Debates of 28 Oct 2021

Hon Members,
we are starting late because our
Hon Colleagues from the New Pat-
riotic Party (NPP) had a caucus
meeting and there was a miscom-
munication when the meeting
ended. That is why we are starting
at this time.
What I can say is that the cau-
cuses must always give prior notice
to the Rt. Hon. Speaker so that we
can get the information across to
Hon Members. I know some Hon
Members are always here before
10.00 a.m., so to keep them always
waiting till this time is unfair. So let
the caucuses inform the Rt. Hon.
Speaker so that the Speaker could
also pass a word to Hon Members
on an approximate time that Sitting
would start. I think this would bet-
ter serve the purpose of all of us
than we are doing now.
As these things are happening,
we may also reconsider the time for
starting our Sittings, and everybody
would have to know about that
time.
The Standing Orders would be
brought before us very soon for a
discussion, but my attention has
been drawn to one legal issue
which I intend to discuss with
Leadership before we can talk
about the next process.
I think the Hon Chairman of the
Standing Orders Committee has in-
formed me about that already, but
the information has leaked to me
that there is a very fine legal rule
that we have to consider in terms of
the processes, the nature, and the
legal import of the Standing Orders
vis a vis the provisions of the 1992
Constitution. So we would look at
that and finally determine the pro-
cess to use. Hon Members, with
this, I welcome you to today's pro- ceedings. I do not have a Commu-
nication from His Excellency the
President, so I would proceed to the
correction of Votes and Proceed-
ings and the Official Report.
Votes and Proceedings and
the Official Report

We would start
with the Votes and Proceedings of
Wednesday, 27th October, 2021.

Page 1, 2 … 6 --

Mr
Speaker, I have been marked as ab-
sent on page 6, item numbered 42,
but I was present yesterday so if the
records could be corrected accord-
ingly.

Well, the records
of the correction of proceedings
clearly show that you were present
yesterday. The Table Office should
kindly take note.
Page 7 --

Mr
Speaker, I have also been marked
as absent on page 7, item numbered
36, but I was present yesterday.

The Table Office
should kindly take note. I can tes-
tify that the Hon Member was pre-
sent.

Mr Speaker, I beg to take you back
to page 6, item numbered 18. I have
been marked as absent, but I was
present yesterday.

Very well.
Page 8 --

Mr Speaker,
on page 8, item numbered 90, the
Hon Bede Anwataazumo Ziedeng
was present yesterday but he has
been marked as absent.

Yes, the Hon
Member was present yesterday so
Table Office should kindly take
note.

Mr
Speaker, I was present yesterday
but I have been marked as absent
on page 7 -- item numbered 45.
Page 8, 9 … 10 --

Mr Speaker, on
page 10, the item numbered 8(a)
reads: “By the Hon Minister re- sponsible for Chieftaincy and Reli-
gious Affairs …”
Mr Speaker, I think the full stop
(.) after “Affairs” must be replaced with a comma (,) instead.

Yes, Table Of-
fice, the Hon Member is right. It
should be a comma but not a full
stop, so kindly take note.
Page 11 - 12 …

Mr Speaker, on
the item numbered 1 on page 12,
the first paragraph, I believe
“acquisition” should suffice. It was not about renovation. We can say,
“attempted acquisition” or just “ac- quisition” because it is a matter now before the Norwegian court.
We could delete “renovation” and leave it as either “acquisition” or “attempted acquisition”. There is no need to add “renovation”.

So you want the
sentence to read “… on the at- tempted acquisition of the prop-
erty”. Yes, Table Office, please take note. I know the Hon Chair-
man of the Committee is here, but I
cannot see him. You are the Rank-
ing Member, so we take that as an
authority.
Page 13?
Yes, Hon Member?

Mr Speaker, with
your permission, I would want us to
go to page 11. The item numbered
10 on page 11 has a similar correc-
tion. Under “Adjournment”, there is “…ten minutes after one o'clock in the afternoon”. There should be
a comma here before proceeding
with the sentence.

Well, Table Of-
fice, your attention is being drawn
to issues of punctuation. Kindly
take note. It is not only at that
place; as you go on, you would see
that there are other areas that you
would need to put commas there.
Hon Issifu Seidu, the Member
of Parliament (MP) for Nal-
erigu/Gambaga, am I right?

Yes, Mr Speaker.

Hon Members, in
the absence of any further correc-
tion, the Votes and Proceedings of
the second Sitting of the Third
Meeting of the First Session held
on Wednesday, 27th October, 2021,
as corrected are adopted as the true
record of proceedings.
I have a copy of the Official Re-
port of Thursday, 24th June, 2021.
Any correction?

Mr Speaker, thank you for this treasured space to
make a Statement congratulating
the good people of Qatar for a suc-
cessful parliamentary election.
Mr Speaker, the election was
held on 2nd October, 2021, follow-
ing an announcement by Qatar's Emir on 22nd August, 2021. This
ground-breaking event in govern-
ance almost did not happen, but the
intervention of Emir Sheikh
Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani en-
sured that the election was held
without fail in October 2021. It was
previously postponed in June 2013.
Mr Speaker, Qatar, a Western
Asian country, has a relatively
small population with approxi-
mately 2.8 million people but man-
ages to be the World's richest country with 138,910 Gross Do-
mestic Product (GDP) Per Capita.
The country has enjoyed apprecia-
ble level of political stability within
the Arab World. Qatar was the only
country in the Middle East and the
North African Region which was
not affected by the Arab Spring
Uprising, with the global peace in-
dex recently naming Qatar as the
Region's most peaceful country.
Mr Speaker, on 2nd October,
2021, as aforementioned, Qataris
voted for two-thirds of the Advi-
sory Shura Council in the Gulf

Arab State's first legislative elec- tions. Qatar's Internal Ministry an- nounced that 63.5 per cent of eligi-

ble voters took part in the election

for 30 seats on a 45-member body

with the remaining 15 council

members being appointed by the

Emir.

Mr Speaker, the Deputy Prime

Minister and the Foreign Minister

of Qatar described the vote as a

new experiment and indicated that

the Council cannot be expected to

have full role of Parliament in the

first year. The Qataris are very

much interested in building their

own bureaucracy to support demo-

cratic governance and have shown

their capabilities to have success-

fully completed an election.

This is progressive. The elec-

tions in Qatar indicate that the rul-

ing Al Thani family is willing to

take the idea of ensuring that there

is power sharing, participatory de-

mocracy, and this step taken

demonstrates seriousness. Women

were also represented in the elec-

tions with 29 candidates running in

the elections. Although none of

them won any seat, it still shows

positive signs of inclusiveness and

democratic governance, and this

must be commended.

Mr Speaker, Qatar holds eco-

nomic forum in Doha in March

2022. Ghana and Qatar can collab-

orate to help boost trade and indus-

try, particularly, as our country is

championing the rollout of the Af-

rican Continental Free Trade Area

Agreement. Qatar has also done ex-

cellently well in the region in the

area of housing, and Ghana can ex-

ercise her potential by closely

working with those industry play-

ers with demonstrable experience

and financial capabilities.

Mr Speaker, I conclude by say-

ing that we as a Parliament can take

advantage by ensuring that there is

a parliamentary friendship associa-

tion between Ghana and Qatar so

that we can work together to enrich

knowledge.

Mr Speaker, I take this oppor-

tunity once again to congratulate

the good people of Qatar on their

efforts in building parliamentary

democracy.

Mr Speaker, I am grateful for

this opportunity.

Hon Members,
any comments?
Statements

Yes, Hon Ablakwa?
Mr Samuel O. Ablakwa (NDC
-- North Tongu): Mr Speaker, I am most grateful for the oppor-
tunity to contribute to this State-
ment celebrating the Kingdom of
Qatar on the successful conduct of
parliamentary elections which has
been eloquently delivered by the
Deputy Majority Leader, my re-
spected Colleague.
Mr Speaker, the development in
Qatar is very refreshing and wel-
comed by all democracy lovers and
good governance watchers. We all
know that Qatar has been an abso-
lute monarchy and it had long been
thought that the Thani family,
which is the ruling family, would
not be keen to welcome multi-party
democracy and that they would
maintain the regime of absolute or
total monarchy.
However, the king has signalled
a new dawn, and it is clear that Qa-
tar is opening up for democracy,
and creating the opportunity for the
people of Qatar to choose their own
representatives. Mr Speaker, that is
very welcomed indeed.
Mr Speaker, we know of many
monarchs such as the United King-
dom, the Netherlands, Spain, and
many others who have had this
kind of a hybrid arrangement his-
torically and it has served their
countries well — where the mon- archs increasingly retreat into more
ceremonial statuses and allow for
elected political leaders to spear-
head the day-to-day administration
of their respective jurisdictions. It
appears that that is what the Qatari
monarchy is introducing, and Mr
Speaker, I know that you in partic-
ular have been very keen about Par-
liamentary diplomacy and you
have encouraged us to reach out to
our colleagues in other Parliaments
in other jurisdictions and to forge
strong partnership. That is why you
personally inaugurated the Parlia-
mentary Friendship Associations,
and you have been seeing to the
formation of various Parliamentary
Friendship groups.
I am sure that in no time, the
Parliamentary Friendship Associa-
tions Management Committee
would be happily welcoming our
newly-elected colleagues in the
Parliament of Qatar, and we shall
be forming a very strong partner-
ship.
Statements

Mr Speaker, we all know that

Qatar is a very important country,

as our Hon Colleague has said.

They have been very stable and if

you look at the United Nations

Human Development Index (HDI)

for that sub-region, it is very high

HDI. Indeed, it is third only to

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab

Emirates (UAE), so the quality of

life in Qatar is very high and I also

know that we have a good number

of our compatriots who are work-

ing in Qatar. They are very

welcoming because of the rela-

tively-small population of under

three million and they have so

much oil wealth. Their GDP is so

high. It has led to a situation where

when it comes to the workforce,

they rather like to welcome other

nationals. So there are a lot of

Africans, Filipinos, Thais, and so

on working in that country.

The only matter of concern re-

lated to their culture of welcoming

many immigrant workers has been

the conditions under which these

immigrant workers ply their trade.

There have been concerns that

sometimes some of the families do

not treat their workers, particularly,

domestic workers kindly - human right concerns are raised. But to be

fair to the authorities in Qatar, they

have taken steps to improve on

those matters, and I know a number

of reforms that have taken place.

Recently, they even sent in a Paper

to the African Union (AU) to high-

light some of the reforms that are

taking place so that African mi-

grant workers can feel safe and feel

welcomed in that country.

Mr Speaker, as a lover of foot-

ball and an ardent supporter of the

Black Stars of Ghana, we all know

that Qatar would be the next host of

the World Cup from the 21st of No-

vember to 18th December, 2022.

The attention of the whole world

would be on Qatar which is the host

country. They have not been really

famous for being a football nation,

but it is clear that in recent times,

they are investing in football and

football infrastructure, and are at-

tracting a number of good players,

some from our country, and they

pay very well. So a lot of good foot-

ballers are looking to plying their

trade in that country. I am hoping

that the Black Stars of Ghana

would qualify for the World Cup so

that we can all join them to that

country or even if we would have

to cheer them remotely from back

home, we would render our sup-

port. I would not want to go into

some of the controversies that came

up when they won the bid. I am

Statements

sure that the International Federa-

tion of Association Football or Fed-

eration Internationale de Football

Association (FIFA) has the capac-

ity to look into some of those con-

cerns that were raised by a country

like the United Kingdom. It is

clear, however, that Qatar is doing

so well. I monitored the latest FIFA

inspection team and it is clear that

Qatar has the green light. They are

very much ready to host the world.

So, we can only congratulate

Qatar for this feat, and we would

say that democracy is the best op-

tion of governance. Despite all the

criticisms, it remains man's best way of governing and there has

been no better form of government

invented. So Qatar is much wel-

come to the committee of demo-

cratic nations --

Hon Members,
the Hon First Deputy Speaker will
take the Chair.

Hon Member, kindly continue.

Mr Speaker, I
was concluding by welcoming Qa-
tar to the committee of democratic
nations. I said that I am also very
excited about the development like
my Hon Colleague, the Deputy
Majority Leader of the House, and
we are looking forward to forging
strong parliamentary diplomatic
ties with the newly-elected mem-
bers of the Qatar Parliament.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very
much for the opportunity.

Does the Leadership wish to make
a comment on this one?
Yes, Hon Deputy Minority
Whip?
Deputy Minority Whip (Mr
Ahmed Ibrahim): Mr Speaker,
thank you for giving me the oppor-
tunity to make a few comments on
the Statement ably written and pre-
sented by the Hon Deputy Majority
Leader.
Mr Speaker, I join the Hon
Member to congratulate Qatar on
their successful parliamentary elec-
tions. From the Statement, about 29
female candidates contested vari-
ous seats in the election. Even
Statements

though none of them was elected,

he said that it was a good move to

show that people of Qatar are ready

to share power on the basis of gen-

Mr Speaker, the reason I am

commending Qatar for a good elec-

tion is that - Libya used to be the Qatar of the African continent, and

we know the contribution of Qatar.

In those days, the youth used to go

to Libya, but after the destruction in

Libya, they have now turned their

direction to Qatar. A lot of Ghana-

ian youth migrate to Qatar and

many of them are making positive

economic contributions in that

country. So, if there is democracy

or election in Qatar, people will

begin to have some extended free-

doms because we know democracy

comes with freedoms.

Mr Speaker, while we congratu-

late them, we must also let them

know that democracy is good, but a

misguided democracy will not lead

to a better destination. Even though

Qatar just had their Parliament, we

know how institutions in Qatar

have been doing. We can talk of the

Qatar Airways - I do not want to compare. Even though we have our

Parliament and democracy, our

Ghana Airways could not compete

with Qatar Airways.

Mr Speaker, they must not be

complacent that in accepting de-

mocracy and having their Parlia-

ment, they would relent on some of

the foundations of their strong in-

stitutions that helped them make

those economic gains.

Mr Speaker, I had the oppor-

tunity to travel to Qatar, in Doha,

on the ticket of the Inter-Parliamen-

tary Union (IPU) meeting with the

former Speaker of Parliament, Rt.

Hon. Prof Mike Oquaye and the

Hon Majority Leader. Their cul-

ture, hospitality, enthusiasm, and

the way they went about their work

- even the venue for the pro- gramme showed that they were a

serious people and a serious nation.

So, when we see some of the gains

that they have made and how they

have expanded their economy to

the extent that youth from other

countries are migrating there for

economic survival, it is not by

magic, but by a concerted effort.

We have much to learn from them

even though they are also learning

from us in terms of democracy.

Mr Speaker, to conclude, they

must add on to what they used to do

at first. They should not say there

would be unlimited freedom and

uncontrolled rights; they may not

be able to get to their destination.

Statements

During the age of enlightenment,

people had to sign the social con-

tract by giving part of their rights

for the collective good. That is

what Qatar has accepted and they

must do it well.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I thank you for the oppor-

tunity.

Yes, Hon Majority Leader?

Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to also add my voice to this Statement
made by the Hon Deputy Majority
Leader. Let me congratulate him
for bringing this Statement to the
House in respect of the successful
conduct of parliamentary elections
in Qatar.
Mr Speaker, I believe we should
use this occasion to congratulate
Qatar, the Islamic Republic, for
choosing this path of national de-
velopment, the path of governance
from what the status quo has been
all this while. We should pray that
this transition does not suffer any
turbulence, because it is new to
them and that they would be able to
keep faith with the new investment
that they have made.
Mr Speaker, Qatar, over the past
few years, has witnessed unprece-
dented development and that, in my
view, is a product of continuity in
governance that they have had. Un-
til the introduction of parliamen-
tary democracy, it was a kingdom.
And even with the birth of parlia-
mentary democracy, it still remains
a kingdom. The rulers have not
been overly domineering and they
spread the proceeds of the oil and
gas that God has given them to ef-
fect development in the place. To-
day in the Middle East, Qatar com-
pares favourably with the icon of
the Middle East which is the Emir-
ates.
Mr Speaker, the other day when
we went there, we witnessed
heaven on earth — the then Rt. Hon. Speaker, myself, and the Hon
Ahmed Ibrahim, the Deputy Mi-
nority Whip. In the evening when
they were taking us on a tour, our
own President had been invited to
the place and we saw their palace
even from afar, and we were won-
dering whether that palace be-
longed to the planet called earth. It
was a spectacle to behold. It tells
that the rulers have really spread
the proceeds of the oil wealth to de-
velop the country.
Statements

Mr Speaker, everywhere we

went, we could see what they were

doing for their populace, to the ex-

tent that as obtains in Dubai, they

have enclaves for widows and wid-

owers for the State to take full

charge of the widows - the widows village. I believe that those resi-

dences- the widows' enclaves that they have constructed, would com-

pare with mansions in Ghana. If

one entered any of them, one would

see the facilities that were con-

tained in the enclaves for the wid-

ows. So, Qatar is really taking to a

certain otherwise unforeseen aes-

thete, the levels of development for

not only the country, but the citi-

zens of Qatar.

Mr Speaker, they guard jeal-

ously the citizenship of Qatar, and

they do not allow anybody from an-

ywhere to come and claim citizen-

ship easily. One cannot have it even

if he has stayed there for 20 years;

he would not be accorded citizen-

ship. One would be given the op-

portunity to come and serve, after

which he would be expected to re-

turn to his country of origin, which

is one of the reasons they are able

to cater for their own.

Mr Speaker, the workforce in-

cludes so many people from vari-

ous countries, and of course, Gha-

naians were there. We were told

that most of the Ghanaians there

are well catered for, and that most

of them are professionals. Even

those of them who go pushing for

jobs are well catered for including

house-helps, but there are a few of

them who went uninvited and so

were finding it difficult to really

find work to do. The consulate at

the time therefore appealed that

Government should find a way to

regularise the work regime of those

of them who had come there just as

Philippines, Indonesia and those far

eastern countries had also done,

Thailand inclusive. The people

who migrated from there to come

and work in Qatar are well replen-

ished. The amount given to them

would be the envy of professionals

in Ghana.

Mr Speaker, I therefore believe

that they should be urged on to con-

tinue on this new chosen path. They

have been used to the Kingdom re-

gime all this while, and certainly

along the way, they may experi-

ence some turbulence, but we

should just let them be aware that

the path that they have chosen is

not paved with gold, and certainly,

if they are determined, then they

Statements

could overcome the initial hiccups

and rise above that to improve the

lot of their citizens by giving voice

to their citizenry.

Mr Speaker, having said that,

the other thing that my Colleague,

the Hon Okudzeto had mentioned

was in respect of their hosting of

the World Cup Tournament in

2022. When we went there, they

took us to some of the stadia that

they had built at the time, and they

are a state- of-the-art. I have not en-

tered any stadium anywhere in the

world that measures to what they

have built in Qatar, and we won-

dered how they came to do that; in

the midst of such heat, what they

have been able to do to mitigate the

outrageous temperatures and to al-

low for football players to enter and

play and not be affected negatively

by the natural temperatures that ob-

tains in Qatar. My only hope is that

our own dear Black Stars would be

able to qualify to contest and in-

deed compete in that tournament.

We wish the Black Stars the best,

and we wish Qatar the best in this

new endeavour that they have pur-

posed to undertake. God bless their

efforts.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very

much.

Very well, I would move on to the
next Statement, which is on the
death of the Hon Joseph Kofi Adda,
a former Member of Parliament,
and it is to be read by the Mr
Sampson Tangombu Chiragia, the
Hon Member of Parliament for
Navrongo Central. [Pause] -
Mr Sampson Tangombu Chi-
ragia: Mr Speaker, I wish to be
given just ten minutes. So, we may
move on to the next Business.

Yes, Hon Majority Leader?

Mr
Speaker, the Hon Kennedy Osei
Nyarko, the Member of Parliament
for Akim Swedru is programmed to
attend some other event, and so I
would just want to plead that we al-
ter the programme for the transac-
tion of Business to allow for the
Hon Member for Akim Swedru to
do the Presentation and First Read-
ing of his Private Members' Bill.
Mr Speaker, therefore, you
could allow the Hon Member to do
just that and then we can go back to
the other work. This is in respect of
the item numbered 7 on page 5 of
today's Order Paper. We would have to enter Public Business and
Statements

allow him to do it, and then later we

can recline.

Mr
Speaker, I think that what the Hon
Majority Leader is saying would
help us so that we can be served
with copies of the Statement from
the Hon Member for Navrongo
Central. He begged for the ten
minutes because originally the
Statement was not supposed to be
taken today. It was supposed to
have been the Statement from the
Hon Member for Bole Bamboi,
who has travelled for the Damba
Festival, for which reason he was to
be replaced. Therefore, if he is not
well organised and copies are not
here, the ten minutes would allow
us time to receive copies of the
Statement so that by the time that
the Hon Osei Nyarko finishes, we
may be able to go through. I think
that the original copy has been
given out, so, we can make photo-
copies.

Hon Members, the application be-
fore me is to vary the Standing Or-
ders and move on to the Presenta-
tion of Bills. Since that is agreeable
to the Leadership of the House, I
hereby vary the Standing Orders
and go to item numbered 7 - Presentation and First Reading of
Bills by the Hon Member for Akim
Swedru, Hon Kennedy Osei
Nyarko.

Hon Member for Navrongo Cen-
tral, are you ready to read your
Statement now?

Mr Speaker, the Hon Leader asked for a copy so, that is
being done.

At
the Commencement of Public
Business, Presentation of Papers.
Item numbered 6.
Statements

Hon Majority Leader, your

Ministers are not here. I cannot see

the Hon Minister for Education nor

the Minister for Transport.

Mr
Speaker, an Hon Deputy Minister
for Education is here so she could
stand in for the substantive Hon
Minister.

Mi-
nority Leadership, the Hon Deputy
Minister would lay the Paper on
behalf of the Minister. Do you have
any objection to that?

Mr
Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minister
for Education is one of us, and she
has represented the
substantive Minister on several oc-
casions. She is more than able to do
this Business, provided the Hon
Minister for Education has given
her the mandate to lay the Papers
on his behalf.

He
has, otherwise, she would not pre-
sent herself.
Hon Deputy Minister for Edu-
cation, item numbered 6(a)(i)

Mr
Speaker, yesterday, we had a very
lengthy debate on the status of the
referrals of those annual audit
reports. We were of the view that
what you have done was what was
supposed to have been done. How-
ever, the Rt Hon Speaker disagreed
with us, and ruled that the annual
audit reports must be referred to the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
even though the Hon Chairman of
the PAC said that the Committee
would be inundated with work.
Therefore, these Reports should be
referred to the sector Committees.
Yesterday, those reports that were
laid were referred to the PAC, but
today, you have referred them to
the sector Committee. It seems
there are two rules: yesterday's rule is different from today's rule.

Mr Speaker, what you have

done is what we used to do, and that

is what we said yesterday.

Mr
Speaker, by the 1992 Constitution,
PAC deals with reports from the
Auditor-General; they do not deal
with internal audit reports. They do
not. By the provisions of the 1992
Constitution, they deal with the
Auditor-General's inquisition into the expenditures of the various
Ministries, Departments and Agen-
cies (MDAs). These are not Audi-
tor-General's reports. I was not here yesterday, but the Hon Chair-
man of the PAC has indicated to me
that there was some debate on it,
and the Rt Hon Speaker referred it
to them at the PAC.
I do not think we can use a back-
door to challenge the ruling of the
Rt Hon Speaker. I plead that we
step this down, and have some con-
sultation on that. I disagree that it
should go to the PAC because the
Constitution is clear. The PAC
deals with the reports from the Au-
ditor-General. Mr Speaker, if the
inquisition is at the instance of the
Auditor-General, then, it goes to
the PAC. The report of internal
audit does not go to PAC - [Interruption].
I said that the report of the audit
that is conducted internally should
go to the relevant sector Commit-
tee. That is what I think, and that is
why appropriately, it was referred
to the sector Committees. Since the
Rt Hon Speaker has ruled on it, I
would plead that we step this down,
and resolve it so that we do not
have this referral and counter-refer-
ral.

Mr
Speaker, I agree with the Hon Ma-
jority Leader that we step the
Presentation of these Papers down
for further discussion before they
are laid. Yesterday, there was a de-
bate on this issue whether the refer-
rals should go to the PAC or to the
sector Committees, and the Rt Hon
Speaker eventually ruled that they
should be referred to the former. So
we would need a further discussion
before this can be done.
Mr Speaker, if you look at page
10 of the Votes and Proceedings
for yesterday, you would see that
about five Papers that were laid
were all referred to the PAC so, if
we could step them down for fur-
ther discussion.

I
was going to reverse, and go by the
ruling of the Rt Hon Speaker, but in
Papers

view of the agreement by Leader-

ship, I will defer the Presentation of

all the Papers listed in item num-

bered 6 which have to do with in-

ternal audit reports.

Mr Speaker, the re-
ports we are referring to are not in-
ternal audit reports; they are reports
of the Audit Committee. It is differ-
ent from internal audit reports.

Very well, all those Papers cap-
tured as Audit Committee's reports from the various institutions under
the Ministry of Education are stood
down. Hon Leaders, in that case, I
suggest that we also stand down
item numbered 6(b) because they
are practically the same things.

Hon Deputy Majority Leader?
Mr Alexander K. Afenyo-
Markin: Mr Speaker, the cameras
saw - [Interruption]. The Hon Member has crossed carpet.

Hon Members, order. Hon Mem-
ber, kindly let me listen to him; af-
ter that, I will listen to you.

Let me listen to him; after that,

I will listen to you.

Yes?

Mr
Speaker, this is the third time; he
first had an opportunity to read the
Statement and there was a problem.
Now, finally, it appears he wants to
join us; so, Mr Speaker, he has
crossed carpet and there must be a
by-election. [Laughter.] That is the
position.

Hon Member, under which Order
are you making your application?

Mr
Speaker, I am invoking your inher-
ent jurisdiction.

I
am not aware that Mr Speaker has
an inherent jurisdiction in this
Chamber.
Papers

Mr Speaker, I am sure he did not attend orienta-
tion because we do not cross the
Mace here.

Mr Speaker, I
just would like to draw the atten-
tion of my respected Hon Col-
league that the Statement you have
admitted which is about to be read
is a very bi-partisan one, and it is
one that requires a lot of coopera-
tion and partnership. And it is in
that spirit that the Hon Member is
attempting to share the Statement
with both Sides of the aisle. And it
is a very well-intentioned State-
ment to celebrate the Hon Joseph
Kofi Adda originating from your
Side, who unfortunately has left
us. It is within that spirit, so the
Hon Deputy Majority Leader can
let matters slide. He did not even
fully overstep his bounds; he just
wants you to have copies of the
Statement so in the spirit of bi-par-
tisanship, I believe we could let it
pass.

Hon Members, the real issue I want
to be addressed on is, what is the
offence even if he crossed the
Mace? What does the Standing Or-
der say about crossing the Mace so
that we would be guided? Hon
Deputy Majority Leader, if he
actually crossed, what would have
been the offence he committed un-
der our rules?

Mr Speaker, if he had actually crossed, that
would have been the actus reus;
then the mens rea would have been
the expression of intention to us
here that he is no more interested
there. He can cross and come and
make the Statement; they did not
allow him to conclude on the sec-
ond step. It was clear that he would
have made a Statement, but they
timely intervened to keep their own
-[Interruption]- Yes, I have an-
swered Mr Speaker's question as I understood it to be.

Mr
Speaker, not too long ago, when the
numerical strength of the Majority
Side was 169, about 30 of them
were sitting on this side of the
Mace so that even though the Mace
is here, the bar was here and they
used to be here. In the Seventh Par-
liament, about 30 Hon Members of
the Majority Side were sitting with
us here. They were always sitting at
the other side of the Mace.
Mr Speaker, at that time, my
distinguished Hon Colleague was
always here but he did not com-
ment on that. This one, there is no
Statement, there is no — that is why you asked, which Order? And
there is no Order which the Hon

Member for Navrongo Central has

gone against, so I think the by-elec-

tion is a different thing my Leader

was talking about.

Mr Speaker, we are in your

hands.

Mr
Speaker, by parliamentary practice
if a Member leaves the confine-
ment where his Party is confined to
to another Side, it means that he has
left his Party. It is the reason our
1992 Constitution provides - for in-
stance, article 97 (1)(g) states:
“A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament - (g) if he leaves the party of
which he was a member at the
time of his election to Parlia-
ment to join another party or
seeks to remain in Parliament as
independent member; or”.
Normally, we have places con-
signed to the Parties so if you leave
to sit where your Party is not sup-
posed to sit, it is referred as ‘cross- ing the carpet'. Mr Speaker, that is parliamentary practice which he
must be educated on.
Mr Speaker, we do not neces-
sarily have to write. And the Hon
Member says that some people sat
at the other Side - it is because of
the configuration; this is horseshoe
configuration of the House. We
cannot say - for instance, when we
first came in 1997, our own enclave
was just this Side because the num-
ber was just 61 and the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) had
two-thirds of the House at the time
and they occupied the entirety of
this place except I think four or five
Seats which were just here.
Mr Speaker, when a Member
crosses the face of the Mace as it
stands - that is why when one gets here, one must bow; the Hon Mem-
ber was determined not to bow but
to cross to the other Side. Mr
Speaker, that is on the lighter note;
I believe we could go with our busi-
ness. And it is good to learn from
this practice.

That is right. I think the real issue
that I wanted us to take note of is,
crossing the Mace in itself is not the
issue but anytime you have to cross
the Mace, you must stop and bow.
It is because some Hon Members
move across, and being quiet on it
is what seems to encourage others.
Some Members speak to Friends on
the other Side but anytime you
must cross, you stop and bow to the
Mace. That is what I encourage
every Member to observe, other-
wise, I do not think we should con-
strue going to speak to a friend on

the other Side to mean you have

vacated your Seat.

Hon Leader, I intend to proceed if
it is on the same matter. If it is an-
other matter, yes.

Mr Speaker, it is on
the same matter. I just would want
to draw the attention of the House
that the Hon Member did not even
cross; that is one. Secondly, when
he was making the attempt to cross,
he even bowed from here before
going - [Laughter] - So, Mr Speaker, there is no offence.

That is not where we must bow be-
fore the Mace. It means that he did
not get to the Mace at all.

Mr
Speaker, in that case, he must be
charged for wrongful bowing - [Laughter] -

Very well. Hon Majority Leader,
we are still in Public
Business; shall we suspend all the
laying of the Audit Committee Re-
ports for now? - [Pause] -

Mr
Speaker, I believe that the Finance
Committee could present their Re-
port on the Petroleum Funds.

Yes, all the issues under item num-
bered 6(g) are different, so items
numbered 6(a) to 6(f) may be stood
down until we resolve where they
should be.
Item numbered 6(g)(i) by the
Chairman of the Finance Commit-
tee.

Mr
Speaker, could I do so on behalf of
the Chairman as a Member of the
Committee?

Very well.
Yes?

Mr
Speaker, the Hon Majority Leader
is a Member of the Finance Com-
mittee and I know he is a busy
person. So, he can lay the Reports
on behalf of the Chairman.

Hon Majority Leader, you may do
so now.

I
am supposed to present item num-
bered 8, that is the Report on the
Pan-African Parliament. Unfortu-
nately, I am sitting here and none of
the other Members is in the House.

Mr
Speaker, with respect, could we go
back to enable our very Hon Mem-
ber for Navrongo Central to make
his Statement.

Very well, I would do so but I want
to defer item numbered 8. My other
Committee Members are not in the
Chamber, so we would do it tomor-
row. So, Motion numbered 8 is de-
ferred.
Hon Members, we would go
back to Statements and I would
now invite the Hon Member for
Navrongo Central to read a State-
ment on Hon Adda.

Mr Speaker, I crave your indulgence to
formally announce to the House the
home call of the Hon

Joseph Kofi Adda, the immediate

past Member of Parliament for the

Navrongo Central Constituency,

which sad event occurred on

Wednesday, 13th October, 2021, at

the Legon Hospital.

Mr Speaker, Hon Joseph Kofi

Kwowe Adda was born in Nav-

rongo, the capital of the Kasena-

Nankana District of the Upper East

Region of Ghana in 1956. He had

his secondary education at St

John's Secondary School, Sekondi

and later obtained a Bachelor of

science degree in Politics and Eco-

nomics from the Indiana Wesleyan

University, Marion, Indiana,

United States, where he studied

from 1979 to 1982.

Mr Speaker, between 1982 and

1984, he was at Columbia Univer-

sity, New York, where he obtained

a Master's Degree in International

Affairs, specialising in Finance and

Banking. He went on to obtain a

graduate certificate in African

Studies from the same university in

1989. He obtained a certificate in

French Language and Civilization

from the Sorbonne University,

Paris, France.

Mr Speaker, the late Hon Joseph

Kofi Adda was a Financial Econo-

mist and a Management Consult-

ant. He worked as an Executive Of-

ficer at the Ministry of Trade and

Industry in Ghana in 1979.

Between 1983 and 1984, he was a

Research Analyst intern at the

Third World Trade Institute, New

York, USA. Over the next two

years, he was an Accounts Execu-

tive and Management Trainee at

the Equitable Financial Service,

Inc., in New Jersey, USA.

Mr Speaker, the late Hon Adda

also worked at Essex County Col-

lege, Newark, New Jersey, USA

from 1986 to 1988; Thomson

McKinnon Securities Incorporated,

New York from 1989 to 1991 and

with Deloitte and Touché Consult-

ing, (West Africa), Accra from

1991 to 1994. Since 1994, Hon Jo-

seph Adda was the Director of

Omni Consulting International

(Ghana) Limited. Between 1996

and 2000, he worked in various ca-

pacities at the Ministry of Finance

in Ghana.

Mr Speaker, Hon Joseph Kofi

Adda was first elected as a Member

of Parliament (MP) of the Nav-

rongo Central Constituency in

2003 in a by-election following the

death of the then incumbent MP,

Hon John Achuliwor. He retained

Statements

the seat in the 2004 parliamentary

election.

Mr Speaker, Hon Adda was ap-

pointed Minister for Manpower

Development and Employment by

the former President, Mr John

Kufuor, in 2005. In a cabinet

reshuffle in April 2006, he was

moved to the Energy Ministry as

Minister. Hon Kofi Adda again

retained his seat in the 2008 parlia-

mentary elections even though the

New Patriotic Party (NPP) lost the

presidential elections. He, how-

ever, lost the seat in the 2012

general elections to Hon Mark

Owen Woyongo of the National

Democratic Congress (NDC).

In the 2016 elections, the late

Hon Kofi Adda recaptured the

Navrongo Central seat on the ticket

of the NPP and was appointed

Ghana's first-ever Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources by

his Excellency the President of

Ghana, President Nana Addo

Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He was later

transferred to the Aviation Ministry

where he served until the end of the

Seventh Parliament of the Fourth

Republic.

Mr Speaker, Hon Adda was an

MP for all, devoid of any discrimi-

nation based on party, gender, reli-

gious or ethnic lines. He was a man

who did not have a mean bone in

his body; a warm, friendly man

who made his mark in the world not

with grand gestures or fancy titles,

but by the basic goodness and gen-

erosity of his character, by the qual-

ity of his involvement with his fel-

low man, and how he brought out

these qualities in others.

Mr Speaker, Hon Adda distin-

guished himself in all the

ministerial positions he held and

was also an outstanding legislator.

His warm affable character en-

deared him to a lot of people, and

his houses both at the constituency

and in Accra were always buzzing

with his constituents and even oth-

ers not from his constituency. No

wonder he was often referred to as

“Guru”.

Mr Speaker, one of the exciting

things about Hon Adda was that he

was not just serving his country and

constituency but also knew how to

check his ego against excesses and

conducted himself with utmost hu-

mility.

Moreover, he was able to put

aside partisan considerations

whenever necessary and worked

for the common good of the con-

stituency and the country. Indeed,

he never viewed anyone who disa-

greed with him as an enemy.

Statements

Mr Speaker, Hon Joseph Kofi

Adda was a strong pillar in the con-

stituency with a strong passion for

youth and women development. He

was always with the market

women, helping them to grow and

manage their businesses and also

the young entrepreneurs to set up

and manage their various busi-

nesses.

Mr Speaker, his passion for

farming made him build a house

near the Tono Irrigation Dam and

he used that opportunity to under-

stand the plight of the farmers to

help them increase their produce.

He also established a large live-

stock farm within the same locality,

and a crop farm in Tumu in the Up-

per West Region where he culti-

vated maize to feed the livestock.

Indeed, it is said that he returned

from the farm in Tumu as usual,

and passed on the following dawn.

Hon Adda was caring, approacha-

ble and responsible to a fault, and

his demise is a big blow to the en-

tire constituency and beyond.

Mr Speaker, it is an undeniable

fact that Hon Adda's death is a huge loss to the Navrongo Central

Constituency, the Upper East Re-

gion and the nation as a whole. On

a personal level, I have lost a very

special advisor. I learnt a lot from

him, but I could have learnt more.

Like an orphan, I am only consoled

by the saying that, "Lives are like

rivers: eventually they go where

they must, not where we want them

to.”

Mr Speaker, the late Hon Joseph

Kofi Adda left behind his loving

wife and children, and we pray that

the good Lord gives them the forti-

tude to withstand the huge loss oc-

casioned by the loss of this colos-

sus. The “Guru” will certainly be remembered for many things, par-

ticularly for his persistence to

achieve whatever he set his mind to

do.

My condolences and sympathy

go to his wife, Madam Victoria and

his children, Justice, Allison and

the whole family.

I thank you, Mr Speaker, for the

opportunity.

Hon Member for Tano North?

Ms Freda Akosua Prempeh

(Tano North - NPP): Mr Speaker, I beg to contribute to the Statement

made by the Hon Member for Nav-

rongo Central. I am so hurt this af-

ternoon as I commiserate with the

Statements

immediate family and the National

Patriotic Party (NPP) family.

The late Mr Adda, as my Hon

Colleague on the other Side

referred to him as an “Hon Member for all'' was an affable man, very accommodating and always ready

to offer a helping hand. I had the

opportunity to work closely with

him when he was the Hon Minister

for Sanitation and Water Re-

sources. We shared a common

block; I either met him on the stair-

case, in the elevator or sometimes,

I took pains to visit him in his of-

fice. He always offered pieces of

advice to persons who had prob-

lems or issues. We did not hear

about his sickness.

One day, he called me to his of-

fice and told me he had a present

for me and he gave me a rich kente

cloth from the Northern Region. I

still have that cloth and I cherish it.

Last week, when I picked up the

cloth, I asked myself when I would

get the second one from him. We

have lost a gem, a brother and a

friend. As my Hon Colleague

rightly referred to him, he had a

soft spot for gender issues and

young people in his constituency.

He did not side with the NPP con-

stituents but he sided with his con-

stituency and I am happy that my

brother on the other Side has at-

tested to the fact that he used to ad-

vise him and that he would miss

those pieces of advice.

Mr Speaker, as we mourn him

this afternoon, we should also look

back and reflect on our lives. Just a

week ago, he was with us but today,

he is no more. What went wrong?

Do we take good care of ourselves?

Do we visit the health centres? Do

we find out exactly what happens

around us? As Hon Members of

Parliament, we go through a lot of

stress. This afternoon, we are eulo-

gising the late Mr Adda and I could

only pray that the good Lord would

continue to spot him and that he

would continue to rest peacefully in

His bosom. I pray that the Al-

mighty God would support his fam-

ily and strengthen them in this try-

ing moment. It is a difficult situa-

tion.

When we went to Walewale, a

lot of people mourned not only the

Vice President's mother but they also mourned the late Mr Adda be-

cause I saw a lot of fliers around.

That was the kind of person he was.

I pray that the good Lord would

continue to strengthen both the im-

mediate family, the NPP Govern-

ment, Navrongo constituency and

all of us in this Chamber because

we have lost a dear brother.

Statements

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I thank you for the oppor-

tunity to contribute to the State-

ment, and I pray that the Almighty

God would continue to strengthen

the family.

Mr Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to
contribute to the Statement and I
also want to thank our Hon Col-
league who read the tribute of our
friend and beloved brother who has
passed on to the other side of life.
Mr Speaker, I met the late Mr
Kofi Adda in this House when we
came as first timers in 2009 in the
Fifth Parliament. As usual, when a
political party loses power and new
Hon Members come to the House,
the idea is that one would want to
flex around because his or her po-
litical party is in power while oth-
ers would also look on from differ-
ent angles. One particular person
that our eyes caught was Mr Kofi
Adda, who was all over and did not
look at us as people who came from
a different political party. He
blended with us, asked us a lot of
questions and tried as much as
possible to guide some of us.

Mr Speaker, he lost his election

when we came back to the Sixth

Parliament. As we usually laughed

at ourselves, he became a returnee

to the Seventh Parliament as we all

know. I closely worked with him in

the Seventh Parliament when I be-

came the Ranking Member for the

Committee on Works and Housing

and he also was given the oppor-

tunity to serve as the Minister for

Sanitation and Water Resources.

Mr Speaker, anytime we met

even at the committee level, he al-

lowed the technocrats to express

themselves and explain things to

us. He gave them the opportunity to

do their work as technical people.

Whatever we found problems with;

issues concerning his Ministry, he

asked the technical people to re-

spond to those issues unlike some

Ministers who would come and

would want to be jack of all trade

even if they did not know what was

happening in the various depart-

ments. They would want to talk for

them but Kofi Adda was not like

that. He allowed the heads of de-

partments and technical people to

speak on issues from their depart-

ments.

Statements

Mr Speaker, just as my two Hon

Colleagues who spoke have said,

he is affable. The late Hon Kofi

Adda was someone one could ap-

proach even when one is from the

other political party. When one got

to his office, he was willing to sit

down with them. I think this should

be a lesson to all of us that in this

House and in our political journeys,

we may not know where we would

find ourselves today or tomorrow.

Therefore, when our colleagues

come to us in our offices, let us

make sure we open our doors to

them. Some Ministers in this House

would not even allow - We sit down and wait as colleagues but

Kofi Adda was not like that at all.

Mr Speaker, we were in Kenya

when we heard that he had passed

on. But before we went to Kenya, I

met the Hon Kofi Adda at our usual

eating place - Country Kitchen. When he saw me, he mentioned my

name and queried; “Emma, do you also come here to eat?” I answered, “Yes”. That was about two months ago. After eating, I was going to

pay but I did not see Kofi Adda sit-

ting at his place. Then, the lady

said, the gentleman who greeted

you has paid for you. I asked again

how come he, a former Member of

Parliament, paid for me, a sitting

Member of Parliament. That is the

kind of person we are talking about.

He did not even care whether one

belongs to his party or not. He was

very generous in that sense.

Mr Speaker, we have lost a

friend; we have lost a brother. We

have lost someone whom we all

know that was a gentleman.

Mr Speaker, one thing that I

have been thinking about since I

heard of his death has to do with

our health. Hon Kofi Adda left this

House just last year. Within ten

months, we heard of his passing on.

What could have accounted for

that? And he is not the only person.

We do not take good care of our

health. We come and sit under this

air-condition without exercising,

go back and eat late in the night.

Then, when we are off this seat and

we are home, we just go off like

that with all the experiences that we

have within ourselves.

Mr Speaker, we need to take

care of ourselves; we need to take

care of our health so that even if we

are no longer in Parliament, we can

also contribute to the national de-

velopment of this nation.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I commiserate with the

family, the NPP and the entire

nation at large.

Statements

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam

(NPP - Karaga): Mr Speaker, it is my pleasure to contribute to the

discussions on the Statement on the

passing on of my dear brother, the

Hon Kofi Adda.

Mr Speaker, Hon Kofi Adda,

before he passed on, I met him at

the Airport. He did not look unwell.

So, it is so sad that he passed on so

soon. My first encounter with him

was when he contested for the first

time, the Navrongo seat. I had a

meeting with him together with the

then General Secretary, the Hon

Dan Botwe. We strategised to-

gether on how to win the seat and

God willing, he won the seat for the

NPP. That was when I worked

closely with him. Subsequently,

when he became the Minister for

Energy, he did the Tamale Street

Lighting Project. I was the Mayor

of Tamale at the time and that

contributed significantly to the

successful hosting of CAN 2008 of

which Tamale was one of the host

cities.

Mr Speaker, Hon Kofi Adda

was a gentleman and an accom-

plished professional. There are

many lessons we can learn from his

life. He was hardworking, time

conscious and loved people. Any-

time I encountered him, he would

ask, “Where have you been hiding, bro?” That was the man we have lost. We would miss Kofi Adda and

I would want to thank the Hon

Member who made the Statement

for this tribute.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Ms Abla Dzifa Gomashie

(NDC - Ketu South): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the

opportunity to contribute to the

Statement on the demise of our

Colleague, the Hon Kofi Adda.

Mr Speaker, I met the Hon Kofi

Adda in the mid 1980s when one of

his younger brothers stayed with us

in my father's house at Madina. We did not know that we would

become members of NDC and

NPP. His younger sister, Mrs Re-

becca Adda Dontoh, the wife of

David Dontoh, is a very good

friend of mine. I call her a sister.

Mr Speaker, I share in the pain

that my Hon Colleague Member of

Parliament has expressed in read-

ing this beautiful tribute in memory

of the late Kofi Adda. It is a gentle

reminder to all of us that life is

ephemeral and when we have the

opportunity to serve this country,

we should not be so colour blind

but seek to bridge the gaps and

Statements

reach out. When I became the

Deputy Minister for Tourism,

Culture and Creative Arts, he met

me one day and said that I should

have joined him in his Party and I

said to him that he, big brother,

should have joined me in our Party

and we laughed about it.

Mr Speaker, we have lost a great

guy, we have lost a man who cared

for humanity. We have lost a man

who cared for people and as a Cath-

olic which he was too, I would say

the Hail Marys on his behalf so that

his soul would find eternal rest in

the bosom of Abraham.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I thank you very much for

the opportunity to join in commis-

erating with his wife and his chil-

dren.

Mr Samuel Atta Akyea (NPP

- Abuakwa South): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to

contribute to the Statement on the

Floor, which is essentially to eulo-

gise our departed former Col-

league, Hon Kofi Adda.

Mr Speaker, I did not know that

a Statement would be made on the

Floor regarding his passing on and

as a typical Akan man, what I am

putting on is not the proper attire. I

would have put on cloth because I

knew this gentleman so well. We

have had very good moments in the

Cabinet. I did not find a man who

was so affable and had lots of wits

more than the Hon Kofi Adda.

I call him power under control;

he is a very educated individual. He

is so deep, not noisy and not a

show-off and I admire his shock

absorbers. As a younger man,

sometimes, I got angry over issues

and he would be tapping me to take

it easy, especially when it involves

the Government.

One day, we had a debate as to

who a politician is and we wanted

to come to a conclusion so that we

use it as a guide. So, Hon Kofi

Adda and I were debating over who

a politician is until we converged at

a point and had our own definition

which we said as follows: “a politi-

cian is an extremely wise man who

decided to be sufficiently foolish in

order to bring the crowd along”.

Mr Speaker, may I quote it

again because some of the Mem-

Yes, Hon Kofi Adda and I, in our

Statements

own debate came to this conclusion

as to who a politician is.

The conclusion of the matter

was that a politician is an extremely

wise man who decided to be suffi-

ciently foolish in order to bring the

crowd along.

What I remember him for is that

he had a world class temperament.

This is one of the things I am still

working on because sometimes, I

lose my cool. That is, a matter will

get so stormy and heated but he will

take it in his stride and one will see

that at the end of the day, he will

weather the storm.

Mr Speaker, I am of the humble

view that if a man has not tasted the

‘two worlds'; that is being in oppo- sition as an Hon Member of Parlia-

ment and then having his or her

government in power, then that

person has not felt the full under-

standing of being a Member of Par-

liament. The late Hon Kofi Adda

tasted both worlds and then eventu-

ally he left us. An Hon Member

said he was generous and I agree

that that is what defines us eventu-

ally, that even if one is mean, how

would he or she be able to serve a

crowd? Unless that person shows

some generosity. He was always

giving to people and I thank God

for his life.

Some issues have been raised

about our health. It is true that our

medical check-ups are very im-

portant because we think we are

very normal until one day, a doctor

tells us we are hypertensive but we

are not on any medication. So, as

Hon Members of Parliament, by

reason of the weight of what we do

and the matters that affect our

health but we ignore them, it could

hurt us. So, we should do our med-

ical check-ups well.

Mr Speaker, again, we have

been educated that if a man is 40

years old and would not exercise

his body then he is in crisis because

it will catch up with him. It is very

important that this august House

encourages us to do our physiother-

apy and so on but we should also do

our very best to exercise.

I think it is important, as we al-

ways do, that this House gives our

Hon Colleague, a befitting send-

off. He has served us so well and

so, our representation should be

very strong as well as our pockets,

especially when he left behind -

Mr Speaker, I crave your kind

indulgence that as we are solemnis-

ing a Colleague, my fellow Hon

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Colleagues should have the occa-

sion at heart.

Mr Speaker, I know that you

will put a very good representation

together for us to organise a befit-

ting send-off and also help the

widow and the children.

Finally, there is something I

find very interesting and which the

philosophers say. It is in the sense

that the day a man is born, he starts

dying. This is because death is an

eventual inevitability. We are all in

a queue and there is nobody who

will stay alive but we should al-

ways bear in mind that our service

to people is what we will be re-

membered for which is more im-

portant than the office we occupy. I

think what we will be remembered

for, more than compensates for

everything. He was a man with a

good heart for the people and my

heart goes out to the bereaved fam-

ily and may his soul rest in peace.

I wish to thank the Hon Member

who made the Statement for doing

us the honour of bringing us to

terms with the passing of our dear

Hon Colleague.

Mr Speaker, thank you for your

kind indulgence.

Hon Member for Bolgatanga, do
you still want to comment? I learnt
that the name ‘Ayine' means ‘God'. Is that true?
Dr Dominic Akuritinga
Ayine: Mr Speaker,that is so.

You have kept such a beautiful
thing from the rest of us. Now, I
will call you Hon ‘God'. Kindly make your contribution.
Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine
(NDC - Bolgatanga East): Mr Speaker, it will not be proper to call
me Hon ‘God' because it will mean that I am playing ‘God' and I am not a man of hubris.

If
you were Ashanti, you would have
been called ‘Nyame'.

Mr Speaker, that is
so.
Mr Speaker, it was with deep
sorrow and shock that I learnt of the
death of Hon Kofi Adda. In fact, I
considered it a great loss to me be-
cause I got to know the Hon Adda
in the roundup to the year 2000
General Elections. He was looking
for a lawyer to partner with in the
execution of
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a consultancy contract he had won

and he was a big time management

consultant then. I was one of the

young lawyers he recruited to help

him in the execution of that con-

tract and that is how we met for the

first time.

Mr Speaker, one way or the

other, we got into talking about pol-

itics and I realised that at that point

in time, he was a sympathiser of the

National Democratic Congress

(NDC) just as myself. I distinctly

remember that both of us flirted

with the National Reform Party

(NRP) of Mr Goosie Tanoh in the

roundup to the year 2000 elections.

So, it came as a surprise to me in

the year 2009 when he stood on the

ticket of the New Patriotic Party

(NPP).

I went to him and asked if he

had changed his ideology of social

democracy to believing in property

owning democracy? He laughed

and told me that in politics, some-

times, one takes certain strategic

decisions but does not abandon his

or her ideological memories and

that was the end of the story in

respect to his transition from being

one I knew as a sympathiser of a

social democratic party to a market

oriented liberal capitalist party.

I continued to have personal re-

lations with him whiles he was in

Parliament and I distinctly remem-

ber that he was a man who did not

allow party colours to stand in the

way of his relations with his Hon

Colleagues here in Parliament.

Mr Speaker, I distinctly remem-

ber when he represented His Excel-

lency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo

Addo in July 2018 to inaugurate the

Bolgatanga East District Assem-

bly. As Hon Member of Parliament

for that constituency, I was there

with him and he delivered a very

fantastic speech and mentioned the

fact that as Minister for Sanitation

and Water Resources, he was going

to ensure that the District had its

fair share of water.

So, I publicly committed him

and told him that if he does not de-

liver on his promise, I would come

to Navrongo Central to campaign

against him and we laughed about

it. However, he told me that I am

his good younger brother and that

there was a big project that was

coming - I think it was a regional district water project, an Agree-

ment which we approved in this

House.

Mr Speaker, true to his word,

that project is ongoing and the day

I heard about his death, I was so

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sad. I remember that whiles driving

pass the Project, I stopped to say a

prayer for him and to thank God for

his life and what he had done for

my people. The Project has not yet

been completed but I am sure the

people of Bolgatanga East are go-

ing to enjoy clean potable water as

a result of the effort of the late Hon

Joseph Kofi Adda.

Lastly, I would like to say that

this was a man of integrity; a man

of his words. I remember when he

was campaigning in Navrongo

Central Constituency, one of the is-

sues that came up during the course

of the campaign was the fact that he

spoke his mind even at the peril of

losing an election. I think that is the

kind of person we need; a man of

integrity that should populate the

political space of our country.

With these few words, I wish to

thank the Hon Member who made

the Statement and Parliament in

general for honouring the memory

of a great man and politician.

Mr Speaker, thank you
for the opportunity to add my voice
to the Statement.
Mr Speaker, Hon Kofi Adda
was one of the finest politicians
that this country has ever produced.
He was somebody who worked in
the public sector as well as the pri-
vate sector. He worked with
Deliotte and Touche and was also a
Director for Omni Consulting In-
ternational, both in the private sec-
tor. He also worked with the Min-
istry of Finance and became the
Hon Member of Parliament for
Navrongo Central Constituency af-
ter a by-election in 2003 following
the demise of Hon John Achuliwor.
He went on to retain the seat in
2004 General Elections and was
appointed by His Excellency John
Agyekum Kufuor as the Hon
Minister for Manpower Develop-
ment and Employment and in April
2006, he was reshuffled and made
the Hon Minister for Energy.
Under the tenure of President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo,
he was appointed as the Hon
Minister for Sanitation and Water
Resources and later as the Hon
Minister for Aviation. Mr Speaker,
we are talking about somebody
who had acquitted himself
uniquely in the discharge of his ser-
vice to mother Ghana and I pray
that his sterling attributes would in-
fluence all of us to live, not only for
ourselves, but for our beloved
country.
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Mr Speaker, I was shocked

when I heard of his demise because

he did not seem to be a person who

was unwell. However, as previous

contributors have alluded to, it

means that we must be mindful of

ourselves as we contribute our

quota to ensure the development

and progress of this country. Our

health must also be on the front

burner so that we do not exit this

life without accomplishing our

mission on earth. I think we do not

have to toy with regular medical

check-ups because it can happen to

any of us.

Mr Speaker, I want to wish him

a peaceful rest. His death is a great

loss to the NPP and the political

class of this country. I wish his

family well and I hope that this

House and the Government would

give him a befitting burial to merit

what he did for this country.

Mr Speaker, on this note, I want

to thank you for the opportunity to

express my appreciation to the

memory of this great man that the

country produced.

Mr Speaker, thank you.

Mr Speaker, a lot
has been said about the late Hon
Kofi Adda and his working life, but
I just want to share a little infor-
mation about him. The late Hon
Kofi Adda happened to be my
nephew because his mother comes
from my place, Chiana.
Mr Speaker, Hon Kofi Adda
was one of the few politicians that
I knew before coming to Parlia-
ment who belongs to a particular
party but gives back to the commu-
nity. This was a man who would
help anybody no matter where the
person came from. Mr Speaker, af-
ter his death, a good number of
people called to tell me about what
he did for them. As I said, wherever
you meet him, even if it is in a res-
taurant, he would pay for your bill.
Mr Speaker, this was a man who
had shown that politics is not just
about a person's party but about everyone. I think we have lost a
great man in the Kassena Nankana
area and we pray that his soul
would rest in peace.
Mr Speaker, he was a great
man; we will do our best to bury
him. Thank you.

Hon Member, I would give you the
last bite before I come to the Hon
Leaders.
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Mr Alhassan S. Sayibu (NDC

- Tamale North): Mr Speaker, thank you very much and I wish to

associate myself with the kind

words that have been spoken about

the late Hon Kofi Adda and I join

in commiserating with the family

and members of his party.

Mr Speaker, Hon Kofi Adda

was indeed a gentleman and one

would leave his presence feeling

enriched with wisdom and

knowledge and not feeling less. He

appreciated people from all walks

of life and took on board views,

even when they were divergent

from his. I recall an interaction I

had with him one time when we

both travelled from Tamale to

Accra and that was when he had

been reassigned to the Ministry of

Aviation. We lamented about the

state of the former international ter-

minal; Terminal 2. We both dis-

cussed what could be done with

Terminal 2, given the resources

that are there and the opportunity

that we could derive from it as a

country. He took advantage to also

share with me some of the interven-

tions that he had initiated when he

was the Hon Minister for Sanitation

and Water Resources and it in-

cluded some of the water projects

that Hon Dr Ayine spoke about and

another was to the benefit of the

Tamale Metropolis which we took

advantage of that time to discuss

the nitty gritty.

Mr Speaker, it is on this note

and many other conversations I had

with him with regards to policy that

I came to the conclusion that he

was not just a gentleman and a pol-

itician, but he was also a policy

guru; one who paid attention to the

drafting of policy and took part, as

a politician, in the implementation

as well.

Mr Speaker, this is what we

need to promote more so that peo-

ple who understand policy and

have the opportunity to implement

same would get to work and utilise

all the very beautiful policies, pro-

grammes and books that are gather-

ing dust on shelves.

As I said, he was a pleasant fel-

low and every time one had an in-

teraction with him, one would

leave very enriched in knowledge

and feeling quite important as well.

I would conclude by adding few

thoughts to the fact that the remem-

brance of the dead, we are told, is a

warning to those of us who are

alive. As many have already indi-

cated, this was a man who did not

look sick at all until his demise and

that is why we all need to be grate-

ful for whatever minute that we

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spend on this earth. I have said that

growing is the euphemism for dy-

ing so when we say that we are

growing, it is just the euphemism

for saying we are dying. We need

to prepare for the inevitable even as

we enjoy whatever opportunities

that life presents to us.

Mr Speaker, on this note, I

would want to once again commis-

erate with the family and the mem-

bers of his party especially, the

constituency that he held before the

Eighth Parliament. I wish that the

good Lord would grant him a per-

fect place to rest after his hard toils

and contributions to the develop-

ment of this country.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I associate myself with the

Hon Member who made the State-

ment and I thank you very much for

the opportunity.

Mi-
nority leadership?

Deputy Minority Leader (Mr

James Klutse Avedzi): Mr

Speaker, thank you for the oppor-

tunity to also associate myself with

the Statement on the demise of our

former Colleague, Hon Joseph Kofi

Adda.

Mr Speaker, I met the late Hon

Kofi Adda in 2005 when I was

elected into Parliament for the first

time. We have been friends since

that time until his demise a few

days ago. A lot has been said about

the late Kofi Adda, a very humble

man and someone who was willing

to associate himself and accommo-

date everybody.

In fact, we call ourselves broth-

ers. Any time that he sees me, he

calls me “brother” and I also do same. When he was the Hon

Minister for Aviation, we had an is-

sue about the new Terminal 3,

where the loan taken by the Ghana

Airports Company Limited was

supported by Government in order

to build the terminal. I recall that

the issue about the tax component

that was ceded to the Ghana Air-

ports Company Limited in order to

raise funds for revenue to pay for

the loan was brought to the Finance

Committee, which I chaired at the

time. Later, when he became the

Hon Minister for Aviation, he was

willing to go by the terms of that

Agreement.

Mr Speaker, his demise is a loss

to us as Parliament of Ghana and is

a big loss to his constituents and his

party, the New Patriotic Party

(NPP) and Ghana as a whole.

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As said by one of the Hon Mem-

bers who contributed, with the con-

ditions under which we operate as

Members of Parliament, it should

be a lesson for all of us to take good

care of ourselves in terms of our

health needs. This is because we Sit

and try to satisfy our constituents

and attend to their needs all the

time but we forget about ourselves,

particularly about how we can also

take care of ourselves in terms of

our health, so that we do not en-

counter these issues, where not

long after one leaves Parliament,

health issues start to set in at a time

when one does not even have any

flow of income to care for his or her

medication and others.

Mr Speaker, this Statement is a

good one. In my view, the Leader-

ship and Management of Parlia-

ment should look into what should

be done for Members of Parliament

who lose their seats so that we do

not have these occurring to Mem-

bers of Parliament immediately

they lose their seats.

Mr Speaker, I also associate

myself with the Statement and wish

the family well. Our condolences

go to the people of Navrongo Cen-

tral. I believe strongly that at his

burial, a delegation of Parliament

would definitely be represented at

the funeral.

Yes, Hon Deputy Majority Whip?
First Deputy Majority Whip
(Mr Habib Iddrisu): Mr Speaker,
I thank you and the Hon Member
who made the Statement, eulogis-
ing the late Hon Kofi Adda.
The late Hon Joseph Kofi Adda
was a Member of this House for 13
years having come through by by-
election in 2003, retaining the seat
in 2004, winning the seat again in
2008; lost the seat in 2012 and was
able to recapture the seat in 2016.
He was a man who really lived
his life and contributed immensely
to the development of the country.
If we all remember, in 2005, when
he was appointed the Hon Minister
for Manpower and Employment, he
brought a lot of reforms to that Sec-
tor. In 2006, he was made the Hon
Minister for Energy. It was through
his term as the Hon Minister for
Energy that we discovered oil, and
he brought a gallon of oil to Parlia-
ment in 2006 and showed it here
that at Cape Three Points, oil had
been discovered and the physical
evidence was shown to this House.
This was a man who in 2017,
the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made the Hon Minister
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for Sanitation and Water Resources. He brought a lot of reforms in the Water Sector. Sanitation was actually reinforced and one could see that the Youth in Sanitation and Coastal

Assistants module under the Youth

Employment Agency (YEA) was

rolled out, and in our constituen-

cies, we had people who swept and

did other things just to be able to

help Ghana become cleaner.

Not only these, when he was

made the Hon Minister for Avia-

tion, as my senior, the Hon Deputy

Minority Leader said, at the Termi-

nal 3, he brought a lot of changes.

When you go to the Kotoka Inter-

national Airport, you would see

that through his hard work and ded-

ication to service, he was able to do

a lot.

We pray that God forgives Hon

Joseph Kofi Adda, and he would be

in the hands of good angels. We

also pray that we who are still alive

have good health, and that Parlia-

ment should actually look at the

services of former MPs. It is very

terrible and frustrating when we

meet our former Colleagues who

were unable to return and in a mat-

ter of months their health and social

responsibilities become a huge

challenge.

I pray that the Leadership and

Speakership of this House would

have a look at it so that we would

be able to help our former Col-

leagues. If we could have routine

exercise among Members of Parlia-

ment so that every quarter we could

go to the Mountains or have a keep-

fit session just to keep us fit. We are

doing a lot but we are forgetting our

health.

The late Hon Joseph Adda was

playing his second half since he

was 65 years, born in 1956. When I

say second half, my nephew Hon

Alhassan Suhuyini - When you get to 50 years, there is no guarantee

that you get additional 50 years. So

it is a second half you are playing

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I thank the Hon Member

who made the Statement and wish

the late Hon Joseph Kofi Adda

would be in the hands of good an-

gels and at the mercy of the Lord.

Thank you.

Hon Members, our former Col-
league, Hon Kofi Adda was one of
our fine gentlemen and a dedicated
Member of Parliament. It is a pity
that like all of us, when we walk
back and forth, sometimes, we for-
get that we ourselves also have
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problems that we must pay atten-

tion to. We are almost always

focusing on community problems

rather than individual problems

forgetting that our health matters.

We regret very much the death

of our Colleague. As it is our prac-

tice, we shall rise and observe a mi-

nute silence in memory of our

Brother.

May the soul of our departed Brother,
Hon Joseph Kofi Adda and the soul
of all the faithfully departed rest in
peace.
Yes, Hon Leader?

Mr Speaker, it is past 3.00 pm. We are in your
hands for adjournment.

Very well. Yes, Hon Deputy Minority
Whip?

Mr Speaker, I totally agree with the Hon Member
on the other Side.
Mr Speaker, today happens to
be one of the good days in the life
of this House because one of the
Senior Assistant Clerks of the
Parliamentary Service has written a
book on the Legislative Systems in
Ghana, and the launch of it is being
undertaken at the Foyer.
I am just reminding you so that
you entreat Hon Members to be
there. We are in your hands, Mr
Speaker.

I
was actually going to make that an-
nouncement. You have taken the
wind out of my sail.
Hon Members, kindly be re-
minded that the book launch on
Parliament is being done at the
Foyer right after here. I encourage
all Hon Members to be at the func-
tion.