we need copies.
    He also laid the one in respect of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, but we need copies of the Annual Debt Report which was laid to guide our debate.
    Mr Speaker, we are asking you to find out from the acting Minister in charge of Finance or from the Table Office whether in fact, the Annual Report was laid, and if it was laid, they make copies available to us.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:59 p.m.
    Hon Majority Leader?
    Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, yes, indeed, I laid three documents; the Annual Report on Petroleum Funds; the Report on the Utilisation of the African Union Levies; and I also presented to the House the Annual Debt Report.
    Mr Speaker, on the content I spoke to eloquently, when I was about laying the Report, I got to know that there was a typographical error. So I laid it, and when my attention was drawn to the typographical error, I said we should look at it, correct it and resubmit it. I had assumed that it had been brought back. And if it has not been brought back, let me assure my colleague that, I am not sure that I can cause it to be done today. Hopefully, tomorrow, I should be able to do it. I would follow through it today.
    Mr Speaker, I thought my Hon Colleague, since he said he was on his feet to speak to this, he could have told me outside the Chamber. Does he need to get this into the Official Report?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:59 p.m.
    Thank you, Leaders. Let me now turn to Hon Samuel N. George to take the Floor.
    Mr Samuel Nartey George (NDC -- Ningo-Prampram) 3:59 p.m.
    Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
    I rise to contribute to the debate on the Budget Statement. I would be focusing on the communications area which would cover the Ministries of Information and Communications.
    Mr Speaker, if you look at the Ministry of Information, on page 112 and the information that has been put there, it is worthy of note that the Ministry is still talking about the passage of the Right to Information Act and the fact that after passing the Right to Information Act, this House passed it with a one-year incubation period to allow for His Excellency the President to put in place all the necessary mechanisms for the implementation of the Act. However, what we have seen is almost two years after the passage of the Act, we
    are still having conversations about a Board now being put in place barely two months to the election, and we are still having trainings going on.
    Mr Speaker, we would want to see real action being given to legislation from this House. It must not be that the Government Side is interested in passing legislation but not in giving life to that legislation. That must be a concern for every Hon Member of this House. Our work must not just be to pass legislation that would sit on the shelves but to pass legislations that would be active in serving the Ghanaian.
    Today, when you want to really utilise the Right to Information Act, there are stumbling blocks that are faced because even some of the agencies have still not been trained. The Budget is still talking about training and preparation of agencies of State to implement the Right to Information Act, two years on.
    The Hon Member for Suhum then was the one who pushed for a one- year moratorium so that the State could put in place all the mechanisms. It is two years now, and we are still unable to --
    rose
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 3:59 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Majority Leader?
    Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 3:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is not to contradict what
    my colleague and in-law is talking about, but just to let him know that I keep saying that the onus is on the committees. They do not need to wait until the Budget Statement is presented. The committees should trace and track the performance of the Ministries. This would have come out earlier than this. So while agreeing with him, the committees should act proactively, and we would save ourselves this situation of having to wait until after the Message on the State of the Nation is delivered or the Budget Statement is presented before we relate to these matters.
    We do not have to wait until this time. We should timeously raise them and get the House behind you in pushing for the proper thing to be done.
    Mr George 3:59 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am grateful for the support by the Hon Majority Leader. However, it is important to note that the committees at times are handicapped when they make requests of Ministers to present their reports. I have had cause on the floor of the House when the Hon Majority Leader presented a Business Statement to raise the issue that Ministers are not complying. It is not just the Ministry of Information but even the Ministry of Communications. For four years, not even one agency
    of the Ministry of Communications presented an annual report to this House, and we raised this severally.
    So we would want to see the Leader of Government Business compel his colleague Ministers to also perform their functions towards Parliament.
    Again, it is interesting that the Ministry of Information talks about communicating Government's response to COVID-19. This response, we have been told, has been excellent. In fact, it has been one of the best in the world, which is why management of COVID-19 in this country has been good.
    For a country that managed COVID-19 so well - the country that did not manage COVID-19 well are handing out stimulus and relief cheques to their citizens, yet the country that manged COVID-19 so well is rather going to tax its citizens for COVID-19. This is the wonder of the Akufo-Addo-led Government.
    This is the same Government that this year, in Appendix 6 on page 241, is allocating GH¢4 million for Government communication. Mr Speaker, this GH¢4 million for Government communication is separate from the allocation for the Ministry of Information. Last year, we asked a specific question: which Government agency is going to be
    Mr George 6:13 p.m.
    accessing this money? Last year, it was GH¢6 million, and I make reference to the 2020 Budget Statement, on page 233, Appendix 6, numbered item 16. Six million Ghana Cedis was allocated to Government Communication.
    I am at a loss. Apart from the Information Services Department (ISD), the Ministry of Information and its agencies, I am wondering who these Government communicators are. This is because we keep seeing several people speak for Government and on behalf of Government.

    In fact, one of them who before coming into Government, we would want to know if he is still one of the spokespersons making use of this GH¢6 million or going to make use of this GH¢4 million is Gabby Otchere-Darko who on 14 th September, 2015 posited as follows:

    “If running an economy was all about borrowing your way into an unsustainable debt hole, then any halfwit could be president.”

    We borrowed ourselves into an unsustainable debt hole. Are these the people who were spending six (6) million last year and we are going to

    spend four (4) million to do communication for us? Or even the then running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, said on the 2nd of December, 2015 that NDC had resorted to increasing taxes under the economic difficulties they created, and NPP Government would do differently. Are these now the spokespersons on whom we are going to spend GH¢4 million of taxpayers' money? We spent GH¢6 million on them last year. We need to know who and which people are benefitting from the GH¢6 million we spent last year on and the GH¢4 million we are going to spend this year. We need to know who these people are.
    Mr Annoh-Dompreh 6:13 p.m.
    On a point of Order. Mr Speaker, I heard the Hon Member make the point clearly that one of the beneficiaries of, in his own words, the GH¢6 million is Gabby Otchere-Darko. This is a House of record and it is important that my good friend substantiates this allegation. What is his basis for making this allegation? If he has no basis, then he better withdraw that allegation and go on with his submission. In fact, I am enjoying his submission and if he wants to be listened to, then he must do the needful by supporting the allegation with evidence of what he is alleging.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, are you prepared to give proof? Or withdraw that particular name and move on.
    Mr George 6:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Majority Chief Whip did not pay attention to me. I did not make a statement. I asked a question. I made reference to a statement by Mr Gabby Otchere-Darko and asked if these are some of the beneficiaries of the GH¢6 million that was allocated last year. It is up to the Ministry of Information, when it appears before the Committee, to substantiate this. It is a question. So if the Government side has an answer, they can give it to me but I am at liberty to question who the beneficiaries of the GH¢6 million are and the intended beneficiaries of the GH¢4 million this year.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, you can ask the question but I want you to withdraw that specific name and move on.
    Mr George 6:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am again drawing your attention to my time.
    Mr Speaker, are you asking me to withdraw a question?
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:13 p.m.
    Just do away with the name and go on.
    Mr Avedzi 6:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with the greatest respect, the Hon Member, in his contribution, did not understand certain things so he is putting it in a form of a question that with the statement made by Mr A, B or C, is it also something that can qualify him to be a beneficiary? If it is not, that ends it there.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:13 p.m.
    Hon Leader, I have understood it perfectly. I am saying that he can do with whatever question he wants to ask or frame but without a name. So he should just take out the name and move on.
    Mr George 6:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, out of respect for your office, I withdraw the name but I still believe that this House has a right to know who the beneficiaries of the GH¢6 million of the Ghanaian taxpayers' money were and the GH¢4 million allocated this year. We need to know which organ of state is withdrawing these moneys and disbursing these moneys. We need to know who it is. When one moves to the Ministry of Communications, which is now called the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and if we have allocated GH¢6 million previously, GH¢4 million this year which makes it GH¢10 million for Government Communications outside of the moneys that we are allocating to the Ministry, we need to begin to ask
    Mr Speaker, it is important that we realise that 6:13 p.m.
    None

    Mr Speaker, under your leadership as head of the Speakership, you suspended this House for three weeks because of COVID-19 and when you suspended this House, we

    could not have any e-sitting of this House but let me read to the surprise of Hon Members of Parliament, page 157, paragraph 857. The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation says they have completed an e- Parliament solution which focuses on e-Parliament Business Applications, Session Management Business Applications, Enterprise Content Management Applications and Media Monitoring Services.

    Mr Speaker, if this has been completed, why could we not have a virtual Sitting of this House? So we need to ask ourselves questions and this is a Government document. We need to be sure of the issues that are being raised and the claims that are being made in this documentation.

    Mr Speaker, Ghana Beyond Aid is the mantra of our President and his Government, yet, if we look at Appendix 4A on page 219, the Government of Ghana, with all of its resources and all of our beyond-aid approach are allocating a total of just around GH¢37,777,418 to the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation. The Ministry that is supposed to oversee our entire digitalisation drive. But look at what donor partners are giving to that same Ministry. Donor partners are giving GH¢249,933,322. Donor partners are giving to that Ministry almost eight

    times - 800 per cent more what the Akufo-Addo Government is putting in the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation. Let us ask ourselves what our priorities are. We are able to find 100 million to go and build a cathedral but we cannot put even a US$100 million in our digitalisation effort. It takes donor partners to give us that money. What is the priority of this Government?

    Mr Speaker, again, one looks through the Budget Statement and sees several state agencies having all kinds of digital interventions. What then is the purpose of the change of name of the Ministry if the Ministry's name is Communications and Digitalisation? What is the essence of it if we are not seeing the harnessing and synchronising of all these agenda under the ambit of that Ministry? Is the amorphous nature to allow for a lack of oversight on how state expenditure is going to be overseen?

    Mr Speaker, I think that it is most unfortunate and most unconscionable for us to sit in this House and allow any of these to go through. As a member of the Committee and as a Member of Parliament for Ningo- Prampram, I cannot for the life of me, imagine how the communication service tax -- remember a tax that this House would remember was

    increased from six (6) per cent to nine (9) per cent by the Akufo-Addo Government against good advice.
    Mr Afenyo-Markin 6:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have followed my Hon Colleague's submission and the aspect that he contends has to do with the funding for the National Cathedral, where he contends that the State has found resources through State coffers to fund same. I beg to submit that it is very misleading. If the Hon Member disagrees then he should point to the page where it is stated that Government through its limited resources is providing for the National Cathedral. I am not sure my Hon Colleague is now consulting for a clear position on this. This is because he has already spoken and the Hansard has captured it.
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:23 p.m.
    Hon Leader, could you pass it on to someone else, when he or she is making his submission? Let us allow the Hon Member to conclude.
    Hon Sam Nartey George, be winding-up.
    Mr George 6:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am grateful. But just to help the Hon Deputy Majority Leader, the relocation of the Passport Office by
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:23 p.m.
    Hon Member, it is now the turn of Hon Bryan Acheampong.
    Mr Bryan Acheampong (NPP -- Abetifi) 6:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to support the Motion on the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the Financial Year, 2021.
    Mr Speaker, I will stay away from the invitation by the Hon Ranking Member on the Communications Committee in the area that I would want to speak on, the propaganda and his lack of support for this visionary Budget Statement of the Government.
    Mr Speaker, a budget is a statement, an estimate of revenue and expenses, but it also gives direction as to where the Government or a body intends to go with its budget.
    Mr Speaker, on the communication front, this Wo nya wo hie Budget is one of the finest that I have seen because it clearly gives direction as to where we are as a country on ICT, what we are doing, projects that we are implementing and goals that we have set for 2021 and beyond.
    Mr Speaker, let me invite you to page 156 of the Budget Statement. It spells out clearly what actions
    Government is taking to prepare us to be relevant enough and build platforms that will make us competitive for the future.
    Mr Speaker, this Budget clearly sets a goal to implement the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy. If the Hon Ranking Member of the Committee on Communication and Digitalisation will listen, that is the objective in the communications arena.
    When it comes to the implementation of the National Digital Policy and Strategy, it talks about accelerating the implementation of the national digital platforms: the National Identification Card, the digital address, e-Government network, Open Data Policy, e-Parliament, secure border management, e-Justice, e-Cabinet and so on, they are all well listed in page 156 of the Budget Statement.
    Mr Speaker, on infrastructure, the Government sets out to continue with the 30-seater ICT laboratories that it is deploying across the country. The Government also sets out to expand the national fibre infrastructure to ensure that all district assemblies and all communities across the country are enrolled onto the National Super Highway ICT infrastructure.
    Mr Speaker, the Government is also expanding the rollout of the Rural Telephony Project. It is also rolling out
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:23 p.m.
    Hon Member, thank you very much for making it snappy. Now, we would welcome the Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa.
    Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (NDC -- North Tongu) 6:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am most grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the 2021 Budget as was presented by the sit-in Hon Minister for Finance, the Hon Kyei-Mensah- Bonsu.
    Mr Speaker, it is important to stress that this Budget was presented at a time that many Ghanaians thought that their Government would be caring, and considerate of the plight that they are in because of the hardship, the total deprivation, and the extreme hunger that we are in at the moment; the massive unemployment, the job losses and the pay cuts that
    the people of this country are wallowing in.
    Mr Speaker, I have been reading a report from the World Bank, titled the “The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Poverty”, published on the 11th of January, 2021, and it makes for interesting reading.
    The World Bank is using the term “pandemic induced new poor” that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had, particularly in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, a lot more people sliding into the extreme poverty bracket. They put the figure between 143 million to163 million. If we check the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) reports on budgets in this period, most countries are offering stimulus packages and reliefs.
    If we come to Africa, according to the IMF, Algeria in its budget has offered about 0.3 per cent of its GDP in excess of US$500 million to cushion the poor and the vulnerable. Benin has also offered about nine per cent of its GDP in relief. Burkina Faso has done US$650 million, which is about 4.5 per cent of its GDP, and Egypt has also done US$6.3 billion in its recent budget to cushion the poor because of the impact of the COVID- 19 Pandemic, and that is about 1.8 per cent of GDP. Morocco has done US$13.2 billion by way of relief packages, and that is 11.1 per cent of their GDP.
    Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (NDC -- North Tongu) 6:43 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, we do know that if we go to the West, President Joe Biden is currently on a tour celebrating his amount of US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Plan, what he calls the “America Rescue Plan Act”. Japan has done ¥111. 1 trillion, and that is 20.9 per cent of its GDP. Canada has done 18.5 per cent of its GDP and Australia has also done 13.75 per cent of its GDP. I can go on and on.
    Perhaps, Ghana would go down in history as the only country that its Government is imposing taxes and further hardships on its people in these times. We read the international literature and no country is doing that. Governments are rather offering a helping hand, and not seeking to further impoverish the people who are struggling, and who are reeling under this economic recession that we face.
    Mr Speaker, having said that, I also thought that the Budget missed some wonderful opportunities that we should really have expected the Akufo-Addo-led Government to latch on to. The first one is the opportunity that the COVID-19 response offered us to revive the textile industry, for example. I expected to see in the Budget, a strong stimulus package for the textile industry, who were responsible for the local production
    of Personal Protective Apparels (PPAs). I have one in my constituency, the Juapong Textiles, which is struggling. They are currently operating at below 30 per cent capacity. My neighbours in Asuogyaman, the Akosombo Textiles, are also struggling, and have had to lay off workers. One would have thought that we would use the opportunity of the COVID-19 response to revive the local textile industry, to revive cotton farming in our country, create jobs, and present a stimulus package to the local textile industry, but we did not do that which is a missed opportunity.
    Mr Speaker, another missed opportunity is the refusal to support local innovators. This has been a time that despite all the pain, sufferings and the debts, we have seen local innovators like the KNUST Incas Innovation, manufacturing rapid diagnostic test kits, the Redbird Health Technology, the Adventure Thrill Company Limited's technology, as well as the affordable ventilators that Professor Fred Mcbagonluri and his students at Academic City College manufactured, and Tim Marvel Cognate Systems. There is a tall list of Ghanaian innovators, who have reached into the deep to make us proud. They have even attracted international acclaim, but we go
    through our Budget, and there has been no support so far offered to local innovators, who we should be thinking about. This was an opportunity, and as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. We could have used this opportunity to support the local industry, we would have created new brands,

    It would have led to job creation and through that, we would have come out of this pandemic and out of this economic recession stronger than before. That is another missed opportunity.

    Mr Speaker, I now want to move on to paragraph 514 on page 101 of the Budget Statement. I noticed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) has reported that they were coordinated for the successful evacuation of over 10,000 stranded Ghanaian nationals during this period.

    Mr Speaker, this is a vindication of our Side. When we started calling for evacuations, we were called all kinds of names, and were vilified and told that it was a reckless call, but I am glad that paragraph 514 has confirmed that indeed, a lot of our

    compatriots were stranded out there, and they needed help. When the Ministry decided to reach out to them, you see the numbers. Over 10,000 Ghanaians were stranded and needed assistance.
    rose
    Mr Ablakwa 6:43 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, if you go to page 273 of the Budget Statement --
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:43 p.m.
    Hon Member, just hold on please.
    Mr Annoh-Dompreh 6:43 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my good Friend, the former and still the Hon Ranking Member for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and I have done a lot of work together. I recall he made the call for the evacuation of Ghanaians, and the records will prove me right that I supported him through and through. Indeed, Ghanaians across the globe needed to be evacuated, but nobody called anybody names. I recall the emphasis was on ensuring that we respected the protocols of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and that we were to make sure that it was all clear in order not to exacerbate the situation.
    I am enjoying my Hon Colleague's contribution, but he seemed to be veering into controversies and
    Mr Second Deputy Speaker 6:43 p.m.
    Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa, you may continue, but before then, the Rt Hon Speaker, will take the Chair.
  • [MR SPEAKER IN THE CHAIR.]
    • Mr Ablakwa 6:46 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, these are public records. He, at some point, came around, but the fact of the matter remains that a lot of Government communicators took us to the cleaners, but there is no hard feeling at all. I am glad that we stand vindicated today.
    Mr Speaker, you would notice in item numbered 5 of Appendix 12A, “Status of COVID-19 Alleviation Programme Cap 1” at page 273, whereas in the Budget Statement on page 101, we are told that over 10,000 Ghanaians were successfully evacuated, but when it comes to the accounting, how the money was spent, only 2,221 returnees have been accounted for. Mr Speaker, we would need to know what accounted for this gap. We would need to know why the over 7,000 returnees have not been accounted for in this Budget
    Statement, and we would demand accountability moving forward.
    Mr Speaker, there is a very fundamental issue that we need to confront, and that is, all of this talk about deficit and the need to pluck holes and so, we are imposing taxes, the irony is that, this is a Government that came to power promising to move us from taxation to production.
    Now, we have moved from taxation to more taxation. Mr Speaker, my worry is that, in all of these debates, we have not heard of a conscious effort to cut down expenditure. If you are in deep hole, and can no longer live within your means, what you do is that you must make a conscious effort to cut down expenditure.
    Having gone through this Budget Statement, you would see that whereas they have told people to tighten their belts, in the items I have analysed, as for the Government and its expenditure, they do not have belts at all. They do not even have belt holes, but they say the people should tighten their belts.
    Mr Speaker, I hold in my hand the Daily Graphic of today, Wednesday, 17th March, 2021, and the former Hon Minister for Finance granted an exclusive interview to the Paper. The essence of the interview says “Join forces to rebuild economy -- Ken
    Ofori-Atta”. He called on the Ghanaian people to join forces. It is a good call, but we would want to see if Government itself is leading by example.
    Mr Speaker, I have selected five items. The first item is the Office of Government Machinery compensation or salaries which can be found at page 242 of the 2021 Budget Statement. Mr Speaker, with your permission, come along with me to Appendix 7, “MDA Staff Establishment and Cost”. You would notice that the 2021 cost for compensation for salaries is a whopping GH¢823,880,668. Mr Speaker, this is such a huge jump from GH¢136 million in 2020. What has accounted for this huge jump?
    In the 2020 Budget Statement, it was GH¢136 million. In the year 2021, when all others have been told to tighten their belts, let us bear with Government, let us join hands to rebuild the economy, yet, we have a difference of GH¢687,668,117. That is over GH¢680 million, and yet, the budget of Parliament and the Parliamentary Service has been cut by more than GH¢100 million. The budget of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service has been cut. Everybody is taking cuts, even unconstitutional cuts,
    cuts without permission, and yet, as for the Government, it continues to just feed fat and expanding.
    Mr Speaker, there is a second example. Please come with me to page 226 of the Budget Statement. You would be shocked to realise that from the appendix provided at page 226, you would see a list of COVID- 19 expenses. The last item under entry 45 is “Other Critical Spending”, and you have a colossal GH¢500 million with no explanation or breakdown. We are not told what it is used for; it is just “Other Critical Spending”. What would that GH¢500 million be used for?
    Mr Speaker, if you look at that same page 226, for the contingency vote, Government has allocated to itself, at the time it has told everybody else that there is no money, the contingency vote is GH¢186 million.
    Mr Speaker, I have done a trend analysis. The contingency vote of the NDC when we were in power under President Mahama was GH¢78 million in 2016. It has continued to rise and now, it is GH¢186 million at a time Government has told Parliament and Judiciary to take cuts and cannot take care of the concerns of workers, there are no opportunities for stimulus or relief package, yet, the contingency vote has been increased to GH¢186 million.
    Mr Ablakwa 6:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the fourth item -- if you would come with me to page 224. I am still on the expenditure side. I argue that the people of this country could have been spared the taxes, the extra hardship that has been imposed, if the Government had decided to cut down on expenditure.

    Mr Speaker, on page 224 of the Budget, you would notice that goods and services for the Office of Government Machinery has again been increased from GH¢356 million in 2020 to GH¢501 million.
    Mr Speaker 6:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Mr Ablakwa 6:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, from GH¢356 million to GH¢501 million is an increase of GH¢144 million in terms of real figures. Then the fifth item, Government Communication is at GH¢4 million on page 241. Just these five items I have selected, add up to GH¢1.52 billion.
    This Government is refusing to cut expenditure and also tighten its belt, yet it is imposing the burden on the people. It is not sharing the burden with us and this is why we on this Side cannot support these draconian and
    regressive taxes and taxes that would further impoverish the people and create hardships. We should learn from other jurisdictions who are offering relief packages and are not imposing taxes and further impoverishing the people.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity.
    Mr Speaker 6:53 p.m.
    I am reliably informed that it is the turn of Mr Peter Amewu.
    Mr John Peter Amewu (NPP -- Hohoe) 6:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for granting me this opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
    This year's Budget, as we are all aware, has conformed to all the necessary regulatory frameworks that would mandate a Budget for a country like Ghana, especially so in accordance with the 1992 Constitution. The Budget has laid down some solid policies and strategies that in the view of the Government would trigger an increase in national income for the benefit of all citizens. The strategies underpinning this year's policy document as we have here today are really robust and firm. It is firm in the sense that accurate execution of those policies would trigger the growth as I stated earlier.
    Mr Speaker, before I comment on some of the important policies, I would want to refer my Hon Colleagues on the other Side to page 3 of the Budget Statement. My very good friend, Hon Ablakwa spoke with regard to the Budget and the indication he pointed out clearly to this House is that Government had not taken care of its citizens during the COVID-19 period.
    Mr Speaker, page 3 of the Budget Statement laid out clearly emergency preparedness and response as well as the Corona Alleviation Programme. In that statement, a number of activities were undertaken. I would mention a few.
    “Mr Speaker, through Government's Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP I & II) as well as the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP), we undertook the following measures:
    provided financial clearance to employ additional 24,285 health professionals between March and June to help fight the pandemic;
    provided 3.6 million reusable face masks, 50,000 medical scrubs, 90,000 hospital gowns
    and head covers to health facilities as at June, 2020;
    provided 50 per cent of basic salary as allowances for frontline health workers;
    waived Income Tax for all healthcare workers;
    waived Income Tax on the 50 per cent additional allowances paid to frontline health workers;
    absorbed the transport cost and cost of sustenance for contact tracers and field surveillance officers;
    fully covered water consumption for all Ghanaians from April to December, 2020;
    fully covered the power consumption of the over 1 million lifeline customers, and subsidised the consumption of all other customers by 50 per cent”
    If most of my good friends sitting on the other Side of the House go back to their April to December electricity bills, they would see clear indications of Government's commitment in terms of funds that were used for poverty alleviation in the electricity sector.
    Mr Speaker, Government continues to provide 6:53 p.m.
    “a GH¢100 million Fund for Labour and Faith-Based Organisations for retraining and skills development;
    fumigated schools, hospitals, markets and lorry parks”.
    Government has extended these services to all the other sectors.
    Mr Speaker, page 3 of this document clearly spells out those activities undertaken by this Government, so nowhere can anybody stand to condemn this Budget as not being sensitive to the Ghanaian people.
    The Budget has set out very clear objectives and priorities and I would be speaking with regard to the power sector. In 2020, the excess supply over demand that we had in this country became an issue for Ghana and all the other surrounding countries that consume power from Ghana. The addition of 200 megawatts Amandi and 200 Eni power plants would have pushed our current in-stock capacity to 5,222. If you look at page 140 of the Budget, Government has spelt out policy directives that would make it possible for Ghanaians to reduce the burden of the excess capacity.
    Mr Speaker, this year's Budget continues to introduce stringent measures to reduce those excess capacity. I beg to read from page 140, item numbered 757.
    Mr Speaker 6:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, are you referring to paragraph 757 or item numbered 757?
    Mr Amewu 6:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I am referring to page 140, paragraph
    757.
    Mr Speaker 6:53 p.m.
    You rather said item numbered 757.
    Mr Amewu 7:03 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for that correction. I beg to quote:
    “Government continues to enforce the moratorium on the signing of new PPAs, GSAs, Put-Call Option Agreements (“PCOAs”) and any long-term take-or-pay contracts until further notice or unless properly exempted by Government on a case-by-case basis.”
    Mr Speaker, other measures include renegotiation of PPAs, introduction of competition in generations, deferments and terminations of Power Purchase Agreements and moratoriums on long- term take-or-pay contracts.
    If these measures had not been put in place in this particular year, 1000 megawatts of additional capacity would be added to our in-store capacity. What that means is that today, our in-store capacity would be in the range of about 6000 megawatts.
    In any regime that demand constraints are not considered in bringing an additional capacity generation, there is always a problem. The introduction of these measures in this year's Budget by this Government, would therefore reduce the access cost of capacity that we have been confronted with in the past.

    Mr Speaker, the power growth in this country in terms of demand on yearly basis is 200 megawatts per annum. What it means is that any rigid regime that wants to introduce supply must be able to do so in the sense that supply meets demand. We cannot estimate 200 megawatts growth of demand and add 1000 megawatts supply. Who would pay for the additional 800 megawatts? This is what this year's Budget Statement seeks to address.
    rose
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, just a minute. An Hon Member is on his feet.
    Hon Member, make sure you are on a point of Order.
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise on Standing Order 93.
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    All right, read it.
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rise on Order 91 (a), which says:
    “Debates may be interrupted --
    (a) by a point of order being raised.''
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Member mentioned two power plants --
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, please, take your time.
    Hon Member, you made reference to Order 91 (a), so which Order has been breached?
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Order
    30.
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, read it.
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rose on Order 91(1) to interrupt the debate
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.


    because the Hon Member is misleading the House.
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, what Order has been breached?
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Order 30(f).
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    Order 30(f), is deliberate misleading of Parliament and that constitutes a breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament. Is that your intention?
    Mr Buah 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I rose on Order 91 and I want to quote Order 92 (a) which says:
    “by rising to a point of order, that is, where any of these Orders is alleged to have been infringed, whereupon the Member speaking shall resume his seat and the Member interrupting shall simply direct attention to the point which he desires to bring to notice and submit it to Mr Speaker…''
    Mr Speaker, that is exactly what I have done.
    Mr Speaker 7:03 p.m.
    I have to ask the Hon Member whether he is prepared to --?
    Hon Member, you may continue.
    Mr Amewu 7:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the growth in our energy demand in Ghana is about 200 megawatts and for increase in our energy mix, there must be an attempt by any particular government to make sure that supply must grow to meet demand.
    In any system of power planning that demand is not taken into consideration to address or welcome supply, it is not a good energy governance. This Budget Statement, as I pointed out, has done exactly what we call “good energy governance''. We have considered the growth in demand and matched up with supply. A regime where 1000 megawatts of power could be supplied in a year when demand grows 200 megawatts, is very irresponsible governance in the energy sector.
    Mr Speaker, the measures that have been put in this year's Budget Statement would definitely maximise the level of national income and it would promote economic growth to raise the utilities standard and also the average Ghanaians at the --
    The Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam is an innovation in this country and in the sub-region. The rationale for that dam is not only an addition of a generational capacity but its mandate and core
    reason is for flood control and also for the purpose of irrigation.
    The addition of renewable as a proportion of the energy mix, is a commitment by this Government to reduce the impact that we have on the climate change.
    One very important policy direction and action strategy this Budget Statement sought to address was the imbalances in our grid. Today, most of our power plants are located in the southern part of this country, and if we want to transport power from the south to the north, it travels through a medium and by that purpose of transmission there would be several loses which is called “transmission loses''. This Budget Statement has come out clearly to state that Ameri Plant that is allocated in the south must be moved to Kumasi in the northern part of this country to stabilise the grid.
    Mr Speaker, stabilisation of the grid is a key index of our power consumption because it reduces cost to the consumers and reduces the cost of transmission. The loses in terms of both distribution and transmission today is between 25 and 30 per cent. What it means is that 25 per cent of the power that we generate today have not been paid for. With this Budget Statement and the thinking of
    this Government, we have minimised those loses.
    Mr Speaker, the reduction in the cost of the capacity places some reduced burden on the Government's already burdened revenue position. So, this Budget Statement would create more fiscal space for cost of items that would be paid for and not consumed, and those costs in terms of revenue would be directly used to do other things that are very important.
    Mr Speaker, one of the difficulties in the energy sector over the period is the transmission challenge. Most of our lines have been obsolete and this has contributed to transmission and distribution loses. Last year, this Government has pumped US$100 million into the distribution sector to change most of these obsolete equipment. Most of these equipment had stayed for 50 years without being changed and these were the factors that contributed to the distribution loses that we talked about.
    Mr Speaker, we cannot sit as Ghanaians and every time that we need power, we run to supply and tell them to bring us power. That cannot be a responsible energy planning. What this Government seeks to do is to question demand and ask demand to also be responsible, and that is why this Budget Statement clearly stated
    Mr Amewu 7:13 p.m.
    in page 144 “demand side management and energy efficiency'' that would be introduced. Over 10 million energy saving bulbs have been distributed in this country as part of the “demand side management''. This is a responsible Government.
    Mr Speaker, today, in Ghana, the word dumsor has become a thing of the past. The prolonged dumsor - the Hon Minority Leader, has the word -adum dum what? We do not see that any longer. With just a press of a button the lights are on.

    His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed that at all times in this country, the lights must be on and that is exactly what this Budget seeks to do.

    Mr Speaker, the provisions for the replacement of high pressure sodium bulbs with modern ones is something everyone can see. I do not know the last time my good Friends, Hon Bawa and Hon Ablakwa travelled on the Tema Motorway but for the first time in the history of this country, one can drive on the Motorway without their headlights and this is what we called a responsible government --
    Mr Speaker 7:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, just a minute.
    Dr Sebastian Sandaare 7:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my concern is on the grounds of health. The Hon Member is shouting --
    Mr Speaker 7:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, you do not interrupt debate on health grounds.
    Dr Sandaare 7:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Member has no mask on and he is shouting.
    Mr Speaker 7:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, you do not interrupt debate on health grounds. You are out of order. Please, Hon Member, you may continue.
    Mr Amewu 7:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the amendment of the Renewable Bill, 2020 and the Amendment of the Bui Power Authority Bill is a good direction for this country and that is the way to go. This Budget Statement has again, clearly spelt out the direction intent of the Renewable Bill. The completion of the renewable generation sector is clearly an indication of Government's position on the renewable sector.
    Today, the Seat of Government which we call the Jubilee House which used to be the Flagstaff House is feeding on renewable energy and the
    Government is to be commended for this.
    The renewable project that has been introduced as captured on page 142 of the Budget Statement clearly points us to that direction. As I have already stated, the renewable projects are in line with Government policy of increasing its renewable contribution to the energy sector in this country. With regard to the energy sector, this Budget Statement -
    Mr Speaker 7:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, in conclusion?
    Mr Amewu 7:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, this Budget Statement with regard to the power sector in this country, is one of the best Budget Statements that any Government can prepare for its citizens. It is a Budget Statement that we can count on; one that can ensure that we are able to iron our clothes in the morning before we come to work. This is a Budget Statement that will make our wives not leave home because there is no light. It has come to resolve family issues that in the past women, for some reasons, will leave home to go and watch television in other houses.
    I ask all my Hon Colleagues on the other Side --
    Mr Speaker 7:13 p.m.
    Hon Members, I have a long list here and I do not know who is next from the left Side.
    Mr James K. Avedzi 7:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is Hon Murtala Mohammed.
    Mr Speaker 7:13 p.m.
    Yes, Hon Murtala Mohammed Ibrahim?
    Alhaji Murtala M. Ibrahim (NDC -- Tamale Central) 7:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the debate and the absolute rejection of what was presented to us by the caretaker Minister for Finance.
    Mr Speaker, we do understand that it is a constitutional obligation that before any President expends a dime of the State, it ought to be approved by this House, and the people of this country expect us to do the needful. We are not just to approve any Budget Statement but one that takes their plight, frustrations and sufferings into consideration.
    Before I get into the reasons for which I think that this Budget Statement should be resoundingly rejected, let me remind my Hon Colleague, the former Minister for Energy, that candour and sincerity matter in this House. The good people of this country are watching us live and
    Alhaji Murtala M. Ibrahim (NDC -- Tamale Central) 7:23 p.m.
    the least they expect from us is not to be economical with the truth, particularly when the facts are bare.
    Mr Speaker, the very document which we all use and I urge my Hon Friend to open to page 142, paragraph 770. What he claimed has been completed by the Jubilee House - in fact, this same document stated palpably clear - if he cannot see properly, I can lend him spectacles. Perhaps, the shades are not doing him any good. What he claimed to be completed by the Jubilee House is 60 per cent complete and so, how on earth could something up to 60 per cent complete produce the necessary energy to supply - I urge him that after today, he should go and sin no more, and be truthful to the people of this country because that is what this House expects.
    So, for him to see these palpable facts and then decide to be economical with the truth, can only be described as nothing but concocted facts by a desperate government that is not -- I can understand why sometimes, they cling to such falsehood like a drunkard who clings to a shade on a stormy day.
    Mr Speaker, I went through the Budget Statement, specifically on a matter that deals with trade. I could
    come to only one conclusion that either this Government does not understand the concept of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) or they are simply not prepared and as a citizen of this country, I get extremely worried.
    If, with a policy like this, government says that they are going to take advantage of the AfCFTA without telling us how they are going to harness the opportunities therein, I shudder to think that we may suffer despite the euphoria and jamboree with which they welcomed the establishment of the Secretariat in Ghana. We may not reap anything positive out of it.
    Mr Speaker, perhaps, with your permission, I would like to take my Hon Colleagues through so that they can have a proper appreciation of what the AfCFTA stands for.
    With the pharmaceutical industry, it does not mean that with the establishment of the Secretariat, we stand to benefit. What it simply means is that tariffs and restrictions that would otherwise have prevented other pharmaceutical companies from operating in Ghana, because of what we passed, the International Trade Commission Act -- by the way, it eluded the NPP from the year 2000 to 2008 -- because we passed this
    Act to provide some restrictions on our domestic industries, when we have this in place, our domestic companies cannot compete with pharmaceutical companies from Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa that are bigger and produce at a lower cost. Therefore, they can come and produce or sell their items here and enjoy the same tarrifs as imposed on our domestic industries and because they can produce and enjoy economies of scale, our domestic industries may not be able to compete with them.

    Mr Speaker, what former President Mahama did and perhaps, you could have asked the former Hon Minister for Trade - at least, former Hon Deputy Ministers like myself, Hon(s) Nii Lante Vanderpuye and Rickets-Hagan, could have helped. President Mahama gave direct financial assistance to selected pharmaceutical companies and the facts are very clear; they expanded and in fact, the reason he did that was because the WHO stated that the pharmaceutical products that the pharmaceutical companies in Ghana were producing met the WHO standards. What they only needed was the financial muscle to expand so that they could compete and produce

    enough to feed the domestic market and also provide some for the sub- regional market.

    Mr Speaker, it was not for nothing that in 2016, the Ghana intra-trade within the West African sub-region was around 34 per cent to 36 per cent. When we find out from our Hon Friends, the country's position in intra-trade within the sub-region, we would realise that there is absolutely nothing. We are only going back and not moving forward. Mr Speaker, when I checked that particular document, I realised that everything about this Government is either --
    Mr Speaker 7:23 p.m.
    Hon Member, hold on.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
    Mr Afenyo-Markin 7:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for recognising me.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Colleague on his feet is in breach of Standing Order 93(2) which with your leave I beg to quote the Order: “The speech of a Member -
    Mr Speaker 7:23 p.m.
    Hon Member, you said Standing Order 93(2) so read it.
    Mr Afenyo-Markin 7:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would read it but firstly, I
    Mr Speaker 7:23 p.m.
    Hon Deputy Majority Leader, you are completely out of Order. Luckily, when an Hon Member is not speaking, the time is put on hold for the Hon Member. Hon Member, so not even a second was taken out of your time so you can proceed.
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I can understand the heckling but I would continue because we have had a long day today. Mr
    Speaker, I would keep on telling the facts because I read this particular document. The truth hurts.
    Mr Speaker, one thing I have realised is that we have been inundated with promises upon promises and how the 1D1F has yielded and created jobs in this country. On my way to the House, I checked the website of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and I can assure my Hon Friends that the unemployment rate in this country as at today is 6.8 per cent.
    In 2016, it was 6.7 per cent, in 2017 it was 6.6 per cent - and it is very clear that the measures that the NDC put in place in 2016 yielded the 6.6 per cent we had. Today, it is 6.8 per cent, yet we are being told in this House and in the State of the Nation Address that as a result of the 1D1F Programme a lot of jobs have been created for the people of this country.
    Mr Speaker, we were also told, and it has been captured in the Budget Statement, that the Government of Ghana has produced enough food. Mr Speaker, permit me to make references to a statement made by the former Hon Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon Ahomka- Lindsey. In addressing the Thailand Business Committee, he indicated palpably without any force that we spent over US$1.1 billion in importing
    rice last year alone. Mr Speaker, in fact, the former Hon Minister for Finance, who by the way is the only person qualified to be Hon Minister for Finance - I wish him speedy recovery because the entire nation is waiting for just one person and this same person we are waiting for also indicated that the Government of Ghana spent US$2.4 billion to import food into this country. Yet, we are being told in this document that as a result of the 1D1F and the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme, there is enough food for everybody in this country. Mr Speaker, this is like the trickster in the open market who wants to con people in the presence of people who have been tricked before. We have been tricked in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We were not smart enough but we are now conscious of those tricks, yet they still want to pull a trick on us but the good people of this country are well aware.
    Mr Speaker, I took this document and I was wondering why corruption did not find much space. Mr Speaker, permit me to read what this Government said in 2017 when they were addressing this House. I beg to quote paragraph 883 of the 2017 Financial Statement:
    “Mr Speaker, as we have said severally, “corruption holds back economic growth, increases the cost of doing business, reduces revenue to the state, leads to capital flight, and inflates the cost of running government. It also results in a loss of legitimacy and respect for legally constituted authority”.
    Mr Speaker, for emphasis, “It also results in a loss of legitimacy and respect for legally constituted authority”. On the basis of this same quotation, President Akufo-Addo and his entire Government have lost the right to lead this country because they made this statement.
    One thing I have realised is that, repeatedly, almost every year, they talk about institutions that are supposed to be fighting corruption. Specifically, the National Anti- Corruption Action Plan and if I check the Budget Statements that have been presented, apart from these strong words that have been stated in the 2017 Budget Statement, the other Budget Statements from 2018 to 2021 only tells us the anti-corruption institutions that are supposed to fight corruption.
    Mr Speaker 7:23 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:23 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, what the people of this
    Mr Speaker 7:23 p.m.
    It is now the turn of Hon Stephen Amoah.
    Dr Stephen Amoah (NPP -- Nhyiaeso) 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to what have already been said by Hon Colleagues on the 2021 Budget Statement.

    Mr Speaker, I would concentrate on the most controversial issue, which is the tax policy that we were all told in the Budget Statement. However, before then, it is extremely interesting that some of us who just joined the House, when we read some extracts from the Public Financial Management Act of, 2016 (Act 921), what it tells

    us and the way some of our colleagues from the other Side are debating, I get a bit confused simply because section 18(1) stipulates the suspension of fiscal targets under those conditions that we experience now as a result of a public health issue either epidemic or pandemic which we are experiencing.

    So, if one would even want to debate outside the context prescribed by our own legal system, I get a bit worried. Are we really having this nation at heart? Are we being realistic or we are just doing propaganda politics? In this 21st Century, let us all try to reduce this amount of propaganda politics and address issues in a way that would foster this country forward.

    Mr Speaker, surprisingly enough, after importing credibility policy, whose interest rate or exchange rate made my brothers' Government freeze public sector employment for about four years, hampering productivity and destroying the economy, leaving 3.4 per cent, what were they expecting? What I am even more astonished about is the fact that they introduced about 10 different tax components and imposed them on us. If it is not true, they should tell us that under their regime, they did not increase VAT rate from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent in 2014, they imposed

    five per cent VAT on real estate, imposed 17.5 per cent tax on pharmaceuticals, the one that Hon Murtala surprisingly was not even ashamed to talk about; imposing 17.5 per cent tax on financial services; imposing 17.5 per cent tax on entertainment in 2014 and imposing 17.5 per cent tax on even gymnasium; imposing 15 per cent capital gain tax on petroleum operations in 2013; reintroducing five per cent fiscal stabilisation levy in 2013; imposition of special import levy of 1 to 2 per cent?
    rose
    - 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Hon Member, hold on. I see you referred to one of your colleagues, and so he is up on his feet.
    Yes, Hon Member, any point of order?
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I come under Order 92. [Laughter]Mr Speaker, it is Order
    91(1).
    Mr Speaker; Hon Member, be specific. Is it Order 91 or 92?
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is 91(a). It is Order 91(1) (a) [Laughter.] Where is my Standing Orders? Give it to me.
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Order 91(a)?
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    So you are raising a point of order?
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:33 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Which Order has been breached?
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Order 30(f)?
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    [Laughed.]
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, my friend, the Hon Member is so in love with me. He cannot even make a comment without mentioning my name. And I thought he could have made his point -[Laughter.]
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Hon Member, resume your seat. There is a Standing Order for that, but you are not mentioning the Standing Order, and so resume your seat. [Laughter.]
    Dr S. Amoah 7:33 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    I think the most dangerous weapon in the world is the truth and no shield, it does not matter what is made of in
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Hon Member, hold your breath.
    Yes, any point of order?
    Mr Bawa 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
    Mr Speaker, I am fortified by Standing Orders 91(1) and 30(f). Standing Order 30(f) talks about deliberately misleading the House. My Hon Colleague indicates that the NDC Government introduced the Fiscal Stabilisation Levy, but as we speak today, the impression he is creating is that the particular levy does not exist. As we speak today, that levy is part of the set of levies that have -
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Hon Member, he is not creating that impression. He is just talking about introduction. He is not saying it is not in existence. He said it was introduced.
    Mr Bawa 7:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, all those levies he mentioned had sunset clauses to them.
    Mr Speaker 7:33 p.m.
    Hon Members, the issue he is addressing is this; there is an argument from the left Side that this Government has introduced so many taxes. He is talking about introduction, and so he is trying to counter by saying that when you were in Government, you introduced more taxes than what they have done today in this Budget. This is all what he is raising.
    Please, Hon Member, continue.
    Dr S. Amoah 7:43 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Speaker, not only that, after increasing taxes to that unprecedented levels, as social democrats whose main economic policy adoption is to embark on contractionary fiscal policies that would enable them implement pro-poor policies, interestingly enough, most of all the remarkable pro-poor policies that have been implemented in our country that have national and international character and tenacity, none of them was implemented by them either in cash or in kind; Free SHS, no; LEAP, no; School Feeding Programme, no; and nothing. So the question to them is; what is their major economic policy direction? This is because, they are not capitalist.
    Mr Speaker, putting that aside, I would want to put it to my friends, the Hon Members of the Minority and anybody in Ghana here, respectfully called economic expert that in times such as this, what is the best economic policy to helping the situation we are having? Others are talking about expansionary fiscal policies, which is rather a tactical drift policy.

    I am saying this simply because we rather even adopt expansionary fiscal policies but that policy's output can be felt within two to three years. As we are talking now, we need a short term policy and for that matter, we need a mixture of small amounts of contractionary fiscal policies and large amounts of expansionary fiscal policy to take a long term effect.

    Mr Speaker, at the same time, they are complaining that our debt levels are going beyond 70 per cent of our GDP. So, in terms of capital structure of any government in the world, comprising revenue in the area of taxes, debt, royalties, and so on. If the debt levels are going up and we need to maintain fiscal policy credibility, the ones they could not and for that matter imported them from outside if we are supposed to do that, what we need to do is to work on expenditure but also increase taxation or taxes in a short term. That is the mark of any good government or leader.

    Under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, we have seen all these pragmatic measures and then they know that we are better managers of the economy. I am telling them that any attempt to resist generation of revenues through the tax arm would be described in management as strategic drift or rather
    Mr Speaker 7:43 p.m.
    Hon Member, conclude.
    Dr S. Amoah 7:43 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, we can assure them that by the end of the year, they would join us in praising God because of the good policies in the Budget.

    Because your grammar is not good. I am sorry.
    Mr M. M. Ibrahim 7:43 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, the Hon Member said something which was in the microphone and I think that it is important he retracts. He said “exercise tax” and as far as I am concerned, there is nothing like “exercise tax”. It has nothing to do with
    grammar. It simply has to do with appreciating that there is nothing like “exercise tax” and I just wanted clarification. What has that got to do with grammar? The difference is that I attended a “syto” school but I am here sharing in this Chamber and the last thing I would do is to describe a tax as “exercise tax”. There is nothing like that. Then we must as well have “gym tax” and “keep-fit tax”. He ought to withdraw and apologise.
    Mr Speaker 7:43 p.m.
    Hon Member, I think there was a slip somewhere so I would expect you to do the honourable thing then we move on.
    Dr S. Amoah 7:43 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I did not mean any insolence and for that matter, I withdraw and apologise.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Speaker 7:43 p.m.
    Thank you so much.
    Hon Members, when you finish your submission, make sure you put off your microphone before you talk. It is the microphone that exposed him, if not, you would not have heard anything. [Laughter] -- So Hon Murtala Ibrahim took advantage of it. But please, we are not at war with one another. It is just sharing ideas and trying to see how we can together carve a common path. So, as I keep on saying, we have agreed to disagree
    Mr Emmanuel K. Bedzrah (NDC -- Ho West) 7:53 p.m.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to also add my voice to the debate.
    Mr Speaker, the Motion before us is to approve Government's Budget Statement and Economic Policy, which was presented by no other person but the caretaker Minister for Finance, a senior Hon Member of this House.
    Mr Speaker, I want to salute him for standing on his feet for a period of about three hours delivering the Budget Statement and Economic Policy to us.
    Mr Speaker, he christened this Budget, “Won ya wor hie” Budget but scanning through it, it is rather sad to say that our Hon Senior Colleague should have said, “won ya wo see” -
    - to wit, we are going back and not going forward.
    Mr Speaker, I say so because this very Budget that has been presented to us --

    I have just noticed one thing that this Government has not been truthful to Ghanaians at all. On page 153, table 25: Ongoing road projects. For the first time, if you look at Ho-Fume Road, 18.4Kms and the Budget Statement says, it is 93 per cent complete. I was shocked to the bone, Mr Speaker. This project was completed and inaugurated by H. E. John Dramani Mahama in 2015. [Hear! Hear!] It has found itself in the Budget Statement. It could be nothing but complete falsehood. I would want to urge my Hon Colleague from this Side to reject this Budget Statement not because of the falsehood, but a lot of things are not right.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to speak on only two items 7:53 p.m.
    infrastructure. I will look at the housing and water sectors. Looking at the Budget Statement, Government machinery has allocated close to GH¢2.6 billion to only Office of the President and that is just one office. When you look at the whole of the
    infrastructural subsector which has six Ministries --
    Mr Speaker 7:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, just a minute.
    Mr Mustapha Ussif 7:53 p.m.
    On a point of order. Mr Speaker, my Senior Colleague is grossly misleading the House about information on the stretch of the road.
    Mr Speaker 7:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, you said you are rising on a point of order. Can you refer to the Standing Order? The Order which gives you the authority to rise up.
    Mr Ussif 7:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, it is the information --
    Mr Speaker 7:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, you are not contributing to the debate; you are rising on a point of order. Tell us the Order that has been breached.
    Mr Ussif 7:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Order 91 (a).
    Mr Speaker 7:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, what does it say?
    Mr Ussif 7:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, with your permission, I beg to quote:
    “Debates may be interrupted by a point of order being raised”.
    Mr Speaker, I am rising on this Order.
    Mr Speaker 7:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, so which Order has been breached?
    Mr Ussif 7:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, because he is misleading this House. [Laughter]
    Mr Speaker 7:53 p.m.
    Hon Member, is that the Order? -- [Laughter]
    Hon Member resume your seat.
    Yes, Hon Member for Ho West, continue.
    Mr Bedzrah 7:53 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, Government machinery which is just one sector has been allocated with GH¢2.6 billion while the whole infrastructure which comprise of six Ministries: Works and Housing, Sanitation and Water Resources, Roads and Highways, Transport, Communication and Railways Development has been allocated with just GH¢4.2 billion.
    Mr Speaker, we all know that for our economy to grow, we depend largely on infrastructure. We should put money where money will grow and make the economy develop. Unfortunately, so much has been allocated for consumption at the office of the President -- Government
    Mr Bedzrah 8:03 p.m.
    machinery. How can we grow this economy for jobs to be created?
    Mr Speaker, no wonder they have ran away from the christening of their previous Budget, which reads: “Consolidating the Gains for Growth, Jobs and Prosperity for All.” Where are the jobs in 2020 that they cannot continue in 2021?
    Mr Speaker, that is not all. As an Hon Ranking Member for the Committee on Works and Housing, we were told that Government will support us with free water supply. We clapped for the Government and we have used it only to be told in this House that for the water that we have used, there would now be a levy to ensure that we pay for the water that we were told was given to us free of charge.
    It is like tying our hands at our back and taking it away from us. That is deception of the highest order. They gave us water as COVID-19 relief and today, they are taxing us to pay for the same water that they told all of us that they were giving to us freely. Are they not robbing Peter to pay Paul?
    When my poor fathers and mothers in the village have decided to drink water free of charge because of COVID-19. Today, they have
    found a backdoor to take it away from poor folks through taxation. And they have asked us to clap for them because all they gave, they have turned back to take it from them. They expect us to pass this Budget Statement and allow the poor people to remain poor and rich to be richer, because Government Machinery alone is taking so much for consumption.
    Mr Speaker, looking at the sanitation sector, in this country, we all know that polluter pays for whatever is polluted. In this House, a new tax system has been introduced called Sanitation “borla” Tax. In this tax, I asked myself what at all do we have in this Budget Statement that can give me the assurance that if I pay that Sanitation Tax, it will be taken care of. The best thing that could have happened to this country is transfer centres. This is where all the waste will be brought to a centre where they will be sorted out. Some will be recycled and others will be reproduced into manure, and the rest will be sent to the engineering site.
    Mr Speaker, I have seen in this Budget that this Government keeps about only landfill sites which other countries are running from. Ghana is going for engineered landfill site,
    instead of developing recycling plants and recycling whatever we have used and reusing them. Mr Speaker, I cry for this nation because that is not what Dr Kwame Nkrumah dreamt of. But today, we are looking at dumping at a place and charging people for it.
    Mr Speaker, in the housing subsector, this Government has spoken so much about it. Last year, so much noise was made in the 2020 Budget Statement about the sector. Today, in the 2021 Budget Statement, we were told that the Housing subsector will see affordable housing.

    Mr Speaker, with this Budget, all that I have seen is a woeful allocation to the housing sector.

    Mr Speaker, the allocation for the housing sector is so woeful that if we are not careful, we would not be able to do anything, as we know that the housing deficit is about two million units. This House, and this Government prides itself in building more affordable houses. Last year, the Government told us that they were going to put up 2,000 housing units. However, as I go through this Budget, the only thing that I have seen so far, and if you would permit me to read, under the housing sector, the Government says --
    Mr Speaker 8:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, I can see the Hon Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr Mustapha Ussif back on his feet.
    Yes, Hon Member?
    Mr Ussif 8:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you so much. I rise under Standing Order 91 (a), and also Standing Order 93 (2) -- [Interruption] -- Standing Order 93 (2) says:
    “It shall be out of order to use offensive, abusive, insulting, blasphemous or unbecoming words, or to impute improper motives to any other Member or to make personal allusions”.
    Mr Speaker, my emphasis is on “impute improper motive”. The Hon Member stated clearly that the Hon Minister responsible for Finance who delivered this very proper and very clear economic policy on behalf of H. E. the President of the Republic misled this House by saying that the road that was constructed, which is about 93 per cent complete is not correct, and that it was done by the previous Government. The road is a very long stretch, so the portion that they are referring to was done by the previous Government, but what we are doing now, is at 93 per cent, and that is what is being talked about. So,
    Mr Speaker 8:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, in spite of your vigorous efforts, you have not been able to identify any improper motive that he has imputed. I know that you revised your notes, but you would have to go back and do so again. So, you are completely out of order.
    Mr Bedzrah 8:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I have noticed that under the housing sector, the Budget Statement just recaptured what was in the 2020 Budget, word for word. Paragraph 852 of the 2020 Budget, and paragraph 821 of the 2021 Budget, permit me to read paragraph 821 of the old Budget, and it says:
    “Mr Speaker, accommodation for security services remain high for Government priority. Government therefore continues work on phase three of the Security Housing Programme, the construction of 320 units for the Ghana Police Service located at the Ghana National Police Training School, Tesano. The overall progress of work is at 30 per cent.”
    Mr Speaker, the same thing is said in paragraph 852. It says, and I quote,
    “Mr Speaker, provision of accommodation for security services still remain high on Government's priority. In line with this, the phase three of the Security Services Housing Programme for the Ghana Police Service commenced. The Project comprises 320 units, located at the Ghana Police Training School, Tesano. The overall progress of the work stands at 17 per cent.”
    Mr Speaker, it is just the rehashing of the 2020 Budget in the 2021 Budget without any progress. That does not end. If we look at the sub- sector of works, not housing, where we have coastal protection, and we would notice that paragraph 850 of the 2020 Budget and paragraph 815 of the 2021 Budget talks about two projects, Dixcove.
    Dixcove coastal protection was at 30 per cent in the 2020 Budget, and still 30 per cent in the 2021 Budget. So, I ask myself, what is the Ministry of Finance and that of Works and Housing telling Ghanaians? Are they telling us that the whole of one year, there was no coastal protection job at Dixcove? Had it been that contractors were not paid?
    Mr Speaker, we are almost close to the rainy season, and I can bet you that money for desilting has not been released, and this House would still come and begin to pay tribute and ask the Ministry to do desilting, all because if we look at it, we would realise that in the 2020 Budget, Government said that 62 communities would be given reinforced concrete drains, and as we speak now, in the 2021 Budget, it is only stated, please permit me to read from the 2020 Budget under drains, it says:
    “The drains on works sub- sector says that Government will make allocation for the continuation of projects for the reinforced drains.”
    Mr Speaker, we have been told that 67 communities would be completed and today, Government would make allocation for the completion of drains in those communities. My question is, since we are at the onset of the rains, what has the Ministry done to desilt drains, and to complete those reinforced drains that Government has set itself to do?
    Mr Speaker, finally, in this 2021 Budget, I have noticed that there is no new coastal protection. The one in Brekuso that has been completed some years ago, is still lying there
    waiting for its phase two to be started, and yet, in last year's Budget, we were told that the Brekuso project would be started. Brekuso has not been captured in this Budget. It is not here. The care- taker Minister should know that it is not here. If we are not careful, the whole town of Brekuso would be taken off, and Agavedzi would be taken off. So, I would want the caretaker Minister to know that no new coastal protection work found expression in all that he read for the three and a half hours, but he would want to tax my village folks --
    Mr Speaker 8:03 p.m.
    Hon Member, in conclusion?
    Mr Bedzrah 8:03 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, I would want to plead through the Hon Minister to reduce the sanitation and the COVID-19 taxes, or we reject this whole Budget.
    Mr Speaker, I thank you.
    Mr Speaker 8:03 p.m.
    Hon Members, it is the turn of the Hon Member for Achiase, Mr Marfo Kofi Ahenkorah.
    Mr Kofi Ahenkorah Marfo (NPP -- Achiase) 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I would want to concern myself with the Ministry of Transport, and I will start with the Tema Port.
    rose
    Mr Marfo 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in Takoradi, a contract has been given to --
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, just a minute.
    Mr Ayariga 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Chairman, I am coming under Standing Order 6 which says:
    “In all cases not provided for in these Orders Mr Speaker shall make provisions as he deems fit.”
    Mr Speaker has to hear me to indicate my objection so that he would rule whether it has been provided for.
    [Laughter] Mr Speaker, that is what your own Standing Order says. It says in all matters not provided for, you Mr Speaker, shall make provision. The Hon Member said that their Government could have decided not to complete a project that was begun --
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, you are completely out of order.
    Please, you may continue.
    Mr K. A. Marfo 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, in Takoradi, Ibistek Ghana Limited was given a contract to continue and maintain a multipurpose and liquid bulk terminal that would be one of the best for Takoradi Port. Mr Speaker, we have to understand that President Akufo-Addo has the nation at heart. That is why he decided that the expansion of the Takoradi Port is necessary.
    Mr Speaker, I will move to the Boankra Inland Port. This Boankra Inland Port has been on the drawing board since the 1970s, and it was President Kufuor who decided that he would move it from there. Mr Speaker, President Akufo-Addo decided that he would continue with where President Kufuor left off. A 30- year concession agreement was signed between the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) and the Ashanti Port
    Services Limited to develop integrated logistics terminal.
    rose
    Mr K. A. Marfo 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, this means that within the 30-year period, the Ashanti Port Services Limited --
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    Hon Member, just a minute. Is that Hon Angela Alorwu- Tay?
    Mrs Alowu-Tay 8:13 p.m.
    Yes, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Speaker, I come under Standing Order 89 which states clearly that 8:13 p.m.
    “A Member shall not read his speech, but may read extracts from written or printed documents in support of his argument and may refresh his memory by reference to notes.”
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    Hon Member?
    Mrs Alowu-Tay 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, he has been reading verbatim from his
    script on the table so I come under Standing Order 89 to draw your attention to that practice.
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    Well, I cannot tell from where I sit whether the Hon Member has a speech, and whether that is what he has been reading. I cannot tell from here. [Laughter]
    Hon Member, do you have a speech there? Can you show us a speech?
    Mr K. A. Marfo 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I do not have a speech -- [Laughter]. Mr Speaker, it is not a speech; it is some reference points that I have made. I am not reading a speech; I only need to look and refresh --
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    You are making references to your notes?
    Mr Marfo 8:13 p.m.
    Exactly, Mr Speaker. [Laughter]
    Mr Speaker 8:13 p.m.
    Yes, you are entitled to do so. You may continue.
    Mr K. A. Marfo 8:13 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, I will continue from the Boankra Inland Port -- [Interruption] -- it is because they do not want to hear. Mr Speaker, fortunately for us, the railway system is also in place, and I understand there is a source that we would be able to secure and get the
    Mr K. A. Marfo 8:23 a.m.
    railway system through Boankra. When that one happens, the trip load that comes to or from Tema that would have to move to Burkina Faso and Mali would all go to Boankra. By so doing, there would be a major inland port there.
    Mr Speaker, what would happen is that, there would be an industrial hub in Boankra -- [Hear! Hear!].

    Mr Speaker, the fishing landing sites that are also coming on stream -- I refer to paragraph 897 on page 163. Mr Speaker, permit me to read it:

    Location Status of completion

    Axim -- 59per cent

    Dixcove -- 58 per cent

    Moree -- 48 per cent

    Mumford -- 46 per cent

    Winneba -- 29 per cent

    Senya Beraku -- 91 per cent

    Gomoa Feteh -- 82 per cent

    Teshie -- 72 per cent

    Keta -- 6. per cent

    Jamestown -- 7.18 per cent

    Elmina -- 0.50 per cent

    Mr Speaker, the work on the Elmina fishing landing site is 0.50 per cent because their funding is from a different source and by the time we are done with the funding arrangement, we would be moving in a high state.

    Mr Speaker, on the Volta Lake transport, we have to understand that our water transport system is not in good shape and it is expected that we can do more for our transport system. There are two ongoing projects - the first one is with the support of the World Bank to commission feasibility studies to assess the need for both commercial and private participation.

    We all know that the Volta Lake, for some time now, belongs to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and we need to commercialise the Volta Lake. So, the World Bank is supporting us to commission and asses the need for commercial and private participation.

    Mr Speaker, the Korea EXIM Bank is also supporting our Volta Lake transport system. As we speak, they are speaking of giving us six landing sites and this one is coming from President Akufo-Addo and not former President Mahama. Six ferries would also be in place. A control room to monitor the activities on the Lake

    would also be in place. There would be access roads to the communities surrounding the Volta Lake and this is also coming from the EXIM Bank. Feasibility studies have been completed and very soon, financial engineering would be completed as well.
    Mr Speaker 8:23 a.m.
    Hon Member, in conclusion?
    Mr Marfo 8:23 a.m.
    Mr Speaker, in conclusion, we are saying that President Akufo-Addo is doing well for the transport sector. Metro Mass Transit which was dead when we came to power has been revived and 100 buses have been given already. Another 100 buses would be coming by June and by the end of the year, we would get another 100 buses. [Hear! Hear!]
    Mr Speaker, very soon, we would come to you. What I mean is that we would come to this House. The Metro Mass Transit system is running a social intervention and for that matter, we need to get exemptions for our fuel. For that matter, we would come for the exemptions, so that we can continue to perform the functions of social interventions.
    Thank you, Mr Speaker.
    Mr Yusif Sulemana (NDC -- Bole Bamboi) 8:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
    Mr Speaker, yesterday, I listened to my good friend, Hon Carlos Ahenkorah, MP for Tema West, when he spoke to the issue of One District, One Factory (1D1F). He also spoke on the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Year of Return. Listening to him yesterday, I did not know where he was getting his figures from, so I thought that I should put the records right.
    The 1D1F is captured under paragraphs 684 to 688 of the 2021 Budget. The AfCFTA under paragraphs 53 to 55 and the Year of Return is also captured in paragraph 725 and these are the issues I would speak to.
    Mr Speaker, it is important to put the records right when it comes to 1D1F. In 2016, the then NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo promised Ghanaians 1D1F. In 2017, when he
    was in Government, he presented the 2017 Budget and in there, we have the 1D1F standing alone and stimulus packages also standing alone. These are two separate programmes.
    In 2017, we were told that under stimulus packages, about GH¢80 million was disbursed to about 14 companies under that programme. We were told that under the 1D1F, they were still receiving applications and had received about 462 applications. In 2018, we were told that out of 462 applications, 191 were being processed and that the 191 would benefit 102 districts. Again, in that Budget, stimulus package was also a stand-alone programme.
    Mr Speaker, fast-forward to 2019; again, the two programmes stood separately. In 2020, nicodemously, the stimulus package vanished. Government had decided to merge the two and that is a true story. So, to assess 1D1F, you could do it in three ways. One, you could look at the original intent of giving every district a factory and we have 260 districts. You can also look at the existing factories that they have assisted and now merged and assess them on that basis.
    Mr Speaker, if you want to be very generous, you could put the two together and assess them. I would do
    the assessment here and then we would grade H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, on their performance when it comes to 1D1F.
    If you go to the 1D1F website, we are told that they have established about 28 new factories. Twenty-eight divided by 260, multiplied by 100 would give you 11 per cent and 11 per cent in any of our universities today is a grade “F”. If you consider the existing factories, we are told that they have done 48 of them. Forty-eight divided by 260 districts, multiplied by 100 is 18 which in any of our universities today is an “F”.
    Mr Speaker, if you put the two together, we are told that about 76 of these companies, that is both old and new are in operation. If you put the two together, that is 76 divided by the 260 districts we have today multiplied by 100, you would get 30 per cent. That is also an “F”.

    Mr Speaker, if we go forward it is “f”, if we go back it is “f”, and if we go sideways too it is “f” and that is the performance of Nana Akufo- Addo when it comes to 1D1F -- [Hear! Hear!] This is in competence, mediocrity and ineptitude and we are

    called to celebrate it? The simple question I want to ask is, if Nana Akufo-Addo's daughter goes to the University of Ghana for four good years and at the end of the day she brings home this result, would the President be happy? Obviously, it is a no! Let us be fair to ourselves. Someone would ask a genuine question that yes, Nana Akufo-Addo did only 76 for four years and what did former President John Dramani Mahama do? That would be a fair question.

    Mr Speaker, today, I would want to set the records right and so with all humility, I want to submit to you two documents and I want to challenge the Majority to come for a debate. Under the administration of former President John Dramani Mahama, over 50 new companies and factories were established. I would give the list of the companies to the Table Office for the Majority to scrutinise it and then call for a second debate and we would tell them that they have scored “F” and they would continue to score “F”.

    Mr Speaker, I would also present another list that consists of over 80 existing factories supported under the administration of former President Mahama and indeed, I have indicated the amount of money each of these companies received. I would give it to them to do their homework and
    Mr Speaker 8:33 p.m.
    Hon Member, please conclude.
    Mr Sulemana 8:33 p.m.
    Mr Speaker, this clearly indicates that even though former President Mahama did not spend GH¢62 million, he performed better than President Nana Akufo- Addo, after he had spent over GH¢62 million -- and said he should be celebrated.
    Mr Speaker 8:33 p.m.
    Hon Members, it is 8.41 p.m. so I would adjourn the House and we continue tomorrow. I can no longer take any more pressure because I have a serious backache.
    Hon Leaders, we would need to adjourn. Are we to start tomorrow's Sitting at 10.00 a.m. or at 2.00 p.m.?
    Hon Members, I am guided by the leadership and the proposal is for us to adjourn till 2.00 p.m. tomorrow. I have an assignment outside the precinct of Parliament tomorrow morning, so I can only be in the House in the afternoon.
    ADJOURNMENT 8:33 p.m.
  • The House was adjourned at 8.43 p.m. till Thursday, 18th March, 2020 at 2.00 p.m.