Debates of 25 Nov 2021

Hon
Members, we will commence with the correction of the Votes and Proceedings of Wednesday, 24th November, 2021.
Page 1…9 --

Mr
Speaker, at page 9, the item numbered 9, the last line of Question number 506 should be “building of offices for Members of Parliament in their respective Constituencies” and not “building of offices for Members of Parliament in the respective Constituencies”.

Very well. The Clerks-at-the-Table will take note.
Page 10 … 13 --

Mr Speaker,
before we adjourned yesterday, you gave an indication that, today, whatever stage we get to by 6.00 p.m., we will adjourn Sitting till Friday, 26th November, 2021. I thought that that would be captured in the Votes and Proceedings so that we would know that it was on record before we adjourned yesterday. So that today, we can stick to that because some of us cannot sit here all through. Like you said, some people are able to get up and come in. It has not been captured, but I believe it should be.

That would be captured in the Official Report, not in the Votes and Proceedings.

Mr
Speaker, I was here yesterday, but I have been marked absent.

Kindly see the Clerks-at-the-Table for the correction.
Hon Members, the Votes and
Proceedings of Wednesday, 24th November, 2021, is, hereby, adopted as a true record of proceedings.
We have the Official Report of
Thursday, 4th November, 2021, for correction. Any correction?

Mr Speaker, in the second paragraph at column 42, the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation should be properly captured; it has not been captured accurately.

Very well. Any other corrections?
Hon Members, in the absence of
any further correction, the Official Report of Thursday, 4th November, 2021, as corrected, is, hereby, adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Chief Whip, I do not have

Very well, we will proceed

straight to continue with the debate for the approval of the Budget Statement read by the Hon Minister for Finance a week ago. To start today is Hon Kofi Ahenkorah Marfo.

Mr Speaker,
indeed, you do have the permission, except to say that we heard our Hon Colleague, friend and our respected Hon Minority Leader when he made the point quite clear that tomorrow, he intends to evoke article 104 of the 1992 Constitution. We have taken a cue, and as such, we will also position ourselves properly.
Mr Speaker, with your comment
on our Side, we find it quite interesting and we have also taken a cue accordingly. However, if we look at the nuance of Parliamentary work, which you have a better experience and exposure on, we can see it; we appreciate the difficulty, and appreciate the challenge, but we are guided. I can assure you that tomorrow, you would have a full packed House here ready to do proper battle with our Hon Colleagues on the Minority side. So, we would be ready to meet the Minority accordingly
when they evoke article 104. [Hear! Hear!] Mr Speaker, we are grateful, and on that note, we are fully in your hands, you may adjourn the House.

I just would want
to remind you that there is no decision day in this Parliament. So, when you decide to take decisions on major days and pack the House, every day we take decisions and that is why I say that you must learn lessons. You will not get the time every day to pack the House to get through your decisions and so, if you continue that way and the others decide not to do Business with you, you would lose some critical matters by surprise. That is why I said we should learn lessons and I think it is important that we do so. Tomorrow would be a very critical day, where we would take a very serious decision. [Interruption] We have not concluded the debate yet.
Hon Members, with this, I
adjourn the House to tomorrow where we shall reconvene to try as much as possible to conclude the debate and take the critical decision for the country.

Hon Minority
Leader, you said you intend to invoke article --?

Mr Speaker, article 104 of the 1992 Constitution.

Do you want to

Mr

Hon Member, I
thought the Majority Caucus - I keep on referring to them as the Majority Caucus. Now, when we look at that Side, we would see that clearly, they are not in the majority. I thought that there are lessons to be learnt in these matters, but it seems that the lessons are not being learnt. If we look at the numbers on that Side and the numbers on the Minority side, who is in the majority? [Hear! Hear!] I am just drawing your attention to lessons. I decided to call them the Majority Group because the Independent Member of Parliament agreed to do business with them, but there is no Majority party in this Parliament now.
There is a Majority Group, and
as a result of that there is a Minority. So, please, let us take notice of this. I would always want us to go by the concept of the founders of the Fourth

first one is about opening up this terminal for larger vessels to come into the port. What it means is that, there would be a lot of bigger vessels thus, a lot of cargo would come to the Takoradi Port.

Mr Speaker, the second one is

about job creation. As we speak now, over 1,000 of our youth are getting jobs even during the construction of this terminal. It presupposes that when the terminal is completed, thousands of our youth would get the opportunity to work in this terminal. Mr Speaker, this is the work of President Akufo-Addo.

The last one is about revenue

mobilisation because the terminal has been opened up, it would compete - As you know, Takoradi Port is the oldest port utwhen you compare the Takoradi Port with the Abidjan Port, Tema Port and Lagos Port, you would realise that Takoradi Port is the smallest among them. Mr Speaker, with this expansion, there is going to be a lot of inflows; the transit trade would also be taken care of. It is not going to be only Tema; Takoradi would also get its fair share in the transit trade that is, goods moving from Tema to Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.

Mr Speaker, let me move to the Tema Port. Tema Port has also seen a tremendous improvement in the terminal work. As we speak now, Terminal 3 that is being constructed by Meridian Port Services (MPS)-- A dedicated container terminal by MPS has been completed; all the four berths have been completed. In 2017, the cargo throughput was 13.4 million tonnes but as I speak with you, in 2020, we had about 18.9 million tonnes and this is under President Akufo-Addo. 18.9 metric tonnes were cargos that came into the country and this means that now that all the four berths are ready, we would get more of these cargos.

Mr Speaker, we cannot talk

about Tema Port expansion without talking about the paperless port regime that was introduced by our able Vice President, Dr Bawumia, in 2018. In 2018, Vice President Bawumia introduced the paperless regime at our ports. As I speak with you now, you can sit in the comfort of your office, all that you need is a laptop and you can do your transactions including sending your declarations, paying your import duties and raising your waybills and this is the work of President Akufo- Addo. When you are done, you would only go to MPS and you can get your goods cleared.

Mr Speaker, we have the

twenty-four-port service. Under President Akufo-Addo, you would only have to get your documents ready and go to the port at any given time, even at 12.00 midnight, you can go to the port and clear your goods. And this is the work of President Akufo-Addo. And we have to understand that President Akufo- Addo is on his way to open up this port service and give it the facelift that it deserves.

Mr Speaker, post-COVID-19

increase in freight charges. As for that one, there is nothing anybody can do about it because the freight charges are not local charges so we cannot do anything about them. In 2019, we were paying US$4,000.00 for a 40-footer container from China. As I speak with you, it is US$13,000.00. With that one, we need to do something about it. It is a global issue so, I believe Ghana would now have to seek opportunity of knowing how and why it is so.

Mr Speaker, let me move to road

transport; Metro Mass. As we speak, about one hundred buses are on their way to Ghana, from Belgium and they are coming from VGL. There is another two hundred buses also coming from China, and we are at the stage of value-for-money assessment. When we are done, we would get

another two hundred from China and another three hundred from Korea EXIM. These are for our transport sector. That is why it is important for us to accept this e-levy because a component of this e-levy is going into public transport financing. As we speak and as we are here now, all of us; both Sides, we need buses in our constituencies. How do we get the buses if we do not approve this Budget? We need the buses because I can tell you, Mr Speaker, that each of us here, if we are able to get a bus or two in our constituencies, we would come back to this Chamber again. So, e-levy must be accepted and then the Budget should be approved.

Mr Speaker, finally, when we

started the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic, since 1997, NPP as a party has given the NDC Government good alternatives. From 2009 to 2016, Mr Speaker, NPP as a party gave alternatives to the NDC so we are asking the NDC now, what is their alternative to this post-COVID- 19 economy that we have? That is what we ask from the NDC.

Mr Speaker, I thank you. --

[Hear! Hear!] --

Mr Dari Andrew Chiwitey

(NDC -- Sawla/Tuna/Kalba): Mr Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to the

These are the documents that the Hon Member tendered.

Mr Speaker,
for the short period that I have been in this House, Hon Members have always deferred to you; I would defer to you in all matters and at all times.
Mr Speaker, I insist -- [waves
the document] -- this is the document that was given to me. I would not overly litigate this matter; it is about reputation. The document is not from the World Bank. [Interruption] Where is the evidence that it is from the World Bank? It is from the GSS and that is the fact. Mr Speaker, I am a bit loud, forgive me.

Hon Majority
Chief Whip, I will not be part of the debate and you know it. The last document before me, it has been clearly stated - 11.17.21, 5.39 a.m. - Data source World Bank, and the website address has been provided. That is the document coming from the World Bank, which I referred to. The others are from the GSS and that is what I have seen and read. If you doubt the authenticity of the document, the website address is there for you to verify whether it is from the World Bank but on the face of the document, it is from the World Bank. If you doubt it, then investigate further. That is the only advice I can give.
Let me listen to Hon Ricketts- Hagan because he has been standing for some time.

Mr Speaker, you are right, and if there should be the need for us to engage our Hon Colleague on this matter, we would. On this note, I would want to defer to you; you are right. [Uproar]

Yes, Hon
Member?

Mr Speaker,
thank you for the verification that you did. I would urge my Hon Colleague, if he would want to do further investigation, the World Bank has an office in Ghana. He could go there and enquire.
Mr Speaker, I do not suffer from
credibility issues. I demand an apology from my Hon Colleague. [Hear! Hear!] Next time, if my Hon Colleague wants to engage me on data, he should check his records properly. [Hear! Hear!]

Yes, Hon
Minority Leader?

Mr Speaker, at this juncture, we are in your hands. I am surprised that the Hon Majority Chief Whip - If you look at the document which was tendered, it

put it on record that what I saw is not from the World Bank as he claimed. He made copious reference to it so I demand of him, and I am not litigating the matter, to submit a World Bank document he copiously cited from. I do not understand why in one breath he says that he is citing a World Bank document and another breath, he tenders in a document from Ghana Statistical Service. We support him that he wants to lead the NDC but he should do the proper thing.

Yes, Hon
Member?

Mr Speaker,
I do not know what my Hon Friend is talking about but we would verify the document and see where it is coming from. So I have tendered it because there is a World Bank document and there is also a Ghana Statistical Service document. So I tendered all the documents in but the unemployment document I cited and the other one I cited are from the World Bank, but there are other supporting documents which support the same position. So we would look at that and see where my Hon Friend is coming from. [Interruption.] I do not know what he checked the document against.

Mr Speaker,

Hon Member, just

Hon Members, the documents

before the Table Office, which were tendered by the Hon Member are from two sources: There is a document from the World Bank and the documents from the GSS. The document from the World Bank is on financial contents and trends. It is on country ranking on Ghana's youth employment and historical data, et cetera. The document on inflation in the country is from the GSS, and there is another one on unemployment from 1991 to 2021.

Motion that this honourable House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the year ending 31st December,

2022.

Mr Speaker, before I begin my

debate around the water and sanitation sector, sea defence and drainage, if time permits me, let me take this opportunity to find out whether the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has been sleeping since 2017. If he has been sleeping, I call on the media to wake him up to let him know that he has been in Government for five years. Why am I calling on the media to wake Dr Bawumia up? Mr Speaker, before Dr Bawumia became the Vice President, he told Ghanaians that two years into the NPP Government, every village in Ghana would have a toilet facility and every village in Ghana would have potable water. Dr Bawumia is five years in Government and we still have villages that do not have toilets; we have even cities that do not have water running through their taps. And so, the media must wake Dr Bawumia up and let him know that he is leading a team that has failed Ghanaians woefully.

And let Dr Bawumia also know

that the 2022 Budget should be labelled Anti-Bawumia Budget. Why

am I saying so? President Akufo- Addo and the Minister for Finance have deliberately refused to give Ghanaians water as directed by the Vice President; President Akufo- Addo and Mr Ken Ofori-Atta have deliberately taxed us to pay e-levy, which Dr Bawumia kicked against strongly. That is why I think that the 2022 Budget is Anti-Bawumia Budget.

Mr Speaker, to talk briefly on

the water sector - this Government is not a serious Government. Five years in office, they cannot tell Ghanaians that this is their policy direction as far as delivery of water to Ghanaians is concerned. What is their policy direction? Mr Speaker, two weeks ago, your Committee on Works and Housing went to a meeting to look at the policy for water in Ghana. The meeting failed; even the Ministers in charge of that sector - the Deputy Minister just came in, opened the ceremony and left. This shows that the Government is not serious.

Mr Speaker, once again, I would

say this Government is not serious because in the 2022 Budget, the allocation made for the Water and Sanitation sector; donors are providing 88.40 per cent of the Budget.

Is this a serious country?

Mr Speaker, they rely on donor

partners for water supply and sanitation so that they would give you 88.4 per cent of your budget? Well, we are all in this country and like that musician said, krom aye shi to wit, things are hot. We are all in it and no matter how Ghana is boiling, whether you are in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or New Patriotic Party (NPP), you are also in Ghana.

Mr Speaker, again on the water

sector, Ghana has a lot of water resources, so I do not see why we should struggle to deliver water to our people. However, when you have leaders who are not serious, this is what happens. Before the NDC left office, we delivered over 1000 boreholes to the people of Ghana. When delivering the statement, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta told us on paragraph 800 of the 2021 Budget that they were going to deliver 654 boreholes. Out of the 654 boreholes, they were going to get 622 fitted with hand pumps.

Mr Speaker, in the 2022 Budget,

the same statement is repeated. What is so baffling is that in the 2021 Budget, they indicated that they had already delivered 535 boreholes. In the 2022 Budget, they said that they had delivered 533 boreholes. Which

of them should we believe? I am tempted to start labelling some of the paragraphs with “scam alert”. If you would all agree with me, we can print it boldly on this whole Budget Statement and let Ghanaians know that it is a scam, and so ‘Scam Alert' should be the title for it, or better still, 419 Budget.

Mr Speaker, Ghanaians deserve

better. The group of people who are leading the country now came into office lying to the people of Ghana that they could do better. They came to office telling people that they could perform better than John Dramani Mahama and his team. Today, they have led the team and even the leader of the economic team who has now become a pious pastor, Rev. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the church elder, looked straight into the eyes of his congregants and told them that they are delivering to the people of Ghana. Yet, you go out and it is only difficulty.

Mr Speaker, President Nana

Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told Ghanaians that he was going to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. Take a stroll through town and when you see some of the areas of Accra, you would regret paying your taxes. My people in the Sawla/Tuna/Kalba Constituency, the people of Soma, Gbeleyire and the people of Kalba,

Mr Speaker, the last one I would

talk about is about contractors. The Ministry is responsible for registration of contractors. They have various classifications - D1, K1 and so on, but the point is that after the registration, what else is done for them? How is their performance assessed? How are their assets, equipment and efficiency assessed? We must be able to build confidence in our local construction industry.

Mr Speaker, in the appendices, a

huge amount of money is going to CAPEX and the people who use up that CAPEX are our contractors. If we just leave it to a registration desk, where people just come and collect their certificate and then pay a certain amount for them and leave them off, we are not building the confidence in the industry and we are not building a proper construction industry. I thought that the Ministry would make a bit more effort in that policy direction for people to know that their money is safe - Government's money is safe with the people who are using the most of it and we believe that they could do a bit more in that direction.

Mr Speaker, thank you very

much for this opportunity. I hope that the writers of this document would realise that we are all interested in the best of this country. It is not because

we just want to abolish the E-Levy and so on, but we just want the right thing to be done. If it means that we have to take this document back to go and work on it again and resubmit, then so be it. But for me and my house, we would make sure that we serve the people's interest and make sure that they are not overburdened beyond how they already are. Ghana is “hard” and I think that we should be a bit more sensitive to that.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Hear!

Hon Members, I
think it is proper to thank you for your endurance. We tried to finish all the names of Hon Members on the list and there are still some outstanding but I think we should continue tomorrow. I am very tired. I am sure you can sense it from my voice. So I want to, at this time, adjourn the House.
Mr Annoh-Dompreh -- rose

Hon Majority
Chief Whip?

Mr Speaker,
before we adjourn, I had earlier called for a document to be tendered in by Hon Ricketts-Hagan. That has been done and I have sighted it. I want to

paragraph 848, “A fence would be constructed along the Odaw drain to prevent the dumping of solid waste into the drain.”

A fence is the laziest approach to

this. Have a holistic approach to this and have a campaign on solid waste management. People should stop throwing rubbish into the drainage. This is because Odaw is just in Accra. What about every single regional capital? What about every district capital? What intervention is Government making there? It is not a fence wall. Otherwise, we would just create another channel - a higher gutter and everybody's channel would now be in the Odaw channel. Please, other countries have beautiful rivers and so on flowing through them and they are used for touristic purposes and have touristic value, and I expect the Government not to decide to put a fence wall around the Odaw but rather convert it to much more touristic value for us.

Mr Speaker, the Population and

Housing Census, 2021, in the provisional results indicated that 10.7 million structures were counted; 20 per cent of them were metal and wooden kiosks and that is a sign of worry. This is because we also know that many of these are occupied at night by people.

Mr Speaker, in the same way, they said that six out of 10 structures that were counted were residential. That means that at the bottom of the pyramid, there is a need for a lot of housing - very low-income housing because that is what some people can afford. But we must be a bit more proactive with this and not allow rampant developments. This is because if we do not take care, we are going to have a means of housing development and then we are not going to have the beauty of a planned settlement. So we must pay more attention to the communities. In most of the communities, six out of 10 structures are residential, meaning that it is a large number of them that are for housing. So our planning and layout and so on should tie in just to make sure that we have a bit more ratio-nality in that.

Mr Speaker, I would also talk

about State Housing Corporation. They have done quite well to be able to compete with the private sector-led real estate industry and I think they must be commended for that. But the housing efforts are, unfortunately, woefully inadequate. If we do not take care and not have a proper scheme, whether it would be site and services such that the services are properly marked out, we would have a maize or a spaghetti lines of services that nobody can even track.

who do not contribute to the filth in Accra are forced to pay taxes.

Let me sound a word of caution

to the Hon Minister, Madam Cecilia Dapaah, that when she is coming before the Committee, she should be prepared to let us know where every cedi they collected went. We must let the people who paid these taxes get to know -- [Interruption] Let me shout because every place is hot and I have to let people know that town is hot. We are suffering.

Vice President Bawumia had a

song that the whole country responded to, that Ghanaians are suffering, women are suffering, children are suffering, we are suffering. Hon Yaw Boamah, we are suffering and that is why I am shouting - If you are not aware, we are suffering.

Mr Speaker, the challenges in

Ghana are too enormous. This is a Government that we can describe as the most insensitive Government of our time. [Hear! Hear!] Why am I saying this? Looking at the 2022 Budget, before the Minister for Finance came to present the Budget, we all heard the sad news of the people of Keta and Anlo in the Volta Region. The Minister came to present a statement here without saying anything about the sea defence wall

in the Volta Region. The Blekusu sea defence wall was started in 2015 and completed in 2019.

Mr Speaker, when we went to

visit the community to see the extent of work done at Blekusu, fortunately that day, your Committee was there with the Minister in charge, Hon Atta Akyea. In his own words, he told the people of the Volta Region that they would continue the phase 2 as soon as possible. We are in 2021, getting to 2022. It took the Hon Majority Leader to bring the Minister to come and tell the people of Ketu and Keta when phase 2 of the sea defence wall would be started. We were all surprised at the Answer the Hon Minister gave. This is what we describe as leadership that is not sensitive to the people that they serve.

Mr Speaker, the 2022 Budget

did not capture a single sea defence wall nor how they would protect the people who live around the coast. Even with the project that the NDC started that this Government came to continue, they have not indicated that they are going to source funding for us to continue with those projects. It is sad.

Mr Speaker, let me say

something briefly on drainage. The Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on the Provision of

Flood Controlled Drains was submitted to this House in July this year. This report laments so much about the performance of this Government and the insensitivity we are seeing now. Government owes a lot of contractors and has not been able to pay contractors who worked on drainage.

Mr Speaker, Government

intentionally delayed payment of contractors. Those of you who have big drains around your constituencies should go and see. They are all choked. In 2021, we could not work on drains and in 2022, we still have these challenges. So, sometimes, when we hear our Colleagues on the other Side hailing this Budget, the President and the Vice President, I wonder whether when they get back to their constituencies, they do not listen to their constituents. If they listened to their constituents, they would realise that this Budget, as the Second Deputy Minority Whip, Hon Doyoe said, belongs in the dustbin. It does not belong here because it does not carry any good message to the people of Ghana. [Hear! Hear!] [Interruption]

I am not concluding yet; I want

to talk about housing. [Laughter] In 2017 and 2018, I served on the Committee on Works and Housing and moved with Hon Atta Akyea a

lot. This Government came and started commissioning projects that the NDC, led by former President Mahama, started. When they came they were only commissioning and at a point, our President was on a sod- cutting spree. He was just going about cutting sod. Mr Speaker, has the President been able to complete even one of the projects he cut sod for? [Some Hon Members: No!] This is what we call insensitivity.

Mr Speaker, the housing sector

faces a lot of challenges. In Ghana, we have a housing deficit of over two million. The recent population census that was carried out tells us that we have about 30.8 million people. The structures captured by the population census says that we have over 10 million structures and out of these structures, about 20 per cent of them are either wooden or metal structures. So, it tells us that Ghanaians are in dire need of houses.

Here is the case that we have

houses that were built by one Government and another came and left them to rot. This is wickedness and so Ghanaians are fed up with this Government. We cannot wait for 2024 to throw this Government out of this country. We cannot continue to live under a Government that does

Mr Speaker, also there is silence

on the policy direction for fumigation. This was mentioned quite a few times in the Auditor- General's Report. Mr Speaker, nobody is talking about the direction for fumigation because it cannot be just going to spray markets here and there. The point is that fumigation is a health and safety matter. That fumigation was mostly for the market but what exactly is the policy direction that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, for example, wants to carry out in local government in the area of fumigation? That is not clear. That is where most of our food products are purchased and the Government can do better than that. So, health and safety is also an issue.

Mr Speaker, last week, the

Committee on Works and Housing visited Ketu South, Anlo and Keta. This red wall right behind you, just look at the height of it - that was the approximate height of the tidal waves that hit those places. The Hon Minister for Works and Housing has not visited the location yet. Yesterday, as he was here, I just decided not to talk about it because I thought he would go today. The tidal waves of this height have never been seen before. It was a natural disaster,

but is it that there was a warning in March and May before this tidal waves have happened? Nature does not give further than that. What action is the Ministry of Works and Housing going to take against this high tidal waves which are natural occurrences? Something has to be done. Is it the sea defence or what intervention are they actually going to put in place?

Mr Speaker, I would have

thought that the Ministry of Finance would have taken this so seriously, so I was appalled to find out that the Hon Minister said he was surprised that it was not in the Budget. What is the intervention? The policy intervention should be that with all the mix of sea defence walls along our 550-kilometre coastline, there are sea defence walls, landing beaches with break waters and other interventions. What is the full picture? The policy should have given us that direction. By now, with the GIS systems et cetera, they should be able to map out the coastline and tell us models or interventions they intend to make. This is because, maybe, it is not the whole coastline that needs the intervention. By now, we should know the priority areas and get that picture from this document. I was also very surprised to see that a drainage intervention would be - in

waa”. But as a matter of fact, it is only the town which has the water system, the catchment area does not. Mr Speaker, as a matter of fact, only 10 per cent of the demand is catered for and this is not what the slogan, “Water for All”, was meant for.

Mr Speaker, “Water for All”

means that everybody should have water and not that during the COVID-19 pandemic or at a time that the Government wants to be charitable, then they would decide to give free water, which we would pay for eventually.

Mr Speaker, the Ministry of

Finance also indicated in this Budget Statement that they intend to drill 654 boreholes, and if we are to divide this number by 275 constituencies then it means that everybody would get on the average, two boreholes. Mr Speaker, I need, at least, 40 boreholes, my Hon Colleague in Tain also needs about 40 boreholes and New Edubiase also needs about 40 boreholes. So, this is woefully inadequate and if the Government wants to give water for all, then it has to be sufficient so that we can verify that the Government has given us water for all. The inadequate urban water supply needs

to be addressed and the Budget Statement lacks direction for that.

Mr Speaker, there is also

rampant drilling of boreholes. Who has the information or database on these boreholes? We are talking about the safety and security of our water resources but nobody has the information. Mr Speaker, the Vice President, Dr Bawumia, talks about data but where is the data on this?

Mr Speaker, I would move on

to sanitation for lack of time. Mr Speaker, they touted the slogan, “Toilets for All”, but sanitation does not involve toilets alone. Mr Speaker, a number of toilets have been constructed around the country and almost every constituency may have some, but we know that they are incomplete and our citizens are yearning for their completion. Mr Speaker, this was not really stated in the Budget Statement and that means that there is a lack in their policy direction.

Mr Speaker, there should be

new systems for schools, hospitals and so on where there are high volumes for sewage and there should be more innovation in this area.

not care about the people that brought it to power. All they care about is their own comfort and travelling here and there - it is a fact that our President pays so much on his travels. He should cut down those travels and build houses for Ghanaians to live in. [Hear Hear].

Mr Speaker, I want to call on all

of us to throw this Budget Statement away because it does not carry anything good for the people of Ghana -- [Interruption].Someone shouted “Saglemi” - yes, we built what is called “Saglemi'' for people to live in. They should beat their chest and tell Ghanaians what they have also done. Because of their wickedness and because they are not concerned about the people who brought them to power - the Saglemi Housing Project was a beautiful one but it has been left to rot. So, if they shout “Saglemi”, they should also build something and name it. They rode on lies to come to power - Ghanaians and the whole world have seen the kind of leadership that we have.

Hon
Member, you have a minute more.

Mr Speaker, their
pregnancy has been exposed.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion I want to call on the House to reject this Budget Statement that does not have any solution for the people of Ghana.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for

Mr Kwabena Amankwa

Asiamah (NPP -- Fanteakwa North): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.

Mr Speaker, I would want to use

this opportunity to thank the President of the nation, for the able manner that he handled the COVID- 19 pandemic in our schools, especially the senior high schools when they had their final exami- nations. During the time, all students from both public and private schools were fed with one hot meal a day for several weeks. That is a mark of a good leader who never discriminates.

Mr Speaker, apart from that

infrared thermometers were given out to schools. They also fumigated and disinfected many of the schools and other logistics such as reusable nose masks were also provided to them. Most people thought that the COVID-19 pandemic would break out in the schools. The doomsayers

were there when some few students from Accra Girls' Secondary School were infected by the virus and people cried for the closure of schools. I would like to use this opportunity to also thank the headmasters and headmistresses who had the outbreak in their schools but were able to control them. My regard goes to the President for such an able management of the pandemic.

Mr Speaker, education is the

universal investment in human beings and not Ghana investment. Every government everywhere in the world makes sure that they provide quality education. Apart from the investment in education, it is also a value resource for the economic benefit of all nations. Education, apart from its significance of being an economic resource, is also good in itself and a basic fundamental human right. That is why governments all over the world pursue it with alacrity. Education does not exist in a vacuum but thrives in a structured condition of physical infrastructure and material resources which are the needed resources to give quality education to every people in every nation.

Mr Speaker, the dichotomy is

clear. When we look at the schools in the advanced countries, we could perfectly say that they are far better

than our schools so their economies are good and better than ours. Why does it happen so? This is because it takes pains to invest in education. How do they get money to invest in education? It is generated from the people who live in the country.

Mr Speaker, I would want to

introduce the teacher into the equation of our quest to look out for good education. In the previous government, teachers who came out of teacher training colleges and taught between two and three years were paid for only three months. However, in this administration, when a teacher teaches for two years, six months, eight months or twelve months, the teacher is paid fully. This is the mark of a good Government.

Mr Speaker, there have been

several improvements in the life of a teacher as far as this Government is concerned. Training colleges now do four-year programmes that lead to the attainment of a first degree. We have changed the type of teachers that we want to be in our schools - teachers are trained well.

Mr Speaker, last year, over

20,000 teachers were employed which brings the total number to 93,000 teachers since this Govern- ment came to power. Where were the 93,000 teachers and where were they

Mr Speaker, I think this is the

best Budget Statement that we can ever have and I want to urge my Hon Colleagues - if they want to know the truth then they have to consult their constituents and ask them of what to do. We must explain the Budget Statement to them and what is contained in it. Mr Speaker, if I send an amount of GH₵2,000 through a mobile money account, I would be charged a GH₵20 and the receiver is also asked to pay GH₵20 for withdrawing the money, even though in some circumstances we are told that they are not to pay. Mr Speaker, yet they do not have a problem with this but when the Government wants to charge a levy of 1.75 per cent to be able to fix roads, create jobs and continue with programmes like free SHS, Planting for Food and Jobs and One District One Factory (1D1F), they have a problem with it. Mr Speaker, are they saying that we should rather be happy to pay these charges to the Telcos, which would leave this country, than paying these moneys which would be able to develop this nation?

Mr Speaker, I cannot say much

except to say that if we actually mean to develop this nation, then, for instance, Hon Ablakwa should be able to know that this Budget

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I want to say that we should all vote for this Budget Statement because it would build a sustainable and entrepreneurial nation. Mr Speaker, thank you.

Hon Members,
with your kind permission, we would take the last contributor for today. We would listen to Hon Gizella T. Agbotui.
Mrs Gizella Tetteh Agbotui
(NDC -- Awutu Senya West): Mr Speaker, I stand in for the Hon Ranking Member for the Committee on Works and House, Hon Emmanuel K. Bedzrah, and I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate.
Mr Speaker, in 2020, about 23
water systems in 11 regions were constructed, including the one in my constituency that the President commissioned in November 2020, which the Hon Minister for Water Resources and Sanitation christens as “the water is flowing waa waa

Mr Speaker, is it the case that

former President Mahama has asked them to reject the Budget Statement because when it is approved, good things would happen and development would be brought to this country and the NPP would be able to break the eight years record.

Mr Speaker, sometimes I am at

a loss when we debate the Budget Statement and other Hon Members want to make an assertion that the Government just wants to impose taxes. At the moment, there are 30.8 million people in this country and out of this number, less than 10 per cent of Ghanaians pay taxes. Mr Speaker, 2.4 million people are registered on their personal income and as at August 2021, 45,109 entities are registered as corporate tax entities while 54,364 persons are registered. Mr Speaker, out of 30.8 million Ghanaians, less than 10 per cent are paying taxes. So, we have to ask ourselves if the less than 10 per cent have to carry the burden of the over 30 million Ghanaians.

Mr Speaker, if they do not

understand the concept of the E- Levy, then they should not argue that it is a bad tax. They have to understand what the E-Levy is and the fact that what we seek to do is to help them. Mr Speaker, students

from Keta Senior High School in Hon Avedzi's constituency are in the finals of the National Science and Maths Quiz because they are beneficiaries of the free SHS programme. If this free SHS programme was not good then Keta Senior High School would not have been in the finals of the NSMQ.

Mr Speaker, I want to clarify

some issues with regard to the E- Levy because it is not everything that would be taxed. For instance, if a person is transferring money from their own bank account to their own mobile money account then there would not be any tax and any amount less than GH₵100 would also not be taxed. So, what is the point of telling our constituents that they must not be taxed and the levies are not needed for the development of our economy?

Mr Speaker, we are here to

represent our people and also make laws that would bring development to our constituents. Mr Speaker, there are youth who have finished school and entrepreneurs who are trying to survive and this Budget Statement contains the YouStart. This YouStart is to help young businesses spring up in their constituencies, yet they want to reject this Budget Statement.

posted to? Were those schools they were posted to not in existence in the previous government? They were in existence but had no teachers. In my constituency, for instance, in the previous administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), eight classrooms had only two or three teachers. The classrooms were empty and there were no teachers. This Government has tried to fill all the classrooms though not completely, so we think that what this Government has done is a mark that has to be commended.

Mr Speaker, we always say that

not until we motivate the teacher, not until the teacher is robust in the classroom, not until the teacher has given the required material and ability, we would always continue to suspect the academic purity of our students. It is true. Indeed, that is why this Government has taken upon itself to make sure that the teachers are trained and sent to the classroom. Next year, the Government would employ 16,850 teachers to go and teach in the classrooms. This would fill the places of those who would go on retirement, resign and the extra classrooms that have not been filled. This is the mark of good governance.

Mr Speaker, I would move on to

Free Senior High School (Free SHS) Education. Has this educational

improvement come out with any benefits? Yes, the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) programme which is currently ongoing depicts clearly that this Government is not only looking up to the renowned schools that we know, but to all schools in Ghana. Look at where Keta Secondary School (Ketasco) is now and consider Chemu Secondary School. These are secondary schools that are not on top of the mainstream education ladder that people would even like their wards to attend, but because of good investment in the education sector, these boys and girls are coming out with what they have for the whole world to see.

Mr Speaker, if there is any one

thing that has happened to the landscape of this nation, it is the Free SHS. People do not want to hear Free SHS but they enjoy it. How do we have Free SHS? No Government takes out money from his own coffers to promote Free SHS. The citizens would have to pay for Free SHS.

Mr Speaker, as I have said, the

Free SHS is one thing that has happened to our landscape and we should continue to thank this President for making sure that it comes on no matter the circumstances. Many are those doomsayers who said the Free SHS could not thrive because of some challenges that the Free SHS faced.

When there is a new development, it is bound to face difficulties, but the mark of a good leader is how they solve the problems and their will carried out. Because it is good, many of us here whose classmates could not go up again from where they left them - form 4, form 2, and class 6 in those days and even in JSS - they could not pursue any more education, but they are always taunting the Free SHS. Due to the magnanimity of the President, seeing that he did not like this to happen again, especially, coming from the rural areas, the President said he would not want to hear that people could not pursue their education because their father or the resourceful person in their family died or because their mother or grandmother was not there.

Mr Speaker, education should

cost every citizen in this nation and we have to bear that cost. We have to buy into education. Gone are the days where one head did it for many people. Now, if one wants to win, one has to include the services, the intelligence, and knowledge of all so that we can move the people along.

Mr Speaker, it is said that if one

wants to go fast, they should go alone, but if one wants to go far, they should go with the people. The President is going along with the youth. They are our future. We live

for them. If we do not prepare them now for good education, it would cost this nation an amount we cannot fathom.

Mr Speaker, Jeffrey Thomas, a

President of the United States, once said, if one thinks education is expensive, let us wait and see these young ones grow to become a burden on the society and assess how much it would cost us to bring them to the law. We must encourage education to change our existence.

Mr Speaker, once education is

good, everything in the country could go on well. There would be a perfect understanding. When we speak to people who sometimes do not go to school and do not want to change their minds, we see that there is a remarkable difference between what they say and what we intend to do for them.

Mr Speaker, Nelson Mandela

once said that education is the most important weapon that we can use to change the world and, specifically, Ghana. We cannot say education is expensive but we want it. Once we say so, then we are not being truthful to ourselves.

Mr Speaker, I would go on to the

Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). The GETFund is one

Parliament for Madina; Mr Francis- Xavier Sosu that we know the drama that was going on that one needs to do their parliamentary duties by demonstrating that roads need to be constructed. So, he should tell the people of Madina that he is rejecting the Budget that will come to fix their roads. That is exactly what he is doing because this is a Budget that will come to fix the roads he was talking about.

In the area of Planting for Food

and Jobs, during the NDC era, agriculture was developing at a negative rate of -4 per cent and at the moment, it is projected in the year 2021/2022 that the growth in that sector is going to be 5.3 per cent. At the moment, it is growing at 4.9 per cent but during the era of the NDC, it had a negative growth rate. During the regime of former President Kufuor that fertiliser was subsidised by 50 per cent and when the NDC was in power, they mismanaged it and the subsidy came up to 21 per cent. They then had to take a voucher whereby if they are favoured, they are given the voucher and vice versa.

Mr Speaker, if you go through

this Budget Statement very well, by reading to understand it, as well as a knowledge of the current economic happenings in the world, in that high powered economies are now

borrowing and need bailout - the economy of Japan was on its knees and they had to go for international aid for them to be able to survive amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So if we do not impose taxes how would we raise funds to fix the roads in my constituency as well as that of the Hon Member for Tamale South?

When we talk about taxes -

during the era of the NDC, sanitary pads were being taxed - the natural flow of women.

Secondly, I know that my Hon

Colleague like this - this is condom and they imposed taxes on condoms. Hon Ayariga and his Colleagues can attest to the fact that there was tax imposed on condom.

Why are they singing a song of

rejecting the Budget? Is it the case that former President Mahama has asked them to reject the Budget Statement? Is that the case? Why are they insisting that the Budget Statement should be rejected? Mr Speaker, they were the very people who even placed taxes on cutlasses that farmers even had to use for farming. For instance, in my constituency, Tolon, the farmers use cutlasses to farm but they placed taxes on it.

you studied all African or West African countries closely and read their Budgets, you would understand that this is the best Budget Statement to be ever produced in West Africa amid COVID-19 — building a sustainable entrepreneurship nation, fiscal consolidation and creation of jobs.

Mr Speaker, I do not think my

Hon Colleagues on the other Side can talk about anything when we mention job creation. When they were in- charge, the public sector employment was frozen and in the history of this country, no Government has actually brought any policy that has employed people than NABCO - 100,000 graduates have been engaged. This is to tell us that the debt the Hon Member keeps mentioning - I think he should contest former President John Mahama once again, so that he can make the economic policies that he ought to make available to us.

When we talk about public debt

and Government wants to borrow - Government should not borrow nor impose taxes. If you want to know how Government expenditures work in any Budget, we go to Goods and Services section and that can actually be manifested in every election year.

In the 2012 general elections,

the NDC Government estimated a

budgeted amount of GH¢969 million for Goods and Services. At the end of the day, they spent GH¢1.322 billion which is 37 per cent of what was actually budgeted for. In the year 2016, they budgeted for GH¢2.53 billion and ended up spending up GH¢3.211 billion which is 51 per cent more than what they had spent. In the 2020 elections, the Govern- ment had budgeted for GH¢8.233 billion and ended up spending GH¢7.722 billion and that is 11 per cent less than what was actually budgeted for.

Mr Speaker, this is a Budget we

all have to hail and support. I do not think that if we go to Appendix 10(d) we will see that the 21st Century schools have been captured here. Nyankpala which is my constituency is a beneficiary of this. If I do not support this Budget, they will never forgive me because they are going to benefit from the 21st Century schools.

When the NDC was in power,

former President John Mahama promised the Nyankpala constituency a secondary school but it was never fulfilled. This Budget will deliver that and bring hope back to the people in my constituency. [Hear! Hear!].

Mr Speaker, my Colleague - I

wish to tell the Hon Member of

good thing that has happened to the landscape of education. The syndicated loan plus the bond by Daakye is the game changer in the physical infrastructure provision in the education landscape. About 881 schools were constructed at the basic level. As I speak, over 613 are fully completed and are in use. The senior high schools, the combustion of our educational system, had 964 schools. As I speak now, over 700 have been completed.

Mr Speaker, over 677,400

furniture have been supplied to the Ministry of Education. Now, the Ministry, with the help of GETFund, is funding laptops for 280,000 junior secondary school students and teachers. Why do we say that this Government is not doing well in education? This Government has done that which no other government has done. Look at the many schools they have built. The GETFund raised an amount of GH¢2.7 billion from the Syndicated and Bond Programmes and that has caused the change in the physical infrastructure provision in our schools.

Mr Speaker, I can never end if I

do not speak about the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET). Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is changing us.

TVET creates the practical situa- tion where students go and have practical --

Hon
Member, your time is up. Kindly wind up.

Mr
Speaker, the Government has spent over US$1 million in the provision of infrastructure, tools, and machinery to the COTVET institute and it is changing Ghana.
Mr Speaker, if we can change
everything like that, then Ghana would be a place to live. I would appeal to my Hon Colleagues to vote massively for this Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government.

Hon

Hon Kwame Governs Agbodza?

Mr Kwame G. Agbodza (NDC

-- Adaklu): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Govern- ment.

Mr Speaker, let me put it on

record that I do not understand why

the Hon Chairman of my Committee always wants to speak after me. Normally, the Chairman of the Committee would speak and the Ranking Member would respond but, systematically, he wants to speak after me. So, I would take the lead and he can respond.

Mr Speaker, we have been told

by the President that we are in tight situations and we should all tighten our belts, so that we can develop the country. But while the Hon Minister for Finance was telling us this, the President was on holiday in a foreign country. I do not know any father who is so broke, cannot provide food for the children and pay school fees but the only thing he thinks about is to take a luxurious holiday elsewhere. That cannot be a good father.

Mr Speaker, the solution to the

mess in which Dr Bawumia and President Akufo-Addo have put us in is not to introduce more tax. It is to do what we call prudence, and that is what will take us out of this. By the end of this week, the President will bring a Bill that will include renting of luxurious presidential jet and yet, my grandmother in the village is asked to pay taxes on the meagre amount of money sent to her through mobile money transaction. She will

Mr Speaker, this Dr Bawumia

tax is very retrogressive. I would just want to limit myself to the area of road and transport. I listened to my very good Hon Colleague, Mr Marfo, talking about how they have gone about the paperless port initiative recently.

Former President John Mahama

- and they said they were introducing a paperless port initiative. Guess what? After its introduction, the cost of clearing goods at the ports is now more expensive than it used to be. So the point is that we would have been better off with the ‘paper port' under the previous regime because the paperless port initiative has actually increased the cost of doing business at the ports. So what value have they added?

Mr Speaker, when it comes to

the transport sector, the only thing I can say is that they have not had enough allocation. The only thing the Ministry of Aviation told us was to bring the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) back into operation. It is captured in the Budget that by the end of the year 2021, we would see GCAA. As we speak, the GCAA is nowhere to be found and

should invest their pension money in derivatives. It is a high-risk invest- ment and a gamble — though returns may be high, we are talking about pension money here. That is, people who would live on money when they retire and that money cannot be gambled because the Government actually wants to collateralise that money and collect more money from somewhere. It is in the Budget Statement and they should read their own Budget Statement. This Government has absolutely nothing to offer.

In conclusion, all of us in this

House, maybe, have not read the Budget Statement. We should read it and reject same. We have not read the Budget but have been pushed to accepting it but upon reading it, everyone in Ghana will suffer from this Budget.

Mr Speaker, they say; ‘a word to

the wise is enough'. On this note, I thank you. [Hear! Hear!].

It is the turn of
Hon Majority Chief Whip?

Mr Speaker,
with respect, my dear Friend and Colleague made copious reference to a certain World Bank document and he had also promised to tender same.
We demand of him to do that and copies of the documents he referenced.

Actually, in his
contribution, he said he was going to lay the documents on the Table. It will be so laid and copies will be made to Hon Members. You can crosscheck and verify whether the figures are from authentic and authoritative sources.
Yes, let us now allow Hon
Habib Iddrisu to make his contribution.
Mr Habib Iddrisu (NPP —
Tolon): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion moved by the Hon Minister for Finance on the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2022 financial year.
Mr Speaker, actually, listening
to our Hon Colleagues on the other Side, I do not know if it is the same Budget Statement we are all debating. I agree with my Hon Colleague that it is one thing reading a Budget and another thing understanding it. [Hear! Hear!].
We can read the Budget and if
we do not understand it, we might probably misinterpret it. By far, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, if

budget because there is nothing to write home about.

Mr Speaker, I would want to say

that when one builds his house on a clay, the storm comes and blows their house apart and one gets out of the storm, first, one would blame the storm for blowing one's house apart. But when one looks at their neighbour's house and realises that the House is standing but, may be, the roof and windows are off, one begins to question the clay that one used in making their foundation. In pre COVID-19, Ghana's economy was built on clay. The economy was in intensive care as my brother Hon Ato Forson said; the economy was in vegetative state; the economy was on life support machine but they were tickling themselves with false figures claiming that Ghana's economy was actually doing well.

Mr Speaker, this Government

has wasted so much money and they keep asking for more. They collapsed above 300 financial institutions in this country needlessly. They collapsed nine banks needlessly and they have spent more money. They spent almost GH₵20 billion in doing this from 2018. They said they had finished with the banking reforms. In the 2022 Budget Statement, they are spending GH₵1billion, meanwhile the banking crisis is supposed to be

over. Banks that could have supported the entrepreneurship that they are creating --

Mr Speaker, they have collapsed

businesses set up by entrepreneurs. They have collapsed indigenous banks set up by Ghanaian entrepreneurs. Mr Speaker, I do not know who the role models for these entrepreneurs they are trying to bring would be. This is because they have collapsed those that were functioning and they are going to start new ones and they have come up with all these schemes; these moneys they are looking for, including the E-Levy which, at the end of the day, would not amount to anything.

Mr Speaker, they raised the

capitalisation of the banks to GH¢400 million but used GH¢10 billion in collapsing banks which could have satisfied about nine of the banks that they collapsed. I want to caution the Government that there is something I have seen with this Budget Statement which is very dangerous and I hope they do not go ahead to do it. They now want to go for the money at the Pension Fund and they say they are creating derivatives so that the Fund Managers can invest the pension money in it. Nobody in this country

this is another promise that has been made without being fulfilled.

When it comes to the area of

railways, this House has agreed on some loans and so on, but yes, they are still under construction as none of the projects is yielding any fruits.

Mr Speaker, we are in the third year of road construction, and after a record tax collected by a single Government, what we have seen is a non-performance in the road sector. They have a record of incompetence, talking sloganeering and so on and the only thing this Government can tout is that they have done asphaltic overlay in few places. Some regions did not get even one millimetre of asphalt and so where is their record after borrowing billions?

When we go to page 877 of the

Budget, the Hon Minister still has the courage to present what Sinohydro has been doing. In the year 2021, they told us that, for instance, the contractor is being mobilised for the Accra Inner City Roads and in the year 2022, their commencement day has been delayed. That is, the contractor was mobilised in the 2021 Budget; however, in the 2022 Budget, the contractor is being delayed.

Mr Speaker, the contractor is also being mobilised for the Kumasi Inner City roads in the 2021 Budget and in the 2022 Budget, the commencement is delayed. When we come to a new one - We would see that in the 2021 Budget, the dualling of Ho main road was 55 per cent and in 2022, dualling of Ho main road is 53 per cent. What kind of statistics is this? In the year 2021, they achieved a 55 per cent completion and in the year 2022, they achieved a 53 per cent? It is only Dr Bawumia that can do this statistic [Laughter].

When it comes to our roads, the

summary that Hon Oppong-Nkrumah gave in this House two days ago, is very succinct. He said and I beg to quote: “You will see demonstrations in every constituency everyday across the country because their roads are bad”. That is the summary of our roads in this country and this was said by Hon Oppong-Nkrumah and I entirely agree with him that this is the nature of our roads.

Mr Speaker, what are we doing

about roads? The Government continually comes to this House and puts very little money in the Budget but speaks a lot in public about what they are doing. People forget that the amount left in the 2021 Budget for the road construction was just about GH¢1 billion.

This Budget is reporting that the

Mr Speaker, out of that the

Government has left the biggest ever debt in the road sector - over GH¢8 billion owed to Ghanaian contractors and this Budget lacks even a sentence as to how they are going to pay these contractors. These contractors will recruit more people than NABCo or than the so-called YouStart initiative.

The solution to job creation in

this country is not to recruit young people into the Police, Immigration and Military Services; it is to empower the private sector so that more young people are recruited. If we pay the contractors, all those people will find jobs in the private

sector. In any case, they claim only 800,000 people are on the Government payroll; when are we going to get to 2 million people in terms of recruits and how many people can they pay? So they should stop lying to the people of this country because Government can never use either the NABCo or YouStart initiative to recruit enough people.

When we talk about the Tema Motorway, I am extremely sad because not too long ago the Hon Minister for Finance read the Budget. While he was reading, there were some of our compatriots who were around the toll booths in this country, plying their own jobs. The Hon Minister said 50 per cent of the people collecting the tolls at our barriers are disabled people and he used this statement as an achievement, little did those people know that he was about to sack all of them. He could be so heartless in sacking them and yet put it in the Budget as an achievement.

Mr Speaker, let the Hon

Minister for Finance show me where those young disabled fathers and mothers who have been selling around the toll booths, are working for which he cited as an achievement in his Budget. How heartless could they be as a Government?

down to 4.7 per cent. In 2020, they claim it grew by 7.4 per cent but they have not been able to confirm this figure. It is still provisional. If we come to 2021, there is a growth rate of 5.3 per cent. In 2022, they have projected to do 5.3 per cent again. So, they are not growing. In 2023, they would start doing 5.5 per cent all the way through to 2025. I do not know what they are growing actually because if they are growing for food and jobs, why is it that their contribution to growth in terms of GDP is actually going down? They are not creating any jobs in the agricultural sector.

Mr Speaker, just look at youth

unemployment. It is now around 12 per cent. I have the graph here from World Bank. Since the NPP came to office, it has been a flat curve. It has now jumped to 12 per cent. So, with the NABCOs, the recruitment into security forces, the Planting for Food and Jobs and the One District One Factory (1D1F), who are they creating jobs for? This is worrisome and something really needs to be done.

Mr Speaker, they talk about

imposing this E-Levy and as a result, they would not borrow. I do not think they read their own Budget Statement and Economic Policy because if one reads it, in the medium term -

because the Budget is actually written for about three or four years and not only just one year -what they say they would not borrow if they get the E-Levy they have factored in here, the borrowing that they would do going forward is frightening.

Mr Speaker, on page 232 of the

Budget Statement and Economic Policy, appendix 3a, summary of Central Government Operations, in 2022, they intend to borrow on the foreign market an amount of GH₵12.4 billion even if they are getting the E- Levy. When the E-Levy increases hopefully in 2023, they would rather borrow more. In 2023, they would borrow externally an amount of GH₵20.6 billion. In 2024, they would borrow GH₵12.1 billion. God forbid, if this Government should break the 8 and form a new Government in 2025, they would be borrowing. The Hon Minister for Finance has said it here that he would borrow GH₵22 billion but Ghanaians would not make that happen.

Mr Speaker, if we look at it in

total, from now till 2024, the Government would add GH₵84.7 billion to our existing debt. Our debt will end the year at GH₵350 billion and they would add this to it.

Mr Speaker, I do not see why we

should even continue to consider this

Ghana pre-pandemic, did not grow at 6 per cent.

Mr Speaker, an economist once

said that if your fundamentals are weak your exchange rate would expose you. In a post pandemic economy, there are many factors that would expose a country but particularly, if the fundamentals are weak, the country's inflation would expose it. Inflation has exposed this Government. If we look at the inflation rate per the graph, one realises that what drove inflation from the beginning of the year to now, firstly, is food inflation. This is a country which has a policy of Planting for Food and Jobs. The more food we plant, the more expensive food becomes in this country. Food inflation is always going up. The more we borrow to put into this project, the less we get out of it.

Mr Speaker, the second one has

to do with exchange rate inflation.

The third one is fuel and utilities

which have just come in recently. That is the reason from May, the graph of inflation moved from 7.5 per cent up to the current 11 per cent.

Mr Speaker, as I said earlier, the

pandemic affected everyone, and as

we are coming out into a post COVID-19 economy, what one realises is that inflation is going up around the world. Ghana's inflation is also going up but for a different reason. Our inflation is going up because of food, fuel and the exchange rate. For the rest of the world, inflation is going up because of proper demand. The economy of the rest of the world is growing except Ghana.

Mr Speaker, economies around

the world are recovering. Demand is going up; companies are bouncing back while Ghanaian companies are collapsing. Companies are hiring people while Ghanaian companies are firing people. So, the demand that is driving the post COVID-19 economy is real demand and not demand for food, fuel and, definitely not for exchange rate.

Mr Speaker, as I said earlier, we

are planting for food. If we look at the agricultural sector, it is quite an interesting one. If we look at page 224 of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government, one realises that the more they grow, the more the agricultural contribution to GDP goes down. In 2017, the real GDP growth in the agricultural sector was 6.2 per cent; in 2018, it went down to 4.9 per cent because they were growing more; in 2019, it went

To add to this, the Hon Minister

for Roads and Highways is a senior Member of this House and I take strong exception to the fact that he breached a law in this country by arrogating to himself the right to determine whether we collect taxes or not. When the Speaker gave a directive that the Hon Minister, who is also a lawyer, should backtrack and do the right thing, he refused rather, Senior Members of the NPP have sought to denigrate this House.

Mr Speaker, not too long ago,

Black Rasta said something about this House and he was asked to come before us here. What is the difference between what he did and what John Boadu did in the Central Region when he told the Speaker that if the Speaker wanted to collect the tolls, he should go to the toll booths and collect them himself? Why is John Boadu not being hauled before Parliament? The Hon Senior Minister said that if the Speaker does not know that the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways can refuse to collect the tax, then the Speaker does not know what he is doing. May I ask the difference between what we did to Professor Doodoo and what the Senior Minister said? Why is the Senior Minister not being hauled before this House for his misconduct against this House?

Mr Speaker, in the Budget, the

Hon Minister for Roads and Highways went on to suggest that under the Public Private Partnership, financial closure has been achieved for the Accra-Tema Motorway contract.

Mr Speaker, we are all aware

that that contract is an illegitimate contract. Mr Speaker, Morta-Engil is a foreign company and under the original PPP agreement, Morta-Engil was supposed to bring money for them to do this work, but as we speak, Morta-Engil cannot even raise US$1, yet the Hon Minister has gone ahead to sign a contract claiming that the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) would fund this work. For the past three years, President Akufo-Addo has not paid US$1 into this Fund, so where is the money in the Fund for them to use to do this?

Mr Speaker, there is something

very wrong in the contract during the negotiation level and I beg to read: “The contract price of US$570 million has been hiked by 39 per cent.” Mr Speaker, the Minister said that the contract price quoted by Morta-Engil is 39 per cent more than the Ministry's own figure, yet the Hon Minister went ahead to sign the contract which included the 39 per cent. What is the interest of the Hon Minister and the NPP in this? If they have declared that a contract has been inflated by 39 per cent, then why would he sign that contract?

Secondly, we are told that the

Hon Minister said that there would be local content. Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister stood here and told us that Ghanaian contractors are not capable of doing this work, so why is he offering them 40 per cent? If they can do 40 per cent, then why can they not do the 100 per cent? Mr Speaker, there is no local content as part of the contract agreement.

In conclusion, my point is very

simple: that the road sector has suffered a lot and all we have seen so far, as part of the over GH¢8 billion owed to contractors and which are not being paid, the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways is also unable to account for the reason for stopping the collection of over GH¢10 million

by the end of December. Mr Speaker, we receive GH¢210,000 at the toll booths every day. It means that from the day he stopped the collection of the tolls till 31st December, 2021, we would have lost GH¢10 million and this is equivalent to 20 CHPS compounds with accommodation for staff. Mr Speaker, yet the Hon Minister for Finance, together with some of our Hon Colleagues here, cannot tell this to the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways who claims to be broke but has ceased to collect the GH¢10 million. Should the Rt Hon Speaker of Parliament go to the toll booths and collect the moneys?

Mr Speaker, because of this, I

have no reason not to believe that this Government has lost its track and is not on course. The E-Levy has nothing to do with the development of this country, but just to give more money to the Government to waste. For this reason, I would call on everyone in the country to support Parliament so that the Rt Hon Speaker would insist for the right thing to be done. Mr Speaker, those members of the NPP who want to undermine the Rt Hon Speaker by telling him to go and collect the tolls at the toll booths should know that the days are coming when the powers that be and the principalities that work to undermine this Parliament shall fall and Parliament would be

not visited the place as Hon Members of the Committee, have you?

Mr Speaker, I
take cue from what you have said and I promise you I would present a Statement on that and we would take it up from there.

Go and do proper
research because I have it on my fingertips.
Hon Members, we are tired but
we have to finish this sector on food and agriculture. The next person on the Minority side is the Hon Member for Cape Coast South, Mr Kwaku Ricketts-Hagan.
Mr George Kwaku Ricketts-
Hagan (NDC -- Cape Coast South): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.
Mr Speaker, the COVID-19
pandemic affected every country in the world. Almost every corner of the planet suffered from this pandemic, including Ghana. However, some countries fared better than others. Those countries are those who had solid and good fundamentals and Ghana is not one of them. Before the pandemic, we were given all manner of economic indicators and statistics. In 2019 before the pandemic, they
told us that our debt was GH¢214 billion and when we told them that our debt was actually GH¢245 billion, the IMF also told them but they dis- agreed. When they told us that the deficit was 5 per cent, we told them that it was 7 per cent. With every number they came up with, we tried to correct them but they would not have any of it. They were happy with the numbers that they churned out.
Mr Speaker, with regard to growth,
we told them that the economy grew around 4 per cent but they said no, we rather grew at 3.5 per cent in 2016 and they have done 6.5 per cent but we told them that, that could not be case. Table 1 on page 20 of the Budget Statement indicated the economic growth of most of the ECOWAS country - our growth in 2019 was 6.5 per cent which we told them could not be correct. In 2019, Ivory Coast grew at 6.2 per cent and in the pandemic era it was 2 per cent. In Guinea, it was 5.6 per cent and they grew surprisingly at 7 per cent. Burkina Faso was 5.7 per cent and they grew at 1.9 per cent.
If we look at all the countries
who had a growth rate of 6 per cent to about 4 per cent, their growth was around 2 per cent or above. Ghana, among them grew at 6.5 per cent but in the pandemic era we did only 0.4 per cent. That clearly indicates that

your demand for our good use of the two arms of Government; the Legis- lature and the Judiciary to have the 2 per cent that we deem fit to solve the problems we have as Parlia-mentarians, the offices that we need in our constituencies, the staff --

Hon Member, are
you talking about Parliament or on agriculture?

Mr Speaker, we
made an attempt in the previous Parliament to build a Chamber but that was shot down because the citizenry realised the Budget State- ment could not solve that problem. When this Budget Statement is approved --

Hon Member,
when was cocoa brought to Ghana? [Laughter] Do you know the year? [Interruption] -- In the 20th Century? I want the year. You only know the person who brought it. So far, what have we done to honour that person? [Interruption] -- Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital in Mampong? For What? What is that Mampong Hospital for? That is one of the challenges in this country. We do not honour our own. He took a serious risk to bring cocoa to Ghana and we only named a roundabout after him.
The hospital you talked about is not meant to do research in cocoa, and when it is even cocoa day, it is never celebrated at that place. That is one of the challenges in this country. We do not value what Ghanaians contribute to. We say the backbone of our economy is cocoa - the backbone of our economy is “Tetteh Quarshie” and not cocoa. You are with the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, take it up with the Ministry.
He must be honoured properly
to encourage other people to take up these meaningful risks. You know the search they did and they saw it was tools. It was the Basil Mission that took him as an artisan to work in Fernando Po. Fernando Po is now called Equatorial Guinea. After that he saw the cocoa seeds and put them in the bag where the tools were and so when they searched and realised it was tools they left him and he brought the seeds to Ghana to plant them. We now celebrate and enjoy and we do not recognise and honour him. I am against that.
The Committee on Food, Agri-
culture and Cocoa Affairs, should take it up and get the Ministry to honour him and his family. I visited the first cocoa farm that he established. It is still there. You have

able to stand and do what it is supposed to do. Mr Speaker, I call on every Hon Member of this House to vote massively against this Budget Statement because it is not in the interest of our people.

Mr Speaker, thank you very

Mr Kennedy N. Osei (NPP --

Akim Swedru): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Floor.

Before I proceed to my main

subject, I would like to address some falsehoods that the Hon Ranking Member has just peddled in this Chamber, because I am sure a lot of people are watching and following the debate in this Chamber. Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague stated categorically that this Government has not paid a penny into the GIIF, and it is as if he does not have a copy of the Budget Statement or did not read it. Mr Speaker, I beg to refer to page 230 under Grants to other Government Units and to state that the GIIF has been given about GH₵337 million. Mr Speaker, this is how my Hon Colleague behaves, so I would pardon him.

Again, he said that this

Government is owing contract

amounts of about GH₵8 billion, but I want to tell him that these arrears started - we still have IPCs which are dated as far back as 2010 and he can check from the Ghana Road Fund. So, he should not sit here and create the impression --

Mr Speaker, I would move on

Mr Speaker, I am talking about

capital expenditure (CAPEX), but not other expenses because for the five years that this Government has been in Office, we have invested a total of GH₵6.4 billion in road infrastructure in this country -- [Interruption] --

Where is the
data?

Where is the
data? Do you not have the Budget Statement? Mr Speaker, he is an Hon Member of Parliament, so he has to make sure to read the Budget Statements. Mr Speaker, the NDC inherited a total road network of 69,000 kilometres from former President Kufuor in 2009, but when they left Office after eight years, our total road network was just about 73,000 kilometres because they expanded our road networks by just about 4,000 kilometres. These are records in their own Budget Statements that they presented from 2013 to 2016.
Mr Speaker, within five years of the Akufo-Addo Administration, we have expanded our road network from the 73,000 kilometres that we inherited from the NDC Government to 80,000 kilometres. This represents an addition of 7,000 kilometres. Mr Speaker, even with the 4,000 kilometres that they were able to add to our road network, they were only able to properly construct a total of 1,068 kilometres. Mr Speaker, 500 kilometres were of bituminous surfacing and 568 kilometres were asphaltic surfacing. Within these five years, though we have expanded the road network by 7,000 kilometres, about 3,800 kilometres are - and no Government in our history has been
able to tar about 3,000 kilometres of road within four years.

Mr Speaker, it is only under

President Akufo-Addo that we have been able to do this. So, when they go to their constituencies, they should ask their people -- “demonstrate, the roads are not good, go on demonstration” —

They painted the picture and

told the whole world that former President Mahama has constructed majority of our roads and that -- [Interruption] -- Go to your Green Book. They touted everybody that they had solved the road problems in this country. Can they solve the road problems in this country?

Out of the total road networks,

do they know how many kilometres are bad in this country? We need money to fix these roads. He is aware; he is a Ranking Member - Ghanaians are listening. He knows that out of these 80,000 kilometres that we are talking about, almost about 45,000 of them are in poor shape and we need to solve it. How do they want the Government to solve it? Should we go and borrow money? Should we go to external credit facilities so that they say we are increasing our debt? Is that how to

Mr Speaker, the modernisation

of agriculture along the entire value chain, including expanding the agri- cultural mechanisation, digitisation and irrigation - My colleague, Hon Jasaw in his presentation on the debate made mention of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam. The Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs visited the Pwalugu Dam site about a month ago and we all saw for ourselves what they are doing there.

Mr Speaker, the provision by the

Government in the previous Budget, the 2021 Budget which my Hon Brother put at US$11 million has been utilised by the people as was made known to us at the meeting. This year, we are providing an additional US$9 million to support their activities. What we saw on the ground what pertains to the fact that the feasibility studies and all other preliminary works that they needed to do have not been completed.

Without that in place, much

cannot be done, but it is proper that we all support this Budget, so that even in the Mid-Year Review, we can request additional funds to support the Multipurpose Dam in Pwalugu, which upon completion is also going to make available about 25 hectares of irrigable land for agriculture. [Hear! Hear!] This would boost

agricultural production in the Northern Region.

Mr Speaker, with mechanisation,

the Ministry procured about 220 tractors to support farmers. [Hear! Hear!] What was made known to us in this Parliament when the Hon Minister attended upon us to answer Questions was that only 10 out of the 220 tractors have been procured by farmers. On that note, we have decided, as a policy, to send the remaining 210 to valleys in the forest region for farmers who produce rice to make good use of those tractors.

Hon Member, I
have given you more than enough time.

Mr Speaker, in
the cocoa sector, the rehabilitation of cocoa farms --

Hon Member, did
you hear me?

Mr Speaker, in
conclusion, I would want to urge this House to support this Budget State- ment for us to have what in your wisdom, the love you have for the Parliamentary Service and Parlia- ment as the Legislature when you made an appeal to the President on

the other Side to support his particular Budget because from what my Hon Brother said, we need food for our people and our poultry industry. We need food to even export to reduce the burden on Government through the importation of food items. The concerns of our poultry farmers which became an issue in the media recently can be solved by this particular Budget that we have presented.

Mr Speaker, I would focus on

the Planting for Export and Rural Development. From the time of Governor Guggisberg, through the early stages of our independence, Ghana was leading in cocoa production in the world. There was a proposal that the Government diversify the cocoa driven economy by bringing on board some other cash crops.

Mr Speaker, subsequent Govern-

ments have made efforts to implement this policy. Little or nothing was achieved but due to the prudent management put in place by this Government with the visionary leader, H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, we have been able to put together the Tree Crop Develop- ment Authority which has been charged with the mandate to develop seven cash crops, namely; coffee,

coconut, rubber, oil palm, cashew, mango and shea.

Mr Speaker, the Ghana Cocoa

Board (COCOBOD) has also done marvellous work in research regarding shea. It was announced here and is even in the Budget that COCOBOD, through scientific research, has been able to reduce the gestation period of shea from 20 years to about three or four years. This, coupled with what the Govern- ment has started implementing under PERG, Ghana, in the near future, would earn a lot from the tree crops that have been enumerate here, especially shea. We all know the contribution from the oil palm. Those of us from the Eastern and Western Regions cultivate a lot of oil palm and that is also supporting the economy, giving raw materials to Unilever in the production of soap among others.

Mr Speaker, the Tree Crop

Development Authority will establish zonal office, train community agents to serve as supervisors, embark on community sensitisation and engage private sector industrial mills such as oil palm processors to raise and distribute seedlings to our farmers who are interested. This can also be found on page 139, paragraph 662 of the Budget Statement.

build a nation? They travel to Europe and America; is that how they build their roads? Do they go to other foreign countries to take money to build their roads? We have to be sincere with ourselves as Hon Members of Parliament. They cannot come and sit here and paint themselves as pious. When they go claiming that they want roads for their constituencies, do they want Government to construct roads in their constituencies?

Mr Speaker, when we are

talking about road records in this country, the NDC should be the last political party to talk. In 2022, Government has increased its capital expenditure into the road sector by 108 per cent compared to the 2021 Budget. [Hear! Hear!] -- They do not even know - They need to do their own analysis. It would not be stated for them. They should go to the appendices and put it together. That is why they have been given the Budget Statement. They have to sit down and read it and compile the figures. [Hear! Hear!]

Mr Speaker, in total, money that

is going to capital expenditure in the road sector - not any other expenditure, capital expenditure - we are going to use that money to construct roads. In total, the one that is coming from ABFA, GoG, and

external credit facilities, which we call donor funding, which Government has programmed to go for -- [Interruption] -- We are going to have about GH₵3.9 billion going to the road sector.

Mr Speaker, I have seen my Hon

Ranking Member shaking his head. Let me tell him; he can go to appendix 4(a), item numbered 24 to check the columns. When it comes to the infrastructure projects in this country, Government has three main sources of funding. There is one taken from external credit facility, another from the oil money, and the third one from our own Consolidated Fund.

Mr Speaker, the GH₵3.9 billion

that we are talking about represents 23.7 per cent of the total capital expenditure. No government in the history of this country has spent 23.7 per cent of its capital expenditure on roads -- [Hear! Hear!] -- This is a clear demonstration by the Akufo- Addo Government that when it comes to fixing bad roads in this country, they have every constituency and every district at heart. That is the more reason why he has come to you that, yes, he has heard about Hon Members, not only from their Side, but also from our Side, who are crying that their roads should be fixed.

The last time I was asked how

much I think it would cost if we were to construct our roads in this country. With just a rough estimate - we all know how much a kilometre of road costs if it is a bitumen surfacing, asphalt, dual carriage asphalting - we know how much it costs in this country. We would need not less than US$16 billion to fix all bad roads in this country. Where would the Government find that US$16 billion to fix all those roads 100 per cent in this country? We do not have that money. Even if it is reduced to US$4 billion, do we have the money to do it? Where would the Government go to find that money?

Mr Speaker, that is why we all

need to be very careful with the kind of pronouncements we make about this Budget Statement. Because when we are making this pronouncement, it would be very difficult tomorrow to go to any place. Can they go to the Hon Minister to lobby for the roads in their constituencies to be fixed? Which money would that Hon Minister use to award that contract, so that the roads would be fixed? I am not sure all of us in this Chamber would be able to go to the Hon Minister to get our roads fixed, but some would have the privilege to go. Others would not have the privilege, that is why it is important --

The Government says that it has listened to the concerns and plight of the people and is trying to find a way to mitigate the problem, and one of the ways to mitigate these problems is finding a new and innovative way to get revenue to solve this problem. Then, Government comes out that we do E-Levy.

For the first time, I have

demonstrated that Government has increased its Budget which is going to the CAPEX for road sector by almost about 108 per cent. Last year, the total allocation they gave us for infrastructure was only GH₵1 billion. This year, if we put all together - let me even take the figure of donor partners out and focus on ABFA and GoG for CAPEX - we are talking about 1.75 per cent. Do they know how much that represents? We are talking about an increase of 2021 Budget by 80 per cent. So the 2022 Budget has gone up. It is there. Mr Speaker, please, I have asked them to go to 4(a); they would see it there.

Mr Speaker, it is important that

we appreciate the fact that efforts are being made to solve our problems. The provision of good roads is the best opportunity to expand our economic frontiers. No country has been able to develop with bad roads. So, if we do not have good roads, it literally means that we are not ready

Programmes for the President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is still continuing.

Mr Speaker, the allocation of

about GH¢1.103 billion in this Budget is not coming to do anything apart from supporting the structures and infrastructure that we have put in place to move food production and productivity forward in the nation; to take care our food security issues.

Mr Speaker, the Planting for

Food and Jobs Programme is a flagship agricultural campaign of the Government with five implement- tation modules; that is food crop also called Planting for Food and Jobs, Rearing for Food and Jobs, Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERG), Greenhouse Technology Villages and Agricultural Mechani- sation Services.

Mr Speaker, the Government

continues with the implementation of these five modules for job creation in the country. This Budget, looking at the spirit and letter, points to the fact that the Government is thinking about the youth of this country and we know that the youth forms the basis for our future in this country.

Mr Speaker, the aim of this programme is to sustain the gains made in increased productivity of selected crops, food security and job creation after a successful first phase from 2017 to 2020. We can see this on page 38 of the Budget. The Ministry implemented Crop and Livestock Development Programme to increase productivity and incomes as well as improve the livelihoods of beneficiary farmers. Under this programme, the Ministry procured and distributed 31,797 metric tonnes of improved seeds, comprising maize, rice, soy beans and vegetables to farmers across the country up to September, 2021.

Mr Speaker, in addition, about

259 metric tonnes of various fertilizers were also distributed to the Planting for Food and Jobs beneficiaries. This can also be found on page 38, paragraph 658 of the Budget Statement. The supply of fertilizers suffered a hit that made it difficult for farmers to get enough to apply for their production. It was a global situation. On the 18th of this month, the Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture was here to answer Questions to that effect and he gave the breakdown of the cost of fertilizer during the pandemic period.

Mr Speaker, it is for these

reasons that I call on our friends from

syndicated loans, and what has been happening from the last three years' Auditor-General's Report is that, COCOBOD has been reported to be running at a loss. In 2017, there was a loss of GH¢161 million; in 2018, there was a loss of GH¢78.4 million; in 2019, there was a loss of GH¢320.6 million. Mr Speaker, on these bases, I do not see anything in this Budget addressing these challenges that I have espoused.

Mr Speaker, on that basis, I call

on this House and my Hon Colleagues to reject the Policy Statement. -- [Hear! Hear!] --

I hope we have
Hon John Osei Frimpong to kick- start the debate on Food and Agriculture from the Majority side.
Mr Frimpong John Osei (NPP
-- Abirem): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion numbered 10 on page 6 of today's Order Paper, that this House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the Government for the year-ending 31st December,
2022.
Mr Speaker, providing sustainable
nutritious food to the global population of about 7.9 billion with about 700 million people under nourished in 2021, is a global
challenge that engages Governments, researchers and all those involved in food production, processing and trade.
Mr Speaker, COVID-19 pandemic
tested the functioning and resilience of our food supply chain. Most countries in the world fumbled in this regard but thanks to the prudent measures put in place by this Government, at least, Ghanaians are better off in the midst of the global challenges in the sub region. I say so because we all could attest to the fact that the neighbouring countries came to Ghana in the course of this year to buy food items and farm inputs.
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague,
the Deputy Ranking Member who spoke on the other Side made mention that what have we done as a Government over the five years to merit the classification or the naming of this Budget as the ‘Agyenkwa' Budget? Maybe, my Hon Colleague was not here during the first term so he is not aware what transpired in Ghana because this House is the House of records.
Mr Speaker, PFJ, as he put it,
has come to an end. At this time that we are presenting a new Budget for the year 2022, I would like to assure my Hon Colleague that the PFJ which forms part of the Flagship

to even push our economic agenda forward.

Hon
Member, you have one more minute.

Mr Speaker, we
have people who produce in the villages who find it difficult to transport their goods to the market centres because of bad roads. Therefore, Mr Speaker, it is important that as Hon Members of Parliament who are representing a population of about 30.8 million people, the only thing we can do for them, if we have nothing, is to support this Government to get that road that we have been fighting for every day to be fixed. I would be happy if my roads are fixed because, at least, it would be a legacy in my name when I am no more a Member of Parliament. It should be our legacy and priority to get our roads fixed. If we can even put our names on them, we would do it to indicate that it was done by us. It can never be done if we do not have enough resources.
Mr Speaker, it is important that
this Budget --

Hon
Member, kindly conclude.

Mr Speaker, in
conclusion, I want to encourage every Hon Member of this House to understand and know that the E-Levy that Government intends to put out to take something small from the citizenry to fix the road for us is the best way. We cannot afford to lose this opportunity, because by not approving this Budget, we would never come back to get this opportunity.
Mr Speaker, thank you. I would
want to urge my Hon Colleagues from both Sides of the House that this is the opportunity for us to show to Ghanaians that we really care; we do not only need their votes.
Mr Isaac Adjei Mensah (NDC
-- Wassa East): Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me to contribute to the ongoing debate on the 2022 Budget Statement.
Mr Speaker, it is unfortunate and
my heart is bleeding that the Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Transport is misleading the House. The Hon Member knows in the Budget, it is reported that the total road network is 78,401Km. Last year, when the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways had a press conference, he indicated that that was

the total road network. The Hon Member just told us that the total road network is 80,000Km. Where did he get that? [Uproar] -- This is a House of record, and I expect the Chairman to be honest with himself.

Mr Speaker, it is not a matter of

coming to mislead the House, because this is a House of record. I would request that information be expunged from the records; it is so disappointing. We have consistently been monitoring the performance of this Government as far as maintenance of roads is concerned. Hon Members have all been talking about the maintenance of our roads. Hon Members should check from the Budget Statement where the roads in their constituencies are. They do not have significant numbers which represent the roads. There are no maintenance on our roads. This Government has consistently not performed and it has been irresponsible in the maintenance of roads. We have monitored the Budget Statements from 2017 to 2022, and we have realised that an average of 34,000Km has been worked on or dedicated to be maintained. Routine road maintenance is the routine reshaping of roads, potholes patching, and vegetation control, that is what most of the roads require. If the NPP Government would just spend a little over 34,000km on

average, is the Government performing? Where are the roads?

Mr Speaker, last year was the

Mr Speaker, from 2012 to 2016,

a total of 10,300km had been added to the road network. [Hear! Hear!] - - Until they come out with the details of road inventory, they have nothing to show. The President has just maintained roads - they just do asphalt overlay. How has the asphalt overlay benefited us? How many Hon Members here have their roads asphalted? The basic maintenance is not even working. From the Budget, the money dedicated for basic road maintenance is just a little over 44,000km. If we have 78,401km and they dedicate funds for only 34,000km, what are they talking about? I am disappointed.

Mr Speaker, the other challenges

that we had was about the availability of the fertiliser. We were told that the suppliers of the fertiliser were owed a figure around GH¢730 million and on that basis, the suppliers were not able to supply fertilisers in a timely manner for our farmers to utilise. Recently, the Hon Minister for Food and Agriculture was here and he tells us that about US$500 million had been paid, the balance is still outstanding. Mr Speaker, I do not see any arrangement in this Budget that tells us how suppliers would be timeously paid so that fertiliser could continue to be available for farmers' use for next cropping season.

Mr Speaker, in the same Mid-

Year Budget Review, I raised the issue of utilising the digital space to be able to diversify the services that the Agriculture sector throws out. Mr Speaker, you would notice that even in the COVID-19 year, that is 2020, the Agriculture sector was the most robust sector. It grew about by about 4.6 per cent. Today, our soils are poor, and one important input that we need to ensure that production goes on is fertiliser. Now, if we do not have a budget arrangement to have these fertilisers provided and budgeted for, then, we would have a problem of supply and that would affect the planting season.

Mr Speaker, if we come to the

cocoa subsector —

Hon Member, you
may conclude.

Mr Speaker, thank
you. If we come to the cocoa subsector, I think the biggest problem is the mismanagement that we find in the subsector. We approve

Mr Speaker, the other challenge

is about outboard motors and their distribution. There are a lot of allegations that these are distributed by a section of fisher folks, and not to the generality, and equality is not ensured for the sector. Mr Speaker, I thought that we would hear something in this regard to address the inconsistency recorded in the sub- sector.

Mr Speaker, there is a lot of talk

about PFJ. Unfortunately, for the 2022 Budget Statement, we just find that it is only in the first paragraph in the subsection that you see PFJ. Mr Speaker, this is the last year of implementation of the Canadian fund. We do not have any informa- tion of any successor plan of funding arrangement to continue with crop and food production in this country. No succession plan was given and so, no wonder they do not talk about PFJ.

Mr Speaker, we find in

paragraph 660 of the 2022 Budget Statement where they talk about the Savannah Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) which is funded by the African Develop- ment Bank. Mr Speaker, that is talked about in most paragraphs of the Budget Statement and that just tells you that some subtle succession of

something is taken over from Planting for Food and Job (PFJ) that nobody is prepared to us about.

Mr Speaker, for the fact that

these disclosures are not clear enough in the Policy Statement, I have questions about the credibility and sincerity of the policy that we are being invited to approve.

Mr Speaker, the other reason

why I think we should reject this Budget is that statistics that are even bandied around the PFJ is suspect. If we take Mid-Year Budget Review Statement on paragraph 242, on page 43, it talks about 405 metric tonnes of fertiliser being distributed to 1.5 million farmers. In paragraph 658 of the 2022 Budget, it reports of 259,500 metric tonnes being distributed. Just a few months ago, we were given the figure as 405 metric tonnes of fertiliser, today, in this Budget Statement, we are given 259 as the quantity of fertiliser that has been distributed.

Mr Speaker, I have a problem

with these statistics and I do not know why the Ministry would be giving us inconsistent figures. On that basis, I think the statistics on fertiliser figures are problematic and it is difficult to convince me to accept this Budget and Policy Statement of the Government.

Mr Speaker, on the need to

inject money into the Road Fund, in 2016, we came to Parliament and requested that the fuel levy GHȻ0.04 and GHȻ0.07 be increased to GHȻ0.40. When we did that, there was enough money in the kitty, and at the end of the month, we got over GHȻ100 million, and that was prudent management. We thought that maintenance of our roads was key. At the end year, we have about GHȻ1.8 billion accrued into the Fund. If we checked the releases - Hon Agbodza was very benevolent - about GHȻ500 million has been released. If the Ministry is given GHȻ1billion after capping, the Ministry would be able to do so many things.

Mr Speaker, in the Budget

which seeks to get more money, they have budgeted for a little over 44,000km out of the 78,401km to be maintained. What are they talking about? This Budget does not give any hope to all of us, because our roads are not covered. Hon Members on the Majority side should show me where their roads are? They do not have them. The sloganeering is an issue.

Mr Speaker, my family and

friends in Akyemasa do not need the asphalt; they need the roads to the shaped. Every year, just grade it, but this does not happen. Majority of us

have bad feeder roads. Our constituents know that the roads are bad. We would not sit down here for the Chairman to peddle untruth. What is the guarantee that the E-Levy that the Government is requesting would be used for roads? If half of the GHȻ1.8 billion is provided, a lot of us will get our roads in good shape.

Mr Speaker, the other aspect of

the road sector is the cocoa roads. The Government reassigned cocoa roads to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Now, we do not even have records on it. If we check, cocoa roads are in very bad shape. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has not been able to account for the moneys. In 2020, they requested for GHȻ456 million. Where are the roads? Where is the money? They have not provided anything in the Budget. I am worried because we expected that they would be honest, humble and plead with us so that there could be the need to support them. We should not approve this Budget, if we do so, it means that our roads will not be constructed. Those of us who come from cocoa growing areas have bad roads, and nothing is being done.

Mr Speaker, when the NPP

Administration came into government in 2017, they conducted forensic audit, but we have not seen

any result. We need to have a copy of the forensic audit which was conducted on cocoa roads. We do not have it, but at the end of the day, they would want us to support them.

Mr Speaker, on tolls, GHȻ78

million can be used for just reshaping of our rural roads. They have thrown this away, and they are following E- Levy. What is the guarantee that they would use the E-Levy for road construction? All over the world, roads are tolled. They talk about PPP on one hand and the closure of our toll booths. The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor is an international highway, and we have about 50 per cent of our roads covered in Ghana. Now, all these toll booths have been closed, but when we go to Nigeria and Ivory Coast, they are there. What hope is the Government giving to investors? Who would bring in money when all roads which are tolled have been closed? The Government has no clue, and this is the basis for which we should not support this Budget.

If they want E-Levy for roads,

have they demonstrated the little GHȻ1.8 billion that they have in the Road Fund they are capable of doing that? The Hon Minister for Finance is not even releasing the amount of GH₵1.8 billion, but they are calling

Mr Speaker, therefore, we are

just setting the records straight. My Hon Ranking Member talked about the Sino-hydro Project. We have talked about Sinohydro for several years now, they should show us one of the Sinohydro projects that has been completed. I say this with authority that the Nana Akufo- Addo's Government should show us the roads that they started constructing from scratch and have finished. For these five years, nothing has been finished. I am saying this and it is on record that the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Government should show to us the road that they started constructing from scratch, and by scratch, I mean the designing, financial sourcing and everything that they have completed. Every day, we see them repeat the projects in the budgets. Even the Volivo Bridge that we sought funds from Japan for is continuously being shown in the budget every year. So, we are just worried, and would want to share records. For the fact that this budget does not give --

Hon
Member, your time is up, kindly wind up.

For example, we are aware of

this economic mantra of “let us move away from taxation to production”. Today, as I listened to most Hon Members, including the Hon Members for Sekondi and Nandom, I heard them say we have two sources of revenue, and that we either have to generate it from taxes or we go to borrow.

Mr Speaker, what happened to

production? I see that it is not genuine and so, the argument from taxation to production must hold. This Budget Statement is shifting us back into taxation, and I call on well-meaning Ghanaians to reject this principle of moving us from production to taxation. Therefore, going back to taxation is retrogressive, and we must not accept it.

Mr Speaker, if you take the

Budget Statement, paragraph 117 on page 32 deals with the constriction recorded in the fisheries sub-sector. Mr Speaker, there is a lot of resource in the marine and water resources that we have, and yet, I do not see any deliberate policy arrangement to utilise that resource we have as a country. There are a lot of issues in that industry. If you read the last five Budget Statements from 2017 to date, one thing has always been emphasised, and it looks it is copied and pasted. They basically talk about

Aquaculture for Food and Jobs, marine diseases and vaccinations and nothing new.

Mr Speaker, if you look at that

sub-sector, there are a number of governance issues. One of it is the premix fuel sub-sector. Mr Speaker, the premix fuel is handled by the National Premix Fuel Secretariat. Now, they tell us that improvements have been made, and that these vehicles that carry these fuels are tracked and so, where they are destined for, the farmers and fisher folks should be able to access the fuel and go into fishing. Mr Speaker, news abounds. Every day, we hear that this premix fuel does not get to the fisher folks who need them. That is a big issue.

In fact, there are allegations, and

I invite us to investigate further, that even these premix fuels that are tracked in tankers are tracked to the destination, they stay for a while, but they do not discharge and go back and are hoarded. Mr Speaker, we need to think about the subsidy that Ghanaians pay on these subsidised fuels only for them to be diverted the way they are. Mr Speaker, I hoped that this Budget Statement would come out with a policy that would address this big challenge in the industry.

there is still a lot to do since it has not left our fabric yet.

Mr Speaker, the Government of

Nana Akufo-Addo is sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians. We assure Ghanaians that just as a mother will comfort her child, this 2022 Budget Statement will bring much-needed comfort to Ghanaian businesses through the YouStart, to pensioners through our pension scheme, to the youth through Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), and to senior citizens through Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).

Mr Speaker, the Budget

Statement in totality is laudable, and as other Hon Members in the Chamber have already said, is solely for the people of Ghana. Mr Speaker, we do not speak on political lines. Tomorrow, as we come in to vote on this Motion, I appeal to all Hon Members to put their political difference aside, and let us under- stand that this Budget Statement is one that would continue to steer our recovery trajectory in the country, and let us all come together and vote for the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2022 financial year.

Mr Speaker, with these few

Hon Member, you did 10 minutes, 40 seconds. The last Hon Member to speak on the Judiciary from the Minority is Hon Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw.
Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw
(NDC -- Wa East): Mr Speaker, respectfully, I would not speak on the Judiciary, but on agriculture.

Agriculture?

Yes.

Then, let us start
the debate on agriculture. From the list that was given to me, your name is next.

Thank you very much,
Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak to the Motion to approve the Budget Statement and Economic Policy presented to this House by the Hon Minister for Finance.
Mr Speaker, I got to understand
that Agyenkwa means saviour. It is ironic that after five years, we have been given a Budget Statement that is now coming to save us. Mr Speaker, what have we been doing in the last five years that we need to be saved now? There is a lot of policy incoherence that I find in the wording of this Budget Statement in several areas.

Mr Speaker,
we pray and want to beseech you to reject the Budget. This Budget does not provide answers to our road issues, and because of that this Budget must be disallowed; it must be rejected and must not find space in the scheme of things because it does not give us the hope for our roads and many things. So, Mr Speaker -- [Pause] --

Is
the Hon Ambrose Dery here?
Yes, Hon Minister for the
Interior, it is your turn.
Minister for the Interior (Mr
Ambrose Dery) [MP]: Mr Speaker, I thank you.
Mr Speaker, permit me to put on
record the Government's and my appreciation to this august House for supporting the President's re-tooling and transformation agenda. Anytime we come to issues of security, this House has risen above partisan considerations, and I would want to hope that that is exactly the attitude that would attend this Budget.
Mr Speaker, I submit that this
House should approve the President's Budget, the Financial Statement for the year 2022 and also the 1.75 per cent E-Levy tax on momo money
transfers. I have heard the Minority side say that they would not approve. If they do not approve the Budget, the result would be a lockdown. There would be no salaries for workers, no social services, and there would be nothing. I do not think that is the intention of the Minority side of the House.
Mr Speaker, the 1.75 per cent
levy on momo money transfers, the opposition is that it is against poor people. The definition of a poor person is a person who earns below the minimum wage. One does not have to like my face, but the definition of a poor person is the one who earns below the minimum wage, that is from zero to below an amount of GH₵2.5 a day. The momo levy exempts a GH₵100 a day, which is eight times the daily wage, and therefore, it cannot be for the protection of the poor, that they should not pay. In addition, one can only pay after the first amount of GH₵100, and therefore, it is only when one transfers an amount of GH₵200 that he would pay the interest of 1.75 per cent. Will this affect the momo market? No! I come from a village called Kokoligu, and if I am to send an amount of GH₵200 to my relative over there, then I am going to have to pay a levy of 1.75 per cent. There is no alternative means of sending the same quality

service at a lower rate at all. The alternative rate would be to invest lorry fare, in and out, and in the end, it would be most expensive.

Mr Speaker, we need the levy to

be able to raise funds to do what this House wishes for the security sector, the employment of the youth and for roads. This country has two sources of funding, either revenue from taxes or borrowing. Borrowing is a chance approach because one can be refused the money. The levy is the more reliable one. Are we going to leave the employment of our youth to a chance source of funding? With respect to tax to GDP, Ghana is performing badly. Ours is 14.3 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.

The target is supposed to be 20

per cent, and most ECOWAS countries are doing 18 per cent. Therefore, there is room for us to be able to raise these funds, and I think that we should approve. It is said that it would affect digitalisation, but the Ghana Card is part of the digitalisation. We have heard the enthusiasm of citizens to register, but we would need the funding to be able to do so. We would need the funding to be able to get the card, which would be an e-passport subsequently. So, it would not affect digitalisation.

Mr Speaker, what I now have to say is that we have, in respect of the transformation of the security agencies, achieved a lot which is contained in this Budget, and what do we have? First of all, we are empowering and increasing staffing so today, the agencies under the Ministry of the Interior are recruiting 11,000 applicants. We need more, but how do we get more? We would get more if we allow the E-Levy to raise the moneys for us to be able to do so, except that we would want to tell our children that we do not care about their employment and all we want is to leave it to chance, that this House does not have such a mind. We should deal with it, and deal with it drastically. The Northern Border Protection, and indeed, all the border protections are in the Budget, and we would need money to do that.

Mr Speaker, again, let me talk of

health security. What is health security? When we close the border, we close it for two reasons; one, for security, and the other for health. When we came to say it, people thought we were joking. There is a fourth wave of COVID-19 all over the world, but as at midnight of 21st of November, 2021, the active cases in Ghana were 641. This wave is increasing internationally, but what was the daily rate of its increase as at the 21st of November? The whole

Mr Speaker, I would like to

draw our attention to a brilliant intervention called YouStart. As an Hon Member of Parliament, with the National Youth Authority (NYA) in my Constituency, on a daily basis, I have a lot of youth knocking on my door and asking of the opportunities that there are for them. An excellent intervention like YouStart has been thought of and included in this 2022 Budget, knowing very well that it creates the opportunity or lights up a fire in the youth for entrepreneurship, and we know that this is the way to go in the future.

Mr Speaker, I know that the

YouStart intervention is not just for the youth. Access to funds through YouStart is opened to all. Whether it is for an individual, an organisation, or an association, and whether one is a start-up or an existing company, one would have access to the Fund through YouStart. Creating one million jobs over a period of three years would reduce unemployment drastically, and we know this is the only way we can continue with our development agenda in Ghana. This is also a very laudable policy by the Nana Akufo-Addo-led Government, and once again, I call on this House for all of us to support this Policy, and in the larger sense support this Budget Statement so that Ghanaians can benefit from this Policy. By this,

we can continue to contribute and grow our industries and our small- scale businesses to the development of Ghana.

Mr Speaker, once again, I would like to say that I am very optimistic about the policies outlined in the Budget, and I am convinced that these economic policies would steer us on the continued course of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The key economic indicators

show that we are on the course of recovery. Mr Speaker, we are all aware that in 2020, inflation was at 14 per cent, and currently in 2021, it has come down to 11 per cent. Mr Speaker, economic growth moved from 0.8 per cent in 2020 to 3.5 per cent in 2021.

Mr Speaker, in the same vein,

allow us to say that we cannot accept the opinion that our economy's growth is stunted. Mr Speaker, to the contrary, our economy is still recovering, and we believe that this 2022 Budget Statement and Econo- mic Policy will continue to steer the country in the right direction. Although the NPP Government did a lot to ensure that Ghanaians were catered for during the COVID-19,

transformation. A country like Singapore has developed with education and investments in the youth at the forefront of their development agenda. Even today, Singapore spends 20 per cent of its national budget on education.

Mr Speaker, Malaysia, who

gained independence the same year as Ghana in 1957, has provided free secondary education since 2012. The same can be said of South Korea, who has been providing free middle school education since 1985. We must understand that the allocation of the amount of GH₵2.3 billion to the educational sector in Ghana is an investment into the future of this country. This laudable idea, intervention, and policy that has been included in this Budget must be supported by both Sides to ensure that our youth and students would one day also grow to have a Ghana that is just like Singapore or Malaysia as they are experiencing now. The NPP-led Government has set the foundation, and we know that all these interventions that have been set up will all bear fruit in the near future.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to

touch on gender and social protection. It is a topic or an issue that I am very passionate about. Persons with disabilities or those who have been born with disabilities are less

than 30 per cent of all the disabled people in Ghana. This leaves more than 70 per cent who in one way or another became disabled during their lifetime. So, this applies to each of us in this Chamber today.

Mr Speaker, I am very

passionate because the NPP Government has also continued to invest in persons with disabilities. It is welcoming, and with your indulgence, I would refer to the Budget on page 203, paragraph 1040 and quote. It says: “The Ministry monitored the management and disbursement of 3 per cent of the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) for Persons with Disability (PWDs) in 29 MMDAs…”

Mr Speaker, in the 2022 Budget,

the Ministry would continue with the monitoring and effective manage- ment of disbursement of the Common Fund for persons with disability. If persons with disability would reach their full potential and would be able to reach their highest ideals, then it is as simple as the Government being able to resource persons with disability. [Hear! Hear!] In this 2022 Budget Statement, we can all see that the current NPP and the Nana Addo-led Government are still committed to the welfare of persons with disability.

country, with all the regions put together, the daily increase was four, but at the Kotoka International Airport, the new cases were eight. That epitomises the relationship between the situation here and the situation there, but it does help us.

Mr Speaker, if I may start with

the Police, they have been really supported. I have created several new units. That is not all. The Police is taking the development now to another level. The level is that we would have unprecedented commu- nity engagement where you have friendly police within communities. We would have anti-crime that is proactive. We would also have a de- escalation policy towards non- civilian protest; scientific intelli- gence policing; traffickers dealing with other Ministries to make sure that we reduce the carnage and also have the welfare.

Mr Speaker, each region has an

intelligence department. Each region has a high-risk anti-robbery depart- ment. Now, we have established a Cold Cases Unit under the Criminal Investigations Department. They are to deal with those cases that we have not resolved, and there is a delay in investigation. We would not allow them to die; we have established a

unit that would work on it to make sure that we get the cases determined and prosecuted. We would also have friendly relations with victims of rape, defilement, robbery and murder where the police station would move now to the victim, and not the victim going there.

Mr Speaker, the other aspect has

to do with the Narcotics Control Commission. We passed the law, and we are moving on to Legislative Instruments (L. I.). One is for the establishments, and secondly, we would bring to Parliament, the L. I. that would allow cultivation of industrial and medicinal cannabis. It is not to legalise any recreational use of cannabis.

Mr Speaker, we have shown that

the prison is not an end station, but it is meant to educate people to be more useful. You would see in the Budget Statement the numbers that went to senior high school and the university. Now, we have got support from the Church of Pentecost. Mr Speaker, I must put on record, that they built an ultra-modern prison camp at Ejura. One is almost completed at Nsawam, Damongo and other places for us to decongest. We are also working on alternative sentencing that there would be a workshop now involving stakeholders to make sure that we

have a reduction in custodial sentencing.

Mr Speaker the Ghana National

Fire Service (GNFS) is doing a lot. We have now got their L. I. established. We would get fire tenders. All over, we are pursuing what His Excellency the President has identified to be the way forward for prisons and other agencies. The aim of the President is to make Ghanaians feel safe, and you would agree that the aggressiveness, combined with the professionalism of the security agencies, has taken it to the next level under the new Inspector-General of Police. He is actually achieving a lot. Therefore, we would need your support.

Mr Speaker, we need your

support in terms of reliable source of funding. We cannot expert foreign countries to give us loans to keep out covid-19 infested persons who are coming from their places. We cannot expect to depend on our security on foreign assistance. It is like a chance game or lotto so we should not allow our roads and programmes to employ our youth to equally depend on such approach.

Mr Speaker, we are also taking

very serious view of arms. Therefore, the Ghana National Small Arms and Light Weapons Commission is

working very hard in marking. We would continue to swoop. Yesterday, we were compelled to impose curfew in Bawku. We believe that there is still the challenge of us chasing arms, and we would work with other agencies to get all these things sorted out.

Mr Speaker, the National Peace

Council is being proactive. It played a role in the unfortunate occurrences during the election. We are making them proactive and we are learning from that to promote the accountability of personnel. We are not only equipping them; we also want to give them body cameras that give us the full record of their activities so that we hold them accountable for whatever they might do wrong.

Mr Speaker, it is therefore

means that we are talking of responsible security work within a democratic context. Therefore, when we raise alarm that there is too much military involvement, we would be able to do that when we decouple the actions of the internal security such as the police from the army. Consequently, this House accepted our proposal for formed police units in all the regions that would have the capacity to go in to back up the police when they are in crisis and then the military only comes in as the last

Mr Speaker, I would start by

saying that this is exactly what the 2022 Budget Statement seeks to accomplish for the greater good of Ghanaians. Mr Speaker, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Nana Akufo-Addo-led Government have embarked on many social inter- vention programmes, which we are all aware of. All of us here, as Hon Members of Parliament, are aware that the Government has undertaken key projects under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) in order to reduce poverty in our constituencies. We have all been beneficiaries.

Mr Speaker, if any Hon Member

of Parliament here tells us that the Nana Akufo-Addo-led Government is not sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians, then they are throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. [Hear! Hear!] I would like to refer to page 115 and paragraph 504 of the Budget Statement. With your indulgence I quote, and it says: “In 2022, the Centre projects to disburse GH¢64.00 million in Micro and Small Loans and GH¢20.00 million in vehicle and tricycle loans.” This is under the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) and we welcome this provision in the Budget fully. Currently, due to COVID-19, we are all aware that businesses have gone down. However, this would

ensure that we get the right injection of the much-needed cash into businesses in the Ghanaian society. This is what Government seeks to do through this Budget, to ensure the continuous survival and revival of businesses.

Mr Speaker, allow me to touch a

bit on education. I would refer again to the Budget Statement, page 190, paragraph 948, and with your indulgence I quote:

“…The Ministry will expand the Free SHS Programme to cover all first year students in public TVET Institutes as provided for under the Act.”

Mr Speaker, we are all aware

that this has benefited more than 1.2 million students under the Free SHS Programme, and we are proud to say that in a few years to come, these graduates will be the drivers of Ghana's continued economic

For the last five years, alloca-

tions to the Office of Government Machinery alone increased by 937.37 per cent. [Uproar] -- Within the same period, allocations to Parliament increased by only 48.71 per cent, and allocations to the Judiciary increased by only 18.49 per cent. If this is how we allocate national resources, how can we ensure that there would be quality separation of powers and we are committed to accountability of various institutions?

Mr Speaker, when we look at

the 2022 Budget, on page 237, the Office of Government Machinery was allocated GHȻ3,130,636,000.00, compared to GHȻ510, 777,000 allocated to Parliament of Ghana and the GHȻ555,104,000 allocated to the Judiciary.

I did a simple mathematics and

this is what I found. Between the Office of Government Machinery and Parliament, the variance is about 83.18 per cent. That is the difference. When we compare it to that of the Judiciary, it is 82.26 per cent, and this is happening at a time when Government is telling us that in order to cut down their Budget, it had to scrap off some of its Ministries from the Office of Government Machinery; for example, the Ministry of Special

Initiatives, the Ministry of Procure- ment, the Ministry of Planning, and the Ministry in-charge of Tertiary Education. All these Ministries have been scrapped off, yet allocations continue to increase. So, do they see why we oppose the E-Tax? It is because we believe that the collection of this tax, instead of servicing these lofty promises in the Budget, is only going to fund the Office of Government Machinery. Government is going to continue to live large at the expense of the ordinary citizen, and that is why I would stand with this group to ensure that the E-Tax would never be passed.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very

It is now the turn
of Hon Darkoa Newman.
Ms Darkoa Newman (NPP --
Okaikoi South): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on page 6, paragraph 10 of today's Order Paper.
Mr Speaker, the Government is
an extremely important tool in the delivery of public services, the provision of economic growth, the creation of jobs, and ensuring that there is shared prosperity for all Ghanaians.

resort. Mr Speaker, all these APUs - we need money. So far, it is only Kumasi that we have been able to establish and we need money to do that.

Mr Speaker, we cannot have a

Parliament that says that we are borrowing too much, and the same say we should not pay taxes. God must have mercy on us. Where would we get the moneys to deal with that? I believe that that is all the partisan gap, but when it comes to this, I would want to encourage my Hon Colleagues that for them to get all the police and fire stations they ask for, and all the employment for their youth in their constituencies into the services we have to raise the requisite fund, and the reliable way to do it is on the money transfer transaction which is a very constructive way of dealing with the matter.

Mr Speaker, on the National

Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), I have been invited several times to answer Questions because the disasters come when we are not prepared for it. We passed a law here for three per cent of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to be paid. It is increasingly inadequate for the work.

Hon
Minister, you have one more minute.

Mr Speaker, all the good work that we intend to do to keep us safe to always go and come back and to continue to be jovial here and to make sure that our children are employed, our roads are constructed, that the Ghanaian worker is paid and that we did not leave them in a chaos of unemployment. Mr Speaker, we must rise above partisanship and approve the Budget Statement.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Hear!

Mr Peter Kwasi Nortsu-Kotoe

(NDC -- Akatsi North): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year 2022 as presented by the Minister for Finance on behalf of the President.

Mr Speaker, I would like to start

my contribution with a quotation from Malcom X:

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

Mr Speaker, reading through

this statement by Malcom X, I have looked at what is happening in the

country, especially with regard to basic education as we have it today. Mr Speaker, I have come to conclude that there is a deliberate attempt by this Government led by President Nana Akufo-Addo to destroy the basic foundation of education in Ghana which is aimed at eliminating the poor from giving quality education to their children but offering the upper class the opportunity to provide quality education to their children through private school system so that they can continue to be educated and remain in the ruling class of the country. -- [Hear! Hear!] --

Mr Speaker, I would like to start

my debate with a quotation from Malcom Max, and I quote:

“Education is the….”

Mr Speaker, if we look at the

basic education level in this country, it is continually receiving the lowest attention. In 2014, the expenditure on basic education was 23 per cent of allocation for the education sector. As at this year, it has reduced to 16 per cent. That shows that the investment being made in basic education is declining by the year, and that is affecting the foundation of education in this country.

Mr Speaker, if we go to our

basic schools, the infrastructure there

is nothing to write home about. If we look at the structures that our children are said to be studying in, it is not the best. We still have school under trees in this country. The project that was started by the previous Government to make sure that all basic schools that were under trees got eliminated, still remain. Schools are still under trees in this 21st Century. Why are we doing this to the foundation of education in Ghana?

Mr Speaker, it is rather

unfortunate that we are only paying lip service to basic education in the country. Classrooms as we have now remain without teachers; teachers who completed teacher education from Colleges of Education in 2020 are yet to be posted. Why are we doing that to them? Meanwhile there are vacancies in our primary schools and our Junior High Schools. I am told there are plans to recruit them in 2022. Why? Why do we keep the children in the classrooms without teachers? And we are saying we would employ sixteen thousand teachers, as if it is something new.

This is because posting of

teachers is an annual ritual; every year, teachers complete teacher education from Colleges of Education so, it is no new employ- ment that is offered to them, because you have trained them, they must be

aka wo da a, na wohu sonsono a, wosuro. In Ga Language, ke ji onufu eko bo da, ni ona titiamotoi obaa she le gbeyee. To wit, it is when a person has been bitten by a snake before, that person is always afraid of worms.

Mr Speaker, I beg to submit that

this Government has consistently taken the people of Ghana for granted; it has deceived Ghanaians. That is why we cannot believe their promises in this Budget. Every promise by the Government in this Budget Statement is carefully worded to lure Ghanaians to accept the obnoxious e-tax, and we will not stand for that. [Hear! Hear!] - We are too wise to be deceived by those promises --

Hon Members,
you may have to stop the cat-calls. Or else, in respect of this matter - Are you listening? I would be compelled to come and mention the names of Hon Members that are being requested to be investigated. It is on one Side. These are pieces of privilege information, so I do not share with people. Let us advise ourselves.
Hon Member, please continue.

Mr Speaker, there is a
second important aspect of this Budget which borders on Govern- ment's commitment to separation of
powers. On the need for separation of powers, James Maddison in 1788 said, “Men are not angels and that is why we require separation of powers.” He further stated, “Separation of powers is how to guard against the very people who were created to guard us.” The reasons why we insist on separation of powers is that this House by law confers powers on others. That is why this House has a duty to hold anyone that it confers power on to account for those powers.
Mr Speaker, this year, when His
Excellency the President was sworn into Office, this is what he said, and with your permission, I beg to quote:
“It is time to make sure that we have true separation of powers between the various arms of Government: our Parliament, the Legislative arm of Govern- ment, must grow into its proper role as effective machinery for accountability and oversight of the Executive and not its junior partner.”
Mr Speaker, when we look at
allocations of national resources to the Legislative Arm of Government and the Judiciary, it is obvious that we are not committed to the dictates of separation of powers, and it is something we would need to deal with.

reality of governance, and that we should be able to differentiate between political promises and the reality when one is in government.

Mr Speaker, I beg to submit that

Mr Speaker, this is a

Government that promised that it would build a factory in every district. Even when they failed, they have refused to accept that failure. They are still insisting that they have achieved that policy goal. The Government promised One Constituency, US$1million every year. For four years, we should be having projects worth US$4 million in our constituencies. As I speak, in the Madina Constituency, we have only one public toilet. If they want us to believe them, then when they get it wrong, they should be willing to admit their failures. It is said that it is only when one is willing to admit one's failure that the person is able to rise above that failure to success.

Mr Speaker, you would recall

that when the NDC Government promised a one-time premium and

the Government at the time felt that it was impossible, they admitted and ate their humble pie. The NDC said that they could do it when they were in Opposition, but in Government, they thought that they needed to do it differently.

Mr Speaker, for almost five

years, this Government has made promises upon promises which they have failed, yet they refuse to accept that failure. That is why it is difficult for us to believe whatever this Government has proposed in this Budget.

Mr Speaker, when we look at

Government's commitment to youth unemployment, in the 2021 Budget Statement, the Government said that they seek to promote entrepre- neurship through the Ghana CARES Programme, and they earmarked GHȻ100 billion for that programme. If they want to be sincere with Ghanaians, this is the time for them to account to the people of Ghana that under the Ghana CARES Pro- gramme, they sought to create 420,000 formal jobs between 2021 and 2023 and state the jobs created at the end of 2021. As I speak, the Budget Statement failed to account for the people they promised they would create jobs for, and they have quickly replaced it with the YouStart Programme. It is often said, Sɛ ɔwᴐ

posted. That is the underlying principle. So, keeping the teachers in the house where there are so many vacancies in our schools - in my district, Akatsi North alone, there are one hundred and forty-three vacancies as at today and we are keeping the teachers at home. What are we doing? Is it our inability to pay them or our inability to raise money to pay them or what? And we say we are committed to education in this country? We are not doing anything good to our generation.

Mr Speaker, if we look at

teachers in our Colleges of Education, they are to receive allowances. Since July, 2021, the Government is owing them allowances; they have not paid them so, how do they meet their needs? And when is the Government going to pay them? The Government has promised that they would restore teacher training allowances, pay them. The peanut that the Government pays too, they cannot pay any longer.

Mr Speaker, if we still look at

what is happening at the basic level, these days, our teachers are made to pay for continuous and training programmes. Why are we doing that to them? Teachers are employed by the State so, if we want to give them in-service training (In-set), we must

make sure that we make provision for that. And that is why the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has taken up the issue now and has written to those who are concerned that they should stop asking teachers to pay for Inset. It is not the best; is that done in other agencies or departments that employ- yees have to pay for Inset? Why are we doing that to the poor teacher in the country? Are we helping them?

Mr Speaker, what is even more

annoying is that instead of providing teaching learning materials (TLMs) to teach with, they are being asked to pay for them. We are providing laptops for teachers to use and we are asking them to make part payment for it. And I do not know why the Teacher Unions agreed to that arrangement that they were going to pay a certain percentage. It is the responsibility of the employer and the State to provide materials for every employee to work with. So, what is the Government telling us? The Government is asking teachers to pay for laptops and the Government is using their allowances to pay for it. It is just giving it to Peter and then robbing it from him. What are we doing? Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the best. If the Government is not in the position to provide those things, then, they should not provide them at all. Why does the

Government ask the teacher to pay? Is it because they would own the laptops after sometime? Hon Minister, I would like you to make sure that the materials that the teachers need in the schools are provided and they should not pay for them.

Mr Speaker, I would make sure

that we move a Motion in this House so that the K. A. Technologies that have been asked to provide these materials, we would find out how the contract was awarded; what were the terms and conditions of the agreement for the provision of these laptops to teachers in our Senior and Junior High Schools.

Mr Speaker, looking at the issue

very well, you would also discover that a few years ago, there was the provision of free exercise books in this country, what has gone wrong that we have stopped providing exercise books to children in our basic schools. If we say there is Free Senior High Education, why do we not make sure that those in the basic schools also receive equal attention? What has happened to the free school uniforms, we want to know; what has happened to the ‘Free Sandals', we want to know; what has happened to the sanitary pads that we were supplying to the girl child in our basic

schools, we want to know. What has happened to all these things?

Mr Speaker, what is happening

now in our rural areas is that parents are now taking their wards to private schools because they have realised that the basic level is not receiving attention from Government. They realised that only those in the upper class make sure that their children have better education at the basic level so they are also struggling to make sure - so there is this apathy that parents do not want to send their children to public basic schools again. Mr Speaker, it is unfortunate that when we go to some of the basic schools now, and the materials to work with are not there for the teachers to use.

Mr Speaker, if we look at senior

high school level, the infrastructure deficit is still high. Most of the E- Blocks that were started by President Mahama have remained abandoned. If these E-Blocks were completed, I do not think the ‘Double Track' would still exist. And I do not see anything in this Budget saying the E- Blocks would be completed this year or next year or come two years' time. Why are we making these resources go waste? Is it because somebody started it so if we completed it, that person would take credit? It is for the benefit of this country, it is for the

Budget for us to have enough revenue for us to be able to complete all of these projects that would benefit us. The former Hon Majority Leader, Hon Cletus Avoka, said he needed an airport. It is here. Let us all approve of this Budget and its estimates, so that we can have revenue to provide all the needed goods and services - infrastructural projects so that we would go back to our constituencies and tell them that we asked and they have been delivered through the Agyenkwa Budget. Let us hold this Agyenkwa Budget in high esteem like the Israelites held the Ark of Covenant in high esteem to be able to provide for us all that we need for ourselves and the people of this country.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the

Hon Member,
thank you so much. At least, you completed within time - 9 minutes, 13 seconds.
We go to the other Side. We
have the opportunity of listening to Hon Francis Xavier Kofi Sosu.
Mr Francis-Xavier K. Sosu
(NDC -- Madina): Mr Speaker, I am Kojo Sosu.

Thank you for the correction.

Mr Speaker, I am very
much pleased to be given the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Motion that the House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the Government of Ghana for the year ending 2022.
Mr Speaker, I have carefully
listened to the debate in the House and I find some trend very interesting. During the debate by Hon Gifty Twum-Ampofo, she rightly made reference to YouStart, which is a good entrepreneurial project coming from the Government of Ghana. This entrepreneurial project has been applauded because we believe that entrepreneurship is definitely one of the ways to go when it comes to youth unemployment, so the assertion that our Side saw nothing good in the Budget is a fallacy of generalisation.
Mr Speaker, what is good about
the Budget would be commended and what is bad would be squarely condemned and rejected.

Mr Speaker, Hon Andrews Kofi

Agyapa Mercer said that, sometimes, we behave as if we do not know the

almost at the tail end of it when she was supposed to have had her lump sum of her pension money, she was tossed up and down for lack of credible identification. She could not access that money. Government, through proper policies and imple- menttation, has been able to better integrate the National Identification Authority (NIA) in these processes into every facet of our lives - into our SSNIT, DVLA, GRA. This is to help us have a proper and synchronised identification system such that upon all the things that we do, the ordinary Ghanaian can look up to us to create policies and implement them so that we can have better lives. If I corrupt the word, forgive me, Mr Speaker. Most people who travelled in the early days to Cote d'Ivoire or Togo may have heard the word “karante”, a form of identification that they used in those days to distinguish between their citizens and non-citizens. Most people who have travelled to the United Kingdom would want to have what they term as N.I. for them to be able to have a job and have something on them when they come back from school.

Mr Speaker, the implementation

of these National Identification Authority processes is to help us have a proper view of what our population looks like, so that we may be able to tailor the provision of social goods

and services for every single person in this country.

Mr Speaker, every Friday in this

Mr Speaker, those measures that

we used to make sure that we have these projects in our constituencies are completed for the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian are here in the Agyenkwa Budget. After these Questions, the interesting thing is that Hon Members go for the clips from the cameras here, take them to their constituencies and tell constituents that they have asked Questions on their behalf. The Questions and the clips are not enough. What is enough for us is to help Government to raise the necessary revenue through the provision and estimate and through all that has been put in the Agyenkwa

benefit of anybody; our children in this country would benefit from it so, why has the Government abandoned those projects?

Mr Speaker, if you look at what

is happening now, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) is under serious threat of collapse. The GETFund got support with a Law passed by this House in the year 2000, and a VAT allocation was to be made to it. As we speak today, the Ministry of Finance is withholding over GH₵500 million to GETFund. That is misapplication of funds.

The Ministry of Finance is

violating the Law that established the GETFund and when we, the Members say it, the Ministry says it is possible that they would get the money. They have even gone further to securitise the GETFund. The 40 per cent that should be given to the GETFund is also not going there, yet they tell us that they have done this and that.

When GETFund was granted a

1.5 million facility by this House, a total amount of GH₵1,179,542,131 was released in the first attempt. Mr Speaker, 53 per cent of that amount was used as payment for supplies and 47 per cent for projects. When we

realised that our schools were in dire need of infrastructure and approved the facility, we had already gone to use 53 per cent for supplies, while our students are congested in dormitories.

When you go to the dormitories,

you would close your eyes and would not like to see what is happening over there. There is so much congestion, yet we are spending this money in such manner. I think that it is about time we stopped the frivolous expenditure on a number of things and paid attention to education in this country.

Mr Speaker, today, school heads

are finding it very difficult to feed students in Senior High Schools because the buffer stock is not enough to provide the necessary food items needed to feed the students. Meanwhile, we have money to print over 1.2million t-shirts and write on them, “Free Senior High School is Good for us”. Why that frivolous expenditure? When we need money to feed the students, we are rather printing t-shirts. There is the need for us to pay attention to education in this country and make sure that the right thing is done.

Mr Speaker, if you go to

paragraph 941 of the Budget Statement, there is going to be a national standardised test in

December this year; but the issue is that we organise tests based on curricular and syllabi. We have outdoored a curriculum but there are no textbooks to support this curri- culum. On June 10, 2021, the Minister for Education, in an answer to a question I asked, said --

Hon
Member, you have one minute.

I quote:
“I would like to ask the Minister for Education what plans the Ministry has to provide all basic schools in the country with state owned public textbooks on the new curriculum out-doored about two years ago.”
Mr Speaker, the Minister, in part
of his answer as recorded in the Official Report of Thursday, 10th June, 2021, said:
“The shortlisted publishers have been invited to the Ministry for a negotiation meeting by mid- June, 2021 to agree on a price for the supply of the various selected books. The successful negotiation of price would lead to the award of contract to the publishers to supply textbooks to all public basic schools”.
Mr Speaker, five months down the line, the schools are without the textbooks. What is the Ministry doing? If you are going to test somebody, you must test them based on curricular and subjects. So, we want the Ministry to wake up because it is not helping this country. Education is not receiving the necessary attention that we should give it in this country.
Mr Speaker, going forward, you
would also realise --

Hon
Chairman, your time is up, so wind up.

Mr Speaker, in
winding up, I would like to say that there is the need for the Ministry of Education and for that matter, the Government of Ghana to ensure that the funds that are allocated for the various institutions, departments and agencies are made available to them; so that, we can have a better offer of education for our youth in this country.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Hear!

Mrs Ophelia Mensah Hayford

(NPP -- Mfantseman): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate for the

Interestingly, as my senior colleague was speaking today, I heard a phrase he called “policy stupidity”; that if, indeed, we would want to put a tax or charge on something we are trying to promote, it is termed as policy stupidity.

Mr Speaker, we were in this

country when we tried to use the ABC approach to curb HIV/AIDS infection, where C represented the use of condom to reduce the spread of HIV. We were in this country when we placed charges on condoms. Would that qualify as policy stupidity? I would want to rest my case on that. However, prior to our exit from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Ghana attained 87 per cent as against the target of 78 per cent, which meant that we performed above the target that we set for ourselves.

Mr Speaker, it tells us that if we

do things right, we can always move forward when the time is due and needed. Now, we have about one out of ten individuals having access to potable drinking water, which beats the global estimates. That does not mean that we must rest on our oars. Now, we have the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It tells us that we must not leave anybody behind. Currently, there have been the construction of over 730

mechanised boreholes to help people to have the opportunity to access potable drinking water.

Mr Speaker, same may be said

of us, to have built almost 767 ten- seater water closet toilets. This is to help in addressing open defecation, which, according to the Director of the Environment and Sustainability of the University of Ghana, causes this country an estimated whopping sum of US$78million. It is something that is worth noting. We have always been saying that due to climate change, just as we just came back from Glasgow, if we do not take care, there would be shortage of food, which might become a crisis in this country.

Mr Speaker, Government, through

some of its flagship programmes, embarked on the One Village, One Dam Project to dig dams. A total of 507 out of the estimated 560 have been dug. There is the need for us to do what we term as “the rewrapping of these dams” to create sustainability to enable farmers who need these dams to cultivate all year round. If this is not forward-looking, I do not know what else can be forward- looking in this Budget.

Mr Speaker, let me say that — I

have been a witness to this - I had a grand aunt who went on pension and

giving them a governance that reflects their collective will.”

I urge my Hon Colleagues that,

for once, we should admit that these policy instruments are not in the interest of the people who have elected us to represent them here. Let us collectively send a signal to the Executive that they should find better policy alternatives to bring to the House for us to approve because these ones are so draconian, untenable, and do not make economic sense.

Mr Speaker, I rest my case.

Thank you very much.

It is now the turn
of the Hon Akwasi Konadu.
Mr Akwasi Konadu (NPP --
Manhyia North): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Floor.
Mr Speaker, this Budget
Statement is a forward looking one and it is a Budget Statement that seeks to create an opportunity for us to move out of the post-COVID-19 effect that this world has gone through. Our Hon Friends on the opposite Side would always want to tell us that whenever there is a
challenge and we want to raise it, we blame it on COVID-19. Mr Speaker, I recall my first time in this House, just after swearing in, most of the chairs in this room were removed for us to observe parliamentary procee- dings from our offices so as to draw down the effect of COVID-19. Mr Speaker, if there was no effect and impact of COVID-19, then that measure would not have been taken. Mr Speaker, looking at the galleries now, we do not offer people the opportunity to observe what we do here because of the impact of COVID-19. This shows that if we say that COVID-19 has had an impact on this economy, then it has, and we must acknowledge this.
I have heard that for some
support that we may have had from the Annual Budget Financing, the Stabilisation Fund, and support from international donors towards the alleviation of COVID-19 and its effect on this country were misused. Mr Speaker, we fail to acknowledge that, for a year, most government workers did not go to work but they were paid and their SSNIT contributions were never left in arrears.

Mr Speaker, this is what we did

for this country and its good people.

approval of the 2022 Budget Statement.

Mr Speaker, listening to the

debate going on from both Sides, I do not understand why we would all not come together to approve this Budget Statement. This is because I can say that this Budget Statement is a sensitive one and has touched on all the issues pertaining to the economy, and the development of both the private and public sectors.

Mr Speaker, despite the fact that

this Budget Statement seeks to build blocks for the recovery and hope for the economy, and the numerous interventions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has not relented in making adequate provisions to heighten security within the country. We all know that security is key to the development of a country and that is exactly what the “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Government” is doing.

Mr Speaker, when we look

around us, in the sub-region, there are insurgency and criminal activities going on. There are bandits, terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, just to mention a few. In the 2021 Budget Statement, the “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Government" made mention of retooling our security services to beef

up security in the country. The Government is in the process of doing it and is still doing it.

Mr Speaker, as I speak, the

Government is in the process of procuring six fighter jets for the Armed Forces. [Hear! Hear!] When we come to the Navy, the Government is also securing six speed boats for them to combat piracy and other territorial crimes. [Hear! Hear!] We all know that combating crime and ensuring security within a country does not come in a vacuum. I am therefore surprised that our brothers from the other Side are saying that the 1.7 e- levy that Government is requesting to be approved to ensure that security is heightened, is too much.

Mr Speaker, to combat trans-

national and trans-boundary crime, we would need the required resources and retooling to do this. We cannot do this in a vacuum. To get these resources, we need to levy to get tax to enable us purchase all the sophisticated equipment to ensure crime combat.

Mr Speaker, the individual is

unsecured when he or she does not have the capacity to purchase his or her needs to realise his or her

aspirations, and this also increases crime within a country. This is the reason the Government has come up with interventions such as the YouStart and the Obamacare. These are all in the bid to get the youth empowered, which would lead to employment and curb insecurity and for that matter, joblessness which leads to crime within a country.

Mr Speaker, paragraph 1120 of

the Budget Statement has outlined the various interventions the “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Govern- ment” wants to bring to resource the Ghana Police Service. Few months ago, our Hon Colleagues called on us that there was insecurity within the country. We would all agree that when the police are well resourced and retooled, they would be able to combat crime. Recently, the Committee on Defence and Interior embarked on an investigative tour to the Upper West Region because there was an information that the military had brutalised the civilians. This Government wants to breach the police and civilian ratio, therefore, there is the need for more people to be recruited into the Ghana Police Service to be able to combat crime. [Hear! Hear!] This would come with a levy or resources. How would we get these resources? We need to tax the good people of Ghana so that we

could provide the adequate security that would be needed for our country.

Mr Speaker, for Ghanaians to

be employed, we need this money to initiate the YouthStart and the ObatanpaCares Programme. We are all confronted within our consti- tuencies with employment issues. I want to ask my Hon Colleagues from the other Side whether we want our constituents to be employed. Do we want our siblings and children to get better jobs in the country? If there is no answer from them, then it means they would need to help us to approve this Budget Statement because the Government of Ghana needs this levy to ensure that the good people of Ghana get good jobs and the needed security for us to get the development, we are all fighting for.

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, the

“Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Government”, is a sensitive Govern- ment that understands the plight of the citizenry. The 2022 Budget Statement is a sensitive one which has come for all. No wonder my Hon Colleagues have named it the “Agyenkwa Budget'' [Hear! Hear!] -- I therefore join the people who have called for the approval of it because it is a people-centred Budget Statement.

Bissau, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Benin and Togo have all opened their borders, but the Government of Ghana has refused to open our borders.

They have refused to open our

borders because they have placed an entity at the Kotoka International Airport called Frontier Health Care Services and they want to compel all of us to pass through the airport so that we would be compelled to engage in the COVID-19 testing at a fee of US$150 for non-Ghanaian families and US$50 for Ghanaians. This is the only reason. Mr Speaker, otherwise why is it that every other African country has opened its borders, yet the President of the Republic of Ghana has refused to open the land borders of the country?

Clearly, the borders are not

helping to prevent COVID-19 from entering or leaving this country because there is already a local spread of it. I would urge the President to open the land borders and to remove the testing that is being done at the airport. Mr Speaker, I have travelled to almost every West African country and they have stopped testing at the airport. If a person has already done a test in the country of origin and presents the results at almost every country in West Africa, the person would have

access to the country. So, why is it that in Ghana, a person must test at the country of origin and when the person arrives at our airport, the person would still have to conduct another test? Mr Speaker, it is because of the US$150 that we are compelled to part with at the airport.

I would conclude by quoting

something that the Rt. Hon Speaker said in Ho during the opening of the post-Budget Workshop. Mr Speaker said something which is very profound and I beg to quote:

“As you are all aware, the average Ghanaian politician has become an endangered species for reason of the perception of the ordinary Ghanaian that we do not work in their interest but for our own parochial interest.”

Mr Speaker, this is very

profound and you continued further that:

“There is copious evidence to support this perception and no honest politician can contest this reality. Hon Members, please we have the unique opportunity as a hung Parliament with a Speaker not from the party in power to win back the confidence of the citizenry by

When we are encouraging

people to migrate to digitisation and to conduct their affairs on the digital highway, yet we impose taxes on them when they get on that highway. Are we not discouraging those people from getting onto the digital highway?

Mr Speaker, apart from this,

Electronic Transaction Levy is essentially a tax on capital and I would explain in very simple terms. When I carry my money with me in a bus from Bawku to Techiman to trade, I take a number of risks including armed robbers attacking me on the way. If no armed robber stops me, then I would get to Techiman with my capital intact and I can trade with it. What the Government is seeking to do is that there is another highway which is the electronic highway, and the Government would go onto this electronic highway and as I carry my money on this highway, the Government would take 1.75 per cent of the money.

The Government has turned

itself into an armed robber on the electronic highway, so that when I carry my money on this highway, the Government would take 1.75 per cent of the money without having done

anything for me. Mr Speaker, this is called tax on capital because the Government has not rendered any service to me but would say that any time, I carry my money on the electronic highway, I should pay 1.75 per cent of that money. This is a tax on capital and this should not be encouraged.

Mr Speaker, this is the reason

that this Side of the House is saying that we should not encourage a tax on capital. We can tax capital gains and sales on electronic media, which is tax on sales made on electronic media, but not when I am conveying money on my mobile phone which is then, taxed for no job done. This is a dangerous policy instrument that should not be tolerated.

Mr Speaker, thirdly, I was

hoping that in this Budget Statement, the Government would have announced the opening of our land borders because it is a major policy that is destroying the economies of border towns and my constituency is a border town. Two days ago, when Hon Ablakwa was contributing to the debate, he stated clearly that there was an ECOWAS meeting at which the Authority of Heads of State and Government agreed to open their various borders. Mr Speaker, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea

Mr Speaker, I thank you for the

opportunity. [Hear! Hear!].

Mr James Agalga (NDC --

Builsa North): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion.

Mr Speaker, from the outset, I

would like to make it very clear that the security agencies of our country have been retooled by successive governments when we did not introduce an obnoxious tax such as the Electronic Transactions Tax. Under the late Presidents Rawlings and Atta-Mills and the former President Mahama, our security agencies saw massive retooling. So, let it not be said that we could only retool our security agencies if this obnoxious tax expires.

Mr Speaker, the very day the

Hon Minister for Finance announced in the Budget Statement that the Electronic Transaction Levy which is pegged at 1.75 per cent, would be bussed, resulted in a panic with- drawal of money across the country. I have with me a publication I curled out from social media which captured Ghanaians queuing to withdraw money from mobile money vendors following the announcement.

Mr Speaker, my interest is on

security so, I would like to link these happenings to our security. There is

no gainsaying that the withdrawals that hit mobile money vendors in this country have dire consequences on our country's security. The mobile money vendors who sit in kiosks while the citizenry queue before them, have been employed as a result of savings made by Ghanaians who think that the mobile money tran- saction is one way of banking.

However, with the panic

withdrawals, the consequence is that all the people who sit in the kiosks would be thrown out of their jobs. When this happens, the crime wave in this country would spike; because those people who would be thrown off their jobs would have to find work to do - “the devil finds work for the idle hand”. With this tax, there would be a spike in the crime wave in our country. This tax is objectionable and we would not support it. I want to remind the Hon Members who spoke earlier on - the Hon Minister for the Interior has left the Chamber but the Hon Vice Chairman of the Committee has spoken and thinks that everything about our country's security should revolve around the obnoxious tax that they intend to impose.

Mr Speaker, I would like to

make reference to paragraph 1135 on page 219 of the Budget Statement. In page 219, the Ministry of National

Security has clearly positioned itself as the Ministry responsible to churn out policy for the management of our country's security, and so true to its mandate, about six months ago, a strategy was launched in this country known as the National Security Strategy. It is a very important document.

The National Security Strategy

that was launched by President Akufo-Addo amid a lot of funfair, was supposed to result in the integration and consolidation of all the fragmented security initiatives that we have adopted for ourselves over the period into a single comprehensive national security framework blends traditional and human security responses to ensure that this country is safe and well protected from terrorism, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and cybersecurity threats.

Mr Speaker, when the strategy

was launched, I had the occasion to indicate that the strategy was an excellent document because the Minister for National Security sought inputs from so many stakeholders including the National Democratic Congress. We brought together our security experts and made our inputs. This document, as we see, is nothing

but a reflection of the aspirations of the people of this country to live in safe and secure environment. But I have a word of caution for this Government that in this country, we have a disease which is the lack of implementation of very excellent laws and policies passed by our country since independence. I therefore admonish that we all take this document very seriously and ensure that it is implemented.

Mr Speaker, I had the shock of

my life having gone through the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government read by the Hon Minister for Finance that there is no single paragraph in it which talks about implementation of this strategy. Yet, it was launched amid fanfare by President Akufo-Addo. He told the whole world that Ghana now has the blueprint to deal with security issues in our country. Unfortunately, this is the Budget Statement and there is no policy statement in a single paragraph which talks about implementation. Are we taking our national security as a matter of priority? No! Security is not a priority for President Akufo-Addo's Government.

Mr Speaker, if we look at the

national security strategy document, because of the problems we have had with implementation, the crafters of this document made provision for

of Ghana and the University for Health and Allied Sciences would have to increase their fees and charges by about 15 per cent. These are just the agencies under the Ministry of Education. I have not yet covered the agencies under the Ministry of Health where the fees and charges of all of the Government Hospitals will be increased by about 15 per cent as well as those at the Lands and Natural Resources, the Interior and all the agencies under them.

Mr Speaker, this would not be

the end of it, anytime we mismanage our economy and there is inflation, then the fees will be automatically adjusted upwards to account for the inflation without coming to Parliament.

That is the policy implication.

These fees and charges are contained in L.I 2386 - Fees and Charges, Miscellaneous Provisions Instrument. The fees and charges relate to taxes in excess of 29,600 different taxes. All these taxes which are captured as fees and charges would be increased by at least, 15 per cent.

Mr Speaker, I have heard people

on the other Side of the House who complained about the NDC Govern- ment imposing in excess of 20 taxes

which they came to abolish. However, by this singular policy instrument, they will be increasing in excess of 29,600 taxes and levies. [Interruption] -- Do they not know that those are taxes? I have taken my time to count the taxes and they want to increase it by 15 per cent. They say that this is a simple policy instrument and those of us who are against it are not patriotic.

The second major policy instrument which is also contained in paragraph 249 is the introduction of the electronic transaction levy of 1.75 per cent on the value of digital transactions.

Mr Speaker, there is something called policy stupidity which has to do with seeking to tax what we want to encourage. We want to encourage a certain behaviour and yet we are taxing that behaviour. A couple of weeks ago, the VicePresident took this country through a harrowing lecture about all the efforts at digitalisation. What is digitalisation? It is basically encouraging people to engage in electronic transactions. So when we are encouraging people to engage in electronic transactions by taxing them, what kind of policy stupidity is that? [Laughter]. That is policy stupidity [Hear! Hear!].

every Ghanaian, would be drifting us into a pandemonium that would spell doom and chaos for our dear nation.

Mr Speaker, I would urge my

beloved Friends on the other Side to ensure that we all do Mother Ghana a service; this is a service that calls for total devotion that should be devoid of partisanship. The good people of Ghana would wake up sooner than later and say, indeed, it is good that the Eighth Parliament of Ghana gave Mother Ghana the greatest of service by supporting a just course where everybody has been called upon to contribute his or her widow's mite to the kitty that is going to feed us all.

I would want to conclude by

saying that if there has ever been a Budget that has been human centred, development oriented and job creating and not job seeking, youth friendly and has the capability of taking Ghana to the next level, then it is no other Budget than the 2022 ‘Agyenkwa Budget'.

Mr Speaker, I so submit. [Hear!

Hon Member,
thank you. You used 9 minutes, 26 seconds.
We move on to the next Hon
Member in the person of Hon
Mahama Ayariga on the Minority side.
Mr Mahama Ayariga (NDC --
Bawku Central): Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Motion to adopt the Budget State- ment and Economic Policy of the Government for the 2022 financial year.
Mr Speaker, the crux and key
issues in this Budget Statement and Economic Policy can be found in paragraph 247. In that paragraph, the Government proposes, among other things, to review fees and charges with an average increase of, at least, 15 per cent in the year 2022 and thereafter subject it to automatic annual adjustments by average inflation rates as published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
What it means if I vote to
approve this Budget Statement is that agencies under the Ministry of Education including all students of the following universities: Cape Coast, Ho, Sunyani, Kumasi, Koforidua and Bolgatanga Technical Universities would have to increase their fees and charges by, at least, 15 per cent s well as those in the University of Education at Winneba, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University

implementation and in that particular paragraph in the strategy, indication was given that MMDAs and MDAs, the intelligence community and the agencies responsible for the manage- ment of our national security would come out with budget lines for the Ministry of Finance to implement alongside the introduction of a National Security Fund. All these good ideas have been shelved because there is nothing in the Budget Statement which talks about implementation, yet, we are faced with so many threats. Our northern frontier is faced with the threat of terrorism which is existential. Piracy is a problem that we would have to contend with in the Gulf of Guinea. Our oil resources are embedded in the belly of the sea. So, when we have a document like this as a blueprint, we have no choice but to ensure that it is implemented but this is where we are - lack of commitment in dealing with issues of national security by President Akufo-Addo.

Mr Speaker, the Minister for the Interior said a lot about our country's security. He talked about how they are retooling the security services and that when they retool them, particularly, with the passage of the Electronic Transactions Levy, we would reduce crime. The point needs to be made that this Government has

not committed to fighting crime in our country. They have never been committed to doing this. Apart from the election sloganeering in 2016 where they created the impression that our country's security was in tatters and this country was unsafe and insecure, they stated in their Manifesto and I beg to quote:

“Ghanaians would feel safe on the streets and in their homes. Ghanaians would go about their daily business in the secure knowledge that their persons, properties, lives are safe under an NPP Government.”

Mr Speaker, this was in 2016. In

Crime statistics would bear me

out that this country has witnessed unprecedented surge in crimes. Police statistics would confirm this. I am not the one saying it and so before somebody rises to raise objections, let me quickly refer you to crime statistics from the Police Service itself. When the NDC handed over the reigns of governance to the NPP, we saw a massive reduction in crime

rate in this country. In respect of armed robberies alone, we recorded 16 per cent drop between 2015 and 2016, but in 2017, we saw a massive surge by 27 percentage points. The story was totally different in 2018. Then, in 2019, we recorded as many as 1,083 cases of robberies. In 2020 --

This year, we have already

recorded 1,086 incidents of robbery. So whether we are in our houses, in the streets or travelling on our highways, we no longer feel safe under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. This is the reality on the ground.

Mr Speaker, but we are told in

the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government that they intend to replicate Formed Police Units (FPUs) as part of the measures intended to deal with public order and crowd control in our country. The Minister for the Interior made this statement but what he failed to acknowledge is that the very concept of FPU was birthed by President Mahama when he was Chairman of the Police Council as Vice President of this Republic. So, in 2012, the FPU was set up. If they have now found it necessary to replicate the FPU in the 18 Police Regions established, let them do the needful; let them give credit where it is due.

Mr Speaker, for five years, they knew that there was need for us to replicate the FPUs in our regions because we had the blueprint to do so. They came and stalled this project for five years. It has now dawned on them that there is the need for us to have FPUs in our regional capitals, so be it. We shall support them but let the replication of the FPUs in our regional capitals result in a reduction in military visibility so far as internal security operations are concerned.

Mr Speaker, it is still fresh in our

minds how the deployment of the military in the 2020 elections resulted in the butchering to death of eight innocent Ghanaians. Their only crime was that they had come out to exercise their franchise. The Minister for the Interior told us in his sub- missions that there is a new sheriff in town. This new sheriff in town has the onerous responsibility to ensure that those who perpetrated the murders are not left off the hook. That is his responsibility.

So far, what has been the track

record of the new sheriff in town? He has not channelled his energy and focus on identifying and arresting the perpetrators of the murders that we witnessed in Techiman South, Ablekuma Central and elsewhere during the conduct of the 2020

Council (GLC) which also forms part of the Judiciary system enrolled 312 lawyers to the Bar. The GLC also received 98 complaints against lawyers and settled 82 of them. Entrance examination into the Ghana School of Law attracted over 2000 candidates out of which 790 passed. Just to remind the honourable House of the predicament of the 499 students but for the intervention of the good policies of this Government, these people would have still stayed at home.

Mr Speaker, the Budget

Statement and Economic Policy as we see it has high hopes to ensure that law, which is the cement of society, is preserved. Allocation of funds for the construction of buildings for the district courts and the high courts in many districts and municipalities, in paragraph 1101; it is stated that the Government has started building 98 court houses and 121 residential facilities. This laudable undertakings could only be accomplished if we all support the budget that seeks to ensure that we raise sufficient revenues to match the expenditures that we have envisaged.

Mr Speaker, there is no way that

we can preserve lives and property when the Judicial System is not put on good footings. Justice delayed is justice denied and in that wise, there

is the move to continue with the automation of the courts to ensure that proceedings in the court are fast- tracked and the backlog of cases are all dealt with promptly.

Mr Speaker, out of 72,568 new

cases which were filed in the year 2021, a total of 63,293 cases were dealt with and judgement passed accordingly which shows that we still have to encourage the Judicial System to find its right footing.

We also had the virtual hearing

of cases which helped to offset the problems that COVID-19 imposed on the legal system. Had it not been for the automation and implementation of sound policies which were backed by adequate monetary considera- tions, we would not have enjoyed the peace and tranquillity that prevail in our dear country.

Mr Speaker, it is my submission

in this regard that having seen that the Judiciary is one of the tripods or trinity of our system, which requires that it be fully resourced, we would speak to the Budget Statement and Economic Policy and that any attempt to block the passage of this laudable budget, which is compre- hensive, well thought through and engineered to ensure the prosperity of

NPP had been in the political wilderness for over 30 plus years and then in year 2000, they came to power. Some people were in their Leadership. I was in opposition as the Leader. They used to tell us that we would never come to power again. Those are just wishful thoughts but we came and so it would be. Whether you like it or not, Ghanaians would keep on changing governments, even if you are doing well and they continue to see your face every day, they get fed up with your face. They want new things and they would change the face of government again. That is why now you are young so people are looking at you in admiration. As you grow old, they would not want to see your face again. [Laughter] You have not done anything wrong but they would not want to see your face.

Mr Speaker, you
would recall when Dr Obed Asamoah came here for us to pass one of the laws - I think the law on causing financial loss; he said, “in the most unlikely event that they ever come to power” nobody raised objection. These are jargons of speculation that we do so it is not offensive. It is just wishful thinking and wishful hope.

Hon Members, we
move on to the next person to contribute his quota to the debate.
This time I am told that it should be Hon Samuel Erickson instead of Hon Kwadwo Asante.
So, we would listen to Hon
Samuel Erickson. You have 10 minutes. [Interruption] -- Why are you not asking about the women but you are only asking about the men?
Mr Samuel E. Abakah (NPP --
Shama): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the adoption of the 2022 Agyenkwa Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
Mr Speaker, looking at the
Judicial Service provision in the 2022 Budget Statement at page 261, the sum of GH₵740,629,000 has been allocated for the work of the Judicial Service. The Hon Member who spoke before me from the other Side of the aisle made reference to page 214 of the Budget Statement and lamented on the fact that only four paragraphs were attributed to the Judicial Service. I beg to differ from that line because the Judiciary does not comprise only the Service but other agencies that come under the Judiciary in general. If we go to page 210 of the 2022 Agyenkwa Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government, we have the Legal Education Programme at paragraph 1071 where the General Legal

presidential and parliamentary elec- tions. Rather, what he has done is to launch blistering assault on parlia- mentary privileges and immunity.

When the Police attempted to

Mr Speaker, from this Side of

the House, our Members have been prosecuted time without number, is that not enough evidence that we are not above the law? When this matter came up, I was shocked that our Members on the other Side made statements as though the issue of parliamentary immunity and privileges was not something we should all speak for in unison. I found that to be unfortunate.

Today, we find ourselves on this

Side of the aisle and not long from now, we will be on the other Side, and when that time comes, should we

condone the breach of parliamentary privileges? Not at all. So when these matters happen, we must think about the institution of Parliament and strengthen same and that is why the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol on democracy and good governance even recognises parliamentary immunity and privileges. So those who think that Parliament is acting as though it is above the law, they should address their minds to some of these key provisions in our laws.

Mr Speaker, let me make it clear

that in respect of international peace and security, - In paragraph 564 and page 123, I have seen statements made in the Budget Statement that President Akufo-Addo's effective leadership has resulted in --

Hon
Member, you have already exceeded your time by one minute. So kindly wind up.

Mr Speaker, in
conclusion, President Akufo-Addo is to blame for the coups that have happened in Mali and Guinea. When people were shot dead as a result of the alteration of that country's Constitution, President Akufo-Addo folded his arms and did nothing --

Hon
Member, I direct that you withdraw that. I would not wait for any objections, please. Do not bring us into any international conflicts. Please withdraw that comment.

Mr Speaker, respectfully, in the paragraph I have alluded to, that is page 123 of the Budget and with your permission, I beg to read --

Hon
Member, does it say that President Akufo-Addo is responsible for the coups in Mali?

Mr Speaker, no. I
said we should hold him responsible as the Chairman of the ECOWAS.

Hon
Member, no. Kindly withdraw that. I direct that, that is retracted from --

Mr Speaker, very
well. I humbly withdraw that part of my submission. Thank you.

Hon
Afenyo-Markin, Deputy Majority Leader?
Deputy Majority Leader (Mr
Alexander Afenyo-Markin): Mr Speaker, thank you for this treasured space to express my views about the Budget presented --

Hon Members, having regard to the state of Business of the House, I direct that the House Sits outside the regular Sitting hours. You may now have your take.

Mr Speaker,
thank you for this treasured space to express my views about the Budget presented to this House by the Hon Minister for Finance on behalf of the President.
Mr Speaker, we have had very
interesting matters arising out of this debate, I have enjoyed it and benefited from the pearls of wisdom of Hon Colleagues. Suffice to say that the Minority in this House has made it a point not to see anything good about this Government. It was clear right from the year 2017 when they had just exited government, they had something to say about our first Budget and this has continued since then till date.
Clearly, they are playing partisan politics and nothing about the specific interventions made. We hear them, speaker after speaker, singling out Dr Bawumia for attack. However, whether they like it or not, Dr Bawumia; the gentle, calm, technocrat, economist and a man with a vision for this country — He is a Muslim who represents the

Hon Colleague made a comment I find inappropriate. Maybe, you were not very conscious of it but he said that the 2024 election has already been determined. Ordinarily, I would not debate him on this but that was most unfortunate because we are yet to have the election. Has he prejudged the 2024 elections?

Mr Speaker, I humbly appeal to

your wisdom that that statement - in fact, I enjoyed his lamentations on the challenges in the Upper East and Upper West Regions and I fully associate with that but the comment he made that the 2024 election has been determined is most unfortunate and so it should be expunged from the record. I humbly invite you to impress upon my respected Hon Colleague who is also a senior member of this House to withdraw what he said because he knows what he said is inappropriate. He made reasonable contributions and I agree with him but to say that the 2024 election has been determined is prejudicial. It is most unfortunate so it should be expunged.

Mr Speaker, I humbly appeal to

you and I am in your hands for your decision on this matter.

I am happy you
said you are fully in my hands. I recognise wishful thought and I do
not see any wishful thoughts as the breach of any rule of the House. Many Hon Members have thought that way. In fact, some even said that some political parties would never come to power for the next - how many years? Those are wishful thoughts and so I do not think it is something that you should take objection to. You are all allowed to think that way and some even say that they would win the 2024 election and even for the next 30 plus years the other political party would never come to power. That is a wishful thought and it is not objectionable. That is what moves you and drives you on to achieve your vision, so there is nothing wrong with that. You said that ‘you are entirely in my hands'.

Mr Speaker,

Mr Speaker, I thank
you for your wise ruling.

I do not know
which wilderness it is in to be wild -- [Laughter] -- Yes, I recall when we were in power, we used to say that the

Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy

Majority Leader and the Hon Member for Sekondi, when they contributed, said that we do not want this Budget Statement to introduce levies because when they get those moneys they would be able to develop the country and we would never come to power. I reminded them of what the late J. H. Mensah said when they dealt with the US$1 billion loan between 2001 and 2002. He was very audacious and eloquent. He said “Mr Speaker, the NDC people do not know money, they have never handled big money before. They know that if we get the US$1 billion, we would develop the country to a great extent such that they would never come to power''. They thought after they had said that and prosecuted us there would be no NDC left but we are still here today [Hear Hear] He said that we would never come to power but with the

greatest of respect you and I know that the UD$1 billion never surfaced because the source of it was from a hairdressing salon and besides if it even came, many other loans came and we came back to power in 2009.

Mr Speaker, they should not

think that when they collect these levies, they are the panacea to make them win an election. The 2024 election has already been determined. We would be in the Majority and they would be in the Minority [Hear Hear] In fact, they are more used to the Minority side than the Majority side. [Interruption]

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, this

Budget Statement has no hope for farmers, students, market women, fishermen and fisher folks and all the workers of this country so I humbly submit that we refer it back to the Ministry of Finance to do the right thing before we approve of it.

Hon Majority
Chief Whip, you know we agreed that we should allow the debate to flow so I have been very vigilant, listened to everybody and I have applied the rules. I do not want interventions.

Mr Speaker,
I do not want to take you backwards and I support you that we should move smoothly, but my respected

aspirations of the many Muslims in the high Office he occupies. He has proven that he has what it takes to lead an economic management team to deliver beyond expectation.

Mr Speaker, in this debate, our

Friends have argued that we have introduced taxes. I shall contend in my submission that when they had eight years of governance, they did worse and I will prove to them.

First, I shall limit myself to

electricity tariffs. As late as the year 2016, Ghanaians were calling on former President Mahama to reduce electricity tariffs and the former President was bold in telling Ghanaians that the cost of production was so high such that if he even decreases same by a percentage point, Government could not survive. What did we see in the years 2017 and 2018? We came in and the tariffs were reduced. I dare my Hon Colleagues to challenge this submission, to which I will yield, for them to tell me that indeed, they never reduced electricity tariffs. Yet, when they had the opportunity to govern, they told Ghanaians that it is so expensive to produce electricity and continued to increase electricity tariffs year-on-year. Their records will expose them.

Mr Speaker, let me point out

again to them that when we came into

Office, we took steps to reduce taxes and introduce incentives and by this, I refer them to paragraph 796 of the 2017 Budget Statement and to remind them that these were taxes and levies that existed before we came into Office to which Ghanaians are complaining about. I shall go over them one after the other because they have soon forgotten.

We abolished the 1 per cent

special import levy, the 17.5 per cent VAT NHIL on financial services, the 17.5 per cent on selected import medicines that are not produced locally, and even the kayaye who were taxed, we made sure that at the Local Authority level, these were removed.

Mr Speaker, we abolished the

These were taxes and levies that

their eight-year rule of which they told Ghanaians that they needed these to govern. We came in and realised that no, their ‘yen tie obiaa'

approach, to wit, they would not listen to anyone and the ‘krom aye hye' to wit, times are tough slogans at the time needed some relief.

Mr Speaker, in all of these, we

did not just rest there and bring these reliefs; we also introduced social intervention programmes, but because they do not want to listen and they often forget, I would remind them consistently. Mr Speaker, the NDC Administration and all its Hon Members of Parliament told us that implementing the free SHS pro- gramme was impossible. I contend that they have shamelessly resigned from that position they took but in the midst of COVID-19 and all the crises we face today, this Government continues to sustain such an impor- tant social intervention programme. We are helping the poor to acquire knowledge.

Mr Speaker, today, St. Augustine's

College, Mfantsipim School, Prempeh College and Achimota School are not the preserve of the middle-class children. [Interruption] Mr Speaker, my boss has added St. Peter's School so I would add them to the list. These schools are now not the preserve of the rich in society because ordinary people are having access --

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister of Education is in this House --

Hon
Member, even my school, Juaben Senior High School, is not a preserve of the --

Mr
Speaker, very well.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister
for Education is in this House and he can attest to the number and increase in enrolment --

Hon
Member, hold on.
Hon Deputy Minority Leader?

Mr Speaker, I am
not sure if you are taking part in the debate because we can all mention our schools.

When you become the Speaker, you can mention your school but for now I have taken advantage of my --

Mr Speaker, my
school, Keta Senior High School, has reached the final stage of the National Science and Maths Quiz and we would win the trophy.

could be airlifted from the national capital or any other region to the Upper East Region so that they could defend this country. In the absence of that we have to depend on road work alone which is not enough.

Mr Speaker, we in the Upper

East Region suffer. If one wants to take the first flight from Tamale to Accra, one has to leave home by 3.00 or 4.00 a.m. and drive three hours to Tamale before he or she could catch the flight at 8.00 a.m. or 9.00 a.m. We are one country, one people and one destiny. Where is the one destiny when others could make it to Accra within 30 minutes or an hour but we have to wake up by 3.00 a.m. and drive three hours before we get to the Tamale Airport, to even realise that we are already late for the flight?

Mr Speaker, it is not too late to

request, humbly, that the Upper East Region against the background of security threats from neighbouring countries, deserves and needs an aerodrome if not an airport, as a matter of urgency. If that happens then the decadence across the road, the jihadist and the terrorists would realise that the country is well prepared and alert and so they would not be a threat to us again. But if we continue to ignore the Upper East and Upper West Regions in terms of the provision of facilities that would

make sure that movement of troops, et cetera is facilitated, then we have ourselves to blame at the end of the day.

Mr Speaker, finally, as a sports

fanatic, in 2008 when Ghana hosted the African Cup of Nations, we built many sports stadia in most regions but the Upper East Region has no sports stadium. We know how passionate people are with sports in the country particularly, with football. Football brings unity. It is now a business but we do not have that business in the Upper East Region. It was during Acheampong's era in 1974 that a big wall was built and described as the Bolgatanga Stadium. My very good friend the Hon Minister for the Interior has lived in Bolgatanga all his life so he knows about it. That place is now a car park for articulators and trucks and not a football stadium yet we are one country, one people and one destiny. Why are we not also entitled to a stadium? How much would it cost to build a stadium for a whole region? I would want to use this medium to appeal to the Hon Majority Chief Whip to pass it through to the Government that the people of the Upper East Region deserve a stadium.

Mr Speaker, I have perused the

Budget Statement and my conclusion

the corruption comes in. It is against this background that I want the Minister for Finance in his Mid-Year Budget in the subsequent years, to review this issue and make sure that uncompleted court houses are duly completed.

Mr Speaker, I also want to talk

briefly on the issue of the aviation industry. In last year's Budget, the Minister for Finance said that every regional capital would get an airport. It was the determination of the Government of the day to give every regional capital an airport and then also provide aerodromes in some of these areas. In fact, they specifically mentioned that Navrongo and Paga would be provided with aerodromes. As I speak, today, nothing has happened on the ground since the Budget was read last year and in this Budget for 2022, it is silent on aerodromes and airports.

Mr Speaker, I want to make a

case for the Upper East Region. We now have an airport in the Volta Region and it is good enough for all of us. I think that they are preparing to have one in Cape Coast and it is good enough for us but Bolgatanga which is the capital of the Upper East Region, the farthest Region from the national capital, Accra does not have an airport and nobody is saying anything about it. Wa is in the Upper

West Region and they have an airport there but I am wondering if it is very efficient.

Mr Speaker, I would want to

Mr Speaker, I recall that in 2013,

I was in the company of H. E. former President John Dramani Mahama when we went to Sumbrungu, a suburb of Bolgatanga where we identified land. It was surveyed and they started working on it as an airport for the Upper East Region. Up till now, nothing has happened. It is now overgrown by weeds. I do not think that augers well.

Mr Speaker, it has become

critical for the following reason. That the Upper East Region shares a boundary with two other countries; Togo and Burkina Faso. It is also trite knowledge that the Sahelian region, Burkina Faso, Mali, et cetera, have been overrun by terrorists and jihadist and they have threatened to enter the Upper East and Upper West Regions. It is important that we have a means or a facility so that if something happens there, troops

When you get the opportunity to debate you can announce Keta Senior High School. For now, I have taken advantage of being in the Chair to announce that my school is the best in Ghana and that is my choice.
Hon Deputy Majority Leader,
you may continue.

Mr Speaker,

Mr Speaker, Government took

steps to address the unemployment situation in this country. Apart from NABCo, the Government did it again through the unprecedented recruitment in our various security agencies. Mr Speaker, when we confront the NDC with records, they will chicken out but when it is about free for all propaganda then they would want to entertain debate. I dare challenge them once again to

disprove this fact; whether or not we have recruited more people into the security agencies within the four years than they ever did.

Mr Speaker, these are steps that

the Government took to ensure that we reduce the number of unemployed youth on our streets and the NDC must acknowledge this.

We have introduced the 1.75

per cent Electronic Levy and this E-Levy --

Hon
Deputy Majority Leader, hold on. I was hoping that the Hon Leaders should assist me to implement what we agreed at the pre-Sitting meeting.

Mr Speaker, the
Hon Deputy Majority Leader said that they have recruited more people into the security services without supporting it with the data on how many people were recruited. For five good years, this is the only year that they have advertised for recruitments into the security services. How did they recruit people into the security services?

Hon
Deputy Minority Leader, when you get the opportunity to debate you can

respond. I do not think that it is an objectionable statement.

Mr Speaker,
I have said that my Hon Colleagues on the other Side are intolerant. I have sat here quietly and taken all the punches but they cannot take this one. Mr Speaker, he is a crying baby. He should take this punch. He should sit down in silence and take note. Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minority Leader is a crying baby. He should keep quiet, take notes and rebut me at the appropriate time.

I
wonder why the Hon Deputy Leaders are making life difficult for me. Hon Deputy Majority Leader, after I have ruled, you have invited him again into this by making a comment which is unacceptable. Please withdraw the “crying baby” comment.

Mr Speaker,
he has a white beard so he is not a crying baby. I have withdrawn it. I also withdraw the “he should keep quiet”. He is a crying old man. [Laughter] I withdraw that one too. [Laughter] Mr Speaker, we have introduced the e-levy and made it clear that this levy would serve two purposes. Firstly, we would invest part of the funds in the private sector. Mr Speaker, the Hon Agbodza in his arguments on the Floor contended
that Government should never dream of absorbing the many unemployed youth into the public sector and he contends that there should rather be space in the private sector. Mr Speaker, the answer to the question Hon Agbodza asked is in the e-levy because in that e-levy, opportunities would be created from the district level for young entrepreneurs who need GH₵10,000 and GH₵50,000 and it is being structured through the banks so that the youth can also start their own businesses. Mr Speaker, after all, the greatness of USA rests on the private sector when they talk about the American dream because the American Government puts money in the pockets of the people.
Mr Speaker, so no matter how
they criticise or poison the minds of Ghanaians, this Government means well. We shall remain resolute and not be carried away by their propaganda because the e-levy is here so they should embrace it and it would benefit the people of Ghana. In one breath, Hon Ato Forson would argue loudly in this House about the debt burden because we are taking too much loans, and the Government now says it is departing from that and would look within and expand the tax net to make sure that the ordinary Ghanaian and all of us would contribute. Mr Speaker, with this too they are saying no. However, I can

have any money to run or do recurring expenditure and you say that they should build court houses and also build bungalows for judges and magistrates, I think that it is unfair. Let me use this opportunity to ask the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs to draw the attention of H. E. the President and the Minister for Finance that we should change if we want the Judiciary to be an arbiter of peace and justice in the country.

Mr Speaker, many of the

districts in the rural areas do not have courts. You may have one magistrate running two or three districts. In the case of my district, Bawku West, the magistrate has to come from Bongo. He passes through the Nabdam District before he comes to Zebilla and he does that once a week. By the time that he would come, you would have had 20 or 30 civil cases and 20 or 30 criminal cases. He just sits one day of the week and goes and comes back another week. So, justice is hardly dispensed in the rural areas and we all know that justice delayed is justice denied.

If that happens, where is the

justice for all, the due process and the good governance? It is against this background that I add to the call that you made over the weekend that less than two per cent budgetary allocation for the Judiciary and in

fact, for Parliament, is nothing to write home about. As a country, we should review that one.

It is trite knowledge that the

symbols and pivot of democracy are the Legislature and the Judiciary. If there is no Parliament, there is no rule of law and there is no democracy and if there are no courts, then we would live under the era of Shaka the Zulu. Everybody by his might and not by right because there are no courts, there is no arbiter and we do what we want. I do not think that we would want this country to degenerate into that state. So, I would want to use this forum to appeal to the President and the Government of the day for that matter to review the issue of making financial commitments to the Judiciary so that we can attract - If their conditions of service are good, we can attract young lawyers to become district magistrates because when they get there, there would be a court house, a bungalow and a good salary for them to stay and work. Otherwise, we would continue to train lawyers and they would elude us.

I want to make this humble

appeal that the Judiciary is sinking. It is not attractive for anybody and when you are working there and you are not attracted to it, then it propels you to be gullible and that is where

Judiciary and the Legislature, it is an area that I am going to elaborate on.

Mr Speaker, if you look at the

Budget Statement, there are 223 pages. The Judiciary is captured on page 214 and it is only half a page. We are dealing with a whole Arm of Government and not an agency, and there are only four paragraphs in relation to the Judiciary of this country. If this not marginalisation, without even going into the details of what is contained there, there are only four paragraphs in respect of the Judiciary of this country, yet we expect them to do justice; we expect them to be the arbiter of the people and institutions of this country. We also expect them to bring a balance into society so that people would not take the law into their own hands and do justice.

I think that it is high time we

Mr Speaker, if you look at the

Judiciary, the only important thing there is basically a description of how many cases they have done in a particular year and what is left to be done, et cetera. The only thing that they have captured is that the Judiciary should link up with the Ministry of Local Government,

Decentralisation and Rural Development and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) to build court houses and residential accommodation for magistrates and judges in the various regions and districts.

Mr Speaker, with the greatest

respect, this type of undertaking and neglecting the Judiciary at the hands of district assemblies to build court houses and accommodation is one way of saying that we do not care about you. I say so against the background that the moneys allocated to the MMDAs as we all know is nothing to write home about these days and they have a lot of responsibilities from A to Z. Yet, they have been tasked with the responsibility to build court house complexes and accommodation for judges, magistrates and other court officials. I think that would not auger well for the Judiciary to deliver as we expect them to.

Mr Speaker, besides that, we

know that the District Assemblies' Common Fund is hardly paid. We are in the fourth quarter of the year which is about to end yet the second and third quarters have not come. Many of the District Assemblies, particularly those in the rural areas are suffering financially and if they are suffering financially and do not

Mr Speaker, they are afraid that

when these are done then they may not have the opportunity to return to power. This is why they are making noise. Mr Speaker, I want to tell Hon Agbodza today that the youth of Adaklu who have entrepreneurial energies in them would have equal chance of benefitting. So, if he votes against this Budget Statement then posterity and the people who elected him into this House would never forgive him. Mr Speaker, this goes for all those who are thinking like him because the e-levy is a saviour.

Mr Speaker, let us now face

facts and deal with the real issues. By the grace of God, one of them in this House chairs the Road Fund; the burden over there and the contractors who have worked and have no payments or know not when they would be paid - Mr Speaker, I can tell you that they are so burdened and their businesses are collapsing but now the structured way to deal with the problem is to get reliable and dedicated funds over and above what we are already getting so that contractors can be paid.

We have filed Questions in this House on road constructions more than any other Department or Ministry. If you check our records, every Member of Parliament is asking for roads. Na sika no wohe? “Where is the money?” We do not want to borrow. We are not going to take loans.

Mr Speaker, NDC argues with

mischief, with respect, because in all their submissions, they have not told us what the alternative plan is and, today, they are led by the Deputy Minority Leader - I am challenging their Leadership to tell us what their alternative plan is. In 2016, they raised their hands up in despair and said they could do nothing and it is the same stock of politicians who are making noise today and telling us that our policies are not good, so they should tell us what their policies are.

Mr Speaker, the time has not come yet. We have confidence in the head of our economic management team, Dr Bawumia --

You
have one more minute. Kindly conclude.

Mr Speaker, point
of information to the Hon Deputy Majority Leader. He asserts that we

Mr

Deputy Majority Leader, conclude.

Mr Speaker, I shall conclude by strongly rebutting the submission by Hon Agyei- Mensah when he had his time to argue.
Mr Speaker, under this Govern-
ment, the following roads have been completed: the rehabilitation of the Kwabenya-Taifa Road; the Obuasi Junction-Dunkwa Road; the Tinkron- Amanfro Road; the Kwaben- Akropong Road; the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Otano School Junction Road; the Bori Junction to Kpandai lot 2 Road as well as the Princess Junction to Princess town roads.
Mr Speaker, for the records,
these ae roads - few I can say because of the --

Thank you.

I thank
you, Mr Speaker, for your kind audience and I thank my Hon Colleagues for indulging me.
Dr Clement A. Apaak (NDC
-- Builsa South): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Motion.

place to ensure that the Government as well as financial institutions supports the youth in our country.

Mr Speaker, I would like to appeal to everybody here that anybody under the age 40 has to support this Budget Statement because with this Budget Statement, systems are put in place for our youth to get trained and get globally competitive. And all systems are put in place to ensure that laws are put in place to regulate their movements in and out of the country. And with their produce, they are definitely going to have markets out there. And with the markets, we live in a country where we have laws to guide our communication system and with the communication system, you produce your products even in your bedroom, you would market them on social media platforms; you get buyers, you get courier to send the produce to them and through MoMo, you would get your money. And all these individuals are many and for that reason, they need to be taxed a humble tax of 1.75 per cent.

Mr Speaker, with these few words, I would like to appeal to my Hon Colleagues on the Other side that they should accept this Budget for Ghana to move forward.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon Members, I
would want to apply Order 42(10) and then suspend Sitting for 10 minutes and I will be back. I hope you understand?
6.00 p.m. -- Sitting Suspended
6.06 p.m. -- Sitting resumed.

Hon Members,
thank you so much for your indulgence.
We would now move to the
Minority side and we would give the opportunity to our Senior Colleague, Hon Cletus Apul Avoka. Hon Member, you have 15 minutes.
Mr Cletus A. Avoka (NDC --
Zebilla): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the approval of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the year ending, 31st December, 2022.
Mr Speaker, I am going to speak
briefly in respect of the Judiciary and then add one or two other areas of interest. There are three Arms of Government, the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, and as aptly observed last weekend in Ho about the marginalisation of the

country, we have local segments there. However, we do not have the people, not because the laws are not good, but because we had not invested enough in our TVET and skills centres.

Mr Speaker, with this Budget

Statement, I am happy to announce that, with the TVET transformation agenda, with the retooling and upgrading of TVET institutions, we have all of them under the Department of Social Welfare which is under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Community Development Technical Institutions under the Ministry of Local Govern- ment, Decentralisation and Rural Development are all under the Free TVET policy of the Government. Thus, we have brought as many as 139 of these skills training institu- tions under the various Ministries under the Ministry of Education.

Mr Speaker, we did not do all

these because we wanted to take laws into our own hands. We are law abiding, and the Office of the Attorney-General keeps advising us. We brought Bills to this House and now we have the Pre-Tertiary Education Act of 2020 (Act 1049) and Education Regulators Act of 2020 (Act 1023) to ensure that whatever is done, so far as skills training is concerned, is guided and

controlled by established laws to develop our youth.

Mr Speaker, with the agenda of

1D1F and the industrialisation agenda of this country I am happy to announce that on the re-tooling of our TVET institutions, they are not just to be equipped with equipment to teach students, the equipment that we have in our TVET institutions at both second cycle and tertiary institutions, the Committee on Education and both Sides of the House can bear me out that they are industrial and state- of-the-art TVET equipment, well guided by international standards and policies to ensure that as the individuals are trained in these institutions, they have the laws guiding them, and they would also be globally competitive.

Mr Speaker, with the skills that

we are acquiring from our TVET institutions, the YouStart is in here. As I told somebody this afternoon, the YouStart as we would say in Twi, Bɔ wo kahyire na yɛnsoa wo to wit, just put the head pad on your head, your load is ready, and we help you carry it. The skills that we have provided and are still providing for our youth, and with this YouStart in the 2022 Budget, laws are put in

Mr Speaker, I must confess that

I am not in a very prime state. I have been battling a sore throat for a few days. I prayed fervently last night for God to grant me mercy so that I would also be able to contribute to this debate. Thankfully, I am not doing too badly.

Mr Speaker, my comments

would be confined to the area of education. Let us be honest and blunt and truthful. Any serious and objective mind who has followed and monitored the evolution of our country's education since the NPP took over the reign of this country would come to the conclusion that, today, our educational system can be described as a caricature. I say so because my abled Ranking Member has already elucidated and demon- strated how basic education has suffered and continue to suffer. The suffering is not only confined to basic education but even tertiary education is also facing similar fate of neglect.

Mr Speaker, a lot of attention

and resources have gone towards the implementation and sustenance of the Free Senior High School Programme but even there, with the quantum of resources applied, we are still bedevilled with the challenges that we want our Hon Colleagues on the other Side to pay heed to and to address which they refused. Five

years down the line, Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Africa Education Watch and almost every stakeholder, besides Govern- ment and its appointees, agree that it is not well with our educational system and particularly, secondary education.

Mr Speaker, by and large, this

debate has been reduced to taxes and whether or not we should support the 1.75 e-levy- Our Side has been very clear and we are not going to budge. It is not going to matter the level of intimidation, coercion or even enticements. We will reject this Budget. We cannot vote for this Budget because this is not a Budget that gives Ghanaians hope. As a Member of Parliament for Builsa South, my constituents have told me that should I make the mistake of voting in favour of this Budget, I should remain in Accra and I would not remain in Accra. They sent me here to work on their behalf. Their instructions are very clear. They told me, “Abasina, when you go, do not vote for this Budget”. So our position is clear. We represent our people and we are going to do what they have asked us to do.

Mr Speaker, earlier, the

Chairman of my Committee made a

number of comments and I just quickly want to run through them. It is not the case that we have ever been opposed to the Free Senior High School Policy. In fact, we adopted a gradual approach to implement it. When they came to power, for the first two years, the students who were in final year, 2017/2018, were not beneficiaries of the policy, implying that they were also doing it gradually. So they have no reason to try and chastise us for opposing a proposal that we began that they came to continue.

Mr Speaker, I want to dwell on

why we cannot vote for this Budget and why we should not give the NPP, President Nana Akufo-Addo-led Government any more money than they deserve.

Mr Speaker, during the Mid-

Budget Review last year, the Minister for Finance indicated that cumula- tively, Government has spent GHȻ3.2 billion in financing the Free Senior High School Policy. During this year's Mid-Year Budget Review, after I had posed a Question to the Minister for Education as to whether the Government has contracted a loan to finance the policy, in his response, he indicated that Government had not contracted a loan, but Government

had spent GHȻ7.62 billion. I asked a Supplementary Question as to why just within a span of one year, there was such a quantum leap from GHȻ3.2 billion to GHȻ7.62 billion. The Minister's response as captured in the Hansard was that the year 2020 was one in which various expendi- tures and expenses were undertaken.

The Minister assured me that he

would return to this House with details to account for the difference of about GHȻ4 billion. As we speak, we do not know what accounted for that quantum leap in just one year. It could not have been COVID-19 because we know that in the same Mid-Budget Review, a whooping GHȻ600 million had been allocated to prepare schools for reopening so where is the GHȻ4 billion? We ought to investigate; that money ought to be accounted for.

Mr Speaker, I have posed a

Question to the Minister for Education on the amount of money expended to procure past examina- tion questions for students who wrote WASSCE in 2020 and 2021. The Minister responded and indicated that that was done to help prepare the student to do well in the examinations. Two years in a roll, two contracts valued at GHȻ68 million were awarded to one company, Kingdom Books and

ensure that there is peace in the system. Once there is peace and our youth are well employed, then, there would be little to do.

Mr Speaker, in areas of jobs, in

this very Budget Statement, the youth are adventurous and have the energy to do everything you can think of - and these Ghanaian youth are also well endowed. Therefore, if we do not give them employment, then, they would create a lot of danger and the Judiciary will never have their peace.

Mr Speaker, in the area of jobs

and skills under the YouStart, and also with the investment that we have done in the TVET sectors, it is important that all laws that we need to protect our local investments and our young ones should be put in place. I am happy to say that in this Budget Statement, they are in place.

Mr Speaker, under the TVET

transformation agenda, we two months ago went to most of the TVET centres in the southern sector. Mr Speaker, I was surprised when Hon Apaak said that second cycle education has deteriorated. He could not believe his eyes when we entered the workshops and laboratories of our TVET institutions such as the Kumasi Technical University, the Cape Coast Technical University, the

Cape Coast Technical Institute, the National Vocational Training Institute at Biriwa among others. Hon Apaak, together with the Committee on Education, could not believe their eyes.

Mr Speaker, with all these

investments, if we do not have the laws to protect our young ones after training in various sectors to be globally competitive, where due to our youthful population, with the right laws in place, other countries like Singapore, which is very industrialised, but their population is low, would need our young people to go there and work.

There should be laws and

policies in place well-guided, and with international standards to ensure that even if they are supposed to travel, they would do that and their certificates would be accepted because we trained them to give them certificates that they need and are well accre- dited. For that reason, all that we need to put in place to get the appropriate laws for our youth to work within the country and elsewhere to make profit --

Mr Speaker, when you make a

number of laws, we always ensure that there is local content. It is important to note that in our oil fields and on a number of industries in the

the judiciary system and give the Office of the Attorney-General the time to concentrate on policies, the better.

Mr Speaker, for this reason, the

government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in this very Budget Statement has listed a number of policies to ensure that peace exists in the country.

Mr Speaker, the biggest security

threat we have is youth unemployment. Thus, even though we are talking about the Judiciary, when the youth are well employed, there would be peace, and systems and structures could be taken care of with all the laws in place well concentrated by the Judiciary in the country.

Mr Speaker, because of that, in

the agricultural sector, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture made a lot of efforts to ensure that under the Rearing for Food and Jobs Progra- mme, a number of day old chicks of cockerels for broilers and layers have been distributed to beneficiaries to ensure that our youth, who are in the majority and are the future leaders are gainfully employed.

Once they are gainfully

employed, we should also put systems together, guided by the

Office of the Attorney-General to ensure that we balance the system to make them also market their produce hence, the benchmark values.

Mr Speaker, if a lot of invest-

ments have been made under Rearing for Food and Jobs and Planting for Food and Jobs programmes, then, it makes reasonable sense that we protect them to sell their produce. Mr Speaker, can we have a country where young individuals have been supported to produce a lot of factory products that the country has invested in, and we then bring in poultry products from all over the world with benchmark values? How would they sell their produce and how would this be attractive to the youth to reduce unemployment?

Again, under Planting for Food

and Jobs, quality seedlings and seeds for rice, oil palm and others have been given to our young ones to produce, and they are doing well. Then, why do we bring produce like palm oil into the country to compete with the local ones? If that happens, our youth will leave their various production sectors and be on the streets. Mr Speaker, that would become security threat to all of us. Therefore, the Judiciary should not wait for complicated issues before they act, but they should advise the various sectors appropriately to

Stationery Limited, through sole sourcing. WASSCE 2021 ended not long ago. I can say on authority that not all the 724 senior high schools in this country benefited from those past examination questions procured by the Ministry. Should we not ask for an investigation? Could these moneys not have been used do other things?

Mr Speaker, in this House, a facility was passed with a tax waiver of US$3.2 million for the procure- ment of mathematical sets; each set cost GHȻ75.00. When I posed a Question to the Minister as to when the instruments arrived and whether they were available to the students who wrote the WASSCE in 2020, the Minister could not respond. He said he would check and come back because this a House of records and he wanted to be accurate. As we speak, that has been done. In the just ended WASSCE, not all the candi- dates who wrote the examination had access to these mathematical instruments. The Minister told us that because the supplier was unable to meet the contractual conditions, the contract had been abrogated. What has happened to the tax waiver? What has happened to the rest of the mathematical sets that were to be distributed?

Mr Speaker, when we look at the fact that there is a lot of waste in the import and export sector - There is over-invoicing and under-invoicing, misclassification, re-exportation, fraud, et cetera. It is happening; all these are moneys that should be coming to the State. Many are aware of the case that involves a Member of the Council of State, where a citizen has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor making the case of tax evasion. If we do it right, and avoid cronyism, avoid the tenancy to allow our financiers to get away with cheating the State, I believe that we should be able to mobilise enough resources and not impose a regressive tax on the people of this country.

Mr Speaker, in any case, the

President and the NPP like to tout the Free Senior High School (FSHS) Policy as their flagship policy. It has been noticed that in this year's Budget allocation, just about GHȻ2.2 billion has been allocated to the programme. That should be com- pared to the Office of Government Machinery, the Presidency, which is GHȻ3.1 million; where is the priority? Which one is the flagship programme? Is it the engagement in luxurious travels? Unfortunately, that is taking precedence over the FSHS. The issues challenging and bedevilling the implementation of

the FSHS Programme have not changed ever since we raised them.

Mr Speaker, when we look at

Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Monitoring Report of Senior High Schools, 2018- 2019, there are issues of overcrowding, unwholesome expired food, overburdened teachers, intimi- dated head teachers who cannot speak, and erratic academic calendar. These have not changed. On 21st November, 2021, CHASS held their annual conference in Bolgatanga and the issues are the same. There were issues of buffer stock, insufficient food, et cetera. There is the need to ensure that wholesome food is provided. There are the issues which have not been addressed. I have told them how to get money without the e- levy; they should stop granting waivers, they should ensure that revenue at the Ports are collected, prevent re-exportation fraud, prevent under-invoicing, prevent corruption, stop chattering private planes -- [Hear! Hear!] -- and they could save enough money to address the challenges.

Mr Speaker, let me quickly say

a few words about the situation in the tertiary sector. I would begin with the promise to provide free WiFi for all public educational institutions. It was touted in the 2016 and 2020 NPP

Manifestoes. The Vice President even launched it and we were told that about 90 per cent of our senior high schools have all been connected with free WiFi. When we challenged them to provide the list, they have not been able to do it till date. In the case of the Colleges of Education (CoEs) where they started benefitting - the Minister is right here and this is his letter he wrote to the CoEs telling them to pay back a whopping GHȻ6.8 million. The letter is dated 23rd July, 2021, and it was written to the Director-General, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission. They received it on the 12th of August, 2021. They told us that it would be a free service and they had started benefiting from it although it was not the best. How could they then turn around and tell them to pay for something that you promised all of Ghana it was going to be free.

Mr Speaker, why can they not be sincere? In any case, Mr Speaker, just think about it; 724 senior high schools in the country, 46 CoEs and all the District Directorates of Education, the public secondary schools, which companies have been contracted to provide these services and under what conditions and how were they selected? What is happening on the procurement front? In the case of mathematical sets, it

Mr Speaker,
with the greatest of respect, that is why I said that on our list, what we would prefer is that the next on the list would be called because of the understanding the Majority Chief Whip and I had in the morning. So, a lot of the Hon Members were put there, not necessarily because they were going to speak to a specific area. That is what we agreed on, so I would prefer that we just call the next person on the list.

But the total on
the list of the Majority is 17, while yours is 16 because you deleted the Hon Richard Acheampong.

Mr Speaker,
you should carry on, we would try and get the 17th person.

All right, so, we
would move to the Judiciary and start with the Hon Gifty Twum-Ampofo.
Mrs Gifty Twum-Ampofo
(NPP -- Abuakwa North): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this Motion.

Mr Speaker, in every country,

we need the Judiciary to function properly to ensure that all other sectors would function very well for

the country to be in a balance. It is unfortunate that at the Law School, at one point the intake is increased and at another point it is decreased at the law school, at one point, the intake is increased and at another point, it is decreased, and it looks as if it is political. A system has been put in place to make sure that systems work with very little interferences, but it is unfortunate that whenever systems do not work properly, we all rush to say it is the Government. For that reason, we behave as if Government rules every sector however systems are put in place.

Mr Speaker, I would want to

appeal that we all agree to this Budget Statement to ensure that all systems, be it educational, agricultural or health, functions very well. Once they function very well, the Judiciary will have very little to do, and we would not have too much challenges in our country.

Mr Speaker, all loans and

systems are supported by the Office of the Attorney-General to ensure that the right thing is done, and in the face of the global system, Ghana would not be found wanting. Therefore, Ghana has realised that the earlier we concentrated on the youth to ensure that they are comfortably employed to bring absolute peace to ease the stress on

what you would say and apply that fairly across board.

Mr Speaker,
I get the sense and the direction that you would want the House to go, and we do not intend to drag the issue. We would leave the issue at your discretion. We have listed names according a certain chronology, and our Hon Colleagues have done same. The difference is that we attached sectors. So, we would leave it to your discretion, but I can assure you that our Hon Colleagues are all here. With all the names put out, everybody is ready to debate. So, Mr Speaker, we are squarely in your hands.

I am being guided
that when we are dealing with the Judiciary, it should be four on each Side of the House.

Mr Speaker,
yes, as I earlier intimated, we had some discussion early this morning, and we came to an agreement that we, in fact, as a matter of importance, need to allow more Hon Members to comment on the Budget, so, leaders from both Sides of the House had agreed. If you take a good look at the list, you would realise that beneath the names listed, we have more names. For instance, on the Judiciary for our part, originally it was supposed to be two, but we have four
names there, and it is intentional. It is according to plan and agreement for both Sides for more of our Hon Members to comment on the Budget.

Well, Hon
Minority Leader, you would have to guide me to know those on the Side of the Minority who are going to speak on the Judiciary.

Mr Speaker,
we have the Hon Mahama Ayariga, Hon Rockson, and the Hon Cletus Avoka, who comes after Hon Mahama Ayariga, and the list follows. I would just want to establish that it is not as if the list from the Minority is not sequenced; it is. When you watch you would see that after Ministry of Roads and Highways, we have the Ministry of Education and after that one, you would see the Ministries of Defence and the Interior. We were just serving notice that --

No, we see list of
names. With what we just said about the Judiciary, on my list here, number 11 has been deleted, and they have inserted the Hon Francis-Xavier Sosu. Number 12 has also been deleted, and no name has been inserted, and that is what I have on the list here. So, you do not have four names for the Judiciary.

was sole sourcing and same with the past questions.

Mr Speaker, this Government

has now become the bastions of sole sourcing yet they were so critical of our Side. They should go and compare the records. Therefore, if we had addressed the issues properly, and if we had plugge the revenue loopholes at the Ports and had stopped giving tax waivers to our cronies, we would not have the need to adopt a regressive tax. As I said early on, I, Clement Abastina Apaak, the son of John Azundem, have been told not to vote by my constituents of Builsa South. If I vote, then I would remain in Accra but I would not remain in Accra, I would go home. Therefore, I and my Side cannot disappoint the people of Ghana and my constituents by voting for this hopeless Budget.

Mr Speaker, I thank you. [Hear!

Minister for Education (Dr

Yaw Osei Adutwum): Mr Speaker, thank you for the wonderful opportunity, allowing me to speak on the Motion that this honourable House approves the Budget State- ment and Economic Policy of the

Government for the year ending 25th December, 2022.

Mr Speaker, I am honoured to be

here this afternoon, and to get the opportunity to speak on this Motion. I am sitting here and wondering if we are all reading from the same book. I am surprised. I do not know if my Hon Colleagues on the other Side are reading from this book, painting a picture of doom and gloom, and some even went to the extent of saying that this Budget should be thrown into the dustbin. I would tell them one thing; God willing when we create the National Education Hall of Fame, this Budget would find itself there. When we create the National Education Hall of Fame, the name Ken Ofori-Atta would be etched in gold. When we create the National Education Hall Fame, God willing one day, the name Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would be etched in gold. [Hear! Hear!] Let me tell them this; maybe sometimes I would cut them a slack because they probably do not understand some of the policies that have been written in here.

When we talk about science,

technology, engineering and mathematics education, for the first time in the history of this country, it is not just rhetoric; it is here, boldly stated. For those of us who have not

read Appendix 10(c), (d), and (e), they should go and have a look at it. I always say that appendices are like the Book of Revelation in the Bible. [Laughter] It has all that needs to be revealed. If the Statement by the Minister for Finance is mere rhetoric, then we would not have found the kind of things he would want to do in the appendices.

Mr Speaker, I would want to tell

I am not used to reading, but I

have put it here and I would say it. I think that we have been told in this

Parliament that we do not have to be reading. Appendix 10(c) tells us that 35 science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) High Schools would be built, 10 of which would be done this year. It is like building schools like the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC) 35 times in this country, which has never happened before. When Hon Members on the other Side say that their constituents have asked them to reject it, maybe they might not have explained the Budget to them. If they tol their constituents that this Budget would give them the opportunity for their children to go to transformed Junior High Schools that are just like high schools, their constituents would tell them to vote for it before they return to their respective constituencies. If they tell their constituents that this Budget is making provision, God willing, to bring about five STEM universities, their constituents in the Savannah and the North-East Regions would tell them to better get the Budget approved because they need a new university. [Hear! Hear!] --

So, for those whose constituents

have warned them not to get the Budget passed, maybe they have not read the Budget with them. If they had read the Budget with them, they would have told them to better approve it before they come back to

Well, we have not
got agreement between the two Sides of the House, so, the list we always have is that on the Majority Caucus, the list is segmented into sectors, and on the Minority side, it is a list of names. It is not done that way, and you would realise that when I was trying to call the Hon Bernard Ahiafor, I had to check to see whether he was going to be the second speaker on Independent Government Institu- tions and the Government Machinery. That one is what shows on the Majority list, so, after Hon Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, it became clear that they had exhausted their list on that sector.
So, maybe, you would need to
discuss it further and guide the Speakership as to what to do. This is because it may somehow distort the debate. You may agree on the sectors you would debate on for today or you disagree and just allow anybody to debate on any sector, but you should not restrict one Side to sectors and then the other Side to choose any sector. I think that Leadership should discuss this further and guide us. However, I saw the Hon Cletus Avoka, our very senior --

Mr Speaker
I thank you.
Mr Speaker, without prejudice to what the Leadership has discussed, I am the Hon Ranking Member for the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. Judiciary, and I know that we were on line to say something in respect of the Judiciary. So, I would want to put it on record that it should not be seen as if there is nobody who wants to expatiate on the Judiciary in the country or on the Budget. So, we are available and subject to the Leadership and your good self, we would want to let you know that as such.

Initially, I was
told that the Hon John Osei Frimpong was not available, and therefore, I should move to the Judiciary, and that is why I said the guidance from Leadership was for me to move to the Judiciary. Now, Leadership came back to say the reason no longer holds, and so the reason for us skipping the Ministry of Food and Agriculture no longer holds, and therefore we should go back to Food and Agriculture, and that is what led to the exchanges that we just experienced. So, I am guided. The most senior Parliamentarian apart from me says that he is ready and should be given the opportunity. What do Hon Leaders say? This is because I would want to listen to

Hon Members, I
have been advised to take the debate on Judiciary.

Mr Speaker,
we can follow the chronology as was agreed between us. There was a reason for that earlier, but that has been abandoned. The next sector is agriculture.

Hon Member, the
next one is Food and Agriculture.

Mr Speaker,
we had a problem with the sequence. You would remember when you called me this morning for the list, we agreed that because a lot of people would want to speak, and towards the end of the day, we could just add their names to the list without restricting to speak, and towards the tail end of the day, we could just add all those who may want to speak without necessarily restricting them to an area.
Mr Speaker, our preference is
for the Rt Hon Speaker to just follow the list that we have and call the next person to speak instead of trying to mention sectors in turns. This is because that is what he and I agreed on. I think we are speaking about the same thing, but not to restrict the
persons because he and I agreed that because of the number we would not necessarily be sticking to sectorial areas towards the tail end.

Mr Speaker,
I do not think that we have to litigate on this. Yes, we had an earlier conversation as he said. However, the only difference is that on our Side, we had categorised according to sectors, and my Hon Colleague had listed names. Therefore, we have no problem with anything that works. However, when we look at our list, we have exhausted the section for the presidential machinery, and next to that is agriculture. So, we can just follow that chronology and we would not have a problem with it if it flows according to the list that was provided.

Mr Speaker,
it is debate on the Budget, so, there is no problem if the Hon Whip opposite decides that the person recommended would speak on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. I was not here in the morning, but the understanding is that those who have not had the opportunity would be recognised randomly to debate on any aspect of the Budget, and that is relevant and important. So, the Majority side can debate on Food and Agriculture, but on this Side, we are ready on any area.

the constituency. This is because their constituents would say that there is a STEM High School that would be built in Nyankpala and Bosunu, and they better get one of them. When, God willing, the Minister for Finance through the direction of the President has agreed that 35 of such schools should be built in the country, maybe they should consider the possibility of attaining one for their constituents. They should not tell them that they would not approve the Budget.

Mr Speaker, if they say that they

would not approve this Budget, then it means they would want to reject five potential new universities for the new regions, and is that what they want to tell Ghanaians? If they say that they would not approve this Budget, then it means that they would want to stop Hohoe from getting a brand-new campus of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), and is that what they would want to tell Ghanaians? If they say that they would not approve this Budget, then it means that they would want to tell Ghanaians that they do not want the 12 state of the art technical and vocational institutions to be constructed in the country, and is that what they would want to tell Ghanaians? If they say that they would not approve this Budget, then what it means that they are not

allowing this nation to recover from the 1987 Education Reform, which destroyed our education system under the PNDC.

So, I would want to tell them

that when we look at our secondary education system, on paper it is six years, but in practice it is three years. However, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo wants to reverse that and that is why he has authorised that we build state of the art junior high schools that has every facility as a high school to give us six years of quality secondary education. Yet, Hon Members on the other Side want their constituents to be deprived of this opportunity? So, when they say that their constituents say that they should not vote for the acceptance of the Budget, it means that probably they have not told them that there is a new junior high school coming, and that they can get one. [Hear! Hear!] If that is why they told you not to vote for it, then, I, the son of Bosomtwe, my constituents have told me that I better get this Budget approved before I come back. [Hear! Hear!]

Mr Speaker, I would want Hon

Members to know that we are in the fourth industrial revolution and this nation would not be left behind. Under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, we are moving full force ahead, addressing issues at the basic

Mr Speaker, it is a great

opportunity to be here today to speak on this Budget Statement and to say that the better days of our nation are ahead of us, and not behind us.

[Hear! Hear!] Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is being promoted to make us competitive with the rest of the world -- [Interruption.]

How?

How we would
do that is as follows: 35 STEM schools, five STEM universities, and the transformed junior high school system, where students would learn about robotics and artificial intelligence, and compete with the rest of the world. We always talk about other nations. If we do not do what they do, how do we become like them? President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says Ghana must do what Singapore and South Korea are doing so that we can become competitive.
Mr Speaker, I would plead with
my Hon Brothers and Sisters on the other Side of the aisle to join all of us on this Side and massively vote for this Budget Statement because the future of Ghana is buried in its pages.

Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings

(NDC -- Klottey Korle): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak to the Motion moved by the Hon Minister for Finance that this

COVID-19? -- [Laughter] -- the answer is No! We do not need this killer tax to be able to develop as a nation.

Mr Speaker, few years ago,

taxation was a lazy man's approach and we had to move from taxation to production. Now, taxation has become a workaholic approach under President Akufo-Addo. We are moving from production to taxation. Indeed, it is only the good Lord who can save us under this Government.

Mr Speaker, one of the topical

issues being discussed is admission into the Ghana School of Law. Few years ago, we have been given quota in the Budget for only legal education. For other professions, the Government does not deem it necessary to give them quota, and this can only be discrimination. The Constitution in article 25 of the 1992 Constitution guarantees right to equal education. Why would the Govern- ment give quota in the Budget for admission into the Law School, but for other professions, the Govern- ment will not give the quota?

Mr Speaker, in the 2021 Budget,

it was indicated that 2,200 applicants would write the entrance examina- tion, but more than that number wrote the examination out of which 1,045 passed and they were all administered.

In 2022, the proposal was that only 2,500 applicants will be writing the entrance examination out of which 800 applicants will be admitted. If a school has the capacity to admit 1,045 applicants, why would the intake be reduced to 800 applicants? What is more serious is that, out of the 800 applicants they would admit, 100 applicants have failed in advance, because it is only 700 applicants who can be called to the Bar. How can a Budget project the number of students who will fail and cannot be called to the Bar?

Hon Member, you

Mr Speaker, with

Mr Speaker, with these few

Hon Members,

House approves the Budget State- ment and Economic Policy for the year ending 31st December, 2022.

Mr Speaker, it is only when you

are dying or drowning that you need to be saved, so I am glad that the NPP Government has named this Budget as the Agyenkwa Budget Statement, because by their own admission, Ghana is drowning and needs to be saved. [Hear! Hear!] Mr Speaker, my worry is that every time a Budget Statement has been presented in this House since 2017, and given a very interesting slogan, the opposite of what the slogan declared is what happens to us in Ghana.

Last year, the Wɔn ya wɔ hiɛɛ

Budget Statement caused a level of regression, which has now resulted in the new name Agyenkwa, so I dread to think of what would happen in 2022. Mr Speaker, I know that it is the patriotic members of the NDC, the Hon MPs representing half of the constituencies in this country, who would take a brave position to stand against these harsh taxes that are being imposed on the already suffering masses of this country.

Mr Speaker, I am surprised that

the Hon Minister for Finance did not make reference to the National Security Strategy of this country which was finalised under the watch

of H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo because, in this security strategy, everything, including the management of the economy, was mentioned. Mr Speaker, some of the risks that were highlighted under the National Security Strategy included capital flight, tax evasion and avoidance, illicit financial transfers and floats, and the downright theft of resources of Ghana. This is a document that was laid during the tenure of the NPP Government.

It further speaks about the

impact of our national economic security resulting from weak revenue collection systems, a high public sector wage bill, rising public debt losses and debt accumulation in the energy and utilities sector, as well as economic sabotage. These have been identified as some of the threats informing national security risks to our national economic stability. The youth bulge, unemployment and poverty, bribery and corruption, and ecological and environmental hazards are but a few of the issues mentioned under our National Security Strategy under the threats that Ghana faces as a nation. Therefore, I am surprised that this Budget Statement was so silent on galamsey even though we know it still exists. This was highlighted as one of the threats to Ghana's security.

As part of the National Security

Strategy, the vision has seven pillars, one of which talks about pursuing prudent economic, trade, and invest- ment policies that strengthen the overall national economy, and create opportunity, employment, and prosperity for the people of Ghana. Mr Speaker, COVID-19 as a pandemic has not disappeared yet, and somehow, the poor people of Ghana are being asked to pay a COVID-19 tax. After being told that they were getting free utilities because of the pandemic, the very same people are being asked to shoulder the burden of money that came in, which we still have not received the full account of its utilisation, and yet, once again, new taxes are being imposed - and electronic levy. Such insensitivity!

As far as our national security is

concerned, the demographic dividend, which in the layman's terms is the youth bulge, has presented us with unprecedented levels of unemployment which, based on our National Security Strategy, is a risk to our democracy. When you have a country where the policy of education does not dovetail into the employment market, you end up with graduates who are unemployed. When you have an overemphasis on what was a manifesto promise, which is the Free

SHS, neglecting basic education and TVET, you end up with grown-ups who do not have the skills to fit into the job market.

Mr Speaker, if the tens of

thousands of youths queuing for the selection process into our security services are anything to go by, then, we are in a crisis in this country. Mr Speaker, in paragraph 1091 on page 202 of the 2022 Budget Statement, the Ghana Armed Forces has mentioned that it shall recruit 3,000 personnel. Mr Speaker, juxtapose that against the several thousands of people who lined up to enter our security services.

Mr Speaker, paragraph 1089 on

page 212 of the Budget Statement reads:

“Mr Speaker, the structural design and financial proposal for the execution of Phase III of the 37 Military Hospital Expansion Project are being reviewed. Construction works will commence in 2022.”

Mr Speaker, in previous Budget

Statements, this paragraph would have been named the military health programme, but this time, it falls in with no heading and missing from here is the Afari Military Hospital.

1992 Constitution, but with the total disdain to the provisions in the 1992 Constitution, the Hon Minister for Finance never distributes these moneys quarterly to the District Assemblies. Even in 2021, I wonder how many quarters have been distributed to the Assemblies. So the issue does not lie in imposing the e- killer tax but the issue lies on respecting the laws of the land.

Mr Speaker, on page 68 of the

Budget, particularly, item numbered 147(b), there is going to be a zero toll if the Budget is approved. This toll is established by law. We have the Road Toll Act, followed by the Fees and Charges, Miscellaneous Provisions Act pursuant to which Fees and Charges Miscellaneous Instrument was passed by this particular House and the Road Toll was fixed. However, before the approval of the Budget, a Minister appointed by Government who is supposed to respect the laws of the land gives a directive that the tolls should not be collected yet we are saying that it is only e-tax that can save this particular Government and yet they believe that it is only E-Levy that can save the Government.

No wonder they refer to the Budget as the saviour. Indeed, the economy has collapsed, and we are now in the hands of God to save us. It

is only God who can save us from this bad economy.

Mr Speaker, we are under a

regime where international business transaction that is supposed to come to this House, the representatives of the people of Ghana, would not be brought to the House, and a Minister of State who is supposed to uphold the Constitution will enter into the agreement without reference to Parliament. If we respect our laws and comply with the Public Financial Management Act and the Public Procurement Act, the infractions and the irregularities that the Auditor- General has complained about in the 2020 Report, we could out of it get a lot of money for development, but not through the E-Levy.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister

for the Interior said that we should approve this tax because it would generate employment -- under this Government, if they are able to check corruption and leakages, we will have enough money to generate employment. With reference to the Auditor-General's Report, between 2019 and 2020, the irregularities increased to a whopping 135 per cent in the sum of GH₵12,856,172,626.00. If within a period of one year, the irregularities in cash, procurement and payroll amounts to almost GH₵13 billion, do we need the E-Tax to develop? Is this one also caused by

Finance. I least expected the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance to make such a high unguarded statement on the floor of Parliament.

Mr Speaker, let me also state

that the Hon Minister for Education, in debating the Budget, made reference to Appendix 10 and stated that this year, he would do ten term projects. We all know that the Budget under reference is for implementation in 2022. Therefore, it is totally impossible for the Hon Minister for Education to complete 35 term projects. This cannot be correct and it must not remain on record. This is a House of records.

Mr Speaker, I would, however,

agree with Hon Afenyo-Markin that businesses are collapsing, banks are collapsing -- they are all collapsing under the watch of H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Mr Speaker, it is stated that if the

e-tax is approved, local authorities would have money for local developments. With all due respect, it is rather the opposite. This is because if we comply with the supreme law of the land, there would be money available for local developments. The constitutional imperative in article 252(2) of the 1992 Constitution clearly spells out that not less than 5 per cent of the total revenue must be

allocated to the Administrator of the Common Fund for distribution by law to the local Assemblies. However, persistently, this law is being disrespected.

Mr Speaker, one thing that is

expected of a Minister appointed by Government is to respect the laws of the land, particularly, the supreme law of the land.

Mr Speaker, I have in my hand,

the 2020 Auditors' Report on the District Assemblies Common Fund and other statutory funds for the year ending 31st December, 2020, laid in this House and distributed to all Hon Members. I refer to page 7 of that particular Report. On page 7, it is stated that article 252(2) of the 1992 Constitution mandates Parliament to annually make provision for the allocation of not less than 5 per cent of the total revenue of Ghana to the District Assemblies for development. However, the Hon Minister for Finance released a total amount of GH₵1,983,607,293.37 on only 3.79 per cent of the total revenue of this country. If more than 5 per cent has been released by the Hon Minister for Finance, our District Assemblies would be in fund.

Mr Speaker, another imperative

is that these moneys are supposed to be released quarterly according to the

Mr Speaker, I will take us down

a little trip on memory lane because in 2017, the Hon Minister told us in paragraph 726 on page 24, and I quote:

“The construction of the new 500-bed Military Hospital at Afari near Kumasi is progre- ssing steadily and it is expected to be completed and start operating in 2017.”

This is a hospital that was started

under President Mahama when the NDC was in Office before 2017.

In paragraph 731on page 130 of

the 2018 Budget Statement, the Hon

“To improve Health Service delivery for Military and Civilian personnel, the Ministry continued with the construction of the new 500 bed Military Hospital at Afari near Kumasi which will be commissioned in
2018.”

Mr Speaker, paragraph 944 on

page 182 of the 2019 Budget Statement reads:

“To achieve universal health coverage for both the military

and civilian personnel, the Ministry “...continued with the construction of the new 500 bed Military Hospital at Afari near Kumasi.”

Which surprisingly is now about

40 per cent complete. And it says:

“In 2019, the Ministry would continue with this project.”

Mr Speaker, in paragraph 1078

on page 192 of the 2020 Budget, it says:

“The Ministry continued construction of the Five Hundred-Bed Military Hospital at Afari is 81 per cent completed and would be commissioned in

2020.”

Mr Speaker, in paragraph 1071

on page 188, of the 2021 Budget it says:

“Infrastructural works on the Five Hundred-Bed Hospital at Afari which would be 85 per cent complete in December,

2021.”

Mr Speaker, following the 2022

Budget, there is no mention of this hospital, and one wonders whether it magically disappeared or perhaps,

there was an oversight like the Volta Region roads of last year's Budget.

Mr Speaker, when the imposi-

tion of taxes causes more hardship for the already struggling people of Ghana, it results in the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.

Hon
Member, you have one more minute.

Mr
Speaker, according to the Directive Principles of State Policy, Article
35(7):
“As far as practicable, a govern- ment shall continue and execute projects and programmes commenced by the previous Governments.”
Mr Speaker, this Government
has not shown a willingness to support our Armed Forces. They sacrificed their lives to secure the territorial integrity of our country; they go on peace support operations to ensure that Ghana maintains its international reputation, and the hospital has not been taken care of just like the 37 Military Hospital and the Police Hospital which is also in a limbo.
Mr Speaker, I would urge that
you kindly get Parliament to
constitute a Committee to look into this because this also constitutes financial loss to the State. Our men and women in uniform deserve better; they should not have to pay for their healthcare. And with that, I cannot support this Budget Statement -- [Hear! Hear!] --
I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon
Members, I will suspend Sitting for one hour. It is exactly 3.00 p.m.; we will resume at exactly 4.00 p.m.
3.00 p. m. -- Sitting Suspended.
4.17 p. m. -- Sitting resumed.

Hon
Members, we will continue with the debate on the Financial Statement and Economic Policy. On the list of the Minority, I have Hon John Ampontuah Kumah.
Deputy Minister for Finance
(Mr John A. Kumah) (MP): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

together is clearly more than what has been given to Free SHS. It suggests that Government is spending more on living large rather than investing in education, clearly cannot be true and supported by the fact as contained in the utterance.

Hon Member,
you may conclude.

Mr Speaker, in
conclusion, I wish to re-echo the point that my good friend, Hon John Kumah, the Deputy Minister for Finance, indicated earlier. It seems to me and I hope I am wrong that the only reason that our friends from the other Side are seeking to oppose this Budget is because its successful implementation would inure not to their political advantage -- [Hear! Hear!] I would urge them -- I know that they have this nation at
Heart -- that for all the services,
goods, development, public sector wages, benefits that this Government is providing for in this budget, let us all make our modest contribution by supporting, particularly the E- Levy and the entire Budget so that our development course can be advanced.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the

I am trying to
discover whether this ends the debate
on the independent Government institutions and Government Machinery or we have the second person from the Minority side to contribute and that would be Hon Bernard Ahiafor. You have 10 minutes.
Mr Bernard Ahiafor (NDC --
Akatsi South): Mr Speaker, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Floor.
Mr Speaker, in doing so, let me
use this opportunity to correct some erroneous impression created in this particular House.
Mr Speaker, Hon John Kumah,
in debating the Budget, made categorical statements that the car loan forms part of the 2021 Budget and we hurriedly passed it because it is in our interest. This is a House of records -- he has engaged in intellectual dishonesty. In fact, the 2021 Budget has nothing to do with the MP's car loan. It was a loan guaranteed by the Government and the Government of Ghana is not the National Investment Bank (NIB) who granted the loan.
Mr Speaker, I wonder if this
should remain part of the record. This is because it is coming from no other person than the Deputy Minister for

Speaker, between these two, which Government is insensitive?

The object for the E-Levy has

been outlined quite succinctly in the Budget Statement. Yes, I know that some unintended consequence may occasion some category of tax payers, but the alternative of not taxing or levying the rest of the greater majority of informal people who are not subject to contributing their quota to the development of our country, makes it imperative that those who would suffer the unintended consequences ought to be able to accommodate and bear with Government so that we can bring in the requisite funding that we need to enable us fund our development expenditure. Mr Speaker, otherwise is it the suggestion that if we are unable to raise this revenue we should go and borrow more money? Clearly not because we all admit that spending 45 per cent of our total revenue on interest payment is not the way to go so it is important that we work to reduce that component of our tax revenue that goes to pay interest payments.

If this Government, as opposed

to last year when we went to the Eurobond market to raise US$3 billion, is proposing to raise only US$750 million in 2022, then clearly, taking away US$2.25 billion of our

debt that we would ordinarily go into the market to borrow, and to rather suggest that we should all make some contributions so that we can do away with the debt, and raise revenue internally to fund our development expenditure. Mr Speaker, our Hon Friends on the other Side are then saying that that Levy is insensitive. Mr Speaker, this can only be farther from the truth.

Mr Speaker, indeed, in para-

graph 244 -- when Dr Apaak was debating earlier, he made allusions to suggest that Government was making provision of some GH¢3 million to the Office of Government Machinery -- clearly a deceptive proposition. This is because in the Budget, the components of the units that constitute the Office of Government Machinery for which that amount of money has been provisioned for includes the Public Enterprises Commission, the Scholarships Secretariat, Microfinance and Small Loans Centre, Nation Builders Corp, National Identification Authority, Monitoring and Evaluation, Zongo

Development Fund, Infrastructure

for Poverty Eradication Progra-mme Secretariat, and Home Rentals Scheme and then the Council of State. So to suggest that the allocations that have been made to all these agencies which clearly put

May I begin my submission with

a quotation from Lester R. Brown who said:

“Today, more than ever, we need political leaders who can see the big picture, who under- stand the relationship between the economy and its environ- mental support systems.”

Mr Speaker, our Hon Colleagues

on the other Side have threatened to vote against the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, and this is not the first time. With the 2021 Budget Statement, they actually threatened and voted against it. They have said that they are voting against this Budget on the grounds that they stand with the people.

Mr Speaker, we were all in this

Mr Speaker, I think that the

foundation for threatening to vote

against the 2022 Budget can only be on partisanship and unpatriotic grounds.

Hon
Member, hold on. Available leader?

Mr Speaker, he
makes mention of our Side voting for the car loans and approvals to be made for the car loans. I thought that it is a loan payable from deductions from the salaries of MPs, so what has that got to do with the approval of the 2022 Budget? It was not in the Budget.

Mr Speaker, the
car loans provision for MPs was contained in the 2021 Budget when they voted against it. Yet, when it came to the car loans, they voted unanimously and joined our Side. We agreed on the importance of the car loans. The people they claim they stand with were fiercely against the MPs' car loans, so why did they vote for it? So, it is clear that when it benefits their Side, they would wholeheartedly support it.
Mr Speaker, I sincerely believe
that the only grounds for rejecting this 2022 Budget Statement could only be because it may not benefit them directly or for political reasons.

It is unpatriotic and it can only be on partisan grounds. Why would anybody claim that they are standing with the people when this Agyenkwa Budget is for the people?

As we speak, should our friends

vote against this Budget, from January 2022, 700,000 public servants whose salaries, aspirations, and hopes are anchored on this Budget would not receive their salaries. Mr Speaker, an allocation of GH¢35.8 billion has been provided in this Budget for the compensation for employees. If they vote against it, where would 700,000 public servants get their salaries? So, which people are they standing with? Is it the people whose salaries they are denying?

Mr Speaker, as we speak, 1.2

million Ghanaian children are in school, under the Free SHS Programme. As they are threatening to vote against this Budget, what it means is that the GH¢2.7 billion that we have allocated for Free SHS cannot happen. About 3.5 million Ghanaian children are to be fed under the School Feeding Programme according to this Budget. If they are saying that they would vote against this Budget, what is the fate of these children? Where are these children going to get their daily bread?

Mr Speaker, let me remind my Hon Friends again with a quotation from Pope Francis. He says:

“It is now more than ever, necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good”.

Mr Speaker, this is the common

good. The 2022 Budget is for the common good. It is ensuring that the fate of our children is catered for. As we speak, about GH¢700,00 allocation has been made in this Budget for 100,000 Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) trainees. Are we saying that we are rejecting this Budget so that all the nursing training allowances and the teacher training allowances, which when our Friends on the other Side got the opportunity they cancelled but have been reintroduced in this Budget - An amount of GH¢500 million has been allocated for teacher and nursing trainee allowances.

Mr Speaker, they are telling us

that they are going to vote against the opportunities for students who are training in nursing and teacher training colleges to be sent home. How can they say that they are standing with these people they are trying to drive home? As we speak, about three million Ghanaians have

he is introducing to deal with the issue of the rising debt and amongst them --

Mr Speaker, interestingly, this

morning I attended the 61st Annual General Meeting of the Association of Ghana Industries and the praise that was heaped by the President of the Association on the Government for the removal of the benchmark relief that was provided some time ago. Mr Speaker, Hon Members should have been there to hear it for themselves because its impact on local productivity and industria- lisation is huge. One key issue that has dominated public discourse is the imposition of the Electronic Transaction Levy and I hear my Hon Colleagues on the other Side suggest that this Levy makes the Government insensitive to the plight of its people.

Mr Speaker, surprisingly, we all

agree that there are only two options that we have to raise funding to support our development expenditure and one is whether to raise the revenue internally and the other is to borrow. The Hon Minister for Finance has indicated in the Budget Statement that for all the debt we have accumulated as a result of the pandemic, if we do not put a stop to that then we would not be able to build a sustainable economy and build the type of fiscal consolidation

that we need. So, it is important for us to put some stop on the debt accumulation and look to raise revenue internally so that we can fund our development expenditure, hence the introduction of this levy that would seek to help in raising additional revenue to fund critical expenditure items that were outlined in the Budget Statement.

Mr Speaker, I said it was

interesting because I recall that it was under the NDC Administration that the VAT on financial services was introduced. This tax was imposed on all financial services except mobile money transactions and that tax was 17.5 per cent. The people who imposed 17.5 per cent tax on financial services minus the mobile money transactions are saying that the Government that has scrapped that policy and is rather introducing a levy of 1.75 per cent on some financial transactions and mobile money transactions is insensitive. Mr Speaker, the difference between 17.5 per cent and 1.75 per cent is 15.75 per cent. In percentage terms, it is a reduction by 900 per cent. Mr Speaker, they impose 17.5 per cent on financial taxes but this Government has scrapped that and reintroduced a new levy at 1.75 per cent representing a difference of 900 per cent, yet they are saying that that Government is insensitive. Mr

“The pandemic has been a catastrophe in just about every sense, claiming over five million lives …”

Mr Speaker, this is about almost

20 per cent of our country.

“… and plunging more than 100 million people into extreme poverty …”

This is more than three times the

total population of Ghana who have been plunged into extreme poverty.

“… it also traced a new high watermark in terms of governments spending on social assistance, a large share of which arrived in the form of cash payments ...”

Of course, in our country, the

Government rather provided free water, free food and free electricity to the benefit of our people.

“… according to a running tally from the World Bank, 186 countries have spent a combined 1.25 trillion directly to their citizens. About one in six human beings worldwide has been a recipient.”

Mr Speaker, this is the stack

reality of the impact of the COVID

pandemic so let us not deny that the pandemic was something that did not happen or its impact on our country was minimal. Indeed, the data speaks otherwise that the entire world suffered from the ravages of this pandemic and governments, parti- cularly the Government of President Akufo-Addo, is noted across the world to have implemented policies that saved lives and livelihood of its citizenry. So, let us be clear on this. Hear! Hear!

Mr Speaker, if you look at

paragraph 245 of the Budget State- ment, the Hon Minister for Finance is clear that:

“Mr Speaker, the fiscal position was strong before the pandemic hit. While a temporary increase in spending was necessary to protect lives and livelihoods, the medium-term policy stance is focused on consolidating the public finances to support macroeconomic stability to avoid entering a debt spiral.”

Mr Speaker, clearly, we all

admit that the debt burden on our country is huge and we need to take steps to bring it within control. Following from this, the Hon Minister for Finance indicated in paragraph 247 of the Budget Statement, the policy measures that

registered under the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme, which is about 10 per cent of our population. Yet, they are threatening to vote against a Budget that would enable them to get Government subsidies for fertiliser and all the equipment that they need for their farming. Is that what we are threatening to do, yet say they are standing with them? Under what circumstance can you stand with poor farmers when you are denying them Government opportunities for subsidies?

Mr Speaker, under Agenda 111,

we have over GH¢10 billion provision in this Budget for all the health facilities. COVID-19 pandemic is still in the air and, as we speak, there are people on emergency beds in our hospitals. Their hope of ever paying their hospital bills hinges on the continuous stay of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Our Friends on the other Side are threatening to vote against all the budgetary allocation to the NHIS.

So, do they want the same

people they are standing with to die? Is that what they call standing with the people? I want to know which people they are standing with. Clearly, it is only when it would favour them directly and not because it is going to favour the people - This

Mr Speaker, as we speak, road

tolls have been removed from our roads and it is because we are anticipating the e-levy to come and bring hope to Ghanaians. Our Friends are angry over that and they are not happy with the inconvenience that we have removed from our roads. Every worker on the road tolls' job has been protected. As we speak, Ghanaians are enjoying freedom on the road and the inconvenience of traffic has been reduced. They should go and check on the residents of Kasoa. They are happy that we have removed the road tolls, yet this is the Budget that they want to reject to bring back road tolls and inconvenience to our people.

Mr Speaker, our market women

struggle every day to feed their households. If they reject this Budget, how are they going to feed their households? Livelihood Empo- werment Against Poverty (LEAP) is for the most vulnerable groups in our country. An amount of GH¢197 million has been provided in this Budget to support LEAP and they are here threatening to vote against the poor people of our society. They would not support GH¢197 million allocation in this Budget and are threatening to vote against it.

Mr Speaker, they are voting

against the School Feeding Progra- mme. As we speak, GH¢400 million has been provided in this Budget for the Guarantor Free Student Loan.

Students are anticipating and

they are waiting for this Budget Statement so that they could also carry on with their education. How could they threaten to vote against a Budget Statement that would give future and education to our children? Clearly, our Hon Friends from the other Side cannot tell us that they are standing with some people. Which people? I want to know those people because GH¢16 billion has been provided in this Budget Statement for road construction in 2022. Every Hon Member in this Chamber has requirement for roads, and these can only be constructed when we approve this Budget Statement. So, how could they say that they stand with the people who need roads in their constituency, yet they threaten to block the Budget Statement that would provide the same roads to the people?

Mr Speaker, how about young

people? The Ghana Statistical Service just came up with their census which indicated that a majority of Ghanaians are youth, and

between the ages of 35 years and zero, there are about 27 million Ghanaians. These young people are in search of jobs. We have announced a GH¢10 billion under the YouStart Project in this Budget Statement. How can they vote against GH¢10 billion for young people and how can they vote against the creation of sustainable jobs through entrepre- neurship for our young people? That is what they are threatening, and I am very surprised that our Hon Colleagues on the other Side have claimed that we are taxing ourselves out of poverty. I completely disagree, especially when it comes from our Hon Colleagues who, when they were in government, introduced nuisance taxes, of which about 15 were repealed and removed, which included condoms, cutlasses, kayayie and even taxes for pampers. They introduced all these nuisance taxes of which when we got the opportunity, we removed, but they are telling us that we have taxed ourselves out of poverty.

Mr Speaker, I want to remind

them of the economic theory called “Rachet and inspection” effect, which says that, “You could tax and build a better future for your country”. We are taxing to provide roads, improve infrastructure such as Agenda 111, and provide YouStart, which is youth in entrepreneurship, to

that as political parties, we all have a vision for our country which we articulate in our manifestos and for some reason, when we are in government, we are unable to achieve all those commitments that we made. Do they constitute lies and so, why do we do this to ourselves and brand each other liars such that today the public is rising against both political parties and see us as not serious but we are some people who only come to spew things to them when we want their votes and get the power and not achieve anything? We all know that circumstances that confront us when we are in government may prevent us from achieving all the commitments that we made to our people but what is the response that we get from each other?

So I will entreat my Hon

Colleagues on the other Side that we move from that conversation because it does not help the political discourse.

We make commitments and for

some reasons -- indeed if you look at the commitments that the NPP made to the people of Ghana in 2016; free SHS has been delivered and Planting for Food and Jobs has also been delivered. Clearly, nobody can run away that some commitments have

not been achieved but they are still work in progress. The good people of this country have given us another mandate of which we are in the first year so I am positive that by the end of the eighth year, all the conversations that we are having would necessarily be put in their proper perspective so that we can all debate if, indeed, they deserve the mandate of the people or the NPP still deserves the mandate of the people. Mr Speaker, just to put in this admonishing so that we can all be guided in the kind of statements that we make.

Again, I have heard that this

Government is blaming everything on the COVID pandemic. Indeed, when Dr Ayine was making his presentation, he made references to some funding that the Government had to obtain or receive as a result of the global pandemic and that it is being suggested, as if to say, that either we have not live through the pandemic or we did not appreciate the real impact of the pandemic on this country and the entire world.

Mr Speaker, if you would permit

me, just this morning I was reading an article on Bloomberg Business Week, and just for the benefit of my Hon Colleagues on the other Side, I beg to quote:

corporations, other than those set up …”

Mr Speaker, there is no

The suggestion as is really

stipulated by the 1992 Constitution is to the effect that when we reject the Budget, we are rejecting both the policy and the estimates. So I wish that, that be cleared for the records.

Mr Speaker, I have followed the

debate even before the Budget itself was read and clearly, the rhetoric that followed, was to the effect that Ghanaians should expect some hardship to be visited on us following the reading of the Budget, Ghana was broke and that we were to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and all sorts of comments that preceded the delivery of the Budget.

Following the presentation of

the Budget, clearly, that expectation was not met because the Hon Finance Minister indicated clearly that we are not going to the IMF but look for the

revenue within ourselves to enable us fund our development expenditure.

Mr Speaker, following that the

narrative changed and the talk that I hear is that the Budget is insensitive, ‘krom aye hye' and talk to that effect. Even before I proceed to deal with those issues, during the debate by hon Colleagues on the other Side, particularly, Hon(s) Chiwitey and Adjei Mensah, words like ‘you lied your way to power', ‘you came to power based on lies' -- I have consistently maintained as politicians, it is important to desist from bastardising ourselves in that manner.

Why do I say so? I say so

because if we look at the IMANI Ghana assessment on campaign promises that political parties make in their manifestos - they assessed both the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Manifestos of the political parties. In the year 2012, the NDC is assessed to have achieved 47 per cent of its campaign promises to the people of Ghana. Is it a suggestion that the aspect of their promises that they did not deliver were based on lies?

Mr Speaker, in the year 2020,

the NPP was assessed to have achieved 56.77 per cent of its campaign commitment to the people of Ghana. The truth of the matter is

sustain the future of our children. So clearly, the motivation to vote against this Budget Statement is never to do with any people. Who are the people they are standing with as I have enumerated? This Budget Statement is for the people and it is called the “Agyenkwa Budget”.

Mr Speaker, with your permi- ssion, I also want to quote Franklyn D. Roosevelt, who said, “The future lies with those wise political leaders who realise that the great public is interested more in government than in politics”. It is very important that we all recognise that beyond the politics there is a nation to build. A time would come when we would all do the politics, but when it is time to think about the nation, let us take governance. This Budget Statement is for everybody in this country, including our Hon Colleagues on the other Side, the cleaners and staff of the Parliamentary Service. At the end of January 2022, when they are supposed to be paid, their salary would come from the approval we would give to this Budget Statement. How could we threaten to block the same Budget Statement that would pay us when the month ends in January? Everybody's fate is in this Budget Statement, so why have they threatened to block it?

Mr Speaker, I clearly submit to our Hon Colleagues on the other Side that we must be like the sons of Issachar in the Bible who understood the times and seasons and were strong burden bearers. Every age has its own challenges, and those who understand the times lead the way. We understand the times - which is that our youth need jobs and we would provide them with YouStart. Our children want education, and we are giving them free education. Our nation needs factories, and we are building One District One Factory. Our roads have to be fixed, and we have already announced years of roads. Our health centres must be built, and we are doing Agenda 111. We must reduce the sufferings of our market women, drivers, painters, teachers, traders, contractors, secure- ties, and several others, and the answer to that reduction has been provided in this “Agyenkwa Budget”. So, how could anybody say he or she would vote against the solutions to the problems of this country?

Mr Speaker, I humbly plead

with our Hon Friends on the other Side that it must not only be about things that would benefit them directly. We should think about the country; we should think about the benefit of this Budget Statement to the entire nation. They should tell us which people they are standing with

because the people of Ghana are waiting for this “Agyenkwa Budget”.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very

much.

Dr Dominic A. Ayine (NDC -

Bolgatanga East): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion that this House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the year ending 31st December, 2022.

Mr Speaker, as a preliminary

matter, the Bible says that for lack of knowledge my people perish. The Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr John Kumah, either out of mischief or ignorance has engaged in a lot of scare mongering that is not anchored on constitutional and political principles. A lot of scare mongering that presumes that it is only one party in a constitutional democracy that is capable of defining the common good. Article 1 of the 1992 Constitution is very clear that the powers of government must be exercised in accordance with the Constitution of this Republic.

In accordance with that

Constitution, we are a multiparty democracy. The Budget Statement is subject to parliamentary approval. Does he want to tell us that every

Hon
Members, order!

Mr Speaker, in the
display of ignorance and lack of knowledge of our constitutional democracy, the Hon Deputy Minister for Finance confused two processes of approval in this House. The first one is about the approval of the policies and principles, and that is what has been debated today. The fact that one disapproves the policies and the principles does not mean that when it comes to the Appropriation Bill, we cannot approve that Bill so that the Government could go ahead. In any case, he has assumed that we are against this Budget Statement because it is not in our interest, yet he also said paradoxically that our salaries are part and parcel of this Budget Statement.
So, if we are ready to throw out
their Budget Statement despite the

the Budget Statements from the year 2017 to 2020, you would notice that their avowed commitment to fighting corruption is reducing and today, corruption has disappeared from the Budget. That is why, for instance, the Right to Information (RTI) Commi- ssion - You were here and led the debate on the RTI Bill before we enacted it. As we speak, the L.I to operationalise the RTI Commission and Act is not yet before this House and they are using that as a stumbling block for granting access to information for Ghanaians who want to know what is happening with the Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

So I am calling on the Govern-

ment to act on its commitment on fighting corruption so that this country would not have to bear a lot of taxes in order to fund a government that is profligate on expenditure.

Mr Speaker, with these few

Hon Members, it
is now the turn of Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer. You have 15 minutes.

Mr Speaker, very well.
Thank you for the opportunity to
speak to the Motion that this honourable House approves the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government for the year ending 31st December, 2022.
Mr Speaker, before I even begin,
my Learned Senior Colleague, Dr Ayine, who happens to be my professor at the Law Faculty, in his submission, suggested that the estimates were different from the policy.
Respectfully, I disagree with
that proposition that Dr Ayine put across because if we look at article 179 of the 1992 Constitution, it is very clear and with your permission, I will read article 179(1):
“The President shall cause to be prepared and laid before Parliament at least one month before the end of the financial year, estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Govern- ment of Ghana for the following financial year.
(2) “The estimates of the
expenditure of all public offices and public

of the House. I read on Ghanaweb that the Electoral Commission of Ghana has now decided, all of a sudden, that its voter ID cards which were prepared in the run up to the 2020 Elections would no longer be accepted for future elections and that from now onwards, we would be using the Ghana Card.

Mr Speaker, I have no qualms

whatsoever with our use of the Ghana Card but I do remember in the run-up to the elections, the Electoral Commission (EC) was advised by well-meaning members of the public who thought that there was no need wasting money on a voter identity card and then subsequently, having the Ghana Card as one that unifies all identification issues in this country. They were advised to stop the registration process so that we can use the Ghana Card as a form of identity even for our elections. They never listened to us and we spent millions of the taxpayer's cedis in making the identity card only for them to now say that they are going to abandon it in favour of the Ghana Card and that is causing financial loss to the state.

This is something that, as a

matter of urgency, Parliament must enquire of EC through the Special

Budget Committee, why its own card that was a subject of controversy even up to the Supreme Court, where the birth certificate was rejected as a form of identity for proving that one was a Ghanaian because of our fight on the EC's card was abandoned. Today, they are saying that card is as good as toilet paper. They must come to this House to justify why they should be causing financial loss to the State.

Mr Speaker, I do not know how

many minutes I have left but I want to touch on the issue of corruption. His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and his Government were ushered in to take over the governance of this country on the back of a campaign based on corruption. In his maiden speech at the Independence Square, he made a commitment by saying that his Government had no place for anyone who wanted to make money. Today the best place to make money is to join the Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and that is why today --

Hon Member, you
have to be concluding.

Mr Speaker, that is
why they are now doing a disappearing act on us when it comes to the issue of corruption. Looking at

fact that our salaries are part of it, it means that we stand with the people of this country. [Hear! Hear!] He should also note that the car loans that he talked about - at every opportunity that the Majority gets to contribute to this debate, they impute ill motives to our Side and they do so irrespective of whether or not they have told the truth.

Mr Speaker, we are a consti-

tutional democracy, and this House is a House of deliberation. Deliberation in a constitutional democracy presumes equality - that we are all equals and that when we talk in a discourse, we are engaged in national matters, they must accord us that respect. They should not assume that we are acting because we think that it would benefit us to throw out their Budget.

Mr Speaker, now to my

substantive issues, both in this House and within the public sphere, the debate about this Budget Statement and Economic Policy is all about taxes, taxes and taxes. The reason on social and mainstream media the Ghanaian public is up in arms against this Budget is because they are putting a tax burden while asking of them to tighten their belts. I have listened to the debate here and

outside the precincts of Parliament. Part of the reason the people are crying is because this Government has engaged in taxation without accountability and that is the problem. When we ask the Govern- ment for a justification for paying more taxes, the answer is very simple. They all tell you, it is

COVID-19.

Mr Speaker, COVID-19 has

done damage to the economy and so Government needs more taxes to spend. They have not adverted their minds to the fact that the Government is profligate with expenditure. When we have a President, who is more interested in bathing in the sky -- [Uproar] -- than funding free education, this is what happens to us.

Mr Speaker, if the Hon Deputy

Minister for finance, Dr John Kumah, could listen carefully to this one, it would do him a lot of good. On the back of the same COVID-19, citing their own 2020 Mid-Year Review and Supplementary Estimates, para- graph 437, this is what their own Minister for Finance said on the back on COVID-19: they got GH₵1.2 billion from the Ghana Stabilisation Fund; GH₵5.8 billion from the IMF Rapid Credit Facility; GH₵580 million from the World Bank Support for COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Support;

GH₵406 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) which is the equivalent of US$69 million; GH₵10 billion from the Bank of Ghana as COVID-19 Relief bond; and GH₵2 billion from the World Bank as budget support through the Global Partnerships for Oceans (GPO). This is evidence from their own supplementary estimates for

2020.

Mr Speaker, so, they took

advantage of COVID-19, made a lot of money from the people of Ghana, donors and external financiers, and then they turn around and tell us to tighten our belts and absorb more taxes so that even the little moneys we are sending to our constituencies for people to pay school fees and medical bills, they want to take some of that to continue their profligate expenditure they are engaged in. That is the reason they think that today we, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not standing with the people of this country.

Mr Speaker, when you look at

the approvals, we gave the Govern- ment during the course of the COVID-19, we were told that over GH¢100 million of that would be used as insurance for frontline health workers. I have looked at all the Budget Statements from the time we gave them that approval till now and

I have not seen a budget line that shows us the insurance company which did the insurance; how many people were insured; what premiums were paid; and what claims were made. So, they are taxing us and they are not accounting to us for how they used our taxes and they want more money from us. Is that what they take us for?

Mr Speaker, I would want to

sound a note of caution to the Government that he represents that years ago the Roman Empire collapsed on the back of taxation without accountability; the British Empire which gave birth to the nation-state of Ghana in 1957 collapsed on the back of taxation without accountability. The writings are on the wall. His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's Govern- ment would collapse on the back of taxation without account-ability. [Hear! Hear!] So, Hon Deputy Minister for Finance, that is a warning and, as we say, a word to the wise is “from the north”. [Laughter]

Mr Speaker, I would want to

now tackle the Electoral Commi- ssion. The Electoral Commission is the heartbeat of our democracy. If all of us would note, in our constitutional history, at any point in time that there is a military coup d'état, the Electoral Commission is abolished, Parliament

is suspended; the Executive goes about its functions and the Judiciary also functions till the next constitu- tional democracy. So, the Electoral Commission is very important in the conduct of our democratic affairs.

Mr Speaker, this Budget

Statement and Economic Policy of Government devoted only two lines to the Electoral Commission in terms of what it would do for this 2022 fiscal year. But one of the things that struck me about the narrative on the Electoral Commission was the fact that in paragraph 2, it is stated that the Commission is seeking money, of course, in terms of its budget estimates, to conduct bye elections. Mr Speaker, there is a constitutional duty to conduct bye elections but we do not have an upcoming bye election to be conducted in this country.

Yes, there are case contest in

court but that does not mean that bye elections would be held. The reason the Contingency Fund has been created pursuant to article 180 of the Constitution is because of unforeseen situations in which government may need to spend money. I do not think that it is absolutely necessary in the case of the Electoral Commission for us to make a provision against upcoming bye elections based upon court actions that are taking place. In any case, Mr Speaker, I am very

certain that most of the bye elections would occur on the other Side and we would be picking up a lot of seats from their Side when that is done.

Hon
Member, hold on, the Hon Speaker to take the Chair.

Hon Dominic
Ayine may continue.

Mr Speaker,

I would want to address one

worrying development --

Actually, I was
here and I presided yesterday. So, you cannot be welcoming me to the debate. I am already part of the debate.

Very well, Mr
Speaker, I was here when you presided. I am talking about today's debate.
Mr Speaker, there is one
worrying development with respect to the Electoral Commission that I would want to bring to the attention